Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
It is here, the last race of the NASCAR regular season. It’s the last race for those drivers who have not locked themselves into the Chase for the Sprint Cup to do so. It’s the last race for the drivers who are already in the Chase for the Sprint Cup to improve their standings when the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins. Kyle Busch won last week at Atlanta and is looking to continue that by winning his fifth race of the season, the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
The Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4 mile, D shaped oval. There are 14 degrees of banking in the corners, 8 degrees on the frontstretch and 2 degrees on the back stretch. Because of the small size the frontstretch is more of a continuation of turns 4 and 1. That is why there is some banking there.
When looking at the driver ratings Kyle Busch is a respectable 113 behind Denny Hamlin’s 117.8. Since Hamlin is having a disastrous season that stat alone makes Kyle Busch a favorite to win. Throw in Kyle’s incredible average finish of 6.5 to Denny Hamlin’s 8.1 and he has it covered.
Right now Kyle Busch is locked into the Chase. He has four wins and would be seeded tied for second with Jimmie Johnson if the Chase began today. Matt Kenseth has five wins and would start the Chase if first place. Kyle Busch would love to win this race and move himself up to being tied with Kenseth to start the Chase.
The only real problem for Kyle Busch is this race is different than the four races he won at Richmond in the spring. There are some hungry drivers who may or may not miss the Chase. Some drivers are racing hard by desperation and others not so desperate, but hungry for a win none the less. Up until this spring, Kyle Busch has been Mr. Spring at Richmond by winning the last four spring races.
The last regular season race at Richmond International Raceway has become quite the show with those drivers trying to race their way into the Chase and other trying to improve their position prior to the Chase.
If you can’t get to Richmond International Raceway Saturday night September 7th, it will be broadcast on national TV, ABC.
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, or on Facebook, Pinterest, and Google.
Top 12 Driver Rating at Richmond
Denny Hamlin……………………… 117.8
Kyle Busch…………………………. 113.0
Kevin Harvick……………………… 111.1
Clint Bowyer……………………….. 100.4
Tony Stewart………………………… 96.5
Jeff Gordon………………………….. 95.7
Mark Martin………………………….. 92.2
Ryan Newman………………………. 91.1
Jimmie Johnson……………………. 90.9
Kurt Busch…………………………… 90.0
Carl Edwards……………………….. 88.9
Kasey Kahne………………………… 87.3
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2013 races (17 total) among active drivers at Richmond International Raceway.
