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After a two-week hiatus for the Summer Olympics, NASCAR will be back racing under the lights in Richmond this weekend.
That's right, the Cup Series is in short track racing on Sunday night with the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, a 3/4-mile D-shaped oval.
This is a little different.
This weekend's race at Richmond will feature two tire options for the first time in Cup Series history: Teams can choose between a baseline “prime” tire with less grip but longer life, or an “option” tire with more grip and speed but shorter life.
“As the industry continues to collaborate on tweaking the short track package, we felt Richmond was the perfect opportunity to build on the success of the option tire that we used in the All-Star Race,” said Goodyear Racing Director Greg Stucker. “We expect the option tire to significantly reduce lap times compared to the prime tire, but the loss will be greater and tire management will be key to taking advantage of it at the right time.”
Anyone else reading this…
According to NASCAR, each race team will have six sets of prime tires, including one set that can be carried over from qualifying and two sets of option tires, and teams can use either set of tires at any time during the race, as long as the four tires always match.
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According to NASCAR, the purpose of the two tire compound options is to be “strategic.”
And with just four regular-season races remaining, drivers and teams who have yet to secure a playoff spot will need that on Sunday.
We'll find out the answer as FrontPageBets profiles the drivers to watch during Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (6 p.m., USA Network).
Richmond NASCAR Cookout 400 odds
Denny Hamlin won the first race of the season at Richmond on Easter Sunday, which also took place at night, and the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is tied with JGR teammate Christopher Bell at the top of the odds board this week.
Can Hamlin continue his winning streak at the Action Trucks? Here are the odds for the NASCAR Cook Out 400 at Richmond.
Hamlin, a native of Chesterfield, Virginia, has five career wins at his hometown track in Richmond.
Hamlin is currently fourth in drivers' points this season and has three wins, all of which have come on tracks a mile or less.
Hamlin has 23 top-10 finishes and 19 top-five finishes in 35 career starts at Richmond, with an average finish of 8.3.
A win on Sunday would make him just the 12th driver in Cup history to win a season at Richmond and would tie him with Kyle Busch for the most wins among active drivers at the 3/4-mile track.
The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has three wins this season on three different track types: a superspeedway (Daytona), a road course (Circuit of the Americas) and a short track (Martinsville).
Though he has never won at Richmond, his success on the state's short tracks bodes well for the young driver.
Byron has 12 starts at Richmond Raceway with three top 10 finishes and one top 5, including a seventh-place finish in the spring race.
The driver of the No. 23 23/XI Racing Toyota is still in search of his first Cup win of the season and sits just outside the top 16 for a playoff spot with four races remaining in the regular season.
But Wallace has had a lot of momentum over the past four races, including a fifth-place finish at the Brickyard 400 two weeks ago and a top-10 finish at Nashville.
Wallace has finished inside the top 13 in three of his last four starts at Richmond.
Since 2009, Toyota has won 17 of the 30 Richmond Cup races.
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Mike Szvetitz is General Manager and Director of Content at FrontPageBets.com. Szvetitz is a 24-year veteran reporter and editor, including 17 years as sports editor in Florida, Alabama and Virginia, where he has covered every sport from high school to pro. His column, “View From The Lazy Boy,” has won multiple state and national awards. He can be reached at [email protected].
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