{"id":53945,"date":"2025-08-15T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T22:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=53945"},"modified":"2025-08-18T14:06:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:06:31","slug":"nascar-friday-richmond-raceway-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/15\/nascar-friday-richmond-raceway-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Richmond Raceway Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Playoffs rapidly approaching for those not locked in<\/b><\/p>\n

RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 With two races remaining to settle the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field there are three drivers currently in title contention via points standings. But a new race winner in Saturday night\u2019s Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) or next week in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway changes the outlook dramatically.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Mobil 1 Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 10, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick holds a 117-point advantage over the cutoff line and would only need to earn 30 points Saturday night to formalize his 2025 Playoff opportunity.<\/p>\n

The other two drivers above the Playoff cutoff line include Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Alex Bowman, who holds a 60-point cushion to the good and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing\u2019s Chris Buescher, who is only 34 points up on his RFK teammate Ryan Preece. Their other RFK teammate, team co-owner and the 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski is also in need of a victory to claim another title shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think ideally we would have all liked to have either won by now and kind of locked ourselves in, but when you look at the past however many weeks, 24, to be right there with each other and both of us have penalties. \u2026It\u2019s not like one of us had a penalty and all that, where we\u2019ve been neck and neck,” the driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Preece said of racing his teammate for that last points position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be a part of this opportunity or to have this opportunity because it\u2019s been a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Chris and I are both trying to figure out what\u2019s the best strategy for us,” Preece continued. \u201cI know crew chiefs Scott (Graves) and Derrick (Finley) are working hard on that. I have really fast race cars and need to go execute great races. If you\u2019re in a position for a green-white-checkered and you have an opportunity to win, when it comes Monday I don\u2019t think about what I should have done different.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with Preece, Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Ford tends to have a very easy-going personality. He said he wasn\u2019t surprised either that after two-thirds of the season, that final Playoff position may ultimately come down to RFK teammates.<\/p>\n

Keselowski and Buescher have previous wins at both Richmond and Daytona tracks. Keselowski won at Richmond in 2014 and 2020 and the summer Daytona race in 2016. Buescher won at both tracks in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some really good days and just needed to get the detail right really,” Buescher said of finding himself in this tenuous position. He said he genuinely does not spend time worrying or even thinking about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole lot of racing that got us to this points and a whole lot of racing left in the year,” Buescher said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big part of our year and obviously the game we\u2019re playing but it\u2019s not something you\u2019re living in that little tiny box. It\u2019s the same focus every week, figuring out how we can set ourselves up to win a race and be fast. Points come with all that stuff. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re just hyper-focused on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan on us being the new winner, that\u2019s the first priority,” he added with a smile.<\/p>\n

*INTENSITY IS PICKING-UP<\/b><\/p>\n

With these final two regular season races at vastly different venues, the three-quarter mile Richmond oval followed by the 2.5-mile Daytona superspeedway next week, most drivers concede the intensity is picking up heading into the 10-race Playoff that starts Aug. 31 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Competitors fully expect more frantic racing, at least as the final laps tick off toward the checkered flag.<\/p>\n

New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen, fresh off a dominating fourth victory of the season last week at the Watkins Glen, N.Y. road course, smiled and acknowledged he is preparing for a more frenetic pace in these final regular season races \u2013 his first year competing fulltime in the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the race here last year and I can’t believe the lengths people go through to get in,” said Van Gisbergen, the driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet who sits second in the Playoff standings. \u201cIt’s a desperate situation, and it means so much to get in the Playoffs, so I’m certainly glad we’re not involved in it, and hopefully won’t be involved in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, I think that’s an awesome part of this sport. It creates those storylines and that desperation to win when someone’s in that position. There’s a lot of people in the bubble and a lot of people needing a win, and hopefully that creates some good but safe racing for the next couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virginia-native and five-time Richmond winner Denny Hamlin agreed, although he expects more of a delayed response on the night<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [Richmond] is not really a big fashion forward track when it comes to strategy, it is pretty straightforward, especially with the amount of tires that we have, so I don\u2019t really notice a big change in intensity,” said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. \u201cMore desperation perhaps. You may see someone mid pack try to take a big swing with their setup trying something just totally out of the box, hoping to hit something, but other than that, I can\u2019t really pinpoint anything, except for at the end of race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always going to be chatter when you are racing around those that have to win to get in the Playoffs at this point of the season. You just know that those group of drivers are going to be more intense around you and make more aggressive moves and put you in pretty tough spots. That is really where it changes \u2013 late race restarts where that is their last and only attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n

*LOGANO\u2019S LONG MEMORY<\/b><\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Richmond race featured a dramatic overtime ending that ultimately affected the Playoff situation.<\/p>\n

Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Austin Dillon won the race that included eight laps of overtime and hard contact between him and Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano, who was leading after the overtime re-start.<\/p>\n

In the days following the race, Dillon was ruled ineligible for the Playoffs because of the aggressive move but allowed to keep the win. And Logano was fined $50,000 for his angry reaction post-race, spinning his tires in front of Dillon\u2019s team\u2019s pit stall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a year ago and you\u2019ve got to move forward at some point,” Logano said of the frustrating ending to his Richmond race last summer. \u201cGotta go and get sweet redemption.”<\/p>\n

Logano a three-time and the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion is currently 10th in the Playoff standings having claimed a victory at Texas Motor Speedway in May. He\u2019s had only a pair of top-10 finishes in the last five races, but has wins at both this week\u2019s Richmond track (2017) and is the 2015 Daytona 500 champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re never where you want to be, you\u2019re always striving for more,” said Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. \u201cI wish we had a few more Playoff points at this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all that said, been here before and it\u2019s worked out pretty well,” he added with a smile. You\u2019re never out of these things. Just have to stay alive and get through the rounds. We\u2019re definitely starting the Playoffs behind the eight-ball, a little behind where we\u2019d like to be, but like I said, pretty much all three championships looked really similar. It\u2019s okay.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR Playoffs rapidly approaching for those not locked in RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 With two races remaining to settle the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field there are three drivers currently in title contention via points standings. But a new race winner in Saturday night\u2019s Cook Out 400 at Richmond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":53966,"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":[16,486],"class_list":["post-53945","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\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2166239522-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-e25","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53945","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=53945"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53968,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53945\/revisions\/53968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}