It’s been a fast and furious start to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season with race records and competitive championship standings reflecting the pace. And there’s plenty of reason to expect that high-level of competition to continue with Sunday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway (7 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The “Easter Edition” of this race on Richmond’s three-quarter mile short track brings plenty of expectation following an early season lineup featuring five different winners in the first six races.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is the defending race winner, but it’s a couple of other drivers still looking for their first win of the season that the field knows it will also have to deal with Sunday night.
Last week’s third-place finisher, Ty Gibbs, has put himself in contention for a win every single race this season – his five top-10 finishes in six races are most in the series. The 21-year old is coming off a third-place run at Circuit of The Americas road course last week and is only five-points behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. atop the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings.
Most impressive is that Gibbs has been good on all brands of tracks – from superspeedways to short tracks – and his average finish of 7.8 this season is tops in the series. Only two years ago – en route to the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series title – Gibbs turned in a dominating effort at Richmond – leading 114 of the 250 laps to win the Xfinity race at the track. It seems a legitimate venue for the young talent to score his first career NASCAR Cup Series trophy.
“We’ve run well and hopefully we can have another good race this week in Richmond,” Gibbs said, “It’s been great.
“We’ve all been working really well together,” he added, “and we are going to keep hammering down.”
Of course, Gibbs will have plenty of competition from a veteran group of drivers also looking to secure a 2024 Playoff position with a win. Chief among those is Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, whose six Richmond wins are most among active drivers. Busch’s last Richmond win was part of a 2018 season sweep and he’d love to reclaim that mojo this weekend. He’s ranked 13th in the standings with only a pair of top-10 finishes.
Gibbs’ JGR teammates Denny Hamlin (four wins) and Truex (three) are also multi-time winners at Richmond. Hamlin won at Bristol, Tenn. two weeks ago, but Truex is still racing for his first victory of the season, despite holding the driver standings lead. In fact, the top-three ranked drivers – Truex, Gibbs and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney – are all still competing for their first trophy of the year.
It’s been a record season for competition in the NASCAR Cup Series with the most average lap leaders per race (13) through the opening six-races. And the 31.33 average lead changes through the opening portion of the schedule is second most in the Modern Era (1972-present), only a tick off the record of 31.50 set in 2011. Last year’s Spring Richmond race set a record for Green Flag Passes for the Lead (35).
The pole position has historically produced the most race winners (24) in the field at Richmond and practice for the Toyota Owners 400 is set for 10:35 a.m. ET on Saturday followed immediately by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 11:15 a.m. ET. Both sessions will be broadcast on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
