NASCAR at Richmond 2015: Winners, Losers from Federated Auto Parts 400
In a rather uneventful return to Richmond International Raceway, Matt Kenseth led 352 of 400 laps to win the Federated Auto Parts 400.
The No. 20 car dominated on long runs (only six cautions on the night) and dominated short runs. Any run of any kind.
“Unless something happened, no one was catching him tonight,” Kyle Petty, a NASCAR analyst for NBC Sports, said during the broadcast.
“We’ve seen this coming on,” Dale Jarrett added during the broadcast. “At the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t have told you they’d have four victories at this time.”
Not only that, but three wins in the past six races.
So, yes, the regular season is done as we are on the brink of the Chase. Read on for the winners and losers from the final race before the Chase.
Loser: Michael McDowell Hits the Safety Truck
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Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 95 car, hit the one thing you don’t hit while under caution: the safety truck.
If he had a “How’s My Driving?” bumper sticker, the hotline’s voicemail box would fill up faster than a typical pit stop.
The resulting crash raked the back end of his car to shreds. The only option was the tow truck, a visit to the garage and an abbreviated night at RIR.
“Obviously I’m thankful nobody got hurt, embarrassed for my team and it was my mistake driving,” he said in Jeff Gluck’s USA Today update. “A lot happened at once. Everybody jumped on the brakes and I just didn’t have time to react.”
Like McDowell said, it’s more embarrassing than anything.
Winner: The Spirited Driving of Aric Almirola
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Aric Almirola sat in 17th place, just on the border of the Chase Grid. He knew he had to drive the race of his life and hope for a little luck. He did the former but lacked the luck.
Prior to the race, he said in an NBC Sports release, “We just have to go race our race. There are a lot of different scenarios which could play out, but the easiest way for us would be to go win.”
And he picked his way through the field, getting as high as third place on the final restart with about 20 laps to go. His crew chief, Trent Owens, changed four tires and gave him no fuel. They moved up to third and awaited the final green flag.
“My thoughts were to drive as deep into Turn 1 and push Kenseth out of the way and get the lead,” Almirola told NBC Sports. “He fired really early, three car lengths early, which caught me and [Joey] Logano off guard. [Kenseth] just got a really good jump, and I couldn’t get him.”
Almirola was the one shining light in an otherwise dull night on the Sprint Cup circuit. His flight up the leaderboard gave some drama to what was supposed to be pressure-packed finale to the regular season.
“Disappointed for sure,” he said. “I drove my heart out tonight. I feel like we’ve overachieved this year. To come up short, it hurts. We were in it last year, and we got a taste of what it’s like to be in the Chase. We wanted another shot at it and came up short.”
The way he drove all season proved he’s a Chase driver, and there’s no reason to unilaterally say he won’t get there next year.
Loser: Tony Stewart
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Tony Stewart’s only shot at making the Chase was by winning at Richmond, a track where he has three wins. Being a three-time Cup champ grants him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he’ll find a way.
Not so. No Chase for Smoke.
As reported in a tweet by USA Today’s Jeff Gluck, Stewart said early in the race, “Pretty f------ impressive, from 10th to a lap down in 90 laps. Has that ever been done before?”
Yes. Now.
Jordan Bianchi of SB Nation tweeted another gem from Smoke’s radio when the No. 14 car fell two laps down. Earmuffs.
“I want somebody at the end of this race to tell me how the f*** this happened.”
Stewart can, at the very least, boast that he has Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch representing his team in the Chase.
For Stewart, the past two seasons have been a rude awakening to the reality that he’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning. The end is nigh. He’s more Michael Waltrip than ever.
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Winner: Hendrick Motorsports
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Hendrick Motorsports needed a strong effort heading into the Chase, and that’s what it got from three of its four drivers.
Jeff Gordon, still winless, drove his car well, earning a top 10 and a berth in the Chase, but seeing as the Joe Gibbs cars—that at one point ran 1-2-3-4 at Richmond—have been dominating, Gordon quickly saw his team as the lacking one.
“We’re behind,” Gordon told NBC Sports. “We know that. There’s a lot of ways to make it to Homestead. A lot can happen. We’re playing catch up. Junior is probably the best in our stable right now. He proved that again tonight.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one of the biggest movers of the night, clawing up 24 spots. He finished fifth.
Then there’s the six-time Cup champ, Jimmie Johnson, showing, at one point, why he’s the No. 1 seed heading into the Chase after finishing ninth at RIR.
“We’re flipping anything we can find,” he told NBC Sports. “We haven’t had the pace we’ve wanted as a group. Summers have always been tough on the No. 48 car. We’re heading to a lot of tracks that are the bread and butter for our race team.”
With the exception of the mediocre Kasey Kahne, HMS seems poised to move deep into the Chase.
Loser: Martin Truex Jr.'s Three Trips to Pit Road
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Martin Truex Jr.’s night at RIR started poorly and didn’t improve. During the competition caution around Lap 40, Truex visited pit road not once, not twice, but three times.
It put him behind the all-knowing magic eight ball where he finished 32nd. “Outlook not so good.”
Granted, his spot in the Chase has been secure since the first trip to Pocono this season, but Truex isn’t the type of driver who can afford to have these types of mishaps. Though despite lacking serendipity of late, he’s been supremely consistent in 2015.
“If we don’t have too much bad luck get in the way, we can get far in this thing,” Truex said during the NBC Sports broadcast. “With crashes, flat tires and hitting oil, aside from that stuff it’s been flawless. We’re going to have to find more speed.”
That’s the kicker for this team. Do they have that Homestead-ian speed to be in the fantastically final four? And how will he fare when drivers like Johnson and Harvick start to get serious?
We’ll start to see some of those drivers who qualified early for the Chase come alive, and that will spell danger for the little guys in the Chase.
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Winner: Paul Menard Limping into the Chase
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Ugh. There’s limping into the postseason and then there’s LIMPING into the postseason, and Paul Menard most definitely LIMPED into the Chase.
Menard took 26th at Richmond and slipped from 15th on the Chase Grid to 16th. That doesn’t sound too significant until you realize how close Almirola was to the front of the field. A win by a driver off the Grid would have kicked Menard of the Chase’s ledge.
“We don’t know whether to be happy or sad,” Menard, who finished three laps down, said during the NBC Sports broadcast. “It was such a bad race for us. I’m very excited to be in the Chase. It’s a goal we set at the beginning of the year.”
And he’s been within the cushy borders of the Grid since the third race of the season, largely keeping his car out of trouble. What chances does he have of reaching the Contender Round, let alone Homestead? Not good, especially after the way his gang handled RIR.
“Everything resets now,” he said. “Chicago has been a pretty good track for us. We had a fast car tonight. It just burned the left-front tire off after 30 laps. Chicago is a whole new animal.”
Loser: Kevin Harvick as the Lucky Dog
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As Kenseth kept lapping drivers, he came upon the bumper of Harvick’s No. 4 Chevy and promptly zipped past. That transformed Harvick into something he hasn’t been all year, according to the NBC Sports broadcast, which was this: the lucky dog.
Savvy NASCAR fans know that is the first car a lap down, who then benefits from the wave around under yellow to get back on the lead lap.
Harvick? Back on the lead lap?
“We were just way off,” Harvick said on the NBC Sports broadcast. “We were racing on three tires since Lap 16. The left-front tire kept wearing out.”
But as he dealt with his triangulated issues, he clearly thought about the Chase and his bid to win back-to-back Cups.
"I’ve been waiting for weeks to get to Chicago to get this thing started. It’s what it’s all about. It’s a whole different way of racing. It’s a different mindset as you go into Chicago. It’s take no prisoners. I don’t like you. And I know they don’t like me. You race like that every lap. You have to worry about what you have to do to advance. It’s not about making more friends.
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Friends, clearly overrated.
Steve Letarte, a NASCAR analyst for NBC, added about Harvick’s finish: “That’s a great compliment that running 14th is far off. They’ve set the bar so high, maybe this will help them heading into the Chase.”
Harvick is full of Sunoco fuel and ready to drive from Chicago to Miami.
Winner: Matt Kenseth Jumps the Restart
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From zero wins in 2014 to four in 2015, Kenseth and the No. 20 car are in championship form heading into the Chase.
Kenseth’s car was unbeatable at RIR. Nothing short of a blown tire or some dragging lapped car could hold him back.
Then late in the race during the final restart—the one chance the door was open—Kenseth clearly jumped the restart and blasted ahead to victory.
“We were really superb on the long run,” he said on NBC Sports after the race. “I had to work for it hard in the short runs. I was pretty sad to see that last caution. I knew it was going to be tough, but we got the jump.”
Yes, he did.
NASCAR didn’t penalize him. He had been jumping restarts all night, and he knew NASCAR wouldn’t do anything, so why not test the boundaries? Kyle Busch did a similar thing changing lanes too early on a restart with no consequence.
So Kenseth heads into the Chase with full tank of momentum after his third win in six races.
“It’s a good way to go into the Chase,” he said.
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