The Action Track? Fans deserved more at Richmond
Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
Even Cole Pearn seemed a bit surprised at Martin Truex Jr.’s Richmond Raceway win.
The crew chief’s curiosity had nothing to do with his driver’s level of talent. Or that Truex had never won at a short track prior to last Saturday night.
Simply put, Pearn wasn’t convinced the No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Camry was the class of the field in the Toyota Owners 400. Truex was just at the right place at the right time.
“We just executed well,” Pearn said. “We didn't really have the best car, but we had good restarts and good pit stops and managed traffic well and kept our nose up there all day, and ultimately that was enough.
“Track position definitely was important. I think we were fifth or so at the start, and we kind of clogged our way through there a bit through pit stops and restarts. And every time we got close to the front, it drove better for sure.”
After leading 675 laps in his previous five Richmond starts, it was just a matter of time for Truex. He had led a career-high 198 laps and was running second to Kyle Larson on the last lap in the fall 2017 race when Denny Hamlin collided with the No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota. Truex won the pole in the last year’s spring race and finished third in the fall.
Last Saturday, Truex led four times for 186 laps before collecting his first Richmond win and the 20th of his career.
But Pearn was right. Truex didn’t have the best car at Richmond. Over the closing laps, Joey Logano was catching the No. 19’s bumper and rekindling memories of last fall’s Martinsville race where Truex was nudged out of the way on the final corner.
With the new car, however, it was virtually impossible for Logano to run down Truex. Logano needed to be on the outside to make a move on Truex. He described being second in line or in ‘dirty air’ as “brutal." The leader has a distinct advantage, particularly on the shorter, flatter tracks—an unforeseen trend that has evolved with the current package.
How aero dependent is the current car?
“Very, very, very, very, very aero dependent,” Logano said. “Clean air is worth a lot. You saw it with the 18 car (Kyle Busch) early in the race. You saw it with us early in the race. If you can get out front, definitely, you can take control of everything.
“It’s still a mechanical grip race track, obviously, when you go to short tracks. But it gets really tough when you get behind cars. The tire that Goodyear brought didn’t rubber up the race track at all, so we were all stuck on the bottom. Couldn’t find much area to get to clean air because the tire didn’t rubber it in.”
Yes, the better cars could pass slower traffic in the middle of the field. Busch led 101 of the first 131 laps until a speeding penalty mired him in traffic. He recovered from 26th to eighth over the final 260 laps, running as high as fifth before the final caution. Hamlin, who started from the rear after failing post-qualifying tech, gutted his way to the top-five after 300 laps. Of course, this is a driver with three Richmond victories who has led 1,659 laps at the .75-mile track. He executed 71 green-flag passes on Saturday. Yet even Hamlin couldn’t gain on the frontrunners in the final quarter of the race.
“After what we saw at Phoenix and even Martinsville, track position was huge,” Hamlin said. “We had a guy (Keselowski) lead 400 laps (at Martinsville). No one could pass Brad—even though I’m not sure he had the fastest car during the race. We saw it a few races before, and knew it was going to be a factor again.
“I know that we pitted a few laps before the cars in front of us and they had fresher tires, but they couldn’t pass me and then we ended up pulling away. I agree with Joey in the sense that, man, track position was everything and whoever got out front there could really set the pace.”
With Richmond, Martinsville and Phoenix figuring prominently in the Playoffs, the product needs to be improved before the tour returns to these tracks. A week off from NASCAR competition could not have come at a better time for both teams and the sanctioning body to start working on a solution.
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