This Week in Auto Racing Sept. 5 – 7

Sprint Cup Series

Federated Auto Parts 400 – Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Virginia

Clint Bowyer’s memories from last year’s Chase-cutoff race at Richmond International Raceway is the furthest thing from his mind right now.

In fact, Bowyer has only thing on his mind heading into Saturday night’s regular-season-ending race in the Sprint Cup Series — clinching a spot in the championship Chase.

This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of one of the biggest scandals to rock NASCAR. Michael Waltrip Racing received the most severe penalties in the sport’s history for attempting to manipulate the outcome of the fall 2013 race at Richmond, in an effort to get Martin Truex Jr., who drove for the team at the time, into the Chase.

Bowyer, the driver of the No. 15 Toyota for MWR, spun out in the closing laps, triggering a whirlwind of controversy that forced NASCAR to thoroughly investigate the finish of the race. Two days after the Richmond event, NASCAR found no conclusive evidence that Bowyer’s spin was intentional, but the sanctioning body concluded, based on radio communications, that Brian Vickers, a MWR driver, was ordered by his spotter, Ty Norris, to pit just before the restart with three laps to go, giving up his running position. It helped Truex get a higher finishing position in the race and therefore earned him a Chase birth at that time.

However, as part of MWR’s penalties, Truex was docked 50 points, which bumped him out of the Chase. Ryan Newman replaced Truex in the wild card spot. Jeff Gordon was also added to the playoff field due to “an unprecedented and extraordinary set of circumstances that unfolded in multiple different ways” at Richmond.

Bowyer had already secured his spot in the 2013 Chase before the Richmond race. He ended up finishing the season seventh in the point standings.

Now, Bowyer is in desperate need of either winning at Richmond or getting a very good finish and hoping a few other drivers have a bad night here in order to make the Chase. Bowyer has been in the playoffs the past two years (his first two seasons with MWR). He finished second to champion Brad Keselowski in the 2012 Chase.

Before last Sunday’s race at Atlanta, Bowyer sat 15th on the Chase grid, but he suffered a broken shifter early in the event there and spent 20 laps in the garage for repairs before his return to the track. He ended up finishing 38th. Bowyer is currently 23 points behind Greg Biffle for the 16th and final spot on the provisional grid. Rookie Kyle Larson trails Biffle by 24 points.

“Desperation has definitely settled in,” Bowyer said. “It doesn’t matter though. It is what it is. You have to go out there and race as hard as you can. There’s nothing you can do. You can go out and give it our all. It’s going to take a team effort.”

When Bowyer met with the media on Friday afternoon at this three-quarter-mile track, he was asked about his memories of last year’s fall race here.

“That was a year ago,” he said. “I was downshifting last week [at Atlanta] and the only reason I remember last week is because the gear shifter was laying on the floor board over in the passenger side, and I got that chuckle out of myself. I said, ‘Boys, we are in big trouble. There is no shifter handle that shifts this bad boy on restarts.’ So, why you choose to be hung up on things that happen a year ago is beyond me.”

The fallout of the Richmond scandal led to more hardship for MWR later in the ’13 season. Longtime sponsor NAPA ended its partnership with MWR at the conclusion of the season, which forced the organization to downsize from three full-time teams to two for 2014. Truex and his crew chief, Chad Johnston, left the team, with Truex joining Furniture Row Racing and Johnston moving over to Stewart-Haas Racing to serve as Tony Stewart’s crew chief.

“You never want to create a storm in any sport or for anybody, any of your peers, your friends, your family, anybody, hell, for yourself,” Bowyer said. “Do you think I wanted to be in the middle of all of that mess?”

Richmond has been one of Bowyer’s best tracks in Sprint Cup, if not his best. Two of his eight career wins in the series have occurred here — May 2008 and September 2012.

“I like Richmond. It’s one of my better tracks,” he said. “There’s really no perfect setup the way the track is laid out. The turns are so different. What works in [turns] 1 and 2 doesn’t work in 3 and 4. You have to keep that in mind when you are giving feedback to help set up the car.

“As far as the Chase, I think it’s pretty much spelled out, from a points standpoint, what we have to do to make the Chase.”

Bowyer has been winless in the last 65 Sprint Cup races. His last victory happened nearly two years ago at Charlotte.

Forty-four teams are on the entry list for the Federated Auto Parts 400.

Nationwide Series

Virginia 529 College Savings 250 – Richmond Int’l Raceway – Richmond, Virginia

Kevin Harvick has figured out Richmond International Raceway quite well in Nationwide Series competition over the years.

Harvick, a Sprint Cup Series regular, has won a Nationwide race at Richmond a record seven times, including a victory here on April 25. He dominated the spring event at this track, leading 202 of the last 203 laps.

Last weekend, Harvick put on a dominating performance in the Nationwide race at Atlanta by leading 159 of 195 laps. He claimed his third victory in the series this season.

Harvick is driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in Nationwide this season. His team has brought the same car to Richmond that was used in winning the spring race here.

“I always look forward to racing at Richmond, especially after the race we put together there in the spring,” Harvick said. “Richmond is all about getting into a good rhythm and maintaining your forward drive throughout the race. In the spring race, we saw long green-flag runs, and we were able to show our strength the longer the runs went.”

Harvick’s win at Atlanta marked the eighth Nationwide victory for JRM this season. JRM is co-owned by Sprint Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, and Cup team owner Rick Hendrick.

Rookie Chase Elliott, the current points leader, has won three races for the organization this year as well. Regan Smith, who trails Elliott by 15 points, took JRM to victory lane for the season-opener at Daytona. Kasey Kahne drove the No. 5 to a win in the Daytona July event.

Elliott competed at Richmond for the first time in April, finishing second to Harvick. The 18-year-old Elliott had won back-to-back races at Texas and Darlington prior to Richmond.

“I’ve been looking forward to going back to Richmond ever since we left in April,” Elliott said. “Just knowing how well we ran and how our team left with some really good race notes has me optimistic for our return.”

Forty-two teams are on the entry list for the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.

FORMULA ONE

Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza – Monza, Italy

Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have been dominant in Formula One this season, but Daniel Ricciardo, in his first year with Red Bull, has been the hottest driver lately.

Ricciardo, who took over Mark Webber’s seat at Red Bull after Webber retired from F1 at the conclusion of last season, has won the last two grand prix — Hungary (July 27) and Belgium (Aug. 24). The 25-year-old Australian scored his maiden F1 victory in the June 8 Canadian Grand Prix.

There are seven races left this season, beginning with Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix on the 3.6-mile (5.793-kilomter), 11-turn Monza circuit. Rosberg currently holds a 29-point lead over his Mercedes teammate, Hamilton, while Ricciardo trails by 64 points.

While driving for Toro Rosso, Ricciardo finished 12th in the Italian GP in 2012 and then seventh in this race last year. In the 2011 event at Monza, he was not classified, as he completed less than 90 percent of the 53-lap distance. Ricciardo drove for the now-defunct F1 team HRT three years ago.

Ricciardo has very high hopes of a strong finish in this weekend’s Italian GP, even possibly capturing his third win in a row. He’s also looking ahead to the next couple of races — the Sept. 21 Singapore Grand Prix and the Oct. 5 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.

“I think if we can get through Monza well and bag a few points here that would be very good,” Ricciardo said. “Monza is a high-speed track that is probably not too much to our liking. So the next two races – Singapore and Suzuka – are the ones that we are really looking forward to.

“But I still do expect the Mercedes to be strong at every circuit, so then the question would be if we can be as quick as them. For this, both Singapore and Suzuka would be our best shots, and if all goes well, we could even try to go for pole and a race win at either of these races.”

Ricciardo struggled in Friday’s practice. His best lap time in the opening session was clocked in 1 minute, 28.487 seconds. Hamilton had the quickest lap in 1:26.187, while Rosberg was second fastest (0.623 seconds behind Hamilton).

In the second session, Rosberg improved somewhat with a lap in 1:26.992. Rosberg topped the charts in P2 (1:26.225), followed by Hamilton (who was only 0.061 seconds behind).

“We didn’t get much running this morning due to an engine issue, but it was okay, and we recovered well in the afternoon,” Ricciardo said. “The track is always fun here. For a track with so few corners, it’s very challenging and with the low downforce braking it’s very difficult. Obviously, we want to be a bit further up, but I think we can chip away at it tomorrow [Saturday’s final practice followed by qualifying].

“The Mercedes will be quick, but if we can sneak into the top-five in qualifying then we’ll have a good crack at the race. Getting temperature into the tires is tricky, especially for the first timed lap.”

Ricciardo’s teammate, Sebastian Vettel, the four-time F1 world champion, is the defending winner of the Italian GP. Vettel also claimed his first career F1 pole and grand prix victories here in 2008 when he drove for Toro Rosso. He became the sport’s youngest race winner and pole sitter in ’08 when he was 21 years old.

“Monza is one of the fastest tracks we go to,” Vettel said. “The 5.793-km long track has brutal deceleration points. It’s especially tough on the brakes, and the tires are also heavily loaded, especially in the fast corners, such as the Curva Grande and Parabolica. It is extremely difficult in Monza to get a perfect lap, because it is almost impossible to hit every curve and every chicane in the way you want.”

Vettel’s second win in the Italian GP came in 2011.

Monza is the home race for Ferrari, which has its headquarters located in Maranello, Italy, roughly 125 miles southeast of this circuit.

Since 1950, a Ferrari driver has won the Italian GP 18 times, which is more than any other constructor in F1. Fernando Alonso recently did it for Ferrari in his first year with the team in 2010.

Categorized in: NASCAR