NASCAR at Richmond 2022: Odds, Preview and Top Storylines
Three races at three very different types of race tracks remain in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season.
Sunday's trip to Richmond International Raceway marks the last short-track race of the regular season. The drivers then go to the Watkins Glen road course and the Daytona superspeedway.
The stakes for Sunday's race are higher than they have been in recent weeks since there are now 15 race winners on the circuit this season.
The 15 victors will automatically qualify for the NASCAR Playoffs as long as there are not more than 16 regular-season winners. Kevin Harvick tightened the playoff bubble with a win last week at Michigan.
Entering Richmond, Ryan Blaney owns the most points of any non-winner, but there is not much separation between himself and Martin Truex Jr.
Truex has been one of the most successful Cup Series drivers at Richmond, and that may help him earn his long-awaited first win of the season.
Blaney, Truex and all of the non-winners on the Cup Series circuit will be driving with a heightened sense of desperation to make the playoffs, but that does not mean one of them will win.
Truex's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch also have wins at Richmond, and both are favored to be in the mix for the checkered flag.
Federated Auto Parts 400 Odds
Martin Truex Jr. (+600; bet $100 to win $600)
Denny Hamlin (+600)
Kyle Busch (+700)
Chase Elliott (+900)
Christopher Bell (+900)
Kyle Larson (+1000)
Ross Chastain (+1200)
Ryan Blaney (+1200)
Kevin Harvick (+1500)
Joey Logano (+1500)
Bubba Wallace (+2000)
Tyler Reddick (+2000)
William Byron (+2000)
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Will Another New Winner Emerge in Richmond?
The race weekend at Richmond may finish in a similar fashion as Michigan did last week.
Like Kevin Harvick at Michigan, Martin Truex Jr. carries a strong recent history at Richmond with three wins in the last six races.
Harvick used his command of the car on the Michigan track and some solid strategy to move himself into the lead and become the 15th race winner on the Cup Series circuit this season.
Truex is hoping for similar luck on one of his best tracks, and one that his team, Joe Gibbs Racing, has also performed well at. Gibbs cars have won six of the last eight Richmond races. Kyle Busch won twice in 2018, and Denny Hamlin took the spring race in Virginia.
Truex, Busch and Christopher Bell all finished inside the top 10 beneath Hamlin in April. Truex finished fourth with Harvick and William Byron sandwiched between himself and Hamlin.
The last Gibbs car without a win can't be the only winless driver to look at for a potential win on Sunday.
Ryan Blaney, who sits above Truex in the points standings, finished seventh at Richmond in April, and he has three straight placings inside the top 11 at the Virginia short track.
Bubba Wallace could find himself in the mix for the win because his 23XI Racing Toyota shares some of the same features as the Gibbs Toyotas. Wallace finished second to Harvick at Michigan.
Austin Dillon may be a player for the win at Richmond as well. The No. 3 car landed in 10th in April, and that team may be more aggressive than others when it comes to pit strategy to secure a win.
A victory does not mean playoff safety yet for any of the drivers. If there are more than 16 race winners, the playoff field will be determined by points, which is why the racers at the top of the standings have something to drive for as well.
Can Kyle Larson Find Form Before Postseason?
Kyle Larson's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has been in the background for all the recent chaos surrounding the Cup Series season.
The reigning Cup Series champion has two top 10 finishes in his last five starts and he has not won since the second race of the season at California.
In fact, Hendrick Motorsports as a team has not won through Larson, Alex Bowman or William Byron since the eighth race of the regular season. Chase Elliott has four wins in that span, but none of his three teammates have found Victory Lane.
Larson finished fifth at Richmond in the spring, two spots back of Byron. Bowman was eighth and Elliott finished 14th. Only the Gibbs cars had a better performance as a team that weekend.
That is a promising though for the Hendrick cars with the playoffs on the horizon. A win, or a top three finish, would be huge for Larson and his team to create some momentum going into Watkins Glen and Daytona.
Larson has a win at Richmond from 2017 and Hendrick is the only Chevrolet team with a Richmond victory (Alex Bowman in 2018) over the last four seasons. Toyota has six wins and Brad Keselowski won for Ford in 2020.
Not only would a win feel nice for confidence purposes, but it would also give Hendrick a bit of bragging rights against one of the other top teams at a track that Gibbs typically outshines everyone else at.
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