Ford Performance – 2024 Richmond 1 Preview

The month of March comes to a close this weekend as Richmond Raceway hosts the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Cup Series on Easter weekend. The track has been a fixture on the schedule since 1953 and has hosted 134 Cup races during that time, which includes 35 Ford victories.

BACK-TO-BACK?

The last time the NASCAR Cup Series came to Richmond Raceway, Chris Buescher claimed his third victory of the season by leading 53 of the final 54 laps. Despite his late-race dominance, he had to endure a caution that brought the field back to him with nine laps remaining. That resulted in one final round of pit stops with Buescher’s crew getting him out in the lead and the option to choose where to start. Buescher opted for the inside line and was able to get away from Denny Hamlin on the restart with three laps to go to claim the win. He comes into Sunday’s Richmond race on the heels of three straight top-10 finishes, including an eighth-place run last weekend at Circuit of the Americas.

ONE OF LOGANO’S BEST

It would be easy to look at Joey Logano’s two career wins at Richmond and say it’s got to be one of his best tracks on the circuit, but the statistics provide further proof. In 29 career starts, Logano has 13 top 5 and 18 top 10 finishes, which gives him an average finish of 10.0. That’s his second-best average finish on tracks where he’s run more than five races and includes a current stretch that has seen him finish seventh or better in six of the last seven Richmond races.. The only track where Logano has a better average finish is Las Vegas, where his three wins and 13 top-10 finishes in 22 starts that works out to a 9.9 average finish.

Austin Cindric: “I’m not sure I’ve ever started Richmond in the Cup Series inside the top 30 and I can give you a number of reasons why, and the one time I did I lost a cylinder about six laps into the race. It’s a very difficult racetrack. It’s a challenging race from a strategy standpoint with long green flag runs. It’s a tough track, but I really do enjoy Richmond, so I am looking forward to going there. I’m certainly not discouraged, but it’s a racetrack where you can’t hide if you have a weakness or an issue throughout the race.”

KESELOWSKI SOLE RICHMOND WINNER IN 2020

Richmond Raceway hosted two NASCAR Cup Series events a year from 1959-2019, but in 2020 the track had only one event due to COVID and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag in dominating fashion. Keselowski led 192-of-400 laps in recording his second career Cup win at the Virginia short track, and automatically advanced to the Round of 12. Overall, Ford led 297 laps on the night and had five drivers finish in the top 10, including Joey Logano (3rd), Kevin Harvick (7th), Aric Almirola (8th) and Clint Bowyer (10th).

A PENSKE SEASON SWEEP

Thanks to Team Penske, Ford dominated the 2014 season at RR as both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski made it to victory lane. Keselowski clinched the top seed for the ensuing Chase with a dominating performance that saw him lead all but 17 of the 400 laps, including the final 274 circuits. The win was his fourth of the season and marked the third time Ford swept both NCS races at the three-quarter-mile track, and the first since 1997. Logano won the first RR race after passing Matt Kenseth with four laps to go to claim his fifth career series victory.

KYLE PETTY’S FIRST WIN

The Wood Brothers have 99 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories and many of those have been first-time wins for whoever was lucky enough to be behind the wheel. Kyle Petty was that man in the mid-1980s and on Feb. 23, 1986 found himself in the right place at the right time. Driving the No. 7 Ford for Glen Wood – the car carried that number because of sponsor 7-Eleven – Petty was the beneficiary of an ongoing battle between Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt. After Waltrip passed Earnhardt to take the lead with two to go, Earnhardt made contact with Waltrip and both cars went spinning into the wall. Others got collected in the aftermath, but Petty was able to get through unscathed and took the checkered flag under caution for his first series triumph.

CUSTER CONTINUES TOP FIVE STREAK

Cole Custer has found a rhythm of late and comes into Saturday’s race at Richmond Raceway riding a streak of three straight top five finishes. After a runner-up finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Custer has finished fifth at Phoenix and fourth last weekend at Circuit of the Americas to climb from 11th to third in the series point standings. That stretch also includes back-to-back poles at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. In eight career NXS starts at Richmond, Custer has one victory (2019), three consecutive top-fives and five top-10 finishes.

FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES

WINNERS AT RICHMOND

1957 – Paul Goldsmith

1959 – Tom Pistone and Cotton Owens

1960 – Speedy Thompson (2)

1963 – Ned Jarrett (2)

1965 – Junior Johnson (1)

1968 – David Pearson (1)

1969 – David Pearson (1)

1970 – James Hylton (1)

1979 – Bobby Allison (2)

1980 – Bobby Allison (2)

1981 – Benny Parsons (2)

1984 – Ricky Rudd (1)

1986 – Kyle Petty (1)

1988 – Davey Allison (2)

1990 – Mark Martin (1)

1992 – Bill Elliott (1)

1993 – Davey Allison (1)

1994 – Ernie Irvan (1)

1995 – Rusty Wallace (2)

1996 – Ernie Irvan (2)

1997 – Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett

1998 – Jeff Burton (2)

1999 – Dale Jarrett (1)

2001 – Ricky Rudd (2)

2002 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2005 – Kurt Busch (2)

2013 – Carl Edwards (2)

2014 – Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski

2017 – Joey Logano (1)

2020 – Brad Keselowski

2022 – Kevin Harvick (2)

2023 – Chris Buescher (2)

FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

WINNERS AT RICHMOND

1987 – Mark Martin

1993 – Mark Martin (Sweep)

1994 – Kenny Wallace

1995 – Kenny Wallace and Dale Jarrett

1996 – Kenny Wallace (2)

1997 – Mark Martin (1)

1998 – Jeff Burton (1)

1999 – Mark Martin (1)

2000 – Jeff Burton (1)

2002 – Jason Keller (1)

2005 – Carl Edwards (1)

2008 – Carl Edwards (2)

2009 – Carl Edwards (2)

2013 – Brad Keselowski (Sweep)

2017 – Brad Keselowski (2)

2019 – Cole Custer (1)