Richmond International Superspeedway - The Heath Calhoun 400 (News & Notes)

[HacheMan]

The Heath Calhoun 400
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to Richmond International Raceway for the tenth race of the 2010 season, The Heath Calhoun 400. This event will be one of the most exciting races of the year as drivers attempt to manage the tricky configuration of RIR's "long-short" track. We took a look at past performances, season trends, and talked to NASCAR contacts to shed a light on how the field should finish on Saturday night.


When: Saturday, May 1, 2010; 7:46 p.m./et.


Weather: Partly cloudy with a high around 89; wind out of the SSW at 11 mph. Chance of precipitation 10%.


The Track: Richmond International Raceway

Richmond is a .75 mile D-shaped oval. It has fairly flat 14 degree banking in the turns and 8 degree banking on the straights.


Key to Race: SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Saturday night racing seem to bring out the best and worst in NASCAR drivers and the Heath Calhoun 400 will be no different. There should be plenty of bent sheet metal and angry drivers when the checkers fly.


Qualifying Procedures:

46 cars will attempt to qualify for 43 spots. Cars not in the top 35 in the 2010 owner point standings will have to qualify based on speed. Starting positions 1-43 will be determined during qualifying on Friday, April 30 at 5:40 pm/et.


Fantasy Cheat Sheet:

Top 5

No. 11 Denny Hamlin: Hamlin had the best car at RIR in both races last season. The Virginia native is a great pick in his home state.
No. 18 Kyle Busch: Rowdy has run excellent at RIR during his career. He has eight top five finishes in nine career starts.
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson: Johnson admitted in the past that RIR is a tough track for him, but he has won three of the last six races at the track.
No. 29 Kevin Harvick: Harvick has finished in the top 12 in 10 of the last 11 races at RIR. A top 10 finish is expected.
No. 24 Jeff Gordon: Gordon has finished in the top 11 in the past five races at Richmond. He is once again a very good option if he can avoid an incident with the 48 car.


6 to 10

No. 33 Clint Bowyer: Bowyer won the May 2008 race at RIR and has finished worse than 12th just one time at the track during his career. This is a good weekend to use the No. 33 car.
No. 5 Mark Martin: Martin has averaged a 12th place finish in 47 career starts at RIR and has finished in the top 20 in all but one of his last 18 starts at the track. He is a great pick on Saturday.
No. 2 Kurt Busch: Busch won the fall race at RIR in 2005 and has finished in the top 10 in five of the past six races at the track. Another top 10 finish should be expected.
No. 39 Ryan Newman: Newman has been very successful at RIR in the past. He is worth taking a chance on.
No. 56 Martin Truex Jr.: RIR is one of Truex's favorite tracks. He finished fifth at the track last May.


11 to 20

No. 31 Jeff Burton: Burton has eight top five finishes and 14 top 10 finishes in 31 career starts at RIR. The Virginia Native is a solid pick this week.
No. 14 Tony Stewart: Smoke has three career wins at RIR and has 15 top 10 finishes in 22 career starts. He hasn't won at the track since 2002 so he is due for another visit to victory lane.
No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Junior has three career wins at RIR, including the May 2006 race. Look for No. 88 to finish in the top 15 this weekend.
No. 17 Matt Kenseth: Kenseth hasn't been great in the past four races at RIR, but we think he shouldn't have a problem cracking the top 20.
No. 16 Greg Biffle: Biffle has finished eighth or better in five of the past 11 RIR races making him a great third driver on fantasy teams.
No. 99 Carl Edwards: Edwards hasn't had a great deal of success at RIR during his career. He will need lots of luck to crack the top 10.
No. 9 Kasey Kahne: Kahne has finished in the top 10 in five of the last 10 races at RIR. He is a fine pick this weekend.
No. 83 Brian Vickers: Vickers brought very fast cars to RIR last year. He is our top sleeper pick this weekend.
No. 20 Joey Logano: Logano was fast enough for top 20 finishes in both trips to Richmond last year. We should see similar results from him this weekend.
No. 77 Sam Hornish Jr.: Hornish Jr. surprised everyone with back-to-back to 10 finishes at Richmond last year. This is the weekend to use the No. 77.


21 to 30

No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya: Montoya appeared to have solved Richmond's tricky configuration last May. He should have the No. 42 car near the top 20 on Saturday.
No. 47 Marcos Ambrose: Ambrose had no difficulty in his first Cup races at Richmond last year. The Terrific Tasmanian is worth using in most leagues this trip to the track.
No. 00 David Reutimann: Reutimann has had decent success at RIR during his career. He should notch another top 25 finish.
No. 6 David Ragan: Ragan is still looking for consistency at RIR. In six career starts at the track he has finished 33rd, 23rd, 32nd, 17th, 3rd, and 20th. He will just miss a top 20 finish again on Saturday.
No. 12 Brad Keselowski: Keselowski blew an engine in his first trip to RIR last September. He will hopefully avoid going up in smoke on Saturday.
No. 98 Paul Menard: Menard has been much better than expected this season, but we see him finishing right around his career average at RIR.
No. 1 Jamie McMurray: Even with his top 10 finish at RIR last May, this is one of McMurray's worst tracks. Avoid him!
No. 43 A.J. Allmendinger: A.J. has averaged a 31st place finish during his career at RIR.
He should finish right near his average on Saturday.
No. 71 Bobby Labonte: Richmond is a track where Labonte has had decent success during his career. He shouldn't have an issue cracking the top 30 on Saturday.
No. 19 Elliott Sadler: Sadler has just one top 10 finish in 21 career starts at RIR. There are far less risky picks for Saturday's race.


31 to 34

No. 82 Scott Speed: Started the season with strong finishes, but has struggled a little lately. He needs a good run at RIR this weekend to remain in the top 35 in owner points.
No. 34 Travis Kvapil: Kvapil shouldn't have an issue finishing inside the top 35.
No. 7 Robby Gordon: Gordon has basically been a low-30s finisher at RIR. We expect more of the same on Saturday.
No. 78 Regan Smith: Smith has had two decent runs at Richmond during his career. He isn't an option unless you are in a deep, deep league.


Field Fillers

No. 38 Kevin Conway
No. 55 Michael McDowell
No. 36 Casey Mears
No. 37 David Gilliland
No. 09 Mike Bliss
No. 26 David Stremme
No. 32 Reed Sorenson
No. 13 Max Papis
No. 87 Joe Nemechek
No. 66 Dave Blaney
No. 64 Tony Raines


Brownie's Picks

Top Four:

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kevin Harvick

Sleepers:

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Sam Hornish Jr.

Bust:

Jamie McMurray

 

[HacheMan]

Richmond - Heath Calhoun 400
Track history: Richmond International Raceway (RIR) started out in 1946 as a 1/2-mile dirt oval. The first NASCAR Cup Series event was held there 7 years later. The track was finally paved in 1968. The facility's present configuration was constructed in September 1988. It is now a 3/4-mile 'D' shaped asphalt oval with banking of 14 degrees allowing the cars to average 125 mph laps.

In 1991, lights were installed around the track and since then, all racing at Richmond is "under the lights."

RIR is almost completely surrounded by grandstand seats. In May 2007, the new TORQUE Club and Commonwealth Grandstand opened to the public. After the September 2006 race, about 3,000 of the low-row seats were removed and the 180-foot high structure was built. This gave the Raceway a gain of almost 5,000 seats, bringing the seating capacity to 112,029.

First Richmond Cup race: Buck Baker qualified the No. 87 Griffin Motors '53 Oldsmobile on the pole for the 1953 Richmond 200 with a lap of 48.465 mph on the half-mile dirt track. He finished 3rd to race winner, Lee Petty. Petty, father of Richard Petty, won $1000 for putting his 1953 Petty Enterprises Dodge up front at the end of the 100 mile event.

2009 Crown Royal 400: Brian Vickers qualified the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota on the pole for the May 2, 2009 Crown Royal 400. He led 21 laps, fell back early in the race, had a couple of "incidents" with Kyle Busch, had a tire get away on pit road causing him to go down a lap and ended the race in 15th. Denny Hamlin's No. 11 FedEx Toyota led the most laps (148 of 400) but it was his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, who scored the win. Busch capped the weekend by sweeping both the Nationwide and Cup races to celebrate his 24th birthday on May 2nd.

Last Richmond Cup race: Mark Martin qualified up front for the September 12, 2009 Chevy Rock & Roll 400. He kept the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet up from for only three laps and finished 4th. With the exception of Jeff Gordon's 97 laps led in the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, the rest of the race was all Denny Hamlin. Hamlin's No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota was at the point six times for a total of 299 laps led, including the final one. This was the native Virginian's first win at Richmond. This race also involved Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. It saw Vickers squeak (by only 8 points) past Busch and into the final slot for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Your fantasy game won't allow you to pick all track favorites so Mid-Pack Attack is here to help. A mid-packer may not win the race but has as good a shot at a top 15 finish as track favorites Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. There were 46 cars on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Cup race. Here are our picks for Saturday night's Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 in Richmond, Virginia.

Mid-Pack picks

Ryan Newman is glad Talladega is behind him. "After last week, I welcome a short track race, especially the night race at Richmond where we've had success in the past," said Newman. "Richmond is a great venue and fans almost always see an exciting race there. I wish we had more Richmond tracks." Over his last 10 Cup starts at RIR, he earned the 5th most championship points of the drivers entered this week. He has one win, one pole and ten top-10s in 16 starts at the .75-mile oval. He finished 4th and 10th here in 2009. In the short-track stretch this season, Newman scored a 16th at Bristol, a 4th at Martinsville and captured the victory at Phoenix. There's no reason he can't continue that performance at the little track in Virginia.

You can't always go by track statistics. Brian Vickers has finished worse than 23rd in 8 of his 11 Sprint Cup starts at Richmond. He has a 25.9 average finish but in 2009, he finished 15th and 7th. Most notably, as we said above in the "Last Richmond Race", Vickers ran the race of his career in September to deny Kyle Busch the 12th slot in the 2009 Chase. He did alright last month at short tracks Bristol (15th) and Martinsville (6th). Vickers qualifies well at RIR where he has picked up two poles. The first, which was earned in his first start here and was also his first career pole, set the standing track qualifying record of 129.983 mph. The other was this race in 2009.

Currently 16th in the points, this may be our last chance to recommend Joey Logano for awhile. He was decent here in his 2009 rookie season with finishes of 19th and 14th. In the Nationwide Series, Logano made two starts; one from the pole (finished 7th) and the other was a 6th place from 4th in the lineup. If Logano can stay off the back bumper of one of our other picks (Newman) this week (unlike last week), maybe the two of them will have good finishes on Saturday night.

For our deepest pick we're going with a driver who has an excellent open-wheel history at Richmond. Sam Hornish Jr. made 7 starts at RIR in the IndyCar Series between 2001 and 2007. He averaged a 3.6 start which included a pole and a worst start of 6th. He back that up with 2 wins and a 7.7 average finish. Hornish's first two Cup trips to the Virginia track in 2008 were forgettable (23rd, 38th). In 2009, with finishes of 6th and 8th, it looks like he figured out how to get around here with a car with fenders. Round out your roster this week with Hornish.