Five drivers to watch at Richmond

Keep an eye on these five drivers in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway.

Kyle Busch

A well-timed bump from teammate Carl Edwards kept Busch from claiming his fifth Richmond win back in April. Nonetheless, Busch’s four wins and 6.9 average finish there leads all active drivers. An interesting note, however, is that none of those four wins have come in the fall (best fall Richmond finish – second, three times).

Brad Keselowski

With 12 top-10 finishes in his last 16 races, Keselowski enters the Chase on solid footing. As for Richmond, he looks to recapture the form he had during fall 2013 and both of the 2014 races there. Across those three races, Keselowski led more than half the total laps (639 of 1200) – including 383 in a dominant fall ’14 win. But in the three Richmond races since, he’s only led 15 laps combined.

Joey Logano

Like his Team Penske teammate, Logano has maintained impressive consistency over the summer with 11 Top-10 finishes in his last 13 races. He’s also been a front-runner at Richmond in recent years. Since 2013, Logano has posted six top-10 finishes in seven RIR starts, including a win in the 2014 spring race.

Jamie McMurray

Sitting on the Chase bubble, McMurray got some help when Ryan Newman lost 15 points this week for failing post-race inspection at Darlington. In his last six Richmond races, McMurray has posted three top-5 finishes and has finished no worse than 16th. Provided someone currently outside the Chase doesn’t score a surprise win, another run in that top 10-15 range likely pushes McMurray over the top.

Kasey Kahne

Kahne has only had two top-5 finishes this year, but one of them came at Richmond in April with a foutth-place finish. This weekend is a must-win for Kahne, who sits 44 points behind the cutoff. But as he proved at Atlanta two years ago, he’s capable of saving his season with a late victory.

Ty Dillon leads NASCAR Xfinity practice at Richmond

Ty Dillon posted the fastest lap in Friday’s lone Xfinity practice session at Richmond International Raceway with a lap of 122.144 mph.

The top seven on the speed chart are full-time Xfinity Series drivers.

Dillon was followed by Daniel Suarez (121.212 mph), Blake Koch (121.190), JJ Yeley (120.984), Ryan Reed (120.805), Brandon Jones (120.741) and Jeremy Clements (120.719). Brad Keselowski, who was eighth, was the first full-time Cup driver on the speed chart at 120.697 mph.

Jeb Burton had the best 10 consecutive lap average at 118.043 mph. He was followed by Justin Marks (117.805 mph) and Erik Jones (117.107).

Austin Theriault had the only significant contact with the wall, hitting it with less than 20 minutes left in the 1-hour, 55-minute session.

Xfinity qualifying is scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m. ET with the race set to take the green flag at 7:44 p.m. ET. Both can be seen on NBCSN.

Kyle Busch fastest in opening Sprint Cup practice at Richmond

Kyle Busch posted the fastest lap in Friday morning’s Sprint Cup practice at Richmond International Raceway with a lap of 120.979 mph.Toyota took four of the top five spots, including the first three.Southern 500 winner Martin Truex Jr. (120.649 mph) was second, followed by Denny Hamlin (120.552), Kasey Kahne (120.439) and Matt Kenseth (120.208). Kahne’s Chevrolet was the only non-Toyota in the top five.Toyota also went 1-2-3 with the best 10 consecutive lap average. Busch led the way with an average of 119.781 mph. He was followed by Truex (119.458) and Carl Edwards (118.840).

Tonight’s Xfinity race at Richmond: Start time, weather, TV/radio info and more

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.

STARTING LINEUP: Qualifying at 4:15 p.m.

The Southern 500 Through an 8mm Camera Lens

Take a look back at the 2016 Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway through the lens of a 1970s 8mm film camera.

FULL SCHEDULE FOR RICHMOND

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 

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
-- 10:30 p.m. approx.: Post-NSCS race.

Five Sprint Cup teams receive written warnings; Keselowski, Stewart lose pit selection

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.