{"id":25174,"date":"2019-04-12T18:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T23:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=25174"},"modified":"2019-04-13T09:22:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T14:22:33","slug":"nascar-friday-richmond-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/12\/nascar-friday-richmond-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Richmond Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chris Buescher\u2019s strong run at Bristol was bittersweet<\/b><\/p>\n

RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 The hurt still lingers for Chris Buescher.<\/p>\n

Headed for a possible top-five finish last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Buescher had to make a late pit stop to fix a loose wheel and saw a potential breakthrough performance deteriorate into a 22nd<\/sup>-place finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t qualify very good (25th<\/sup>), and that caught us a little off guard, because we usually qualify better,\u201d Buescher said. \u201cBut as soon as the race got going, we started moving forward. We got in the top 10 pretty quickly\u2014and right near the top five and held on. There\u2019s no doubt in my mind that was a top-five day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very encouraging for the team and for us. We expect it, but at the same time, when you actually get it, for us trying to fight for 15th<\/sup> every week\u2026 The whole race\u2014we were there. It\u2019s a boost. It\u2019s unfortunate that we didn\u2019t finish it out. It hurts. That one hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buescher likewise showed speed in opening practice at Richmond Raceway, which has not been one of his better tracks. In race trim for the entire session, he was third on the speed chart behind Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very pleasantly surprised with how practice went,\u201d Buescher said. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m shocked. We ran a lot better at Phoenix (in March) than we have in the past. This one (Richmond) has kind of compared to that race track for me throughout the years, and all of our group was really excited coming into this. They worked really hard to find something different.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe showed up with something different, and it had good speed. We\u2019re trying to make it hold on a little longer (throughout a tire run). That\u2019s always something you\u2019re looking for here at Richmond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buescher\u2019s No. 37 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet also was third fastest in 10-consecutive lap average behind Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Busch swept both Richmond races last year.<\/p>\n

ELLIOTT SADLER ENJOYING LIFESTYLE CHANGE AFTER FULL-TIME RACING<\/b><\/p>\n

Until he got behind the wheel of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet on Friday morning, Elliott Sadler hadn\u2019t sat in a race car since his exit from JR Motorsports at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Sadler hasn\u2019t been enjoying the radical change to his life retirement from full-time racing has brought. And even though he\u2019s returning for two races this season\u2014at his home track of Richmond and at Las Vegas\u2014Sadler has no regrets about his decision to step away from the weekly routine.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cI\u2019m as happy as I\u2019ve ever been in my life,\u201d Sadler said on Friday at Richmond Raceway. \u201cI definitely made the right decision stepping away full-time. I was worried when Daytona came. I really was. Wondering how I was going to feel \u2013 how I was going to take it. But it was right on my son\u2019s birthday, and we had a cool birthday party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis cures kinda a little bit of the itch to come back here to my home track, and we\u2019ll come back to Vegas in the fall \u2013 but I don\u2019t regret my decision at all. I love being a fan of the sport at home. Been very happy with this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though he\u2019s not running for points, Sadler nevertheless felt butterflies as Friday night\u2019s ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race approached.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was nervous this week\u2014I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d Sadler said. \u201cIt\u2019s got a way different feel to it, coming to run one race as compared to each and every week knowing what\u2019s going on and everything going inside the garage. It had a pretty good feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t sleep much this week wanting to come here, excited and nervous and all of that good stuff to come back to my home track. It was a little different. Different team, different car, the switches are in a different spot and gas, brake and clutch all work a little different \u2013 steering wheel a little different. It was good to be back in the office for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER BELL ALREADY PLANNING STRATEGY FOR HOMESTEAD<\/b><\/p>\n

Christopher Bell entered last year\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway as a clear favorite.<\/p>\n

After all, Bell had dominated the series with seven victories before the finale. But Homestead turned out to be the most frustrating race of the year for Bell, who rolled home in 11th<\/sup> place and finished fourth in the final standings.<\/p>\n

Tyler Reddick, on the other hand, found a home near the wall and parlayed his ability to run the top lane into a series title.<\/p>\n

Bell has been thinking about the final race ever since. And based on the likely assumption he\u2019ll be one of the four qualifiers at Homestead, Bell\u2019s approach will change when he gets there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely took the conservative approach of \u2018Do not run the wall, do not run the wall, do not run the wall,\u2019\u201d Bell said Friday at Richmond Raceway. \u201cI think Cole Custer proved the last couple years that he got his car good enough to where he didn\u2019t have to run the wall. (Kyle) Larson, I think Larson ran the year that Cole won, and his car wasn\u2019t very good so he couldn\u2019t run the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so everyone was like, \u2018Oh, you can run the middle, you can run the middle, you can run the middle.\u2019 Well, Reddick proved it again last year that the wall is the fastest place to be at Homestead. I think I\u2019m just going to go up there and run the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

STEWART-HAAS, CLINT BOWYER ANNOUNCE TOCO PARTNERSHIP<\/b><\/p>\n

Stewart-Haas Racing has landed a new partner, Toco Warranty, for four races as primary sponsor of Clint Bowyer\u2019s No. 14 Ford, the organization announced in a Friday morning press conference at Richmond Raceway.<\/p>\n

In addition, Toco, a new generation of vehicle service contracts with pay-as-you-go plans, will serve as an associate sponsor for the rest of Bowyer\u2019s races, as well as supporting the efforts of Tony Stewart Racing and driver Donny Schatz and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart in winged sprint cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had partners that have been a part of our NASCAR program or part of our grassroots program with the World of Outlaws or our All-Star Circuit of Champions,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cBut this is one of the first times that we\u2019ve had a partner that spans all the way across and utilizes these two organizations to get the coverage to the right people.\u201d<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/RIR_SHR_041219mp3.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   Chris Buescher\u2019s strong run at Bristol was bittersweet RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 The hurt still lingers for Chris Buescher. Headed for a possible top-five finish last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Buescher had to make a late pit stop to fix a loose wheel and saw a potential breakthrough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":25175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,486],"class_list":["post-25174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-richmond-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/rir_mencs_practice_041219.jpg?fit=2095%2C1395","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6y2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25179,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25174\/revisions\/25179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}