Tonight marks the next-to-last race before the inaugural Xfinity Chase field is set. Three of the 12 spots remain open heading into the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
Ryan Reed, Blake Koch and Ryan Sieg hold the final three spots. Dakoda Armstrong is the first driver out of a transfer spot, 18 points behind Sieg.
Here’s all the info for tonight’s race:
(All times are Eastern)
START: ABLE Advocates Catherine Beck and Natalie Beck will give the command start engines at 7:37 p.m. The green flag is set for 7:44 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is scheduled for 250 laps (187.5 miles) around the 0.750-mile track.
PRERACE SCHEDULE: The Xfinity garage opened at 7 a.m. The driver/crew chief meeting is at 3:45 p.m. Driver introductions are at 7 p.m.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: The St. Gertrude’s Girls Choir will perform the anthem at 7:31 p.m.
TV/RADIO: NBCSN will broadcast the race with its coverage beginning at 7 p.m. with Countdown to Green, followed by the coverage of the race at 7:30 p.m. Motor Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 7 p.m. and also can be heard at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have MRN’s broadcast.
FORECAST: The wunderground.com site predicts a temperature of 84 degrees at race time with a 0 percent chance of rain at the start of the race.
LAST TIME: Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 128 of 149 laps to give JR Motorsports the victory in April. Ty Dillon was second with Earnhardt’s teammate, Elliott Sadler, third. In this race a year ago, Chase Elliott won for JR Motorsports with Kyle Busch second and Brian Scott third.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series will gather for a doubleheader showing at Richmond International Raceway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series has an off week. Check out the full schedule below.
Note: All times are ET
FRIDAY, SEPT. 9:
ON TRACK
-- 8-9:55 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
-- 10-10:55 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
-- Noon-1:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
-- 4:15 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
-- 5:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
-- 7:30 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250 (250 laps, 187.5 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
GARAGECAM
-- 11:30 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
PRESS CONFERENCES
-- 11 a.m.: Carl Edwards
-- 11:15 a.m.: Ryan Reed
-- 11:30 a.m.: Elliott Sadler
-- 2:15 p.m.: Austin Dillon
-- 2:30 p.m.: Chris Buescher
-- 6:45 p.m. approx.: Post-NSCS Qualifying
-- 9:30 p.m. approx.: Post-NXS race
SATURDAY, SEPT. 10:
ON TRACK
-- 7:30 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 (400 laps, 300 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
NASCAR issued written warnings to five Sprint Cup teams last weekend at Darlington Raceway, including the fourth warnings to the teams of Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart.
Keselowski and Stewart will lose pit stall selection for this weekend’s race at Richmond International Raceway. Receiving a fourth written warning results in losing pit selection.
Stewart’s car failed pre-race template inspection twice. Keselowski’s car failed pre-race laser inspection three times.
Carl Edwards‘ team also received a third warning for failing pre-race laser inspection three times. Edwards and Keselowski will both lose 15 minutes of practice time Friday at Richmond.
The teams of Joey Logano and Jeffrey Earnhardt each received their third written warnings for failing pre-race laser inspection twice.
NASCAR also fined Ryan Blaney $1,000 for not wearing gloves during practice for the Southern 500, which is a P1 penalty.
There will be no surprises for the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series this weekend at Richmond International Raceway when it comes to the tire setup.
Goodyear will supply familiar tire codes for both series as they return to action at the 0.750-mile paved track. The Xfinity Series will kick things off with 250 laps on Friday night followed by the final race before the Chase (400 laps) for the Sprint Cup Series on Saturday night.
XFINITY AND SPRINT CUP TIRE INFO:
Set limits: Sprint Cup – five sets for practice and qualifying and 10 sets for the race; Xfinity – seven sets for the event
Tire Circumference: Left-side — 87.20 in. (2,215 mm); Right-side — 88.27 in. (2,242 mm)
Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 12 psi; Left Rear — 12 psi; Right Front — 30 psi; Right Rear — 27 psi
Teams in both series will run the same Goodyear tire codes at Richmond this weekend. This is the same combination of left and right-side tires these teams ran at Richmond in April.
This is the only track where teams in these two series will run these tire codes (Camping World Truck teams ran this same tire setup at Gateway in June). As on most NASCAR ovals one-mile or less in length, teams will not run liners in their tires at Richmond.
When the green flag drops on Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray will mark an achievement together with their 500th starts in the Sprint Cup Series.
The last time two drivers made their 500th starts in the same race was Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Terry Labonte at Watkins Glen International in 1995.
“I’m really excited about making my 500th start,” said Biffle in a team release. “It’s been a great ride and it’s amazing how fast the time goes by. I’ve got a lot of memories, wins, close races and fun times. I’ve won a lot of great races and look forward to running for that third championship.”
Biffle and McMurray did not make their first starts together, but their careers are intertwined.
The oldest full-time driver on the Cup circuit at 46, Biffle broke into the series on April 28, 2002, in the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Auto Club Speedway. After three seasons and one title (2000) in the Camping World Truck Series and one Xfinity season, Biffle started in the No. 16 for Roush Fenway Racing.
The native of Vancouver, Washington, qualified 29th and finished 13th in the first of six starts that season.
McMurray’s debut, 20 races later, is much memorable.
A native of Joplin, Missouri, McMurray had 21 truck starts and a season and a half of Xfinity starts with no wins when Chip Ganassi called. On Sept. 29, Sterling Marlin suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a crash at Kansas Speedway. The injury forced Marlin from Ganassi’s No. 40 for the rest of the season.
McMurray, then 26, stepped into the car the next week at Talladega Superspeedway, where he would start fifth and finish 26th, a lap down.
McMurray would start fifth again a week later at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the UAW-GM Quality 500. He would lead three times that night for 96 laps. He assumed the lead for the last time with 31 laps to go en route to his first Sprint Cup victory.
Both Biffle and McMurray would be full-time rookies in 2003, with Biffle driving the No. 16 for Roush and McMurray the No. 42 for Ganassi. Since that season, only Biffle has failed to make a start, when he did not qualify for the third race of the 2002 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“If I wouldn’t have missed the Las Vegas race I would have won Rookie of the Year, except he did,” Biffle said last month at the unveiling of his car for the Southern 500.
Since 2002, Biffle has driven only for Roush, earning 19 victories (the first coming in the 2004 Pepsi 400) 92 top fives and 175 top 10s. Biffle will be the second driver to make his 500th Cup start at Roush. Mark Martin made his in March 2002.
Biffle hasn’t won since the spring Michigan race in 2013.
McMurray, now 40, is in his second stint with Chip Ganassi Racing after competing with Biffle at Roush from 2006 – 2009. The two remain good friends from their days as teammates, often vacationing together and sharing plane rides to races.
“More of a friendship of any other driver, a colleague at work that you respect their talent and ability,” Biffle said. “A lot of times friendships kind of stay intact … you can usually get over, ‘Hey I cut you off or you ran into you on accident.’ Typically you can put those behind you. We haven’t had too many of those.’’
While McMurray has only seven wins on his record – and none since 2013 – his victories tend to come on NASCAR’s biggest stages.
Nicknamed the “Big Game Hunter” by Ganassi, McMurray won the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and fall Charlotte race in 2010. His second Cup win was the 2007 Pepsi 400. He also has two wins at Talladega (2009, 2013). His last trip to victory lane was the 2014 All-Star Race.
Heading into Saturday’s race, McMurray holds the final provisional spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and is 22 points ahead of Ryan Newman.
Biffle needs to win in order to qualify for the Chase.
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