Good old Saturday night racing comes to Richmond as the Sprint Cup fleet gets ready to do battle in the Crown Royal presents the Russ Friedman 400. Who besides the race announcers will call the race by its full name, but the concept is pretty cool. Crown Royal sponsors the event. They have a contest so a fan can have his name given the race. Guess that's what drinking that smoooooth Canadian whiskey will do. (NASCAR seems more like a bourbon sport!) Richmond is unquestionably one of the most fun tracks on the entire circuit. While considered a short track as the series only ¾ mile track, the “D” shaped oval races like a “bang it out” short track from when the drivers enter turn 3 at the end of the back straightaway along the entire front grandstand to coming out of turn 2 returning to the rear of the track. That’s when Richmond reveals its difference between it and the half mile tracks, a long fast back straightaway, a proverbial drag strip. As such, the track is one of the toughest tracks on brakes and given the drastic contrast between front and rear, it’s hard for drivers to find their rhythm. Close, aggressive, side-by-side racing finds tempers burning as undoubtedly somebody gets pushed out of the way for the sake of the victory. Ask Dale Earnhardt Junior about what Kyle Busch did to him.
The big story entering this weekend’s race hopefully won’t be the weather as showers take aim on Richmond around noon leading to possible thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening followed by a 60% of rain for the rest of the night. Prospects look even worse for Sunday and possibly Monday where the forecast calls for even higher chances of rain. Even after Monday, a chance of Thunderstorms is predicted through next Saturday.
On the track, one simple question, where are the Fords? While the Ford fleet stands at only seven cars now, the first “blue oval” to qualify is Greg Biffle in 20th, followed by David Ragan, 22nd; Jamie McMurray, 26th; Paul Menard, 33rd; Matt Kenseth, 35th; Carl Edwards, 99th; and Bobby Labonte, 40th. It’s too soon to start talking of 2009 being a lost season for Ford, but while Ford has three cars in the top 12, they occupy the bottom half; Edwards, 7th; Biffle, 10th, and Kenseth, winner of the first two races, 12th. The remainder of the fleet is between 26th and 32nd making Bobby Labonte’s past champion provisional a possible valuable asset.
Brian Vickers continues to show growth taking the poll with Jeff Gordon sitting in the outside front spot. Perhaps the biggest surprises in the top 10 are finding two Dodge drivers with little success so far going for them, Mike Bliss in the 09, Miccosukee, James Finch Dodge, and sophomore, former open wheel ace, the other Red Bull driver, Scott Speed in 8th. If the description for the Bliss ride looks familiar, it should. That same team drove a Chevy to victory lane last weekend at Talladega for Brad Kesolowski’s big coming out party. Tony Stewart qualifies in an okay 16th spot, but teammate, Ryan Newman continues to heat up in 10th. Meanwhile, DEI finally has something to cheer about with Martin Truex, #1 in 3rd. Friday night, Nationwide victor, the evil Kyle Busch starts in 14th followed by defending champ, Jimmie Johnson, in 15th.
After a fine, no excuses performance at Talladega, the “Junior Nation” will once again suffer from self-imposed cuticle damage chomping on their nails with Junior deep down in 25th.
Another bright spot, could be Joey Logano, with the Joe Gibbs rookie in the #20 Home Depot ride starting in 13th. Most fans believe its absolutely a matter of “when” not “if” the young kiddy corps driver has a breakthrough race whose proven to be a constant factor in Nationwide racing hitting a sixth place finish in the Nationwide fender bender.
It will be hard not to consider the “what if’s” given this week’s news where GM first announced disposing of its Pontiac division recently a major contender in Cup racing with Tony Stewart winning his first championship in a Grand Prix in 2002. The Grim Reaper stands lurking silently behind the Dodge teams as Chrysler filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Thursday. While no one foresees team Hendricks or the other bowtie guys running Fords or Toyotas, it would even be harder to image a team bearing Richard Petty’s name fielding “rice burners.”
The two visible casualties of hard times befell the #8 Earnhardt-Ganassi operation and earlier the #28 Yates Ford. Once again, Sprint Cup had no trouble fielding a complete slate with two more entries than starting positions. That’s hardly any consolation to Todd Bodine whose Gunselman Toyota goes home and Trevor Boys in the “Boys will Be Boys” team, a rare competitor, managed only a 117.228 mph, 23.032 second attempt far off the field must put his dreams of a Sprint Cup start on hold for another bright day.
Richmond always provides exciting competitive fender pounding racing. This spring’s event should be no exception. We can only pray that the weather will clear so the gentlemen can start their engines this weekend not while fans head back to work on Monday or Tuesday. Weather has been kinder so far this year. How well we remember how many fields were set by owners’ points last year when qualifying was frequently washed out. Not being able to race on the scheduled date puts even more pressure on teams, tracks, and television stations and sponsors whether its reduced concession sales at the track or fewer viewers at home watching.
Should the race be postponed and raced during the work week fans are well-advised to set their recorders and avoid media coverage so they can see the race fresh at their earliest opportunity. It’s Saturday night racing for the rest of the month as the Sprint Cup racers continue their spring Dixie Tour with Darlington next week, then the All-Star race and Coca-Cola 600 in home-sweet-home Charlotte.
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