NASCAR moves from Martinsville, Virginia to the capital of the Commonwealth this weekend for more short-track racing at Richmond Raceway.
Through the first seven races, the Cup Series had produced seven different winners before Martin Truex Jr. took control late in the eighth race of the season at Martinsville to score his second win of 2021.
And it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Truex was once again celebrating in victory lane. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver swept both Richmond races in 2019 and has finished no worse than third dating to the 2018 playoff race.
Truex will likely get strong challenges from his JGR teammates and fellow Toyota drivers Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Bush swept both Richmond races in 2018 and has six career Cup wins at the 0.75-mile track, most among active drivers. Hamlin has won three times at Richmond and has been the most consistent driver in 2021 with seven top-fives in eight races.
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Toyota drivers have won seven of the past 10 races at Richmond. Can they make it eight of 11? Here’s all the information you need to get ready for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway:
START TIME: 3 p.m. ET.
TV: Fox. Pre-race broadcast begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
RADIO: Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
STREAMING: Fox Sports Go (must have TV provider) and FOX Sports Go app plus other streaming services.
RACE DISTANCE: 400 laps around the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway for a total of 300 miles.
STAGE LENGTHS (laps per stage): Stage 1: 80, Stage 2: 155, Stage 3: 165.
LAST TIME: Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski dominated the lone 2020 race at Richmond, following the cancellation of the spring race due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Keselowski led 192 of 400 laps in his No. 2 Ford in the September playoff race, beating Truex by 1.568 seconds.
QUALIFYING: There was no on-track qualifying for this race. Instead NASCAR used a performance-metrics formula to determine the lineup:
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25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
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25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
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35 percent: Team owner points ranking
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15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race
LINEUP: Gibbs’ teammates Truex and Hamlin will start on the front row with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron in row No. 2.
Here is the lineup for the Toyota Owners 400 (with car number in parentheses):
1. (19) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota
2. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
3. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
4. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet
5. (22) Joey Logano, Ford
6. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
7. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford
8. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota
9. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford
10. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota
11. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet
12. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford,
13. (8) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet
14. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet
15. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota
16. (21) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford
17. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet
18. (42) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet
19. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford
20. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford
21. (41) Cole Custer, Ford
22. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford
23. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford
24. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
25. (37) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet
26. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford
27. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet
28. (15) James Davison, Chevrolet
29. (38) Anthony Alfredo, Ford
30. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet
31. (52) Josh Bilicki, Ford
32. (00) Quin Houff, Chevrolet
33. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet
34. (77) Justin Haley, Chevrolet
35. (78) BJ McLeod, Ford
36. (7) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet
37. (53) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet
38. (33) Austin Cindric, Ford
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASCAR Richmond 2021: Start time, lineup, TV, streaming schedule