AS ALWAYS, EASTER POOR CHOICE FOR MOTORSPORTS

 Richmond Raceway can’t catch a break. Forced to accept an Easter date for its first of two Cup events in 2024, The Track Paul Sawyer Made Famous couldn’t escape the wrath of the weatherman … that almost forced postponing Sunday’s NASCAR scheduled night event to a Monday afternoon start. Then, once the Toyota Owners 400 got underway, having been delayed about 10 minutes from its scheduled 7 p.m., green-flag start because of rain, they already had completed 18 laps of the 400-lap race before Fox network coverage finally was available to viewers … And the timing couldn’t have been worse. After running 12 more laps at full speed, on tires made to offset wet conditions, NASCAR, in its wisdom, opted for caution, slowing things with a yellow flag while attempting to dry the asphalt … and allow the teams to switch to regular tires … which lasted an uncommonly-long half-hour plus to past 8 p.m. … Another caution when DANIEL SUAREZ spun plus a decision to force-dry a slick, damp pit lane (as always, in the interest of safety) kept the cars running slowly in line for more than 15 minutes. By the time they got rolling full-speed again, it was 8:25 pm … which was guaranteed to lose folks watching at home, recognizing – with only 82 laps down – it would be well past their bedtime when this one would reach the checkered flag.

 Their loss ,,, because most – make that ALL – of the excitement in an otherwise boring race came during the final laps including overtime… and left MARTIN TRUEX JR., all but assured of victory in regulation, with a fourth-place finish … and not exactly pleased about it. “I got beat out of the pits, then ... I don’t know ... he jumped the start, and used me up in turn one,” Truex told Fox pit reporter JAMIE LITTLE afterward. He didn’t appear all that upset, smiling as he talked about what happened on the final restart. If you didn’t know better, you might think this was Truex, the wily veteran, putting some intentional spice in an otherwise race to forget.

The object of his (feigned?) ire was Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 

teammate DENNY HAMLIN, the native Richmonder who was 

the beneficiary of timely work by his pit crew to start first in 

the green-white-checker OT and win for the fifth time at 

his hometown track … “I didn’t see anything that Denny did 

wrong,” said Fox analyst KEVIN HARVICK… NASCAR 

agreed, ruling Hamlin did not leave too soon … although replay 

showed he did use what they call a rolling start to beat Truex to 

the line by less than a car length. “You have to get to the white 

line before you fire up … for it to be a legal restart,” said lead 

TV announcer MIKE JOY … Harvick: “I’ll tell you what he 

did … HE WON!”

Actually, if Truex, the 2017 Cup champion, had reason to be 

miffed with anyone … it was BUBBA WALLACE who nipped

 KYLE LARSON from behind on Lap 399, spinning him out 

and bringing out the yellow flag that kept Truex from winning 

his first race of the year … and all but assuring him a place in 

the playoffs … “That’s happened to us before in Richmond … 

we’re leading, and some dumbass move brings out a caution,” 

Truex told reporters … That Larson quickly regained control 

begged the question: Was a yellow flag necessary? In the good, 

old days, the race wouldn’t have missed a beat … but that has 

changed – if not for the good – in recent years … when 

NASCAR has been accused, with some merit, of building 

artificial suspense for TV’s benefit … For that matter … race 

re-starts used to be on the backstretch and, when the green flag 

flew, basically the only restriction was the No. 2 car couldn’t be 

ahead of No. 1. Then, it was every driver for himself.

Anyway, a good case could be made this one was decided in the 

pits where Hamlin’s crew excelled … First, with 55 laps to go 

in regulation, crew chief CHRIS GABEHART called for a pit 

stop with the field in full flight. Running first  after being more 

than a lap down early, Hamlin fell back to 11^th -- 11-plus 

seconds behind – but, with fresh rubber, brought 

some much-needed suspense ... By lap 372, only JOEY 

LOGANO was between Hamlin and Truex, whose lead would 

be cut by less than a second after 400 laps … To that point you 

sensed the Fox booth of Joy, Harvick and CLINT BOWYER, 

another former Cup contestant, had been less than enthused by 

what it had seen so far. Hamlin’s comeback energized them … 

that is, until it became apparent the 43-year-old alumnus of 

Chesterfield County’s Manchester High School wasn’t going to 

make it, thanks to some subtle but effective blocking by 

Logano.

Then ... everything changed. Wallace and Larson 

tangled, and Bowyer tried to put a positive spin (sorry about 

that) on it. “Kyle got loose, checked up and Bubba was 

anticipating him having that same pace … got in behind him … 

and just misjudged it as Kyle was lifting [his foot from the gas 

pedal],” he said … Actually, from looking at a slo-mo replay, it 

appeared Wallace 

tried to force Larson into the wall and, when that didn’t work, 

dropped back and clipped Larsen’s bumper, just behind the left 

rear wheel. “Quite a bit of history between those two,” Harvick 

said, knowingly … “Just when you thought it was safe to 

engrave the trophy,” said Joy, still the best among a short list of 

stock car racing’s talking heads … High marks, as well, for 

Harvick, 48, in his rookie year working full-time on TV after 

31 years as a driver … including 2014 Cup champion. Of his 60 

Cup victories, the last was the 2022 Federated Parts 400 at 

Richmond Raceway.

The OT belonged to Hamlin after all cars on the lead lap pitted 

… and Gabehart’s over-the-wall gang delivered a snappy 9.0-

seconds stop to 10.3 for both Truex and Logano. Hamlin beat 

Truex out of the pits – barely – then won by 0.21 over Logano 

for his 53d Cup victory. Larson finished third ...  Big BOO to 

pit reporter REGAN SMITH for NOT asking Hamlin 

(in the first post-race Q-and-A) about the dust-up with Truex.

Pre-race promotion made a big deal about a night race being 

held at the three-quarter-mile track for the first time since 2019 

… FOUR WHOLE YEARS … but the main headline should 

have been running on the holiday, which for many years was an 

automatic no-no on NASCAR’s late model circuit held, 

primarily, in the Bible Belt of the South. From 1972 to 2022

(when the sanctioning body broke the spell with the first of 

back to back races at Bristol) there were a total of three on 

Easter Sunday ...  including the 1989 Richmond spring race 

… which had been postponed from February to March because 

of snow … Sunday marked the 14^th Cup (formerly Grand 

National) race held on Easter … six of them on tracks no longer 

around … starting with Charlotte (N.C.) Speedway in 1963 … 

JUNIOR JOHNSON won three times, RICHARD PETTY 

twice ... Last year at Bristol, where a sellout has grown to 

146,000 from the original 30,000, they didn’t sell seats in the 

turns and still looked – at best – half full. 

Richmond had 33 straight sellouts from 1992 to 2008 ... and 

none since, so it was hardly stop-the-presses news it did not do 

well at the box office last year. In the absence of official

attendance figures (which became a norm throughout NASCAR  

many years ago)  … we were told the spring race drew 

approximately 28,000 spectators total (including freebees) ...  

while the late summer Cook Out 400 did only slightly better … 

A full house is currently listed as 51,000 (always subject to 

change) at a venue that used to attract 100,000 or 

more before the late Sawyer, who took stock car racing at 

Strawberry Hill from minor to a major must-see attraction, sold 

out in 1999 … and told friends he regretted it ... until the day he 

died six years later … We learned more than a year ago that 

NASCAR was prepared to move one of Richmond’s Cup races 

elsewhere (a) because of growing lack of interest; but, more to 

the point (b) they have been expanding the Cup circuit’s reach 

to larger venues and need the date. The International Speedway 

Corp., which owns NASCAR as well as a number of tracks 

including Richmond Raceway, has moved from stock car 

racing’s roots in the South to a more national concept … 

undoubtedly encouraged by the TV networks and corporate 

sponsors. 

We previously mentioned there was reason to 

believe ownership was sabotaging the local track’s ability to 

build interest from the ticket-buying public. Otherwise, how to 

explain moving from spring and fall dates, which Sawyer held 

on a handshake from NASCAR founder BILL FRANCE, to

summer … when it’s downright hot and uncomfortable, with 

humidity to match … when fans are more likely to watch in the 

comfort of their own homes. Both the Toyota Owners and Cook 

Out 400s had afternoon starts in 2023. Temperatures reached 

100 degrees for race weekend last August.

OK, oh wise one … time to tell us how many bodies watched 

Sunday’s race in person … According to several long-time 

watchers of events here, the consensus guesstimate was less 

than 24,000 total … and, given the usual percentage of freebees 

(to sponsors, TV networks, etc.), that would make the paid 

attendance: 19,000-plus, or thereabouts … another record low. 

NASCAR officials should be ashamed of themselves for 

pushing Easter Sunday racing on us … and we told them what 

they could do with it, too.

Until next time ...