NASCAR’s Nationwide Series will be in Virginia Friday night for a full evening of short track racing. The Bubba Burgers 250 will be held at the Richmond International Raceway and, just like any form of short track racing, this event promises to be a full contact show featuring 43 cars on a three quarter mile oval.
THE STORY BREAKDOWN
Brad Keselwoski stepped into the Talladega Super Speedway’s victory lane last Sunday with his racing shoes three feet off of the ground. He had just won his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the year for new team owner Roger Penske. He had just presented crew chief Paul Wolfe with his first win. The team collected $40,445 in prize money and they were the points leader by a 60 point margin.
But, following the race, that elation became a point of concern. NASCAR had some problems with the right front shock absorber and the left front spring on the team’s Dodge and confiscated the parts for further examination. They were, at the time of inspection, determined to be under the minimum spring weight.
By Wednesday morning the team’s paycheck was $20,000 lighter and their lead in the championship standings shrunk from 60 to 10 points. NASCAR engineers, at their Concord-North Carolina based Research and Development Center, determined that the spring and the shock were unapproved parts.
Crew chief Paul Wolfe was fined $10,000 for each of the two violations. Jodi Geschickter, the registered owner of the team, was docked 25 owner’s points and Keselowski was docked 50 driver’s points. So far there’s been no comment from the Captain, Roger Penske, but you can bet he wasn’t happy with this news.
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Kevin Harvick is second in the points standings, now ten points away from the lead, and is a serious threat to be a major player in Friday night’s Richmond race. He’s a four time winner there. The two time series champion still hasn’t made any comments regarding plans to run both the full time Sprint Cup and Nationwide schedules but his current success in the series has many wondering if he’s seriously considering it.
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Meanwhile defending race champion, and reigning series champ, Kyle Busch is third in the series point’s standings. Busch is looking forward to the NASCAR weekend in Richmond. He should be he has three wins there including sweeping both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series events this time last year. Busch was scheduled by Joe Gibbs Racing to only run approximately 22 Nationwide events this year so the driver could keep a complete focus on the Sprint Cup championship run. That status has not officially changed but there are reports that Gibbs is seriously reconsidering that decision.
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The series’ standings for the Raybestos Brakes Rookie Of The Year title remains skin tight. Brian Scott, driver of the Harry Scott Jr owned AccuDoc Toyota, leads this week’s rankings with 83 points. James Buescher, Phoenix Racing Chevrolet, is only seven points away in second while . Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Roush Fenway Racing Ford, holds down third and only eight points away from the top. Colin Braun, Roush Fenway Racing Ford, is nine points from first but that will change Friday night because Matt Kenseth is scheduled to drive the car.
Toyota leads the series’ manufacturer’s standings with 54 points but only holds an 11 point lead over Chevrolet. Dodge holds down third with 43 points while Ford has 32 points. However Richmond International Raceway seems to favor the bow tie brigade. Chevrolet has 20 wins there.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Bubba Burger 250 is 250 laps/187.5 miles around the Richmond International Raceway’s three quarter mile oval.
The race has 45 entries vying for the 43 starting berths. 15 of those entries are on the go or go home list meaning they do not have a guaranteed start in the race because they are currently outside of the series’ top 30 in owner’s points. 14 of the entries are double duty drivers or those who will be racing both Friday and Saturday nights.
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