{"id":38278,"date":"2022-04-02T14:30:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T19:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=38278"},"modified":"2022-04-03T12:00:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T17:00:17","slug":"nascar-saturday-richmond-notebook-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/02\/nascar-saturday-richmond-notebook-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Richmond Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service <\/em><\/p>\n

For the second consecutive race and third time of the seven-race old season, Penske Racing\u2019s Ryan Blaney will start from the Busch Light Pole \u2013 earning the top position Saturday in qualifying for Sunday\u2019s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards\/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, poses in front of the signed Busch Light Pole Award backdrop after winning the pole award
during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 02, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Blaney\u2019s No. 12 Penske Racing Racing Ford Mustang turned in a lap of 119.782 mph to take the top position by only .20 over William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

Blaney \u2013 who, remarkably, has only a single Top-10 finish in 11 starts at the 0.75-mile Richmond track \u2013 was fastest in his first group as well as topping the final qualifying session.<\/p>\n

“It means a lot,” Blaney told FS1. “Honestly, I didn\u2019t think I got a very good lap. It was kind of an ugly lap on my end. Really proud of the 12 group.<\/p>\n

“Track position means a lot here,” he continued. “Especially how my past history is here, I need all the track position I can get. Good start to the weekend, just got to keep it up and keep tires under it, that\u2019s the biggest thing. We\u2019ll see what tomorrow holds. Should be fun.”<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch will start the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota third, alongside Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s Chase Briscoe. Busch\u2019s six wins at Richmond is most among active drivers and he is one of three former winners to advance to the Top-10 in qualifying.<\/p>\n

The Richmond track has historically been a good venue for the Joe Gibbs Racing team, which is still looking for its first victory of the 2022 season. Five different <\/p>\n

Gibbs drivers have accounted for eight wins in the last 12 Richmond races.<\/p>\n

Petty GMS Racing\u2019s Erik Jones will start fifth, alongside JGR driver Martin Truex Jr., who has won three times in the last five Richmond races. SHR\u2019s Kevin Harvick, another three-time Richmond winner, will start sixth alongside last weekend\u2019s COTA winner, Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.  Christopher Bell (No. 20 JGR Toyota) and Aric Almirola (No. 10 SHR Ford) rounded out the Top-10 in qualifying.<\/p>\n

Defending race winner, Alex Bowman will start the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28th in the 37-car field.<\/p>\n

NEW ERA, NEW STYLE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defending Richmond Raceway NASCAR Cup Series winner Alex Bowman addressed the media Saturday morning and acknowledged that the style of competition in all three national series has become increasingly aggressive. And he expects it to be no different in the first short track test of the Next Gen car this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, waves to fans onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Echopark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 27, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bowman, who was involved in a pair of accidents in the frantic last laps of racing in both the Camping World Truck Series and NACAR Cup Series events at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) last week, said he agreed with series veteran Denny Hamlin who questioned the level of early-season intensity on social media this week.<\/p>\n

“I think the Playoff format has a lot to do with that, but I think we\u2019ve seen that over the course of the years,” said Bowman, who finished runner-up at COTA in the NASCAR Cup Series race after a last lap tussle with race winner Ross Chastain.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019ve seen people spin people out at the end of the races and get pretty physical at the end of the races for a long time. I think there\u2019s some new guys in the series that are extremely aggressive. Everyone knows how aggressive Ross (Chastain) is at all times. A.J. (Allmendinger) is an aggressive driver too.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t necessarily think it has changed as much as Denny (Hamlin) thinks, maybe,” he continued. “But I think there\u2019s a reason and if you have to put your finger on it, it would be the Playoff format How much winning matters and sometimes you can overcome those guys hating you for that trophy.”<\/p>\n

CHASTAIN\u2019s WARM RECEPTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you might expect following a career first victory in NASCAR\u2019s premier NASCAR Cup Series, Ross Chastain conceded he had a busy last week. The driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevy earned the win last week at COTA in a dramatic action-packed final lap \u2013 edging Bowman and colliding with A.J. Allmendinger on the last corner before racing off to his first trophy.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ross Chastain, driver of the #92 TicketSmarter Chevrolet, enters his car prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of The Americas on March 26, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The 29-year old Floridian said he did not get much sleep in the immediate hours after his career-changing win at Austin road course. He did extra media interviews, worked with sponsors and just spent time celebrating with friends and his new team. Trackhouse Racing only expanded to two cars \u2013 and added Chastain \u2013 this season.<\/p>\n

“The highlights have been talking to people back home,” Chastain said. “In Charlotte and Mooresville (N.C.), there are a lot of people that have helped get me here that have been a part of this journey.<\/p>\n

“But when you look at the people back home, they weren\u2019t paid to do it. They had no real reason other than they liked racing or they were my family. Talking to them, hearing the stories of where they were at towards the end of the race, seeing a couple of videos of them reacting to the race \u2013 that\u2019s when it really sank in. That\u2019s when it felt real.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service  For the second consecutive race and third time of the seven-race old season, Penske Racing\u2019s Ryan Blaney will start from the Busch Light Pole \u2013 earning the top position Saturday in qualifying for Sunday\u2019s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":38269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,181,486],"class_list":["post-38278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-richmond-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1389169761-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-9Xo","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38281,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38278\/revisions\/38281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}