Tonight NASCAR is returning to its roots for some short track Saturday night racing at Richmond International Raceway. Here is some news and information since qualifying.
Matt Kenseth won the Coors Light Pole award and is now entered into the Sprint Unlimited next year at Daytona. Although this is the second week in a row he won the pole. Last week’s pole award was taken away, including his eligibility for the Unlimited, after the engine infractions found after the race. He also set a new track record.
Expect the race coverage to spend a lot of time, discussing and explaining the penalties for the illegal engine that was found in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Home Depot team.
Last year’s winner of this race, Kyle Busch is looking to continue his streak here. He will start the race eighth.
The race is an impound race. As of this writing no team has changed an engine or otherwise made unapproved changes to their car requiring them to go to the back.
This weekend is the 10 year anniversary of Jerry Nadeau‘s career ending crash during Nationwide Series practice.
On Friday night tempers were flaring after the Nationwide race. This is typical of short track racing. What is not typical is the disagreement carried into the infield after the race. Two RCR crew members were arrested.
Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch fought a great race for the win. Brad Keselowski held on and won the race.
Denny Hamlin was not cleared to return to the No. 11 FedEx car after his back injury. Brian Vickers will continuing subbing for him.
If you can’t get to Richmond International Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400 it will be televised on FOX at 7 PM ET Saturday April 27th.
Brian Berg Jr. is a NASCAR writer for www.RantSports.com.
Follow him on Twitter @brian_jr1 during the race and throughout the week for more NASCAR news and commentary. On Facebook at NASCAR News and Commentary. On Pinterest at NASCARnews. Also add to your network on Google.
