Cook Out 400 | NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay

running along with Denny Hamlin and that Toyota on board as they come out of turn four for the final time before we see the green flag racing [Music] Tyler Reddick started up front with Kyle Bush in that front row but Reddick has separated himself early two by two behind him though Denny Hamlin in the 11 looking already trying to take second away from Bush correct way up the racetrack there and turn three and four the 19 losing a few spots locked up the left front tire I believe I couldn't tell that the left front or left rear I agree with you Junior I saw smoking up the hill he went and now he hears him on the the three wide top with two Bass Pro cars in the mix is it four wide now as we see that 22 of Joey Logano throwing it in right in front of Ross chest day stage three wide lost to Dylan in the three on the inside the 14. they're a Chase Briscoe in the middle of that sandwich in the 19 of Martin trucks Jr outside of him that gets sorted out let's take another look at the 19 or what happened yeah see Truex driving into turn three gets on the brakes oh contact actually with the 47. Ricky sin house Jr yeah it's pretty hard contact honestly uh this early in the race looks like truexo trying to work hard on that outside trying to maintain not lose too many spots and back to 17th a little Bobble across a lot of spots right now everybody in the top ten running right on the bottom but we expect to see this track get a little wider with the heat we had today and how green the racetrack he is hoping this racetrack will widen out a little bit as it gets rubbered up we just heard Kyle Busch say to protect your tires you got to slow down a little bit but you got to find the balance because you don't want to slow down so much that people pass you but you want to stay in front of them how as a driver do you do that you just kind of maintain the Gap you know you've got to help from your spotter behind uh to tell you about the Gap behind you and you obviously can see what's out in front but you just need to know what kind of lap times and what kind of speeds behind you to be able to moderate how hard you're driving your race car if you want to save a little bit of Tire a little bit of speed for the long run out in front of the field Tyler Reddick has been up front for five laps those five laps are Monumental for the 45 driver because it's the first laps he's ever LED on a short track I think that is an amazing statistic for Tyler Reddick well they better not get too used to it because that 11 car I think is just a little bit quicker Denny Hamlin starting to work a different line in three and four and I think we'll see this throughout the day he ran high at three and four of the first last time by there this time right on the bottom five the three of Austin Dill in that battle down on the bottom of your screen 17 18th right there 16 17. the lead battle you see three car links separating Reddick from Hamlin up front yeah the 45 gets up the racetrack a little bit on the corner exit Denny's then he likes that he says hey I'll take that bottom move up off the racetrack give me some clean air radical try to tidy up that turn three and four This Time by Marty Tyler Reddick out front he is in the playoffs with the win earlier this year at Circuit of the Americas but this is a pretty important race for Tyler Reddick and the 45 team as crew chief Billy Scott told me he drives for Michael Jordan and the guy who's tracking him down right now Denny Hamlin and Billy told me we have to start building some consistency and some momentum speed has not been our problem all year long execution had Steve they finished second at Pocono last week and he said that honestly is the first race we've executed in two months how important as a team is it when you're in the playoffs to build that momentum and that consistency going into the playoffs well consistency is the key right you got to have to Firepower to win when you get late in the playoffs but with 16 cars making it 12 advancing out of round one you ain't advancing out of round two consistency still pays only three guys can win in each round I think it's vitally important and that's really what the guy at the bottom of your screen that 22 of Joe lagano he's the champion from a year ago and that's kind of what he did consistent work just great through the playoffs and then when it mattered he had the Firepower and went in one piece [Music] one of the drivers on the move is four positions the start of the race the joy and almond Digger both of those and have moved up five spots as we see speaking of moving up we saw the 10 of Eric almarola move up the racetrack and pushed that 22 a little higher than I think he wanted to go this in mind we're 11 laps into a run and the cars every car in the field has slowed down over one second from their fastest lap that is just how quick the grip goes away this good little battle on top of the screen between Kyle Busch the nine of Chase Elliott Bubba Wallace who's showing pretty decent speed qualified Fizz still running there but on the start the initial start of the race he lost a spot or two is drove back and right to the back bumper of Chase Elliott now maybe puts the back bumper on there as we see the doordash on board of Bubba Wallace he Dives to the inside here in turn one and two he's gonna try to wrap this bottom I think he easily takes the spot from Chase [Music] so Bubba Wallace now moves up into the third shot nice job you hear on the radio Reddick Hamlin Bush Wallace the top four hasn't been a good race track for Bubba and the last three results 26 13 to 22nd so trying to have a great day today as he continues to build on his you know the points he has over the bubble we got some road courses coming up we talked about it in the pre-race he knows he's not great at those road courses so a good day today is important two wins on the career for Bubba Wallace one in Talladega the other at Kansas last year hasn't happened on a short track though yet Junior mentioned that this place has been a struggle for Bubba in the past and here's the reason why this plays in a place like Loudoun these flatter short tracks the car just doesn't drive very well generally but it's always fast and Bubba Says you know I'd rather it be that way than the opposite so it's just going to be about managing that balance all day long it's going to be extra challenging today with the Heat and the tires that fall off but today is just going to be about how well they execute simple as that booty Barton the crew chief said we don't try any harder at here or Michigan than we do with the road courses but it sure would be nice to have a couple of good races here to give us some buffer over the next three the end of the regular season Dave let them come back to you that was the word to William Byron started six running six but they were seeing things on the pit box that told them Byron was doing all the right things the cars in front of him were doing things that we're going to bring them back toward the 24. Jeff sometimes you got to listen to that and just ride in the 24 or another car well the other cars are getting worse well Steve just talked about how the fall off of tires is so big here and I think that's what you have to do if you if your car is not perfect and you make those tires angry it's going to get worse you're going to heat those tires up and the car is going to continue to drive bad so you have to use patience at this racetrack I love to hear drivers that are now up here in the TV talk about patience now Jeff I'm gonna give you credit you always being funny wait who are you talking about then I think we know we all know so it started off short track racing three and a 14 already a little contact there and Austin Dillon we'll see how aggressive he gets as the battles continue all the way around to short track you're watching The Cookout 400 on USA [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] want to take a look at the Xfinity fastest lap you don't have to go any further back than race leader Tyler Reddick it was lap two 23-27 was the fastest lap Steve where are they now what are they running north of 25. we're in a two second fall off at this point two seconds slower 26 laps in and already two seconds off the fastest lap Marty well that fall off is just crazy Rick but it makes the racing very interesting let's ride on board with Denny Hamlin thanks to Mavis Tire and brakes 123 degrees inside the car so shifting Jeff Burton has become a huge deal here in NASCAR but notice what Denny Hamlin is not doing he is not shifting right now just riding around in fifth gear in fact I've heard a number of spotters talk about they see a lot of cars just riding around in fifth gear and not shifting would that be a move to save tires and maybe gain lap time yeah I think I think it's a possibility that what they're trying to do is not to have so much RPM on Corner exit so it doesn't spin those rear tires and running this High Groove I think shifting becomes less important the RPMs don't get down as low as they do when they're running the bottom as soon as Danny gets to the back bumper of the 45 car he has to move around to be able to get an aerodynamic advantage that front splitter is trying to give him so it's working in term one and two we saw him gain on the back of Reddick but the top of three and four is really hard to do you almost got to commit further up the racetrack to have a chance at making the top work because the transition and the shape of the corner on exit um it's you know we see some people in the back of the field already moving all the way to the fence cars are running right up against the wall in turn three and four and I think if you move up there you might be able to find some speed here late in the tie run so much fun riding on board and listening to the throttle our enemy listen to how easy he is with this throttle to try to get the power down see how much further up the racetrack he's trying to go I think if he committed a little higher this is where he would gain all the way down this long straight away he'd be able to make that run so we went on board I mean first of all look at the temperature 125 degrees we talk about that but then another interesting I want to point out right here because we're going to talk a lot about breaks again today that Blue Knob right there that's the brake adjuster Turn It Forward puts more front brake in it turn it counterclockwise it takes front brake out of it to adjust that balance over a long run on Corner entry it's also not shifting that's one thing we're seeing here he's staying in fifth is that fuel saving or is oh you have enough fuel that that's the that's the one the driver I'd be like hey man you know how I'm on you about saving gas you get a week off but this week you got a safe Tire you're still gonna save something just not not fuel one thing to pay attention to as well watch this throttle he's on the straight and oh and hits Full Throttle like a wild after being on the front straightaway this is one of those racetracks believe it or not you can actually spin the rear tires at the start Finish Line especially as this run goes on you get to about 50 60 laps in this run and it gets really tough on rear grip now Jeff Jr do you feel like you're on the edge of spinning out if you would give it more gas I mean if you get on if you match the gas do you think you're gonna spin out are you right on that edge with these laps no it just feels like you're tearing the tires up right when you're when you can hear the RPM and feel the tire you're just like ripping the tire away from the tread as you're trying to spin it down straight away and I think same thing in you know dirt racing I'm not an expert didn't do a lot of dirt racing but I think you gotta you know be careful with the throttle to be able to allow that tire to last you can burn it off you can run it too hard and you can get it we'll spin as Burton said down the straightaway a lot of guys will even move down the racetrack into some asphalt that's less used over the last decade and a half they think that's actually even better for entire life as well so we may see some people running lower on the front straightaway keep an eye out for that BJ McLeod is at the back of the pack and we just saw the 45 about to catch him as this is the pack yeah talking about we got a lot of cars running either side by side or getting a little congested on this short wanted to show right here is how high these cars are running now these are the cars they're the tail end of the field but this is exactly what we saw at New Hampshire just a few weeks ago this is the group of cars that went all the way to the fence in turn three and four first at New Hampshire by the end of the race the entire field was doing it if these cars can show speed doing this right here the rest of the field will catch on and start picking it up as this race goes on a lot higher line being run by different drivers as we see the 45 has been able to get by BJ McLeod so now one car is a lap down let's take a look right here this is the 31 of Haley two of cindric we're going to see this a lot I you know no harm no foul but that just shows you how easy it is to slide up now these two cars we talk about saving tire and doing everything right they have to work their way through this mess so I think that's the hardest time to stay patient out here by yourself I think you could have a Target lap time you see it on your dash but then once you get into traffic it's going to be really frustrating because even those cars is a backup pack we run them what 37 laps right so they're only a couple tenths slower than the leader it's not like they're going to just drive right behind and they you know they're going to race the leader hardest because you know they're trying to stay on the lead lap the second place card catches a little bit more of a Break by those lap cars they're already lapped down they're not going to hold up second third fourth as much as they will the leader so this is an opportunity for Denny Denny to try to close the gaps maybe pass to the lead and although Denny you just saw right there he ran the bottom of the racetrack what he did do is stay against the wall for forever into turn one meaning that he trusts the grip up on the upper end of the racetrack as you ride along watch this as we get he's going to put the right side right on this wall and he's going to stay against it as long as he possibly can and then get to the yellow line a little bit later see Reddick up the racetrack sooner did he handling he's running that yellow line all the way around the corner two completely different ways of driving this racetrack so Denny Hamlin running seconds he's a little over a second behind Tyler Reddick who has been out front all 39 laps Denny pre-race well he was out there having a little fun with the crowd even though they were booing here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] you know [Music] [Music] [Music] NBC Sports coverage of NASCAR on USA is brought to you by Toyota Let's Go Places Sonic two for seven dollar deal for limited time only at Sonic and by the new movie Gran Turismo based on a true story only in theaters August 11th Reddick and Hamlin still separated by 1.1 seconds then it's Wallace Bush Elliott's on the top five let's get a few updates from Pit Road we'll start with Harvick in the four and Ricky's moved up two positions since the start of the race no word on the radio just quietly going about his work I guess Rodney Childers his crew chief does this racetrack represent a place to get Kevin's first win of the year and before he retires he goes well not anymore really than the rest of the tracks maybe except Talladega Daytona and the road courses they think they can win here today got a good car Marty terrific qualifying effort for Ricky's Stenhouse and JTG Doherty racing they started ninth running and 11th right now and some pretty good lap times the longer they run Mike Kelly told me this week there's two races that really bother me this year Richmond in the spring was one of those honestly felt like we had a top five car in that race we had problems on Pit Road we lost all of our track positions so this is one Dylan that has been circled on the calendar for months for the 47 team it's been circled on the calendar for the 19 team of Martin tricks Jr as well but they have gone backwards if the stars started 10th they run 25th right now Martin said the left rear is gone we have no traction we haven't been good since the start of this race so they're gonna have to take a big swing at it when they come down here James small said the summer races have been a struggle the spring races have been good but they're gonna have to figure something out here for Truex on this first stop right behind him and Ashley Furniture on the Move driver is AJ almendinger who started in the 36th spot she's up to the sixth or the 26th position rather Aaron Krause runs part-time in the Xfinity series for college racing qualified the car yesterday got it into a window that he Jay's comfortable with and he's been able to move forward so far again almendinger was in Road America and that race yesterday in the Xfinity series looking for a win for colic racing and then this morning uh flew here to Richmond so he could run this race and that was already on the schedule at the beginning of the year they had already targeted Road America as a race that AJ Allmendinger was going to run in the Xfinity series well they didn't know that he would be 17th in the points and again you take the top 16 into the playoffs so he missed practicing qualifying yesterday here at this track yeah I was shocked that AJ wasn't better yesterday sat on the pole and had good pace and then had some break issues and just couldn't really contend congratulations Junior Sam mayor it was an impressive final lap hold him chaotic final couple left same bear got his first win did a heck of a job on that final lap yeah it was awesome to see Sam finally get that win today and I'm you know I'm equally surprised by the 16 car I felt like that this would be a bad uh you know a bad deficit for them to overcome not having practice not having qualifying for this driver you know but hey it shows us how good AJ is and how confident he is to come here and show up and through the field how he has and I think it's you know opportunity for them to have status quo and continue their March toward a playoff position yeah and also AJ you know AJ when I talked to him he said hey we haven't been good there anyway he's like oh you know what we've been doing hasn't worked so let's try something different he was not concerned about it because he didn't have much confidence coming here anyway so let's do something different I know they wanted to run better yesterday but appreciate the commitment they made and fulfilling it Here Comes William Byron looking to the inside he's going to take the spot away from Kyle Busch Marty Rick the playoff driver that's in trouble right now is Daniel Suarez started 33rd today pretty much gone nowhere 29th right now to the car just way too tight in the middle and way too free on exit no lateral grip and Travis Mack telling him to kind of hey search around find what grip you can Steve only 16 laps left here in stage one Suarez below the cut line coming in what swing could Travis Mack take it from here in stage one and when they do Pit to be able to get Suarez back out front and In Contention well mission mission one is stay in front of the leader because that's the leader right there and the reason I say that Marty is the answer to your question changes right if you go a lap down you men can't take a big swing because you have to then pit and try to battle The Cars one lap down for that free pass position if you're the last car in the lead lap or nearly the last card in the lead left you could take a big swing Mark you could sit on Pit Road for an extra 20 or 30 seconds it's to be to maybe go under the hood adjust front ride height something big that's going to change the 99 unfortunately the one of Ross Chastain is only 20 seconds so track house in general has not been their normal self this weekend they definitely seem a bit off but that's daunting when you hear you know hey leader five cars back four cars back you know it's information the square has these but drivers you it can't feel good when you get that information well it feels terrible but you know we had a conversation a little bit ago about you know I'm surprised it's taking this long to get to this far back I mean it shows you how competitive this field is and radic when he's getting there he's just not going by him these are not going to be easy passes and with 13 laps to go they're going to put up a fight it's Brian Newman that's right in front of the 45 about to put him a lap down Dylan Bubba Wallace continues the strong run for 23-11 racing he's up to the third spot and came on the radio a little bit ago told booty BART to the crew chief I'm just cruising right now so they're pretty happy for that race car Bubba told me earlier this morning too he said you know we're normally good here with the Joe Gibbs Racing setup but a lot of times we're kind of at the back of that many cars or the Toyotas it's been really nice this weekend for us to be up in the front up in the mix and one of the leading Toyotas so as they run one two three right now the strong day continues for Bubba and Toyota in general as he tries to track down his car owner and his teammate in front of him [Music] oh another car having a great run so far today is this 41 of Ryan priest sitting in seventh position and closing right there on William Byron he's 27th in points it's been a tough tough year in argument the last couple of weeks with a few different drivers frustrated over how this year has went for this team but with Harvick running Fifth and precin seventh this is a good day for shr so this 41 team it they're here in the first stage let's see if they can keep keep it together and put a whole race together so June you just referenced it and last week was the second of two weeks that he has had issues with different drivers this time it was Corey lajoy and here's Corey lajoy he's on the inside he thought that the 48 was going to be looking inside so he went the middle row and then he drifted up he caught the 41 around the 41 goes and then this happened after the race no got a little heated yeah that's just a guy who's tired of being run over I mean two weeks in a row back to back he's been taken out late in the race and he's worked hard for those positions even though that was sort of toward the back of the field it's just been a tough year for priests and you know he came in to an organization that was that was performing well but they're struggling this year and again this is a great opportunity for them to run well maybe they could put the whole race together Dylan he's channeled some of that frustration into a strong run so far he told me this morning said we've got good Pace on 10 lap runs 20 lap runs and 30 lap runs it all felt good so they were optimistic to start this day and Ryan's a short tracker at Hardin and understands kind of how to conserve his equipment and make the tires last to the end of the runs in the end of the race I think that's going to play dividends for him here this afternoon and it helps when they've got a good race car underneath in which they do right now yeah priest still running up there in the top ten and he's in the seventh spot right now and he was actually closing in on William Byron we saw William Byron go by Kyle Busch well Kyle Busch has started to fall he is plummeting remember he started up on the front row and now Kyle Bush is already down outside the top ten in that 12th spot Marty Randall Burnett told me this morning yeah we qualified well but I'm worried about our race base showing up now with six to go in stage one here's what Kyle Bush said on the radio [Applause] [Music] wanted to and this is the shortest stage of the day they've fallen from second now to 12th for Kyle Busch so Steve what do you have in the book for off the corner well that's a new one for me I I absolutely fine that with Richmond your best bet is try to fix entry to the middle most of the exit issues don't get better unless you can position the car better through the middle of the corner getting steering wheel out of it um you know there are a set of characteristics that you always have on Corner exit now I don't know what that specific description would be this battle right here continues Tyler right trying to laugh Daniel Suarez now with just three laps to go in the stage yeah yeah that's where is going to put up a big fight right here he's been doing everything he can you see right there ready gets a run on the inside of him but but Suarez is able to carry speed into three more stay alongside him here and then oh big loose right there so this time reddick's got a little more of a run than he's had the previous laps Suarez has to make a decision does he keep battling allow the 51 to close in because then if the 51 gets by him he's not in the free pass currently he's at least the free pass position Denny Hamlin and Bob Wallace battle for second on the bottom of your screen you got to keep battling here because you cannot see second place behind you so you recognize that you know Reddick has no reason to push really hard right here so you got to make him take this spot away see you cannot see second place in the mirror so you know take advantage of that then you don't want to get into record early put him in a position where he's got a lift great stage for 23-11 as Tyler reddick's getting ready to come back to the checkered flag and he's been stingy for a driver who has never led a lap on a short track he's about to lead his 70th lap today and not another driver has been out front Suarez is going to stay on that lead lap and it is Tyler Reddick grabbing his fourth stage win this season that is his most ever in a season so Reddick gets the win of stage one bubble Wallace his teammate at 23-11 and we heard Denny Hamlin say that these three cars are all set up the same so they finished one two three big points for Bubba Wallace in that battle at the bubble I agree one point back there in 10th for Gibbs all of those are going to matter with this tight battle at the bubble Point's a big thing again as that bubble battle continues who gets into the playoffs well another opportunity in front you're watching NASCAR cup series racing from Richmond presented by Toyota [Music] foreign the new movie Gran Turismo based on a true story only in theaters August 11th and you can get your tickets now they are on sale great crowd here at Richmond as stage one is complete it was Tyler Reddick who was able to get to the green and white checkered first and now on to Pit Road they come Dylan Robert Wallace had a great first stage got to the second position after starting fifth just said in a stall moment of front turn is what's slowing them down so he's asking for more turn in the center for Goodyear Tires Sunoco fuel for the 23 game fifth place Kevin Harvick needs to turn a little bit better to the center a little better drive off at the end of the run the adjustment's already been made air out of the right front and left rear Marty Denny Hamlin letting your screen said I'm too loose everywhere zero tight and I'm fighting exit the man who drives for him Tyler Reddick up front four states win of the Year playoff point in the bank as well he said I'm really good I just need to take care of it early in the run the 45 team nice stop they hold serve here on Pit Road no position change out of the top five reading stays up front [Music] foreign NBC Sports coverage of NASCAR on USA is brought to you by Progressive Insurance same with your bundle Auto home or motorcycle insurance visit progressive.com Credit One Bank credit card company and by Toyota Let's Go Places like the James River which is uh running right through Richmond take a look at the race analysis here Steve well so let's talk about the race kind of like that river right here so stage one it's over we're out here in stage two we got around 160 laps well fuel says you got to come one time right here in the middle you stop in the middle of your road trip you keep going but the tires go so slow I think there's a chance I'm gonna see two pit stops so you can either run 75 on a set of tires and then 75 more or you can run maybe just a little over 50 pit 50 more pit and a little over 50 again the math would say pitting twice is better the challenge you use an extra set of tires and at some moment there's a good chance you're going to be two laps down and that is never a comforting spot to be and so now the front row is made up with Tyler Reddick he's on the inside bubble Wallace is on the outside as they come through the restart Zone and back in front of the Pac-Man stands great flat bubble while I was trying to stay on the outside of that 45 and pressure him limit the amount he can come up the racetrack and see if he can get by on the high side Michael Mcdowell at the fifth row jumped up and made it three wide still three wide but he made a ton of positions doing that he did that on the very first start of the race as well to gain a lot of spots finishing 11th in that first stage he's taking gambles his his pit crew has taken gamble all year long to put him in uh spots to succeed and he matches well with that aggression on the racetrack Bubba Wallace pinching down that 45 and bubble Wallace look who's in third those Chase salad fans want to know is a win in the books is it possible Junior you talked about it in the pre-race this is without a doubt the most speed I believe the nine has had since he's come back from injury look at what Brad Keselowski is doing on the outside of Hamlin here as well using that high line to get by people [Music] build submarines.com giving us this perspective and one thing we're seeing right there or we're listening to is Brad Keselowski shifting so through the door keep them on us now he went into high gear on the front straightaway downshifted into turn one we know the shifting changes the balance of these cars so if you were in clean air running along not shifting in that first stage when we have a free start here on new tires everybody's bunched up around you and you're forced to push your car a little harder maybe that balance isn't what you thought it was maybe the you know the performance your car isn't doing what it needs to do when you induce the shifting into it also you have to think too this is a longer stage to combat that point I made you could say hey Danny Hamlin might be sitting there riding this out trying to save with a One-Stop strategy we know they like to go long this 11 team always goes along with everybody else and so maybe he's sitting there thinking hey go on and run hard I'm here for I'm here for one stop only y'all can push all you want Marty and Junior just to keep that in mind Chris gay part A couple of years ago used that strategy you're talking about running stage two on one stop to save an extra set for the end of the race in that stage three a couple years ago he spent 16 laps down the lap put tires on came back through the field and won the race so you might be right on with that the other thing was shifting Steve is that this should be also a shorter run for some if you're going to two stop this stage it's only about 50 laps did you just mentioned a moment ago not 70 like you did in stage one so does allow you a little more bandwidth you think behind the wheel to shift a little bit more and use the tires a little bit more too well that's where communication so important we talk about driver crew chief relationship well right here you want to make sure that the driver and the coochie are on the same page don't have the driver out there abusing the rear tires if you're going to run long and if you're going to run short don't be back here cruising saving tires so I agree with Junior and his assessment of the 11 it wouldn't shock me if he did something different I think that that's kind of his style right patience entire life seems to be his strength as he rolls to the outside of the nine here comes the 11. as he works to the outside of the nine of Chase Elliott you know what looks as though the preferred line right now as far as passing is that High Line you know what's interesting about that is that many times in this racetrack the bottom is the way to go for the first five six seven eight laps but today we just saw Bubba Wallace he took the lead from the top we saw you know right now we see this battle right here the 11 car able to hang on the top early in the run you would think Junior that would get better as the tires got Laps on them running them up high interesting to see than that car fighting as hard as he is on the inside here trying to keep this position didn't he jumps out there gets outside line but Chase is not giving this away we saw Brad keslowski also pass Hamlin and Elliott on the outside he's up to Third and Hamlin about to take fourth away from Elliott using that second Groove Hamlin clears the nine bottom of the screens all the guys just outside the top 20 the five of Larson his 20th and that's everyone else behind him and Larson has struggled I thought they were really fast in practice didn't qualify well and the speed hasn't been there so far in the race he's up to racetrack now getting challenged by Austin Dillon in that three car Junior you were high on the 41 a priest on the runway they were having unfortunately I think he slipped through his box 15.8 seconds in the pit stall from 6 to 18. currently still stuck back at 60. right you said hey keep the track position you have unfortunately a mistake out of the 41. issue with Noah Gregson in the 42 take a look at the Lock up here so we're three wide in front of him down into the corner and trying not to run into the back of the 19 car that's you know that's all he's doing there and then he's loose right here get some contact with Corey lejoy right there just hard race short track racing a lot of it I mean you know we're not Truex has been banging doors with the 99 sorry as they were beating on each other hard off turn four a lot of contact here back in the pack the racing back here in the back half of the field more intense than what you see out front these people are back here panicking trying not to lose spots because they know the further they fade to the rear the more at risk of going to lap down and losing control of this race entirely goes the fight for position in the middle of the pack heating up Bubba Wallace though out in front [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] bubble Wallace still out in front Nascar Cup Series racing from Richmond presented by Toyota and fans NASCAR and the premier Partners want to thank you visit nascar.com thank you fans to learn how you can win an exclusive Diamond experience just for being a fan what you're doing right now is we see a lot of fans here at Richmond enjoying watching Bubba Wallace out in front he's got a 1.6 second lead right now over Tyler Reddick that is Brad Keselowski Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott on the top five a little run so far by 23-11 and the 23 above Wallace I just I didn't have him on my radar after practice was a little broken up it was hard to kind of handicap but I didn't see this type of pace but great job by Moody Barker and the driver behind the wheel they've put together a great start here Bubba Wallace his normal spotter is spreading craft today he's got Trey Poole up there because yesterday Freddy Craft's father Tommy passed away and Freddie's staying home for the weekend to be with the family Bubba Wallace actually put Tommy's name over the window on the driver's side there so it says Tommy craft uh the driver's side door honoring Freddie craft his spotters late father out in front again 1.4 seconds the lead for the 23 of Bubba Wallace over Tyler Redd let's get a few updates and we'll go back to the seventh place number 10 American holiday Rick I love it when a crew chief keeps a promise Drew blinkenster recruit chief for Eric Amarillo told me this morning that he would get stage points now may not be a big deal except that Eric was starting 24th he got all the way up to eight got three stage points and that car is good don't forget what they did in the spring in April pretty much from 32nd to 13th on the day Marty at Dylan sorry another big mover is Chris Pusher up 16 spots just broke into the top ten they felt like they got a bad draw in qualifying we're in the slower of the two groups in practice and such so felt like they were much better than what their qualifying time showed biggest thing they wanted to do early was just move forward so they didn't get laps starting that far back they did that and then some only complaint for busher just the car build a little bit free on the entry at the end of stage one Marty Dylan good call out by Dale Jr a moment ago to point out Kyle Larson who won the Richmond race just a few months ago here in the spring running 21st right now when I talked to Cliff Daniels this morning about the car and how practice went he said I had to slow Kyle down he said the reason we won the spring race we had such a good short run car so we tried to build some medium run speed in the car but Kyle was driving through that just trying too hard every lap in practice so see if I'm curious did you ever have to tell Dale Jr or Jeff Gordon hey slow down in practice take care of the car we're at Kyle Butch mentioned it earlier today as well yeah I don't think he ever had to say that to me um I uh I remember we'd come here for practice Steve and you know we'd have a late we had a really good speed and then you would you know you start the race pretty confident happy with your car but it just you know just doesn't always translate a lot of times speed in practice doesn't show up in the race and sometimes speed you haven't had all weekend shows up in the race right you you're awful in practice and uh and somehow the car just is a rock in the race and it's hard to describe and we also talk about you know this racetrack being so different I wanted to ask you about that Steve this track being so different from the first race of the year in the second race how does a track like this change so much we would come here with the perfect setup that ran so well earlier in the year and it would not work again in the in the race in the second race in the second half of the year I've always thought this is one of the toughest tracks to practice at and I could never figure out why I used to think it was because it was day practice for a night race but I'm not I think that was a good excuse but I'm not sure that was real because now that it's day day I agree with what Junior was saying that that it doesn't really translate and race one doesn't even sometimes translate to race two so and I wish I had an answer um you know the surface is pretty old you would think it would be pretty consistent but man I've thrown away a lot of good notes leaving here after some bad decisions in a race yeah this is one of the most difficult race tracks and a little bit of a track tip makes a big difference track tip 131 degrees that's pretty hot one driver that has not had a problem with the racetrack today Joey Logano in that 22 car started 23rd and he has driven himself up right now into Ninth Place I thought in practice this car looked looked good he he had good long run speed he did not qualify well at all he went out in the second Booth the second group was faster and still didn't lay a lap time down but in the race Dylan he's got really good speed this actually goes back to something that they tried a few weeks ago at loud and there's some similar setup philosophies what they tried there he and crew chief Paul wolf worked they liked it very much so they took that same philosophy tried to apply it and more here this weekend by the way something for you guys to ponder Joey said I can't be tighter overall but I need to be tighter off turn four so how do you slice that how do you make that driver happy well hey that's Richmond right I mean it really is like you I I it's one and two are so radically different from each other entering turn one it's a big long sweeper and then you get a really tight exit on the off a turn two and three is opposite it's a tight entry into three and a sweeper on exit so the car is not going to drive the same one end of the other you as a driver have to pick hey this is where on in the race today right now this is where I'm the weakest this is what I need you to work on and we just showed the battle uh between Ryan priests and Kyle Busch right there outside the top 10 Priestess drove back up to 11 spot I was wondering when he made that mistake on Pit Road they lost all that track position was at the end of the day for this 41 team but they were racing their way back into a top ten and we're about to find out which strategy some of these teams will be on will it be a two-stop strategy in this state well right now Bubba up front [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] written and directed by Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer he is an iMac shot epic Thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding Paradox of the enigmatic man you must risk destroying the world in order to save it see it only in theaters now and we've talked about the temperature and the heat here at Richmond how about right now from the Toyota on board 134 degrees inside the car for Denny Hamlet I think that's where it starts getting pretty uncomfortable about 120 to 125 is kind of the summer average inside the car the worst we've seen that I can remember is Chicago 150 degrees inside the cars several years ago but anywhere around over 130 is nasty nasty temperatures at a short track where you're working you're working hard not a lot of air moving around in the car speeds are down and so it's going to be pretty uncomfortable looking back from the Coke Zero sugar on board of Chase Elliott and Harvick right there in that seventh position behind Elliott who's sixth yeah Elliot's been in front of Harvard for several laps here looking just about like this the car though that has passed both of them the 10 of Amarillo moving into fifth Dylan so here's Ryan priest the first of the green flag stops and first to the Front Runners this may cause some other drivers to nail and pit a little bit early was hearing about 10 or 15 laps away but priest the first to pit and get new tires and I want to update I mentioned that 41 was long in his box I couldn't figure out why with a little bit more digging and I think there was some contact from William Byron we saw Ryan priest first stall on Pit Road Byron had a slow stop as well lost eight or nine spots I don't think he meant to but when priest kind of checked up to turn left I think Bayern gave him a little shot so it wasn't poor Ryan sliding long it was more of a shove long in the pit stall in the end both the 41 and the 24 lost spots on the first pit cycle and you get ready to see why new tires matter so much as Ryan priest is going to look like a rocket ship here Dylan here's some more stops Brad Keselowski and said he was just a little bit too loose needed some more rear grip so he'll change four tires as well Marty Tyler Reddick when you have one of the better cars on the racetrack you play it safe that's what they're doing here two stops in this stage for Billy Scott and Tyler Reddick to the car really good just a little bit too free on exit Dylan Bubba Wallace is and the race leader goodie Martin the crew chief said your management of that stage one run was ideal pass when you could but didn't force it it's been more he's down and away good run continues for Eric almarola four Goodyear Tires Sunoco fuel for him moved all the way up into the top ten Marty Kyle Larson radio the cliff Daniels and said mine so tight in the center it's just really killing the exits of the corner Daniels said yes we see it we're going to free you up a bunch on this stop Steve all these are two stop strategies for this stage yeah everybody picking right now with 106 laps will probably they don't have to for fuel but the plan would be to pit again for another set of tires Dave 24 William Byron comes in that was a slow stop on the left rear that's what got him back in with Brian priest and this time during the Run he said keep freeing me up this car is still tight Marty Kyle Busch said I've got nothing on exit at all and then on channel two Randall Burnett told Richard Childers I think we're just riding on the left rear stop that's what's going on with the eight car of Kyle Busch who's lost a lot of spots today after starting second you see the 11 of Denny Hamlin that is the race leader and you don't see this very often race leader getting passed left and right that is back to what Junior kind of predicted the 11 looks like he's gonna run long Dale will see if he panics like if he lost too much speed but he's going to have to run about 18 or 20 more laps for this strategy to work out and another driver with a big penalty in green flag stops the 10 of Eric almarola had a commitment line violation uh disappointing he had such a good car this weekend the track he normally runs very well oh and he was running he was running up in the top five well into the top five when that happened it's Rush Chastain getting his service four-tire stop and back out onto the track for him and when you said commitment line violation Steve just want to explain all four tires have to be on the inside of that Orange Box when they interfit road yeah there's an orange box down here on the flat we're going to see the 10 serving his penalty doing a nice job below at that time um and what happens is it kind of slides up and you can easily touch that box which is a penalty and now we have the 11 of Denny Hamlin on Pit Road as well with the four of Harvick Dave Kevin Harvick in the four car he said my car is loose late on the exit of the corner so he'll get forward with your tire Sunoco fuel try to make that better Marty Dave I will say junior was right that's what Chris Gayheart wanted to do in stage two just do it in one stop everyone on new tires so he brought Denny hamlets down Pit Road they'll now do it here in two stops and say two as Kevin Harvick leaves his stall and one saying the car just got way too tight on the short run trying to free that up in the center so Rick you talked about the penalty for the 10 so we see right here the orange boxed in the center of your screen you cannot touch it four tires below clearly the right front and right rear over it if you touch that box and come to Pit Road that's a violation now a little bit of an ad for and you see right here Blaine in the 12 having to back up the 10 in front of them on pit Lane that's always I'm sorry the two I thought it was the 12 it was the two there's Blaney man those teams he had no drive off by the way at the 12 of Blaney so yes the 12 is in and out thank you Dave and what I was going to say about Denny Hamlin is you know math would say that he's actually one of the few cards that split it up dead on a third he ran 50 laps and now he has exactly 101 to run Marty well you see Christopher Bell coming down Pit Road here 60 laps in the stage two gonna make it a two software as well Adam Stevens making that call I think the day not going how they expected as well always good here Richmond just been struggling with the handling all afternoon long and you can see on the left hand side of your screen there are a few that are going to try this on One Stop we'll see if it works out for them oh Johnny Carr too fast entering so here he comes right back down Pit Road been sitting around 18 spot not having a great day it's just going to get a little bit worse now but we were looking at that run down that order on the left of the screen and it looks like you know roughly five or so cars are gonna gonna stick on this one stop strategy at least for the time being Bubba Wallace in second yeah he already has been to Pit Road he left he was on Pit Road on lap 123. McDowell at 74 Truex at 74 Suarez at lap 74. but let's remember Truex had no no track position he had that issue early and he kind of got sent to the back and he's just not been as good as we had thought I don't know if there was damage from that contact in the left very early if the car's just not like they won I think this is James small thinking you know we're not going to drive back to the front Junior right we're gonna have to get lucky a yellow and he's in good shape right but yes that's what he's going to need but with McDowell he's he's in that battle for a playoff spot and for him for that team to take this Gamble and be one of the very few that is actually willing to do it it's not concerning for me because this is exactly what's put them in this position to have a playoff shot they are gamblers on top of that pit box they have been gambling they were 17 points above the cutoff line and right now McDowell is in front of the field here at Richmond [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] race fans win in Las Vegas stay where the racers stay at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa your ultimate Pit Stop on the Las Vegas Strip South Point everything you want all Under One Roof a little bit warmer day but that has not stopped the fans from enjoying what they're seeing on the track right now Bubba Wallace out front he's got a 1.4 second lead over Tyler Reddick his teammate at 23-11 then it's Brad keslowski Michael Mcdowell and Mark schrex Jr all in the top five busher Hamlin Elliott priest and Bush all in the top ten let's get a few more updates and we'll start with Dave Rick the pit cycle is now almost complete Kevin Harvick did not have a good stop kind of math stuff and we got it out of the way so we've got a long long way to go here nothing out back encouragement from his a spotter Tim fidua long way to go but that was slow Marty that put him back further in the line well Dave for Daniel Suarez fighting for a playoff spot they have struggled today in fact before this strategy move here to do stage two in one stop they hadn't really run higher than 25th so there were not a lot of cards in the deck for Travis Mack to play here Steve what do you think about this call fighting for that playoff spot as we mentioned had to do something different right now in 16th but 20 extra Laps on a set of tires here at Richmond that's a lot to ask well the big conserve of the 99 is yes yes you're on 20 laps but he's losing so much time currently 17 seconds behind Bubba Wallace said when he does come to Pit Road he's going to be a a long two laps down almost three so you know while Akashi in here could make his race a caution on the flip side of this strategy could end the race for the 99. Steve should he be the first one on Pit Road of the three that trying this strategy so that he can get out there and start putting faster laps together well the struggle is at some point you have to pay the piper I mean there's 88 laps there or 86 laps to go in this state so if you come now then all you're really doing is just delaying the pain and the suffering of being behind on tires and what happens for these guys out here is that is not just that you're slower because of tires it's this ninety percent of the field has pitted them put on fresh tires so you're out of the groove for the majority of your lap you never get a nice cruise down in around the yellow line as you see McDowell to your point first guy that says enough is enough Comes The Pit Road for his four tires Dave and Steve I asked him about being that guy that was still out on tires old whenever one had new tires they said yeah you tried to minimize the loss but you are so in the way it is really difficult but uh not much complaint about the balance of the race car maybe just a small air pressure adjustment he was told by a spotter just wait we'll be in a minute you'll get your chance to get them all back Mark Schreck Jr on this strategy as is Daniel Suarez tricks Jr is running 10th and Suarez running 19. we heard that radio by Harvick I'll be honest you know the stuff was a little slower it's one second off but some of it is just what we're talking about being on different strategies the 11 of Denny Hamlin and the four of Kevin Harvick ran a little bit longer they ran the true math of a third or third a third 50 laps so if you look on the left side of your board Harvick's up to Fourth now excuse me Hamlin's up to Fourth he's using those fresher tires Dylan Junior has bailed on this One-Stop strategy if you will as well he said tell me what we are doing because I'm really really bad right now so that was the decision was starting to backslide they brought Truex in for tires that jerks is going to feel like a he-man so back to what I was saying the four of Kevin Harvick yes he was right it was a little bit slower but you know fresher tires just by a little bit is going to make a difference as he starts to move through the field uh you know we look at busher and Elliot and Priests cars ahead of him in the running order they have eight lap older tires and here Richmond eight lapses a lot Gibbs just in front of Harvick right now we see the two on screen and those two on the exact same strategy came both of them came on lap 128. Legato as well just in front of him on that same strategy so one thing that makes this whole strategy work is the shape of Pit Road you enter in the middle of three and four you exit um in the middle of one and two so you actually don't lose as much time as you do other race tracks because you complete half a lap on pet road so now here's Truex off Pit Road brand new tires now he has to try to make as much time as he can yet stay patient to think you're going to run nearly 80 Laps on this set of tires so you're gonna see in front of him the 20th Bell remember he pitted earlier and had a speeding problem and this is what he's hoping everybody does hey man I'm gonna get out of the way give you the bottom and get back in line it's when he hits a clump of cards that's an issue and if you look ahead there are a clump of cards it's gonna be all how traffic works for the 19 of trucks currently only one lap down he should be close to unlapping himself even though he's a half a lot behind as you see in the top right I think he should be pretty close to catching the 23 before the 23 has to fit and then right in front of him is McDowell on the same strategy and what's important also is that these drivers don't cause a caution that they do not need this totally upsets all of that strategy if they run into the back of somebody on the old tires and get them turned around especially if they haven't yet to get that lap back but you got to be patient you got to be smart you want these green flags to continue as the rest of field will start to cycle back to Pit Road that's a great Point Juniors you see right there nearly a second faster than the leader right so I don't want to bore you with it but Junior I'm gonna let you know hey man we really don't need a caution right we need this to run green As a Race Car Driver you know what that means see right here he's going to get a two for one on the front stretch well and honestly it's one of the most fun times you'll ever have as a driver when you have new tires on and everybody else had an old Tire Zone you're rolling Marty 99 on Pit Road yeah finally Travis Mack brings Daniel Suarez Pit Road about two laps ago he said our lights go five more he said I'm not sure we can make that I'm trying to make my tires last so they actually go longer than everyone else Steve and the reason Travis macket there's reiterating is doing this this will buy them an extra set for stage three for later in the race now the question is how far behind does Andrew Suarez come out well because he's currently at least two laps down we'll have to wait and see what it cycles and I like the idea of an extra set but man you got to be on the lead lap to use them look at this battle right here for second place and right in front of the 45 is the leader Bubba Wallace so this is a battle for first second and third the sixth of Keselowski a little bit quicker but just having to take that outside line is not able to make it work another thing that I just saw we'll see if it happens again on the front straightaway the 45 car running a little lower look how he's off of the wall trying to save those tires he's really careful on throttling the car up not driving the car and sliding the back to the fence very careful and and that's going to pay off on the long run he's closing in on Bubble wallets and the sixth car is right there behind both of them it's a great little battle always great battles here at this racetrack it's one of the oldest short tracks on the circuit we've seen some of the Legends race here as well as IndyCar 24 Hall of Famers in NASCAR have found Victory Lane here at Richmond Raceway who will add their name to that list [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] things are heating up for second right now between Kozlowski and Reddick in the Nascar Cup Series racing from Richmond presented by Toyota that's how close it is a little further back the 24 of William Byron you know Liberty University is more than William Byron's sponsor it's his school offered more than 700 flexible affordable degree programs online and on campus you can get your future on track today visit liberty.edu 24. Wallace Kozlowski Reddick now one two three as Brad Keselowski has moved into that second spot had to be able to see if he can drive that car and run down Wallace for the lead right now three quarters of a second back he's faster he's right there he ran about a tenth of a second faster than Bubba Wallace Brad Keselowski has been they've been consistent this year they're safely in the points to make the playoffs had really good speed you see Suarez on newer tires flying by on the outside and that's going to cost Brad a little speed he's got to give Elaine to the 99 and can't finish the exit of the corner and you see a couple tents there and he's going to lose a little time for right now in dirty air until this 99 gets a little further away so this this leads now back to probably around a second there's some tight action a little bit ago Chase Elliott Ty Gibbs banging in each other off turn four and he's pretty hard stuff yeah I think Ty believes Chase would be down on the yellow line Chase up a little bit Ty turns down contact Jason like come on man it's a good short track racing that's what Richard gives us we're separated Now by just a little bit currently running ninth for Ty Gibbs and 11th for Chase Elliott Dylan well Chase Elliott was starting to backslide a little bit before that contact here was the conversation on the radio about what the night car is doing better but every time I lead on the Right View to turn better so I don't know if I'm really confused on what to tell you I don't want to screw us upwards new thing is the word it's hard to figure out just what to do and how to make your car go faster isn't it Dave Ty Gibbs continuing his good work at Richmond Raceway today remember how it's gone for him toward the playoffs here decent shape before Atlanta he'd finished ninth of Chicago street race but then 34 is in Atlanta 27th at New Hampshire finally got back on the rebound of Fifth Place finish at Pocono last week Gucci Chris Gayle told me we even have better tracks coming up than this if we can just maintain today we'll be happy with that moving on to Michigan [Music] we saw Ty Gibbs and his numbers early running in that ninth position talk to him today before the race he said he's trying to kind of pattern himself after Truex in terms of his his attitude about you know the the you know these are long Seasons tough grinds and he's in the middle of the battle trying to gain the points he needs to get into the playoffs and he's trying not to get too high trying not to get too low depending on the performance of the car really leaning leaning on teammate Truex in terms of trying to manage his you know his his energy all the time that's a 20 year old listening to a 43 year old who has a lot of experience this Sport and at this level want to take a look at the Toyota driver update as you see Bubba Wallace he's up front and this is the most laps Bubba has led in a race in his career so already 78 laps lead and that's tying Tyler Reddick for the most laps LED but while it's going to continue with that number right behind the 23 is the 19 and the 34 coming to unlock themselves Dave stage cars will start to fit at this point twice on Pit Road during this one Dylan Alex Bowman also set to come down Pit Road and Alex has been quiet on the radio they made an adjustment on this stop just to try to get the 40 in a little bit better Steve is this early I mean yeah but I mean this is 50 on this set of tires the first set is the one that ran short they came five or six laps short of what I would consider the first pit stop so now you're kind of committed to that you everybody asks what's working one or two laps well the 19 and the 34 unlapping themselves was a little bit of a a mark for those cars and here's the six of Kozlowski Dylan been a great day for Brad keslowski Matt McCall said we're slowly chipping away at our progress all year it's hard to see sometimes but I think we're seeing all the hard work pay off today for Kozlowski here's Bubba Wallace in as well the race leader he just said that he's been getting loose and it keeps getting worse starting to get Snappy as well to make an adjustment four tires and fuel for the race leader oh no slow right side to Jack comes down Tire Changers looking at him jacket this thing up this is going to be at least the second maybe two seconds slower than a normal pit stop for bubble Wallace I wonder how frustrated Bubba Wallace is and does he drive frustrated well owing that that was a longer stop luckily that happened under green I mean if it happens under yellow we lose dozens of spots under green he's just uses a lot of time on the racetrack probably just a few spots where you see how much it is keslowski goes flying by he's [Music] so that was that that stop cost him a full straight away I mean it's a ton of track position quick back on Pit Road let's see if they can clean that up a little bit remember a little bit of a slow stop the first time balance not horrible for the four car Kevin will bring it in Marty Chase Elliott leaving his stall in an interesting conversation for Tyler Reddick on his radio a moment ago they kind of talked about the strategy of everybody else in the field Dave and then Billy Scott told Tyler Reddick we're going to do something different than everybody else so slightly longer than everyone Redick said on the radio I feel like it could be a little bit tighter but I'm afraid for you to adjust it very much one of his best tour track rates is ever Tyler Reddick comes in with we'll see where he Cycles out Kyle Larson still struggling with the handling on his race car but they're gaining on it every run it's a little bit better this run for Kyle Larson but still a little bit too tight which is in the center which affects their exit as well leader Denny Hamlin in the 11. Chris Kmart sticking to the plan he has three more laps to be at 50 to go in the stage now two more laps so if he does what he did in the first run it's going to be one or two laps and the 11 will come to Pit Road foreign [Music] that clear track in front is enough reason to run over you know a lot more as long as you don't get stuck in traffic although quickly the 45 and the 23 are are catching them you mentioned that slow stop you see the 45 got the LeapFrog the 23. let's take a look at what happens he gets in Bubba doesn't nice job right on the side driver's done his job Jack goes up Jack down right away obviously the handle wasn't tight possibly it could have been worse right he could have had tires get away it wasn't perfect but it definitely could have been worse Dylan Joey Logano started 23rd he's on the move just said it needs more rear security every other change they've made so far has been dead better leganos his service completed Marty yeah that seemed like a bit of a long stop for Joey Logano Denny Hamlin trailing him coming into his pit stall he said I feel like you know the car has the same thing as all day long too tight in the center and the longer we won that's what I struggle with he said I struggled to point the car correctly especially coming off turn two and I lose all that momentum on the back stretch you saw that wedge adjustment trying to make that car a little bit Freer for Denny Hamlin is teammate Christopher Bell on Pit Road as well his car a little bit too tight in the center also trying to regain all that track position after qualifying poorly yesterday here at Richmond Bumble Wallace's stop we mentioned it was slower it was a little over 15 seconds these guys are making pit stops in 10 to 9 seconds yeah so now I'm sorry Junior go ahead so right here is the battle for the lead this is all the cycle has now complete if you know Truex and those guys are on old old tires he's gonna fall back through the field here Steve this is the pass for the lead tricks does not plan we believe to come to Pit Road I believe this strategy is going to be difficult to pan out for Truex but McDowell he's in real trouble losing a lot of time every single lap to Kozlowski in the rest of the field I don't know with 48 laps to go whether they can actually stay on the lead lap well the 19 was 26 to your point right now they've lapped all the way up to 20 seconds so I struggled to see Trex staying on the lead lab even though he made that gain a position or two please [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Nascar fan rewards is free to join earn points spy doing what you're doing right now watching racing uh answering trivia playing fantasy buying race tickets and more you can save your points trade them in for free tickets autographed merchandise all you have to do visit nascar.com fan rewards out in front is Brad Keselowski he has about a four second lead over Tyler Reddick let's go through the field brought to you by eBay we'll start with Dylan and it's been a solid weekend for RFK racing and for Brad Keselowski started 13. said that they missed the balance a little bit in qualifying but knew what they missed and hoped that they were able to correct it with some overnight changes I think they have so far Brad has been very very happy with the race car just a few small changes and so far he's looking good out front Marty Dylan when I talked to Tyler reddick's crew chief Billy Scott this morning he said honestly I feel like we have the speed to be a championship team we have to execute we mentioned that earlier build that momentum going into the playoffs so far today a terrific execution day for the race team he's LED 80 laps hitting in second right now Dylan great execution for the 17 Chris Pusher as well started 26 they run third they're no stranger to driving through the field here at Richmond in this race last year starting at 18th ended up where they run right now in the third spot they played their strategy exactly as they needed to got track position early and right now they're just trying to hang on to it right behind him is Bubba Wallace who had that slow pit stop and he came on the radio just moments afterwards and said we're fine let me work it'll come back to us so that's a big statement from Bubba Wallace he's got a good head on his shoulders today feels good about his race car and behind him Martin Truex Jr just trying to make something out of this day it has not been the smoothest of days here at Richmond the summer race for them has been a struggle the last couple of years they're on a different strategy than those cars in front of them just trying to figure something out and make it work for the 19 Marty after the win at Pocono last week which was win number 50 for Denny Hamlin trying to get another Hometown win here at Richmond although the hometown fans booed him earlier when he was introduced after what happened last week with Kyle Larson said the car fired off much better on this run and it's interesting when you're on board with them temperatures of 135 degrees in the car imagine working in that how about Kyle Busch the rebound today started second fell out of the top 10 almost immediately but Randall Burnett has not given up has made the car much better with a race team who knows they need to get their short track package much better if they want to have a shot at Phoenix for a title looks like they've done that today Dylan solid day for Ryan priest he runs in the eight spot carrying the flag for the Stewart Haas Racing Organization today remember what he told us earlier we're good on 10 lap 20 lap and 30 lap and longer I feel like our pace is really really good through the stand through the entire length of a run and he's backed up his words they've been really happy with their long run pace and as further he may start to move forward and pick up some more cars Dave Ty Gibson the 54 was concerned today about his lack of experience at this very difficult track as a rookie but he's been doing his job well he's on the two-stop strategy during this stage behind him Michael Mcdowell is not they're on the One Stop strategy and he has been bleeding positions here on track just hoping to maintain it here they will be up a set of tires guys I don't know if that'll play up later but that's really the only Advantage here that's a great update Dave on McDowell and you are right Truex has found some speed and trying to make this work I was worried about losing perhaps two laps anything but he's a a second or three quarters a second faster than McDowell so what Dave just reported is exactly right Truex major improvements this strategy could work for him he may lose a lap but he already lost a lot of track positions McDowell though Jr is bleeding points and bleeding positions quickly Marshall X Jr uh six-time short track winner three times right here but it's Kozlowski who's up front thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] building the next generation of U.S Navy submarines means stable sustaining jobs across the country if you want to work with purpose we're looking for you visit buildsubmarines.com for career and training opportunities you know RFK racing their efforts are helping support the mission to recruit hire train develop and retain that vital Workforce that will build the Navy's next generation of submarines as we see the 11 going by the 23 so Jenny Hamlin up to the fourth spot busher Redick in front of him how far do you think he could go before the end of stage two I think Hamlin's going to get all the way to Second at the current Pace uh there's seven or eight laps pressure tires and busher and Reddick remember when we talk about you know splitting the stage up gabehart very disciplined he's going to run an even amount on every set of tires and I think that's showing that's showing up right here in the pace of this 11. now unfortunately for him you know what beats good strategy a really fast car and that's a wreck because Lasky has right now we can talk a lot about strategy but I mean he's got a six second lead over attic Brad Keselowski super impressive Marty what are you hearing about that 11 car yeah to your point very disciplined race called so far by Chris gay part so going with the two stops and sticking to his plan Denny Hamlin getting the work done inside the car as well even though it is warm he did radio to gabhorn a moment ago so the car fired off much better and I think that's what we're seeing as much as anything Steve I think this 11 car feels like they can certainly keep up and compete with a six car they haven't had the handling right all day long until maybe right now we'll see how far he can get on this run well I think it's the same for his teammate of Truex I mentioned that he had found some Pace well Truex has only Fallen back to eight and I say only because he has 25 lap older tires and he's only a couple tenths of a second off of these guys so uh we're gonna see if if you know Hamlin and Truex can make it remember second stage we've covered a lot but this is really just a dress rehearsal Rick that final stage is 107 laps you're gonna have to do this all over again well and you've talked a lot about strategy Steve how often and ever have you seen a Richmond race go this long without a caution that wasn't for a stage like last fall or excuse me in the spring this last story there were eight caution there's only been one caution right now and that's because the stage ended stage one well I think the Springs actually the anomaly you know green flag runs here Richmond have become very very very consistent we've seen a lot of them in Sage two and stage three and that's why you're seeing this these strategy calls because there is risk of pinning and going laps down and all that Marty but he's YouTube this don't see the wrist they only see the reward of those fresh tires so Steve it's almost like you've been on a pit box before because just after you said that Chris Graybar gave her radio to Denny Hamlin said hey you can't get there meaning the lead Kozlowski up there by six some seconds but you can get to second go get it so they think they can get him all the way up to Second here by the end of stage two with 20 to go Dave and the teammates obviously of Ty Gibbs Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr are doing really well today the rookie is trying to work on his craft but he can't do the same things they're doing [Applause] [Music] the tires there yeah I physically feel the tires right here initial throttle he spins the tires he can't get back to the gas like they can yeah that's one thing junior is the driver you know you you get this information from the team hey your teammates are doing this with their throttle and you're like okay that's great but I can't do that and so the key to that is all right the team's got to listen I'm trying to do it I know you're giving me the date I know you're giving it to me but the car will not do it I need you to make an adjustment so Ty Gibbs fighting his car Brad Keselowski doesn't have to worry about he's out front with 18 to go in this stage [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you're watching The Cookout 400 on USA and yeah Brad Keselowski he is up front but there's a lot of cars that are going by him right now a little bit fresher tires but look at the cars in front of Brad Keselowski race leader all these cars are trying to stay on the lead lap you got McDowell right there fading back quickly we got super hard two outside fives in the middle still TJ Majors who's back on the spotting tower for this six car Brad Keselowski TJ's been gone a few weeks with an illness he's back again helping guide his driver through this lap traffic and McDowell in that 34 car he's fighting hard remember he's on a different strategy trying to stay in the lead lap but he cannot do it yeah Larson the same way I mean Larson is a situation here he won the race in the spring and now you know I don't believe lap yeah William Byron very close coming to lap down Laney got by to get back in the lead lab blaney's got a few less Laps on his tires than Keselowski so you see Blaney the 12 car now keslowski's getting underneath this 24 car and Byron's going to try to race him hard make it difficult for that pass to happen but I don't believe he can do it right there in the middle of the corner Brad rolls forward be able to clear this 24 off the corner I bet that six car up front a little Mark Martin Vibe going on you know Mark Martin in the middle made this six car famous over 30 wins driving that thing he was the man he was so good the Hall of Famer it's great to see that car back up front second Tyler Reddick has it in the 45 but busher in the 17 putting a lot of pressure on him for that position yeah butcher has came from his 26th starting position and slowly grinding through the field showing a similar Pace to his teammate Brad Keselowski if they end up finishing right here they are going this is an incredible feat what this team has overcome over the last five years if not more they were running at the back of the field every single week and Brad Keselowski becomes a part of this program and he's turning around he's he's putting the right people in the right places there's a lot of credit to go around to everyone working at RFK or if it's incredible though what they've been able to do I don't think we can celebrate that enough it's so hard to run good in these races and they've turned this entire organization around into a potential win today it's a different mindset there as we see Chris busher still putting that pressure on renick well so you see this battle at the bottom and the battle at the top we see Brad Keselowski I actually think the drive of the day at the moment if you can believe it is the 19 of Martin tricks Jr contact early all the way back to 26th position before this stage kind of cycle pit cycle started 25 Laps on his tires and he's sitting in eighth creeping around the yellow line look at the discipline there's no one around him he is putting on a veteran drive he has completely flipped this race upside down for him he was way behind James small made a call Martin Trex Jr committed focused and he's going to finish this stage inside the top ten if Truex goes on to a good day or even a win it'll be stage two that this team will Circle where everything changed Steve aren't you the same guy who told us just about I don't know 10 minutes ago that he'd be two laps down potentially well you see what happened to the 34 they were tracking together and all of a sudden whatever the 19 fan either with adjustments or behind the wheel he stopped the degradation in the tire where the 34 continue to lose time the 19 of Tricks did anything but Larson running right up against the fence now at the top of the screen there you see it Frank kazlaski putting cars lap down Larson is still lurking right there behind him trying to get himself back on the lead lap four laps to go on the stage if he cannot do that can at least stay there to be able to get the free pass and the 48 is teammate blocked him Cuts him off and runs him up to racetrack right here trying to take that High Line away that's how competitive it is you want to be the first car lap down or try to get back to Brad I don't I really think Larson thinks he can get back to Brad he got it right up against the boards in three and four and was making really good time but now that he's got to Bowman he's slowed down a little bit so here we go the five has got another run on the 48 down the back straightaway here's a replay of him getting chopped a little bit right there now the 48 is going to take the top of the race track and if Larson was going to get this pass done he's going to have to do it on the bottom of the racetrack with two to go this would be a great race right here well Grant catch another car to put another car lap down Blaney is the next car at the end of the at the tail end of the field and I don't think that Brad gets there so this is the race the 48 and the five is the race for the free pass when this caution comes out right and they are leaning on each other back there literally literally touching as they go through to turn three and four one more time around in stage two is the battle right here Brad's gonna win the stage this right here is a battle for the free pass vulner Larson Bowman has the spot right now and you mentioned it Kozlowski yes he's going to win the stage by a long shot a last effort to get in front of Bowman the five you can see sideways off the corner just could not get it done so Kozlowski his third stage win this year and at Richmond see it populated again the top 10 all receiving stage points Kozlowski now with a playoff point with the win of stage two things heating up here in Richmond you don't want to make mistakes especially now that we're getting ready for the final stage Brad Keselowski wins stage two thank you getting ready for pit stops in the final stage Nascar Cup Series racing from Richmond presented by Toyota well NASCAR drive that's your live race day companion you can follow your favorite drivers with access to their in-car cameras even choose some alternate camera angles and customize your entire streaming experience all you have to do is visit nascar.com driver you can download the Nascar mobile app to watch all of the action Crews ready up on the wall as they want to do a perfect stop there might only be one more after this or whatever strategy plays out maybe two more as cars making the way onto Pit Road Dylan RFK racing one and two race leader Brad Keselowski pulls in first top of your screen team said did a great job managing those tires just a little bit free his teammate Chris Pusher said he was also starting to get free but fires already Dylan first and third in the two stages so far today for Tyler Reddick who radioed to Billy Scott hey I had great Shake on that run I don't know what happened that was a problem a big problem for them here in the spring and they said we know what to do they're in that first pit saw we'll see if they can gain some track position no because diuretic leads with four fresh Goodyear Tires he also wanted to water I know we've showed it rick but it's awfully warm inside the car for the drivers very warm we've seen the temperatures around 135 degrees inside we see Bush and Gibbs both gaining spots on Pit Road [Music] getting ready for the start of the final stage and you see the points earned today again up to 10 points if you win a stage all the way down to one if you're finishing the 10th spot and Reddick gets 18 points bubble Wallace that's big at 16 points for Bubba Wallace because right now coming into this race Bubba Wallace was only 27 points above the cut line on the pre-race show Marty asked Junior and I to go through those bubble drivers and who he thought could get in and how and we talked about Bubba Wallace we said hey something he's not raising his hand as a great road course race racer we have a couple coming up those points through the stages today that could be just the thing that takes the pressure off him going to the road courses I mean maybe even a win he looks good enough to win um so a big day for the 23 car yeah somebody is not having a big day and I said that he was going to get himself in the playoffs Michael Mcdowell removing equipment he was running 23rd his strategy was not working out but now that penalty he's going to have to go all the way to the back of the grid so this is not the race this team needed at all in this tight Point battle they're gonna if less something happens here they're gonna have a lot of ground to make up after this race now this stage is 10 laps longer than the stage we just ran One Stop did work for Truex relative to the field but not really relative to the leaders he still lost time to the leaders so I mean it's all about this restart RFK on the front row feeling great 23-11 on the second row right behind him and now it just comes down to really what you just saw I mean barring yellows it's going to be a couple stops when you make them stops how well you do it make sure the pit crew's clean make sure the driver's clean there's just a lot of moving parts to this last 162 laps and we got a lot of names up there in the top ten that are new or have worked their way back in the top ten from the first part of the race and as Kyle Busch up there in fifth then you have priests and Austin Dillon having a top 10 run so far today with this restart we're going to let you ride along with brass this loudski bubble Wallace Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott as we get ready for the green for the final stage Steve you mentioned the strategy that played out as we see Denny Hamlin go wide and really high trying to take advantage of this restart can he get by the 23. Bubba's going to get in the room now they're door-to-door Bubba's gonna beat him on Corner exit here comes the 11 though back on the outside priest trying to block there the 54 of Ty Ty did Ty Gibbs gets right in the back bumper of the 41 car priest stage things are heating up here these three starts are always fun especially in stage three Rick chaos Hamlin still fighting hard on the outside of bubble Wallace we'll see if he can clear him he does he's going to stay in that second line see if he can get Tyler Reddick now Tyler right there in front of him and Daniel had the momentum out the corner pulls away from Bubba Wallace does he go to the inside of the 45 here for turn three nope [Music] staying in that second Groove trying to make it work he's got some momentum again down the front straightaway he's trying to look to the inside Tyler Reddick trying to cover here at Richmond so Hamlin right now it's going to be really difficult to carry the speed into the corner this is where the Bottom's got to work middle and exit [Music] Loretta has enough rear grit to keep handling behind him this guy's on the outside can drive in the ground oh loosen the corner right there for Reddick recovers it's a cartoon travels up off the corner and drives away from Denny Brad Kozlowski then busher the two RFK carves running one and two then it's Reddick Hamlin Wallace all in the top five Steve we mentioned earlier about the differing strategies just because you did a two-stop strategy and Stage suit doesn't mean you have to stay with that same strategy other people could go to that Single Stop strategy in the final stage yeah each stage kind of races by itself really the only driver that is in any sort of concern is the 20th Christopher Bell who decided to take the wave around to get on the back of the lead lap he's currently 19th nine seconds back really behind the pack on Old Tires he's hoping for yellow right away but everybody else is squared up on fuel land tires I was looking back from the buildsubmarines.com on board as we see now legano going to the inside of Austin Dillon let's get Battle grid Run for the three-car Boston Dylan after the disappointment of last week and basically a disappointing season all around but he's come to a good racetrack for him he had some good runs at Richmond he's going to give this spot up so legano see Chase Elliott lurking there behind and then Todd Gibbs in 11th place remember the block preached through on him on this restart the 54 is faded back to the bumper of his teammate Mark tricks Jr in the 19. you wonder Mark Truex Jr you know we've seen him play that One-Stop strategy Steve you wonder if Martin If he if they're gonna play the One-Stop strategy you have to save tires now like if you're going to make that work you've got to save tires at the beginning of the run if if you can hurt your tires really badly pushing hard right now you wonder if that's a little bit of what's going on with them at the moment and you see these three cars right here three wide racing everywhere another car with a great recovery chip uh you know the 10 of Alma rollers back up to 15th after that commitment line violation so doing a nice job and it is going to be interesting to see you know not only how how many times they stop but what lap they stop on that could be a big difference right where you blend back in traffic take another look back here at the two of Austin Cedric and the 43 of Eric Jones Eric's got him up the racetrack a little bit of contact there Cinder won't be happy chest ain't running in the back of 42. this is fun to watch these guys we talk about the leaders a lot but some of the best racing as We Said Today happens back here around these positions in the back of the field pitching Chastain I mean they just have not run well Suarez has not run well Suarez back in 30th Chastain and 25th it gets more and more entertaining as the race goes on because they're more and more kicked off about how their cars drive and running in the back and so their fuses get shorter and shorter and shorter Jeff you mentioned the fact that Mark trucks Jr might have to take a little bit easier mentally though after what he did in that last stage does that tell him maybe I can run a little bit harder at the beginning of this stage because of how he well he was running at the end of that run I think this is when you really hurt your tires it's an early part of the run you got to be really smart with them and so you want to go and just run as hard as you can but if you know your strategy is to run long then I think you have to start conserving tires at the very beginning of the Run good side-by-side battle here as Chase Elliott looks to the inside of Austin Dillon for that ninth spot Dylan has it Elliot trying to take it away [Music] it seemed like last week after practice it was easy but we had a good idea who was going to be fast or who wasn't in the race we covered practice yesterday and some of the cars I thought were going to be good just are not today back to that conversation we had earlier Junior right like this was really hard I saw butcher was it pretty good and maybe but Brad is yeah way better than I thought he was going to be right here yeah right here for ninth and 10th these are the two best Chevrolets in the field and you know the Fords are out front first and second then the Toyotas and we had talked since we've brought you know brought the broadcast back to NBC that the forwards of having a bit of an off year but since Atlanta the Fords have actually been one of the stronger manufacturers they come to the short track where they typically have a bit of a disadvantage on Arrow and they're performing really well Dave as you watch Austin Dillon continue to try to hold off Chase Elliott will he do it here yep he's still on the inside good side by side vital here when I talked to his crew chief keep rotting this morning he said what an up and down year it has been we're kind of looking for small victories now 30th in the points 160 away they can't do anything about the playoffs except wind so small victories yes would they like the big victory absolutely you said but week by week consistently doing the right things that's where we're headed with this team right now Chase Elliott has made the pass on Austin Dillon he's running in the ninth position just a couple spots ahead of him also in a Chevrolet is Kyle Busch running in that sixth spot but right now the forge dominating with Kozlowski and busher running one two [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] next Sunday on the streets of Nashville it's NTT Indycar series racing that coverage beginning at noon Eastern on NBC and peacock you know the top two right now Alex below and Joseph New Garden they both have four wins there's only five races remaining in the season again that's from Nashville the streets of Nashville as we see RFK racing looking very strong here at Richmond with Kozlowski out in front and Chris busher running in that second spot push your hand in his teammate just a little bit have to imagine it butcher's probably not pushing as as hard as he can just yet and he was running a little bit offset in that last Corner trying to keep air on the nose but follows Brad through one or two what a great feeling huh for a team to have the guys running first second out two seconds on the field right now seems like their cars just get better as the race is going too I didn't really think they had this kind of speed at the start but once they've gotten to clean air they just so much faster than the rest of the field it's been two years since Brad keslowski has been to Victory Lane when he has a race like this he's already been out front the most laps 82 laps do you start thinking about the possibility of getting to Victory Lane or is it too soon in this race oh you're thinking about it oh yes you are you're scared to think about it yeah trying not trying not to think about thinking about it there's no way you can't think about what Brad comes in the house you just said it's been a while since he's been in Victory Lane but also you know buying into this team and saying hey we're going to get back to the front and have your teammate running second you leading there is no question that winning is on your mind right now he's got a very hungry butcher behind him Chris butcher bringing that 17 and he's closed the Gap now to almost the bumper for the lead here Dylan well it's been a long hot day in the office for all of these drivers Bubba Wallace no exception to that here's the radio of maybe who he was a little bit displeased with just a moment ago hey you remember that's car owner and uh team driver so the uh the driver a little upset with the boss right now Marty yeah and I think that might have been after the restart so Denny Hamlin has been saying all day long his car just loses way too much speed over the run so Dale Jr question for you if you know hey my car is not that good in the long run does that make you a little extra aggressive behind the wheel on the restart taking advantage of a short run to get some speed out of the car yeah I think so you know you try to take advantage of that opportunity when when you can if you had that short run speed uh you try to make the most of it but I think that this track is changing a ton so that long run speed could come to you we have we have a lot of cloud cover right now um and so you know we are we are you have some sun on the track at times but it's going to start cooling off tightening up tightening up a little bit as this race goes on so if Denny's fighting a loose race car I think the track comes to him for those final 100 laps foreign looking strong as I mentioned then it's three Toyotas with radic Hamlin and Wallace running three four five Kyle Bush in the Chevrolet is six a couple more forwards with priest and Legato seventh and eighth and I mentioned the 20th Christopher Bell had taken the wave around with time and run out for the driver of the 20s coming down Pit Road didn't get the yellow he needed I like the gamble win in the Bank of course I don't think the cable's gonna pay off Marty yeah I talked to Adam Stevens right after that move he said hey it was the only shot I had today it's been a struggle this weekend for the 20 car not much Pace in uh race practice not much facing qualifying practice either into Adam Stevens Point Steve sometimes you gotta roll with ice if you know hey I'm in a lap down for most of the day they took the wave round and normally stage three brings some cautions that's what they were banking on they never came still only two cautions for this entire race and those came at stage breaks we're watching the 17 car busher and he is continuously pounding the leader and I think his car is much quicker he continues to run a little bit faster lap just kind of wondering who's struggling is is either one of these drivers struggling are they both sitting a very comfortable Pace Dylan so they are both pretty happy but TJ Majors Brad spotter told him do not get off the yellow line on the bottom and keep your left run on it all the way off the corner to the restart Zone make busher go around you the long way so Brad changed that from how they restarted and for now he's been able to hold his teammate off but for how long is the question yeah exactly I think that Pusher eventually is going to get a little less patient sitting here right behind Brad but making this pass on the top here he's got a little momentum can he get there can he get there just not quite able to get up alongside Brad I think once he does get the car on the outside quarter panel then he's got brand a tough position to be able to not be able to finish the corner you just can't get there he's faster but having to go the longer way around the racetrack making it tough for the 17th Dave what's going on with Eric almarola everything good today Rick except for that penalty on Pit Road it was interesting in stage one he drove from 24th all the way up to the front of the field and then he got that commitment line penalty and drove back up to 13th after that from the back of the field Group Lincoln Circle his crew chief told me this morning you know Eric will not go crazy and burn up his tires but he had to on that second run yeah he fell off right there at the end but after the penalty he showed that the 10 car can go when it needs to right now he says it's just too over rotating in the center of the corner I'm a roller currently running in that 14th position yeah and all four shr cards inside the top 15. big turnaround for the organization [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] we see the 17 closing the gap on the six of Kozlowski in the Nascar Cup Series racing from Richmond presented by Toyota can he find the preferred line butcher now under a car length away as quickly as that happened saw the seven drift up the track and the 22 on Pit Road Dylan Joey Logan three on this run on exit exit Chris Pusher I believe is on his way in or there he is right there so uh didn't say much on the radio on this run just was searching for some clean air and a way to get around the race leader and his teammate Brad Keselowski on the bottom of your screen Bubba Wallace kind of the same thing been pretty happy on this run just needs some Center turn and lateral grip for the 23. well the 17 came to Pit Road that forces the leader Brad Keselowski to counter we'll see if one lap fresher is the difference for the 17 of butcher as Brad on an awkward turn into his pits [Music] looks weird but it's clear because the driver's allowed to have the right rear out of the box right front left front left rear must be in the pit box right rear can be out so it's lit it's legal it's just slows on the top of your screen you see the six on Pit Road the 17 in the middle of the corner so right here is the 17th of Butcher on the front stretch this one I don't think is even gonna be close I think the 17 between coming a lap early and I'm sure that awkward entry by the six of keslowski is going to cost the six a ton of time against his RFK teammate nearly the entire back straightaway so two straps two stop strategies taking place right now yeah absolutely all these guys with 114 to go are gonna have to stop a couple times Hamlin's gonna run long like you did the last time split it up probably dead on the map uh so now the risk all right so RFK pitted first guys The Pit Road but now Hamlin 2x Elliott they're thinking I see debris here debris here debris here let me see a caution that would change everything Chase Elliott on Pit Road Dylan but it's still been a little bit of a struggle for Chase Elliott today just hasn't been able to get the balance exactly how they wanted to but they've just been chipping away and trying to get some points today as best they can just maximizing the day for the nine Marty rickyson house Junior they lost a handle a little bit on the car the further they've ran but they've hung around the top 15 all day long as Rick and Steve just talked about all these teams thinking about two more stops Hamlin no word on his radio when he would come to Pit Road he's leading right now 14 and 34 also on Pit Road now as we see the 47 coming off of Pit Road across Chastain also on Pit Road you know as we see Chastain's pit stop the struggle for the guys to stay on the racetrack of the new tires that just completely eating them up Dylan yeah Ross Chastain you saw him there he's been tight he's been Loosey then everything in between so has not been the day that either the track house cars have won it chastains included in that as he's completed his service so what I mean by the new tires eating them up is not really the positions that matter but once again Denny's not running the line he wants to run he keeps getting forced off the preferred line so here comes Kozlowski he's going to fill the bottom as well forcing the 11 up the racetrack now the 11 is going to get stuck behind the seven probably cost him even more time seven pulls up and allows the 11 to get to the bottom completely so you see the difference between old and new tires I mean it is it's a huge difference and you can also see on the left side of the screen with the with the running order the issue that Brad had on Pit Road costs him not only the lead position or the spot to busher which will be the league when this Cycles but also he lost his spot to Redick Wallace and Ryan priest who came to him came to Pit Road first so Brad went from potentially sitting there with a position to win this race now he's gonna have some work to do party you see Daniel Torres coming down Pit Road let's go back to the beginning of their day in stage one they decided to try and make it on one stop Billy hasn't worked out for them two laps down for most of the day for Daniel Suarez again one of those drivers near the cutoff line trying to make it in Jimmy Hamlin the leader you're going to watch it right here he's going to come to Pit Road looking just trying to hang on to that race car but Chris gay bar is staying very disciplined to the number that he wanted to get to 53 laps into this run he brings his driver down Pit Road Taylor said it a he had a little break Shake on that run but the car starts way too tight and then immediately almost flips to way too loose which is what bubble Wallace was talking about on the radio a moment ago so Hamlin coming in here four fresh keep in your tires hoping for a clean stop here Dave and now Ryan blady comes down to Roger's car most of the day has not been to his Viking but it came around a little bit during this stage so he'll get his four Goodyear Tires his Sunoco fuel to take him to the next stop looks hot up above there can we still see that temperature of 132 degrees it's been north of 130 degrees for almost the entirety of this race as William Byron is on Pit Road now Dave he's just trying to battle back here they were off sequence they lost time it's been a rough day for them but the last few laps Rudy Google is coochie was trying to encourage him to settle at times that would set a pace that they believed would help them toward the end of this we'll see where he Cycles back at the end of stage three well Cycles the question Pitt's cycle is in the midst you see Truax leading Bowman second yet to pit let's listen into the 19 and what they're thinking all right there you have it 20 or 25 laps tells me that James small is going to risk it stop once and I think this is one of those stories that he might not think this is a strategy to win the race if it runs green but Dylan you know he's leading the race a caution he has that extra set of tires Akasha would bring the 19 right into the best track position yeah that's it they've got those extra tires remember that's the opposite of the situation they were in at the end of the race in the spring so the interesting thing about this is Martin has been complaining this entire run he said I have no rear grip I can't get off the form to corner but James small has just kept reiterating your pace is good just keep doing what you're doing because we're in a good spot so I know you know how hard it is to convince a driver to just stick with the plan but you're right if they get one lucky break here it could all go exactly as they drew it up we talked about how the six car Kozlowski lost his track position this is it he comes into pits watch the front tires he locks them up now they won't turn so now he just has to go straight and here he is in this awkward position on Pit Road Steve did a great job of explaining why that was not a penalty but that's what happened just trying to get in there a little bit hot and look this 41 car a Ryan priest this is a battle for fifth place Ryan priest pitted a couple laps before Wallace did but he still has a little more speed than Bubba does right behind them Brad Keselowski trying to overcome the issue he had on Pit Road but yes I love this 41 car and what they've been able to do today they had some problems on Pit Road early they've rebounded priests stayed buckled in kept his head on straight now battling for a top five finish running in that sixth spot and a huge Improvement right now he's 27th in points so Ryan priest having a great day here at Richmond [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign laps remaining at the action track as you see position battles happening right here with Bubba Wallace and Ryan priests those two are continually fighting for the fourth spot the lead and you saw it Christopher butcher went by Martin trucks Jr for the lead here was that yeah Martin on these older tires pretty easy pass for the 17 off the corner just throttles up down the straightaway Martin's just trying to make lap time out there running 26 Flats now needs to be running a little quicker than that for this strategy to play off and then the five car he's been running this High Line all day long but got in the fence a little bit when you run up there you push limits so hard no foul this battle here still rage is on between Bubba Wallace and Ryan priest Ryan priests and Bubba battling for fourth position and I think if priests can clear the 23 he'll drive away he's a quicker car but Bubba knows it if he just holds us outside line he can work this 41 over and maybe Priestess tires will fail him a little bit Bubba will be able to keep the position and then drive away it's like why do you run this guy hard well you're trying to get him to work trying to get him to use up his car use up his rear tires forced him to have to back off and get the spot back to you try to regroup so while this battle is taking place let's take a look at the progressive Telemetry and we'll do it with the driver on the outside Bubba Wallace take a look at how he manages the throttle the brake just gets the wide open right before the flag stand up on the straightaway suit gonna give this spot up finally right there to freeze slowly he goes back to the throttle if he went to the throttle any harder he'd just spin the rear tires and the car would turn sideways watch again cheesy on that throttle it's like he's got an egg between your foot and the pedal and you try not to break it and not only when you're spinning those rear tires you're making them angry you're hurting them you're making them run slower later in the run because you are damaging them it also hurts your lap time so you know I think this perception about how you drive a race car is you're just driving harder you know match the gas quicker match it faster that's not how it works you have to be right on the edge of rear grip if the 19 of Truex finally coming to Pit Road you see him on the side of the screen right there they're making their Pit Stop they're one pit stop with 88 laps to go Steve yeah I think basically they just started getting too slow Dylan they had to come a little earlier than they wanted yeah exactly and remember what Martin said he just had no rear grip couldn't get off the corner of the entire run and it finally just reached ahead where they had to come in and get some new tires for tourex would you send him and keep him out there for 87 more laps I mean is that have been committed to that and they have to well I think what this is going to do is give them a bigger chance a window where a yellow will put him in a good position um so you know I think they can run 87 laps like that's what number they felt like could safely run on tires it's not optimal uh but but they just you know they were losing too much time Brad Keselowski lose a spot to the 17 carve handling Brad struggling just a bit here running a little bit slower times than the rest of the top five handling though moving forward now looking out the back bumper of Bubba Wallace door dash cam car owner closing in through the center of the corner that's what you'd love to see when you're in that number 11 roll up on the car in front of you through the middle of the corner that's when you know you're better if you can do it down here gaining right there in the middle of the corner man it's a good looking car this 11's got here late in the race [Music] good enough to get up front nine seconds back I don't know if he can run down busher but certainly good enough to get in the top five top three or I'm sorry top three there only what a second behind priests he's got the speed and a little wiggle there we saw out of the 23 for the 11 to get on the inside the five down on Fifth Road Marty after a little brush for the wall Kyle Larson brings it to Pit Road Cliff Daniels telling him on the radio this is really our only play to do one stop here in stage three that's what they're thinking and they're really running with a 19 card Cliff Daniels emphasized that on the radio to Kyle Larson this set of tires will get us back on the lead lap the old-fashioned way we'll see how it plays out though for the five it will be tough though right Steve because they're scored two laps down right now yeah Martin tracks Jr after hits Pit Stop is barely a lap down to the leader uh where where the five remember that battle he had with Bowman and he was unfortunately not able to get the free pass that kind of has put him a lot behind he's now two laps down after his Pit Stop [Music] Dylan what about the 41 and Ryan priest in this run he's having well anyway it's even more interesting when you look at his Richmond stats no finish better than 18th and he hasn't been that far back I don't think all day long so he was optimistic at the start of the day and has delivered on that they tweaked on this car all day long before drive has been their strong suit and that's what he had when he was racing with Bubba Wallace there you could see it and he's had it all day and that's what has allowed him to run third right now Marty Dylan the folks at home or Kyle Busch fans what a refreshing successful short track day it's been for the 18 but it didn't start out that way they started second today and then fell back to 22nd but he told Randall Burnett who has not given up on this car and they've struggled all year along at the short tracks he said I love the last three adjustments much more in the ball game Kyle Busch sitting in seventh day Austin Dill is strong day continues he'll pit in about 10 laps uh with the number three car it didn't look like it was going to be good though because two stints ago he radioed Crew Chief Keith rodden after a few Laps on the track after a pit stop and said I think he went the wrong way on the air pressure adjustments about 15 laps later he said it's coming to me Keith said I knew it would Junior was very time when you were absolutely sure they'd made the wrong adjustment and you know what the car came to you man I don't know Steve do you ever remember a time when we I was gonna be honest yeah I don't you know I really wasn't a driver that needed to know what you were doing I was just going to tell you how I drove how handled in the hope that you fixed you know I didn't want to get into the details of well what what exactly did you change I felt like that wasn't my role as a driver I wanted to really trust what you were going to do just give you more feedback and what makes this track so difficult we heard it in practice out of drivers like Kyle Busch is you know even Chris butcher leading doesn't feel great you know it's not like anyone's driving out there going oh man my car is exactly how I want it every car is slipping and sliding so it really just comes down to how fast am I going there's a car in front of me getting closer or the car behind me getting closer and for those of you who couldn't see it there was a very Coy look that Junior just gave Steve when he poised that question to him Chris buscher Tyler Reddick one and two here at Richmond [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] let me see make sure on Wednesday at 9 A.M Eastern you join Brad Daugherty as you will be on NASCAR radio channel 90 that's NBC Sports on SiriusXM Brad Daugherty joining the morning drive we'll talk about this short track racing and we just saw the 11 and the five of Kyle Larson and I think it took a hundred and well 330 laps before we saw that yeah Kyle on newer tires and just sat telling Denny you know you're not gonna be the guy that slows me up he said before the race he was gonna race him different and that's what that was didn't wreck him or anything just hey I got new tires rolling through here and I'm not sure you saw no reaction out of Hamlin because I think he was like yep yeah I don't think he's shocked at that the end of the race this was fighting for the lead and up into the wall went the five of Larson then he handling one on to win the race and after the race that was at caution this is when the five got into the door of the 11 showing displeasure but after the race Kyle Larson said I'm gonna have to race him different we just saw him he went put the bumper to him said hey I'm going by listen I I am one of I feel like the few that was okay with what the 11 did and I am totally fine with what Kyle Larson just did right like everything has repercussions and that's Kyle Larson saying okay man you know that like you said Jeff ain't wreck him but he definitely didn't waste any time and I'm okay if he does it the next time right almost for a win and one was three quarters of the race through Richmond I think you're gonna see a bunch of that he put him in a position at the lift or not oh that's good I like that you should make a t-shirt yes we've heard that comment before now Denny might say or might come back he's two laps down to me and he put a bumper to the back of him if he's smart he won't say that like at some point you have to just say okay and just keep on racing I mean maybe I'm looking at it wrong but I don't think he's in a position to complain about his how he's being raced Hamlin's still in that third position 8.7 seconds back and one of the fastest cars on the track it's a matter of time can he reel in Chris Butcher of course stops still coming for busher Redick Hamlin priests they are all on a two-stop strategy in this final stage yeah bushers are rolling right along he's you know still the fastest car in racetrack or at least as good as anybody and uh but his teammate the six right here back open road Dylan that's right Brad just was reporting the last few laps we just lost grip so they've had that all day long even on the longer runs but lost it here on this run so broke ran in just to make some last minute adjustments and change tires Joey Logano in as well he was reporting he just kept getting Freer on his run tricks Jr unlapping himself we just saw the 19 go by Dylan so here's Ryan preson continuing his good run as well hasn't said much on this stint but as we said their forward drive has been their strong suit today and that's what priest is going to need more up here Bubba Wallace also backsliding just losing the balance in the rear of the race car in his Toyota four tires and fuel for Bubba 63 laps to go Kevin Harvick is on Pit Road as also is Chase Elliott Harvick needing four tires his car they got to be careful adjusting him here they thought he had a slowly baby but they're going to make a chassis adjustment for Kevin's the place Kyle Busch coming down Pit Road he told Randall brunette a moment ago we're gonna fall like a rock here we need much more rear grip off the corner Denny Hamlin also on Pit Road so Steve this is the same thing earlier than everybody thought they would come here with what is it 62 laps to go in the race yeah it is a little earlier than I thought where they were going to come this is going to play run to the 19's hand you see Tyler Reddick on Pit Road he had a big moment trying to get the Pit Road and Pit Road is very full yeah and so far no word on the radio but I believe they got all Pit Road cleanly even that was a bit of a big moment for Tyler Reddick who said the car's not bad I just can't run the bottom like everybody else in front of you Dylan that's right and he has been really happy with this race car on this run you don't see any chassis adjustments but butcher has been pleased with the race car just gonna have to keep it out front here to keep the Clean Air in track position so Chris butcher's gonna rejoin and right now it's basically just going to be a a battle between Chris Butcher on new tires and the 19 of Martin tracks Jr who has already pitted his one and only time there's Truex he's already on the back stretch he's going into turn three you see on the top of your screen butcher is basically half the straightaway behind him I think he'll have no problem catching him but that is what the race win will look like 19 on Old Tires butcher trying to run him down hey Steve line violation for Tyler Reddick you called it they did not get the Pit Road clearly so one of the contenders will serve a penalty right here look at that and oh that's close but he does touch that Orange Box can't do that Steve so one of the contenders out of it here Tyler Reddick gets a penalty on what should be the last stop of the day yeah the problem started in turn three he just drove in the corner way too deep did not anticipate the line coming up so quickly locked the tires up trying to get the Pit Road the car won't turn with the front tires locked up and he just barely missed it but just pushing too hard to get to Pit Road a great day gone bad for busher had a 4.5 second lead where busher had a 4.5 second lead over the 45 so again the 45 he's athletic yeah he's a lap down to Truex so he's faster than Truex with the newer tires so he should be able to drive up there and unlap himself the 40 the 45 Rick ready yep yeah the 45 is coming off Pit Road one lap down and so you see the leader right there in front of him so the 45 I know is a mistake but he can unlap himself here quickly if we do get it late yellow they'll have an opportunity to try to regroup and rebound and get something out of this day so well that was a bad mistake they're still in a decent position to salvage something I like how you're looking at that dude right Junior because you're instantly saying okay hey we can't go back and do what we did over so how do you get out of this mess and it's right here it was quick work to your point and so he's unlocking himself right there butcher is not far behind this group right here there's Bush are going off into turn one just about 10 15 car links behind the 19. if it stays green busher's faster and is going to be able to reel in Martin Shrek's Junior but that's only if it stays green foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] defense trying to get the waves started here at Richmond and some are playing along some are just enjoying the racing taking place which includes the pass for the lead Mark trucks Jr out front and knew this was going to happen if they stayed green the fresher tires winning out and Chris Bush are able to get by Martin trucks Jr he takes the lead now has a three-second lead over Truex running in the second spot yeah much like the first run of this stage the 19 just does not have the long the long run speed like we saw in stage two I don't know all this magic about that run he had where he kind of plateaued off but he is losing grip versus The Other Guys he's racing and now we see the 11 of Hamlin near the five again this looks like it a little bit a little bit calmer situation yeah right behind him of the 41 of Ryan priest you know he kind of got shoved through the box got put long early loss of track position but this 41 car has really really really done a nice job all day long it's hard to believe princess doesn't have a top 10 all year so I mean this is impressive run inside the top five you know you think about the start of the year uh at the Coliseum they were really fast I thought he had a shot to win that race and everybody's like yeah man Ryan priest he's coming in the circuit going to have a lot of success and it's just been a struggle been way more difficult than he or anyone thought it was going to be this is what we thought we would see more of but this is a you got to persevere you just gotta keep fighting you gotta keep pushing this series is very difficult IES Chad Johnson's done a good job bringing a great race car to the track for Ryan and their spotter Andy Houston is doing awesome job you'll remember Andy the truck series as a driver and making it to the cup series as well is Father Tommy Houston a legend in the short tracks through the 70s and 80s great family think Ryan priest might hold the whole modified neighborhood family and community on his shoulders I think coming from Berlin Connecticut Ryan priest has the expectations of all those drivers who've grown up in the Northeast in that modified division they're hoping for Ryan priest to have a good day they're hoping for Ryan priest to get to Victory Lane and right now a great performance here at Ford that's a great point Rick all these different disciplines love to see their drivers graduate and come up here and have success bring it on to the back bumper that 11 carb Hamlin Hamlin past him before the pit cycle on the racetrack so ham with a little bit better race car let's go through the field and we'll start with Dylan and Chris Pusher let's continue to be a great day and as we said they knew that once they cycle back to the front of the field and didn't have really too much pressure behind him that they'd maybe be able to extend this Gap that's exactly what they've done Mike Kerman and the spotter telling Chris Fisher you have no pressure take your time getting through this traffic do whatever you need to do to hold on to the race lead Martin Trex Jr behind him we talked about him he is done pitting for the day that's their plan at least just going to try to hold on to this pace that they've got James small set at the start of the day we just have to control the controllables they were not good they were back to 26th at one point they've gone off strategy tried to do something different even if it's outside even if it's just the top ten that's still a good day for them Marty Denny Hamlin gets the second spot from his teammate Martin Truex Jr their weakness has been the longer run today for Hamlin that was actually a strength for them in practice but then he's saying barges gets two free so making adjustments on it trying to be good for the last run a moment ago Chris gay bar said on the radio this is a heads up battle busher is six second ahead that's your task Dylan Brian Free says we just just talked about runs in the fourth spot short tracker modified ace at hard and grew up on short tracks around America and that's played to his strength so far today on a hot slippery racing surface where you have to have finesse you have to be in control of the throttle pedal he's done that very well and that's why they're in the position that they're in right now Brad Keselowski is trying to March back forward they lost some grip on the last run made a couple of adjustments to try to get Brad the feeling back in the race car he wanted it may not be as perfect as it was earlier when they were out front but seems to be a little bit better better now for Keselowski Marty right behind him Kyle Busch flirting with the top five right now and all day long Randall Burnett's kind of pitted a little bit earlier than everybody else and it has paid dividends for them but we'll see how this long runs goes run goes here because that has been their weakest part of their game today Kyle Busch having a nice solid day though in six Dylan Joey Logano rides in the seven spot nice drive through the field from him after starting 23rd they've really just gotten free on the last couple of runs they've tried to make some adjustments and it just kind of seems to be compounding on itself so regardless still a nice day there wasn't a ton of optimism I don't think from this campaign for the start of the day but I think they'll be happy with the top 10 run for Logano if they can hang on to that right behind for Bubba Wallace after showing so much promise they backslid here to the back of the top ten Bubba's biggest report just needs help in the center with turn and lateral grip in the 23. Dave Dylan Kevin Harvick just got around Bubba Wallace there for that position that will put Harvick into eighth and there was no leak I checked with Jamie tereske Tire specialist for Harvard no leak in the four cars tires they were all up that means the adjustment if accurate should be right in the sweet spot for Harvick back now to the 10 America almarola continuing to have a good day now that he has solidified his position trying to get more spots before the end of the race and Austin Dillons still racing well in his Chevrolet nice quick stop for the three team there he continues on Chase Brisco perhaps the surprise in 12 surprised because he's not been on the screen much today the 14 car when I talked to his crew chief Richard Boswell earlier today he said I'm consciously optimistically qualify 20th but Chase is really good here and they have become really good here Marty face Chris Brown to 12. Dave I'll go back to the point we started the day with the Tyler Redick and Billy Scott will both tell you listen we've had speed all year long execution has been our biggest problem sometimes it's on Pit Road with the crew sometimes it's with the driver and Tyler Reddick will admit that as well this top a moment ago hits the box but still on the lead lap Billy Scott telling him non-stop Dylan we still have one of the best cars we're not out of it yet Chase Elliott hit the last score in the lead lap riding in 14. his latest report the front of the car turns but the rear tires can't take it that's really been their Mantra all day the balance has not been exactly where they wanted they had some speed earlier but it just kind of going away from him here over the course of the day so trying to just dial it in here as best they can and hang on over the course of these final 35 laps but Elliot just trying to hang on to at least last spot for now great job guys on all of those lead lap cars 14 of them currently on the lead lap I want to remind fans this race started at 3 15. right around 3 15. the temperature in the car is 134 degrees they have been racing now for almost three hours and only two cautions so really catching your breath I don't even know if there's ever been a moment you could catch your breath behind the wheel of these cars here at Richmond listening to Denny's radio run now [Applause] and I think that it's pretty impressive what he's been able to do he's basically knocked about three seconds off of that lead he's passed a handful of cars to pull into second place so Hamlin maybe about a tenth faster a lap sometimes matching butcher depending on the traffic but in 32 laps can he do what he needs to do to make up six seconds that's going to be tough but to your point Rick rarely do you hair Denny Hamlin I won't say out of breath but you could hear the you know you could hear the the work he's putting in that's long long long green flag runs almost winded and Denny Hamlin might be an anomaly when we talk about an athlete and how he's able to control his heart rate because he's one of the very few where his max heart rate might get to 120 or 125 maybe 130 where everybody else you'll see their heart rates up in the 180s and 185s for these drivers but yes Denny Hamlin did sound a little bit like okay this has been quite a race one if you look at the we just got the updates from every on the lead lap right so with 30 to go if you're in the lead lap you still have a shot in my opinion you get a caution everybody's got to put on four tires we've seen chaos in the restarts it could change in literally a blink of an eye so if you're butcher Hamlin priest Truex you know even though you're so focused you don't want to distract your driver and lose time but occur Chief you got to know how are we driving if I get a pit stop now I don't have to run 50 60 Laps on a set of tires now it's only 29 laps so what do I need to do to make the car better and we're riding on the Coca-Cola bumper cam here with Chase Elliott been sitting right in front of the leader Chris butcher for so many laps running good enough lap times to finish in the top five with this night car Ling right there with the 45 so Reddit now look at reddick's flatten that car around Reddick in trouble at a risk of going and lap down after that issue on Pit Road the mistake getting on the Pit Road he's able to unlap himself now he's in a situation where he could go back a lap down but Chase Elliott with a lot of speed Acosta comes out for this night car they could regroup and get back in this thing Marty and to that point Junior remember a moment ago I told you Billy Scott constantly telling Tyler Reddick in that 45 car we still have the speed he said yep we do but I can't make passes out here as good as that car has been all day long look how he's just stuck back there in traffic leader right behind him he could go a lap down I don't think he has the speed anymore that car is used up and the night guard goes around him but now he's going to lap down I think the back of this car the tires on the back of this car used up what blisters butcher's car is just really quick also he just has the fastest car on the racetrack there's no doubt about that and then you know the mistake by Redick and you put yours behind and then you not as good as you needed to be and then the 17 is so much better and now you're lap down and that shows you how quickly things can change his fight right now is to stay in front of the 17 no matter what because you can get there's only 13 cars in the lead lap you get a late caution and then you know how it goes at racetracks you get a late caution you get another one you get another one you could find yourself with a much better finish than you're running right now you have to keep fighting next car in front of Chase hilley for position is Briscoe and when we went through that through the field Brisco is the fourth shr car all four cars in the top 12. having a incredible race today as an organization they have struggled all year long the Fords are slow out of the box the first half of the year it's been a great day for the forzo today and especially shr seven in the top 13 as far as Fords go and a Ford driver right here for RFK you think about Roush drivers and the successes that they have had especially just racetrack look at this list Mark Martin our friend over here Jeff Burke Matt kense and Kurt Bush Carl Edwards all winners here at Richmond Chris buscher in a position now he's 23 laps away could he add his name to this list well if he does it's going to be Bittersweet for Brad because labsky of course he's going to be excited for the driver that he employs as an owner of RFK but remember you'll be pointing it out there have been no yellows and before this green flag cycle it was Brad keslowski who was controlling this race now Chris busher was right on his rear bumper but now Brad Keselowski is in the sixth position 14 seconds behind his teammate so you know this one's going to sting a little bit I think he's going to go back to you know kind of that funny turn into his pit box and he'll definitely look back at some areas that he probably would wish he could do over and those are the six cars in the corner with trouble that's just not something we see from Brad Keselowski he's a guy that is kind of a mistake free driver and maybe just push him a little bit harder one was awesome and that's great information coming to Brad they're still in the fight here I mean that's great information hey good corner I need that keep pushing and all these drivers are going to fight right up until the last lap because you never know when a caution comes out and Steve it could go into the crew's hands as far as a great pit stop to get somebody out front depending upon how many laps are left in this race oh if there's a lap left in this race you better put new tires on so if there's a yellow the Pick 3 and this is really the same idea you talked about the folks for the drivers they definitely have had the biggest challenge in the heat inside the race car but it's hot outside and the pit Crews have been sitting for these long green flag runs you know you've got to stay in the game you got to stay focused in case you get the ball late there's Denny Hamlin with Ryan priest now starting to reel him back in priests in the third spot Hamlin running second they're both a little over six seconds behind Chris butcher yeah nobody's been able to make up any time on the 17 car out front handling's laps are running out and now the 41's starting to get bigger and bigger in that rearview mirror for the 11. all right big day for the manufacturer the blue oval we'll see if they can finish it out with just under 18 laps still to go in this race um it's been quite some time though the last time Ford went to Victory Lane was in May in the Charlotte race when Ryan Blaney was able to win the Coca-Cola 600. right here you see Chris butcher still putting pressure on the nine car Chase Elliott but that's not Chris's race Chris has a six second lead he does not have to push Chase Elliott if Handler were two seconds away then he'd have to push hard and try to get Chase a lap down but right now it's just a race to 16 laps that's what it is you don't really need to put pressure on Chase Elliott run your lap time keep clean do not cause a caution it really may just sit right there and that's that's the experience that Chris butcher has we know he doesn't have a lot of wins but he has tons of races races under his belt and this is when that experience comes through yeah yeah it's really good racecraft not a guy that gets over excited or makes him a lot of mistakes you put him in a good race car and he's going to get to result for you ran third here at this race last year 28 rates and since his last win and a ton of confidence in him Brad Keselowski constantly talks about how good Chris busher is we've heard Jack Roush talk about how much he loves Chris Fisher wants him to be part of this program forever I mean that's that's high praise and especially with a guy that doesn't have a you know he doesn't have 20 wins or something like that it's easy to say that about Denny Hamlin but Chris Bush or he's a grinder he's a fighter he's doing a really good job not just today he's done a great job in his career yeah only two career wins I mean you guys are mentioning a lot of the statistics and things the last time he was in Victory Lane it was 28 races ago last year 2022 it was Bristol a short track another short track for busher as we are starting to see him shine on this discipline Brad let him on laps at night as well as he did today when the 17 car last went to Victory Lane that is one thing I feel that RFK does a very nice job of of all organizations I feel these two cars run most similar now unfortunately when they miss it they're similar but when they hit it they're together and I think that is purely what Brad has brought right he said hey we're going to do this a certain way we know it's going to take time we're going to remain patient we're going to work as in unison as a two-car team and that's what we see when they are fast they are both fast yeah when you've got a driver owner it's a there's a you know bad habit of putting all the good things on that car right but he you know Brad's done a great job of making the whole program better uh it now that he's become a part of it again I don't want to take credit away from other people there crew chiefs engineers Jack Roush and everything that he's built but I think Brad has certainly turned this program around and it's uh it's impressive how both cars like you say are running so well and Junior it's a mindset it's not only those people that you just mentioned it's the people that are working on the cars in the shop they see what Chris Butcher and Brad Keselowski are doing at the racetrack weekend and week out as we've got a spin in turn four a caution has come out for the restart Daniel Suarez around backwards yeah it looks like there you see Scott graves right there instantly going to work on the radio what do we need we know we're coming to Pitt Road Daniel Suarez has got turned around I think there was a little bit of contact in the left rear changes everything right here and like I say it's going to put all put this in the in the hands of the cruise on Pit Road Noah Gregson as far as contact into turn three Suarez goes around the Big Smoke screen and the caution has come out okay Steve now you have so much pressure on these Crews the crews have to have a perfect stop it's going to be a four tire stop for everybody everybody's gonna pit everybody's going to take four tires you're going to have to have a perfect stop or at least a solid stop right you can't go so fast you make a mistake but you know this is what they train for is these moments right here everybody who's a lap down I think will take the wave rounds this is gonna put a lot of cars back in the lead lap those guys will be in old tires they won't be a big part of the story a big Advantage here Steve is the 17 has put so many cars between he and the 11. all right look at all the cars that are between those two so the 17 it should have a gap coming to his pit box which should allow them to have not have to rush they don't have shouldn't have to have you know a two second fan you know they could have an equal pit stop and come off with still the lead so the 17 needs to touch it take that breath here and not try too hard and Jeff the reason you say that is you can't pull up to pit correct that's the Gap that you're talking about with those cars well the lab cars will pull up they'll pull up to the right and then Denny Hamlin when they pull up to the right then he will start pulling up closer to the 17 but he won't be at his bumper but he will be a little bit closer but you can see right here look at the Gap on the Pit Road they come Dylan only thing a leader Chris butcher asked for was a touch of Center turn in the 17 middle of your screen so make an air fresher adjustment Ryan priest said he lost drive at the end but fired off good he said I just need more help turning the center but I cannot be any looser off the corner the 17 and 41 already coming by zero attack the 17s already gone by Denny Hamlin comes in second looks like they'll come out second as well great big stop for the eight look at Kyle Busch gaining a spot now he will be either on the inside of Row one or he will be in row two remember they will still choose where they restart so now it's going to be a fight and it could come down to less than five laps who will win here in Richmond [Music] [Music] [Music] getting ready for the restart it will be a Sprint to the Finish NASCAR cups series racing from Richmond presented by Toyota and it continues next week we go from a three-quarter mile track to a two mile in Michigan International Speedway and Saturday the Xfinity series on NBC and peacock that starts at three o'clock with the race at 3 30. then on Sunday countdown to Green at two and Cup Series racing at 2 30 on USA yeah what are we thinking now is Scott Graves didn't want to see that caution come out but it did all right drivers where are we choosing I think you want to be on the bottom you know I think get down and get a good restart get down the corner push them out of the way win the race I think the guy who restarts thirds in a good position so that's what busher has done see Kyle Busch has chosen that high line as well in the second row that makes me nervous being on the bottom I I yes historically on short tracks take the bottom but this racetrack the top will work if it will work if Denny Hamlin can get a good launch right here he's got a shot let's listen to what busher and his team are talking about all at the 11 do you like you did Kyle Larson lastly man just take charge of this one and uh go away we're really good comes out a hell of a job so do you think that might have determined his choice to take the bottom it's not let Denny on that inside so that Denny wouldn't be in that position again and does Chris busher think he has the right to heal the 11 off after what he saw last week that's what I would have rather heard from the spotters to say remember what he did why don't you do the same thing here we go it'll be three to go [Applause] Pusher on the inside Hamlet on the outside Rick black back in the air has a good launch for the 17 Precinct in the 41 side by side with the 11. did he comes on the outside a big run legano as well in the 22. he moves to the outside but Hamlet has closed the gap three wide for third Hamlin's car is better right now bush is going to have to block City locks up the left front he's up to racetrack and that Joey Legato where did he come from fighting for that second spot now Hamlin trying to regroup they're side by side for second Hamlin back out into that second spot one lap to go presented by Credit One Bank Chris busher after a dominant performance 86 laps out in front down the back stretch for the final time the 30-year-old from Prosper Texas which by the way has a population of 30 000 is going to win in front of four here's the Richmond busher wins at the short track quit reckon in the back of the field cars spinning around backwards on the front straightaway cedrics involved almondinger we see him riding it now the 77 also has gone around and Ty Dillon all these cars stayed out got the way around position and they wrecked for a lap yeah they did they had it what a great day for busher Ralph spinway Kozlowski racing gotta feel for Brad keslaski leading so many laps had such such a strong car I know he is absolutely thrilled to have won this race as a team owner but man he cannot wait to go to Victory Lane himself as a driver you mentioned RFK Kozlowski and busher combined LED 189 laps they were the top two lap leaders in this race the caution laid in this one made it harder for busher but what a lot she had on the on the start see the flag moment brought to you by Advanced Auto Parts [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign shredded rubber coming off of the 17. four out of the top six all driving forwards are they back can we make that comment early we're back in the short track for sure crew coming out [Applause] the pride of Prosper Texas gets a win here at Richmond RFK dominant here on a warm Sunday afternoon Richmond race fans Chris butcher is your winner love to see this celebration with this race team this organization has worked so hard to get to this point and back to Victory Lane of course one Bristol as we showed a moment ago last year but this one guarantees their spot in the playoffs and that's worth the hug for everybody on the race team Scott green says crew chief comes in on a hot and exhausting day I think he'll uh find a way to celebrate a little bit more helmet coming off boy what was your what was your thought when that caution came out Chris what were you thinking because you had it in hand yeah it was um they're trying to take care of this passing Mustang and all these guys over at RFK the 17 team gave me a great hot rods they were so good and um just trying to take care of it there and uh about the time Scott Cameron radio he said that's working perfect keep it up caution I was like yeah that's about right but I knew even on our green flag stuff we were so strong during the race so I had a good feeling about it there so pretty awesome to pull it off uh proud of everybody because that was that's a long way from the back this morning so uh heck of a race for us it was seven days ago that I was talking to your crew chief Scott Graves and he said we're a 6-15 Place car right now as an organization we need to take a step forward are you surprised it came so quickly and in such dominant fashion we've had this one Circle since last fall so uh I was really hopeful this could be the one that would uh Turn the page for us and and sure enough right off the truck I I thought it was so um I hate that qualifying went the way it did because I was sitting there just beating myself up trying to figure out what we're gonna do from there but um made to Victory Lane here in Richmond I'd uh I told you to flood this place three years ago so uh my opinions are changing quite a bit here and um man what what a day there that's that's awesome I know it was fun racing the boss is there a way to describe to the fans here and the fans at home how much work has gone into this for RFK to get back to Victory Lane probably not um I mean there's so much has happened in uh in the 15 years I've been there uh but the last two years eight last 18 months just to see the turnaround uh new car kind of being a good reset for us to be able to be competing for wins and a lot of different styles of racetracks and a couple couple checkered Flags now uh some great pitch strategy there's some great pit stops uh you know it's every Department working hard to make this happen and uh and get us this this checkered fire we've been talking about this a lot and um you don't get to ask me about points anymore there you go no more talk about points because they are guaranteed Rick to be in the playoffs Chris butcher the 17 team they'll be a playoff player this year with the win here at Richmond you're right Marty the win and you advance to the playoffs has happened for Chris butcher he will now head to the ruoff mortgage Victory Lane to celebrate career win number three Chris busher after a dominant performance toward the end of this race had to show his skills on a restart and he did just that he's able to put some distance between himself and second place Denny Hamlin after a long fight but big smiles for all RFK as busher gets to Victory Lane won't be here till the top of the hour seven o'clock [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign telecast may not be reproduced re-transmitted or used in any form without the authorized written consent of NASCAR broadcasting NASCAR mask I think all of our fans for your support and we hope you enjoy today's broadcast a strong strong day for Denny Hamlin and with two to go your car shot up the track what happened I drove in way too deep I was trying to get to the outside there um man I really had a great run off of turn two on the restart and then off of four again but yeah I was just so close to him there that I wanted to try to score a little extra gas to try to get to the outside in just too much break so um man I'm happy for Chris and RFK and those guys I know they worked really hard to get to this point and I can appreciate the struggle that it that it is to get to this point so uh congratulations to them and definitely a great job by this uh Mavis team just continue to keep me in it all day long we just lacked a little little bit it uh to be the best here so we just need to improve on it and uh still a good day two things on the chews there at the end were you happy to get the outside line and did it ever cross your mind that some of these guys might think oh they might have a little license with me this week after last week and all the discussions no I I appreciate it it's a good talking point but no it was not I'm out there trying to win the race for sure and I loved getting the front row but I just got a just a god-awful restart and you know Kyle just pushed me down the front straightaway which is really helpful for us so um thanks for that not just just didn't do a good job on the restart and then I didn't do a good job into turn one on the second last lap but uh our team gave us a shot and the race should have been his anyway you know the the caution at the end so it was just kind of a second chance in life for us there at the end then he handling so strong here often and strong again today it's a fourth place finish for Joey Logano today and thought you were going to have a look at it there at the end but you kind of came out of nowhere to even be in that position what changed on your race car that allowed you to to get up front and content at the end yeah we really weren't that bad with the show pencil Mustang just a little bit off uh from the best cars and and really could hang if you put his fifth we probably hang a fifth um but just qualifying as poorly as we did uh slowly getting our way up there had a couple setbacks during the race uh it's just kind of made us hang around at seventh and 10th Place range there for a little bit and I knew we just had to get there uh that probably a good job uh must have been a special match set of tires just I don't know but it fired off pretty good it was able to roll the outside of two lanes there and when Denny screwed up and slid up it got me down the middle and I was like oh well maybe this is okay and then it allowed the eight get back to my outside and uh we gave up a spot there but um I saw him I got excited I was like oh I was almost there I needed one more caution it has been fun what do you make of the Ford performance today just across the board it seemed like you guys for the cars to beat and you obviously came through at the end too is is was this a big weekend in the step in the right direction for the overall performance of the manufacturer um think where our weaknesses were hidden today uh by the lacquer grip on the racetrack um you know mechanical grip seems to come in and you know it's hard to put the power down as it is so I think just where our weaknesses are we're we're masked and uh I'm glad Chris was able to to capitalize on it and a four guy in Victor Lane we need to get more of them uh in there but uh nice to see one in Victor land right now hard fought date for Joey Logano it's a nice top five fourth at Richmond and the celebration continuing for busher and that 17 team mortgage Victory Lane here at Richmond [Applause] we'll have plenty more drivers and folks to talk to from here at Richmond the biggest smile on the face Chris busher getting career win number three [Music] foreign [Music] identify NASCAR America post race is brought to you by Progressive Insurance save would you bundle Auto home or motorcycle insurance visit progressive.com [Music] and the other driver for RFK racing that had the most laps LED today Brad Keselowski standing by with Dylan and ultimately going to end up six today but the lap leader at 102 laps so how do you feel about that I mean your teammate won your car won but it's not you in Victory Lane yeah I'm happy for Chris happy we're just we're incrementally building uh solid day for for both teams here at RFK I'm happy for everybody that that works on these teams everybody supports us with Fastenal and and Ford and uh build subs and uh you know we let a lot of laps with both cars and the other cars really started up front and drove through had a great job with with the pit Crews and uh just uh a lot to be proud of today of course I want to win as a driver but uh just happy that we're as competitive as we are and we just want to keep building and keep getting more competitive every week I was in your hauler Before the Race and Matt McCall your crew chief said you know sometimes the changes in progress we're making you don't always see those but we are making it is this uh is this a statement that you guys are legit and you are making progress yeah I mean one wins good like you get three or four or five then you feel a lot better but uh sure beats not having any at all they're doing but we want to keep going uh it's nice to have one car locked in the playoffs when you get both cars locked in the playoffs we have a good points Gap uh but we want wins and uh this is where we need to be you go home next week into Michigan is that one that you have Circle that you would like to get in Victory Lane for yeah Michigan's uh always been a great track for what was Roush and Roush Fenway and hopefully it'll be that way again for RFK we uh we know it's not going to be easy there's a lot of great competition there but uh it's nice going in there with a win under your belt all right well Brad keselowski's in Victory Lane celebrating with his team and he ends up six today but more importantly Chris Bush are the teammate and team Carr in Victory Lane thanks Dylan Ford has won the last eight Michigan races as we take a look at the progressive safe driver put that to Brad Keselowski as well as Chris busher what a performance we had seen out of busher that better stop by buscher and his crew got him out in front and saw their Frank jazlowski with the difficulty on his Pit Stop dropped him back just a little bit but in the end it was ultimately that crew again having a great pit stop at the end getting him back out in front well you heard Brad and Chris both mentioned in their interviews about where they started and where they ended up right I mean Brad wasn't bad in 13th but Chris butcher started 26th and other than you know we had two stage ends and that caution basically at the end of the race so all the positions gained by Chris butcher were the Blue Collar hard-earned way of passing them on the racetrack there was no strategy involved or no tricks just a fast race car you mentioned strategy One driver who was on a different strategy than most today was Martin Shrek's Jr he is with Marty Martin church shooting winds up seventh boy what a crazy strategy race today you guys were on the one stopper in both stages how difficult was that to keep up with behind the wheel and also with what all was going on around you yeah it was tough I mean honestly the whole day was really tough um you know this place is never easy but uh felt like just as Loose as we were all day man it was a handful and the car was just so on on edge it was really really difficult to drive it was difficult to make two laps the same and just uh just really had to battle so um you know good job by the guys doing what they did to come up with that strategy I was flipping out because I didn't know what was going on I couldn't hear James again on the radio I don't know why but you know just uh just a you know really hard fought battle day for our Bass Pro Shops Camry so you know I thought we'd probably probably was going to run Fifth Air without the caution and then we were just so bad on the short runs today for whatever reason you know just uh luckily only lost two spots there in the last start so all in all a decent day just uh man it was it was tough so inside Denny's car we had a thermometer it was 135 pretty much all day long how difficult was this race physically Martin it's tough um definitely really really hot it felt longer than 400 laps you know I'll be honest that we got to end the stage two and I'm like there's no way I thought that was a checkered flag so so I mean just it just felt really really long my face is my face felt hottest just because the the helmet blower it just sucks cold air or cool air from outside and it just felt like a hair dryer so like my cheek feels like a sunburned very very hot but yeah it is what it is so we uh we hung on my shoulder's doing better than the rest of it or my shoulder hurts more than anything just from how loose I was all day so I'll work that out but uh the heat wasn't wasn't too bad other than on my face a day of survival for Martin Truex Jr but it winds up being a top 10 here Richmond third a day for Kyle Busch and on that last pit stop your crew picked you up one and then you had a shot what happened um I I don't know Denny spun his tires a little bit there on that start and just automatically got us a row behind and hard to make that back up you know but um 22 also had a hell of a run through one and two on the outside and I got pinched lower than letting my car kind of naturally drift out on the exit so um you know just was able to battle back and get a third dose so that's the finish that we deserved which is really really good we had a great car to kind of run the first 50 laps of a run and then it would really drop off so we'd short pitted each time but you know thanks to the NetSpend X World wallet credit card and everybody else for for being a part of our program RCR ECR and ECR especially I ran the heck out of this motor today and spent a lot of time in fourth gear which just that's what helped me with my driving style the way we were doing it today so um feels good to run a solid top five like that a lot of green flag racing today we kind of wondered about the physicality out there how was it ready to go you look good yeah 400 more let's go um I mean it's warm it's hot but these cool shirts are a world of difference you know so that certainly helps a lot um I wouldn't run a hot race without one anymore but you know when it comes to the winter time I I tend to shy back away from it but overall yeah just um no I love night racing at Richmond if we could please bring night racing back at Richmond that would be awesome but I get it Kyle is cool either way yeah he was cool and we heard from two veterans there with Martin tricks Jr Kyle Busch uh both having finishes not both of them in the top five but Kyle Busch third Martin tricks Jr seven uh good finishes for both drivers well I think Kyle Busch uh evaluated his day pretty accurately third place was pretty solid for where they were at this is a team that wrecked three times at New Hampshire the you know the last shorter style track we saw and they had short tracks circled as a place that had to improve and what I saw out of the eight is a team that did improve and for the 19 of Truex I am sure that it was confusing and a battle from inside the car because he was always upside down on tires rarely did he feel like you have an advantage but from where they were at 26th or whatever it is to come all the way back and finish inside the top ten you know when when everyone does finally cool off they'll have to see that as a pretty impressive performance yeah and Kyle Busch obviously not happy with with not having a little opportunity to win this race but this was his first short track top 10 of the season and also his teammate Austin Dillon finished ninth so thinking ahead to Phoenix you know did they make a game did they learn something today that they can apply to Phoenix if they make it to that with a chance to win a championship and the other thing too with Kyle Busch today is they struggled in that first stage they dropped out of the top ten and I thought that they were going to have another you know difficult frustrating afternoon at a short track which had been the norm for them this year they turned that around they improved that car made it better he was talking about how he was loving all the changes that they continue to make on that car making it better and better and really you know if we get another couple of restarts that's a winning car that's a car that wins this race which was Amendment of a surprise to me after watching that first stage remember Kyle Busch started second on the race Chris butcher who's in Victory Lane he started 26 so a lot of work put in by the 17 team and of course the victor goes spoils and right now they're celebrating [Music]

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 93,776

Keywords: nascar cup series full race, nascar, nascar cup series, alex bowman denny hamlin, denny hamlin mad, denny hamlin, hamlin, bowman, NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay, tempers, angry, bump and run, spin out, crash, wreck, denny hamlin gets spun by alex bowman, nascar playoffs, playoff race drama, COTA, Circuit of the americas, last lap wreck, Denny Hamlin, William byron, Ross Chastain, noah gragson, Chastain vs Gragson, Denny Hamlin Kyle larson, fight, kansas fight

Id: PDOPex7rzo0

Length: 206min 21sec (12381 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 01 2023