NASCAR Richmond/Texas Recap

The Craftsman Truck Series went down to the Lone Star State of Texas to take on the high banks of Texas Motor Speedway while the Xfinity and Cup Series was racing on the short track in Richmond, Virginia. 

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: SpeedyCash.com 250

The Truck Series saw a first-time winner, originally looking like to be for Nick Sanchez, who dominated the race and swept both stages. However, despite leading 168 of the 172 laps, Sanchez and Zane Smith made contact after taking the white flag. This led to Sanchez getting loose as he tried to regain control, but before he could Carson Hocevar got into the back of Sanchez, sending the No. 2 spinning and collecting Zane Smith. Hocevar had a ton of momentum in that moment while Sanchez was trying to regain control and not lose momentum. The caution then came out, and the winner ended up being Carson Hocevar, earning his long-awaited first career Craftsman Truck Series victory. 

“I didn’t mean to get into him, I just meant to give him a push, and he got sideways the second I hit him, I apologize to them, I’ll take the fall for it. I wrecked a Chevy, and I’ll go talk to him about it. He deserved to win for sure,” Hocevar said about the incident with Sanchez.

“But all the times we were the fastest car, and I don’t win, and this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now,” continued Hocevar, who has four career runner-up finishes. “We didn’t deserve to win today, but we were in the right spot at the right time.”The pressure was on for Nick Sanchez, as he had to deal with six restarts from the lead in the final 40 laps of the SpeedyCash.com 250. Every time he was able to drive out in front.

“Obviously, coming to the last lap, me and the 38 [Zane Smith] were playing an aggressive side-drafting game, and I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass and saved it,” Sanchez said. “Just got hit by the 42 [Hocevar]. I don’t know what else to say about that. It is what it is, that’s racing.”
Dean Thompson had a scary crash late in the race when he got loose and made contact with the wall coming off turn four. His No. 5 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra then spun coming back in front of the field as several trucks collided. Thompson was able to exit his truck on his own power but was carried into an ambulance on a stretcher after visible discomfort.
Thompson was taken to a local hospital, where he was alert and awake, for further evaluation. He was later released and went home. His status for the next race at Bristol is currently unknown as he will undergo further evaluations.

NASCAR Xfinity Series: ToyotaCare 250

For the Xfinity Series, we had another case of a first-time winner, this time being Chandler Smith, who was having a great start to his rookie season. Smith held off John Hunter Nemechek in the final six laps to win the race. He led early on, as he led a race-best 83 of the 250 laps in the race, but was always in contention and in the top five throughout the race. This was a huge momentum boost for the young driver, especially after coming up short at Las Vegas when he lead for 118 laps.
“Feels great,” Chandler Smith said after the race. “This goes to testimony as to Vegas, dominated that race but didn’t win and said, ‘It was all in God’s timing.’ … Here we are in Richmond, my favorite race track, and we’re sitting in Victory Lane.”

“Disappointed to run runner-up again, that’s the last three races I’ve run here, finished second. Frustrated, but we’ll go back to work. The 16 (Smith) just had the best car on the short run.” Nemechek said after the race.

After leading 63 laps, Josh Berry settled for third while Kaz Grala had a strong showing in the No. 26 Toyota for Sam Hunt Racing, finishing in fourth. That finish ties his career best in the series. Cole Custer was able to finish the day with a fifth-place finish after a problem on pit road and some tight side-by-side racing late in the day. Justin Allgaier finished 13th after starting on the pole but was able to grab the $100,000 bonus from the first Dash 4 Cash race of the season.
“Weird day today, we didn’t fire off quite as good as we hoped for, but they kept working, great pit stops all day.” Allgaier said afterward. “It’s weird finishing 13th and still be standing here holding this check, but the other guys had a rough day. This puts us in next week for the Dash 4 Cash, so huge thanks to Xfinity for all they do for the sport.”

In the next Dash 4 Cash race at Martinsville on April 15th, Allgaier will join Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, and Josh Berry for the $100,000 bonus.
Sheldon Creed,  Ryan Seig Parker Kligerman, Austin Hill, and Derek Kraus rounded out the top ten. It was Kraus’ first career start in the Xfinity Series, who raced among the top 10 in his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet for most of the race.

NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400

At the end of an exciting day in Richmond, it was Kyle Larson earning his first win of the season and 20^th of his career as he held off Josh Berry in the closing laps to win. Larson benefitted from his final pit stop and went on to lead the final 25 laps of the race. Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five in the race. This also marked the first win for Larson’s interim crew chief, Kevin Meendering, as he is filling in for Cliff Daniels who is serving a suspension.
“It’s really cool, we’ve been close to winning a couple,” Larson said, adding on that, “Things just worked out and my pit crew had a great stop.”

“Thanks to everyone on this team, Cliff Daniels, for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win, and hopefully many more.”

Larson and Berry’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, led for 117 laps and looked dominant throughout the race. However late in the race, he got knocked out of contention when Bell hit him from behind on a restart with 20 laps remaining.
“I was just restarting fourth there, just trying to stay tight to the 9 [Berry] and get a good restart and got tagged in the left rear,” said Byron, who finished 24th. “Just a dive-bomb move on his [Bell] part. It is what it is. I had a great race car.”

Larson was able to lead for a total of 97 laps across four different occasions. He also survived contact on pit road with Daniel Suárez’s Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet early in the race. This is Larson’s second win at Richmond, as he won there in the fall of 2017.
While Hendrick looked like the team to beat in the race, the Toyotas gave the Hendrick Chevorlets a run for their money. Denny Hamlin led for 71 laps that added on to the combined 154 laps led by the Toyotas. Hamlin looked strong and won stage two, but he fell out of contention after a couple of costly penalties on pit road. Martin Truex Jr led for 56 laps but finished 11th. During the final set of pit stops, a lot of the leaders had a set of fresh Goodyear tires to use except for Truex,  who only had a set of scuffed tires used for a six-lap stint earlier in the race.
“What a (expletive) nightmare,” Truex said on the radio at one point, believing his tires were flat.

Crew Chief James Small apologized over the radio after the checkered flag and explained why he didn’t inform Truex about the scuffed tires until after the race had ended.
“We had (expletive) scuffed tires on there because we hosed ourselves taking that set (of tires) in Stage 1,” Small said on the radio. “So we were (expletive) regardless. Sorry. We (expletive) up.”

Truex is in the middle of a 51-race winless drought, as he last won on September 11, 2021, at Richmond. Despite winning the Clash to start the season off, he currently sits ninth in points with one top-ten finish. 
Michael McDowell finished sixth, earning his first top ten of the season, Joey Logano finished seventh, while Alex Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top ten.