2014 Richmond: NASCAR Sprint Cup Starting Line-up & Race Preview

Posted by: ASkyler on Apr 26, 2014 - 07:12 AM 2014 Richmond: NASCAR Sprint Cup Starting Line-up & Race Preview



By Mike Sulka



It's Saturday night and time for some more NASCAR short-track action under the lights! Tonight, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will run the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.



Richmond International Raceway was built in 1946 and is a .750 mile D-shaped oval with 14 degree banking in the turns. The 1290 foot frontstretch has eight degree banking while the shorter backstretch - 860 feet - is a relatively flat two degrees. If all the seats are full tonight, at least 112,029 NASCAR fans will be cheering on their heroes.



The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond was run back on April 19th, 1953, and was won by Lee Petty in a '53 Dodge. The race had 27 entries and a Pole speed of 48.465 mph - though that was original half-mile track.



We won't be picking Kyle Larson and his No. 42 AXE Peace Chevrolet for the win tonight because he is the Pole sitter. Pole sitters at Richmond have won exactly three races in the last 42 events. Three. Sorry Kyle.



Historically, Richmond International Raceway has been a favorite of the bow-tie boys. But my-oh-my have things changed.



On May 2nd of 2009, Kyle Busch and his No. 18 Combos Toyota broke up what had been a all-Chevrolet party over the previous seven visits to Richmond. From 2006 to 2008, Chevrolet had won six straight races. Busch's triumph ended that winning streak, and started a new trend for the Toyota brand. Toyota went on to win seven of the last eight races at Richmond.



But last year, the trend was broke again. Chevrolet and Ford took wins. For Ford, it was the brand's first win at Richmond since 2005.



Another interesting stat is that Kyle Busch has won the first visit to Richmond in four of the last five season.



You can't beat Busch's numbers over the last 10 races (4 wins, 6 top-fives, and a pole position). Busch has also scored more points at Richmond than another other driver over that stretch. Over his career, he's finished in the top-five 12 times in 18 tries, which is an amazing achievement. But even better, he's finished first or second eight times in 18 tries.



So we are going with Busch for the win tonight.



Should that logic fail us, keep an eye on Denny Hamlin, who has scored the second most points over the last ten events. Jimmie Johnson has also won three times at Richmond, but his last win came back in 2008. While Jeff Gordon also has a solid record here.



So sit back and enjoy tonight's Saturday night main event! It's sure to be a door bangin' crowd pleaser!





























































Starting Line Up by Row

Richmond International Raceway

60th Annual Toyota Owners 400

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, April 25, 2014 @ 03:37 PM Central

Track Race Record: Dale Jarrett 09/06/97 02:45:04 109.047

Row Pos Car Driver Team Reason 1 1 42 Kyle Larson # AXE Peace Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 15th 2 2 Brad Keselowski Detroit Genuine Parts Ford 2014 Owner Points 8th 2 3 15 Clint Bowyer AAA Insurance Toyota 2014 Owner Points 16th 4 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 23rd 3 5 4 Kevin Harvick Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 22nd 6 55 Brian Vickers Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 2014 Owner Points 14th 4 7 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 20th 8 83 Ryan Truex # VooDoo BBQ & Grill Toyota 2014 Owner Attempts 5 9 27 Paul Menard CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 18th 10 48 Jimmie Johnson Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 5th 6 11 9 Marcos Ambrose Stanley/Ace/CMN Ford 2014 Owner Points 17th 12 20 Matt Kenseth Home Depot Husky Toyota 2014 Owner Points 2nd 7 13 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 4th 14 47 AJ Allmendinger Bush's Grillin' Beans Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 19th 8 15 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 2014 Owner Points 24th 16 99 Carl Edwards FordAlwaysRacing.com Ford 2014 Owner Points 3rd 9 17 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 2014 Owner Points 9th 18 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 10th 10 19 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota 2014 Owner Points 6th 20 14 Tony Stewart Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 13th 11 21 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 26th 22 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 28th 12 23 7 Michael Annett # Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 35th 24 23 Alex Bowman # Dr.Pepper Toyota 2014 Owner Points 36th 13 25 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 1st 26 16 Greg Biffle Scotch Ford 2014 Owner Points 12th 14 27 3 Austin Dillon # Dow Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 11th 28 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 2014 Owner Points 7th 15 29 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Nationwide Ford 2014 Owner Points 25th 30 35 David Reutimann MDS Transport Ford 2014 Owner Attempts 16 31 51 Justin Allgaier # Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 27th 32 32 Travis Kvapil Keen Parts Ford 2014 Owner Attempts 17 33 38 David Gilliland Long John Silver's Ford 2014 Owner Points 30th 34 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 21st 18 35 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 29th 36 36 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 31st 19 37 34 David Ragan Taco Bell Ford 2014 Owner Points 33rd 38 33 David Stremme Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet 2014 Owner Attempts 20 39 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 2014 Owner Attempts 40 26 Cole Whitt # Scorpyd Toyota 2014 Owner Points 34th 21 41 66 Joe Nemechek(i) Virginia Farm Bureau Toyota 2014 Owner Attempts 42 30 JJ Yeley(i) Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet 2014 Owner Attempts 22 43 40 Landon Cassill(i) Atlantic Plumbing & Utilities Chevrolet 2014 Owner Points 32nd Did Not Qualify: #95 Michael McDowell; #77 Dave Blaney.

Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs

Chevrolet 23 0 Toyota 9 0













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