Denny Hamlin’s crew pushes the car through the garage area during a recent Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekend. Hamlin is hoping for good things out of the series’ first visit of the season to Richmond Raceway. Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Denny Hamlin doesn’t just love to come home to Virginia for sentimental reasons, he considers Richmond Raceway, in particular, a place he can always contend for victory.
And with good reason.
Hamlin has three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins at the track, where the series will race in the Toyota Owners 400 Saturday night. His mark of 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 23 starts there makes him one of the most productive drivers in the field there. And no one on the track this weekend has led more laps (1,653 or 17.9%).
The three-quarter mile Richmond track is a place where Hamlin has always looked forward to competing. And it could prove to be exactly the shot of adrenalin Hamlin needs to reboot his 2018 season.
After a thrilling third-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Hamlin’s season has largely vacillated between near-misses and lost opportunity. He’s had four top-six finishes, but also four showings less characteristically out of the top-10 including a 34th-place finish at Texas two weeks ago after being involved in a crash.
He’s ranked eighth in the Monster Energy Series standings, but is among the top-three drivers in Richmond proficiency. Hamlin has top-10 finishes in his last six races at Richmond, including a win from the pole position in the 2016 fall race. He’s led 263 laps in the last five races there and had finishes of third in this spring race last year and fifth in the fall race.
“Obviously after some unfortunate circumstances in Bristol, I’m looking forward to returning to Richmond where I know we can be competitive,’’ Hamlin said. “This No. 11 FedEx team is more motivated than ever to get a win and competing in front of my hometown crowd always adds some an extra incentive.”
NXS: Xfinity Dash 4 Cash Round Two – Richmond Raceway
Fighting through some great short track action last weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ryan Preece banked the first $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus at Bristol Motor Speedway when he grabbed his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of his career.
This weekend, the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash program continues at Richmond Raceway for some more short track beatin’-and-bangin’ as Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric, Elliott Sadler and Spencer Gallagher will compete for the second $100,000 bonus of the season in the ToyotaCare 250 on Friday.
The highest finisher at Richmond between Allgaier, Hemric, Sadler and Gallagher will win the $100,000 prize, and that winner and the three highest finishing full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers, for a total of four contenders, will qualify for the next week’s Dash 4 Cash event at Talladega.
Last weekend’s winner, Ryan Preece, would have qualified for the second round of the Dash 4 Cash at Richmond, but was not scheduled to run this weekend due to his part-time schedule and therefore the spot went to the next-highest finisher – Spencer Gallagher.
The Dash 4 Cash races are being held at Bristol Motor Speedway (April 14), Richmond Raceway (April 20), Talladega Superspeedway (April 28) and Dover International Speedway (May 5) this season. This is the first year Talladega has participated in the Dash 4 Cash program.
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Last season, Justin Allgaier and Daniel Hemric finished second and third, respectively, in this event, just like they did this past weekend at Bristol. Allgaier took home the check at Richmond in 2017 and in doing so became the only driver to win at least one round in the Dash 4 Cash program the past two seasons (2017 Phoenix, Richmond; 2016 Indianapolis).
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Toyota Owners 400
The Place: Richmond Raceway
The Date: Saturday, April 21
The Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 6 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300 miles (400 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 100),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 200), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 400)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: ToyotaCare 250
The Place: Richmond Raceway
The Date: Friday, April 20
The Time: 7 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 6:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 187.5 miles (250 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 75),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 150), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 250)
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