DiBenedetto, Mears vent frustrations on track

Casey Mears and Matt DiBenedetto trade paint leading to Mears spinning off the front bumper of DiBenedetto as the laps wind down at Richmond International Raceway.

Drivers make four-wide salute to thank fans

Drivers go four-wide during pace laps at Richmond International Raceway as a salute to the fans during NASCAR's Fan Appreciation Weekend.

NBCSN’s coverage of Richmond begins at 5 p.m. ET; Dale Jr. interview featured

NBCSN is your home for tonight’s Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. Coverage begins at 5 p.m. ET with an expanded NASCAR America.

Countdown to Green airs at 7 p.m. Race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m.

NASCAR America will have an expanded version of Steve Letarte’s exclusive interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Krista Voda hosts the coverage before the race and is joined by analysts Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty.

Race coverage features Rick Allen in the booth with Jeff Burton and Letarte. On pit road is Dave Burns, Marty Snider, Mike Massaro and Kelli Stavast.

After the race, stay with NBCSN for additional coverage.

If you’re not near a TV, you can watch online or on the NBC Sports app at the NASCAR stream on NBC Sports.

If you plan to stream the coverage on your laptop or portable device, be sure to have your username and password from your cable/satellite/telco provider handy so your subscription can be verified.

Once you enter that information, you’ll have access to the stream.

Austin Dillon on national anthem protest: ‘I don’t know how it would go over with the fans’

While protests around the national anthem continue in sports like the NFL and Major League Soccer, the patriotism shown in NASCAR remains strong.

The controversy started late last month when Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers was seen sitting on the bench during a pre-season game as the national anthem played. Some players have since followed suit by taking a knee as the anthem played before their games. U.S soccer star Megan Rapinoe also took a knee before a game last week.

There has not been a protest in NASCAR during its weekly pre-race routine of honoring the American flag and playing of the national anthem. NASCAR televises its pre-race ceremonies and those who aren’t being respectful rarely go unnoticed, which is why Austin Dillon isn’t sure what the reaction would be if there were a protest.

“I don’t know how it would go over with the fans – we’re a very patriotic sport,” Dillon said. “I think our sport does a good job of showing that every Saturday, Sunday of showing patriotism and what the flag means. Not only that, we have a lot of military out here each and every weekend.”

Kaepernick’s actions drew the ire of a few drivers. They included three-time champion Tony Stewart, which resulted in a strongly worded tweet and a demonstration of his patriotism last weekend at Darlington Raceway. Stewart stood alongside his No. 14 Chevrolet holding an American flag with his team.

Stewart’s actions weren’t necessarily out of place as there have been many examples throughout the years of the sport’s wide-ranging patriotism.

Every May, an elaborate pre-race ceremony is put on at Charlotte Motor Speedway in recognition of Memorial Day. Brad Keselowski celebrates each race win with the American flag. Fans also bring flags to wave in the grandstands or fly from their campsites.

Following the 2001 Sept. 11 attacks, teams included decals on their cars, either of American flags or other tributes to the victims. Mars and M&M’s gave up their logos on the No. 36 for Ken Schrader’s car to be painted like the American flag.

They did the same again in 2011 at Richmond with driver Kyle Busch in honor of the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Saturday night, on the eve of the 15th anniversary, all four Stewart-Haas Racing cars will carry decals in remembrance of the victims. Dillon will again stand by his car as the ceremonies take place.

“I’m close friends with a lot of SEAL guys that I check on that are still in battle, like still going out and putting their lives on the line, so I get to do what I do on Sunday and have this amazing job,” Dillon said.

“I’ve got SEAL guys that will personally text me and say, ‘Hey, thank you for not moving around; sitting there, we love that.’ When they see people that are not paying attention during our national anthem or kind of off looking around in the right place, it means a lot to them just to stand at attention. I wouldn’t want to ask a guy that puts his life on the line for our freedom to have to see that.”

Dillon understands his attitude may not be shared throughout the garage, but so far the pride shown in the NASCAR community hasn’t wavered since the controversy began.

“I think this is the greatest country in the world,” Dillon said. “I’ve traveled to other countries, and I’m glad to get home every time to America.”

Results from the Xfinity Series race at Richmond

Kyle Busch took the lead on Lap 51 and never looked back Friday night at Richmond en route to his eighth Xfinity win of the season.

It was the 84th win of Busch’s career and his sixth at Richmond.

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Erik Jones, finished second followed by Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler, and Justin Allgaier.

Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top 10.

Results:

Pit stall assignments for Richmond

Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin will have the pit stall closest to pit exit for tonight’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Jimmie Johnson will have the first pit stall near pit entrance.

Drivers with either an opening before or after their stall are Hamlin, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Larson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray, and Johnson.

The numbers in the boxes represent the car number. The number below the box represents the pit stall.

KYLE BUSCH DOMINATES FOR XFINITY WIN AT RICHMOND

RICHMOND, Va. -- With one ferociously fast pit stop, Kyle Busch erased a lackluster qualifying effort and cruised to victory in Friday night’s Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

A master at getting on and off pit road in minimal time, Busch entered the pits in fourth place under the first caution of the race after a tap from J.J. Yeley sent Justin Marks spinning into the frontstretch grass on Lap 48.

Busch was first off pit road -- decisively -- and at that point it was game over, thanks for playing, and Busch was well on the way to his sixth NASCAR XFINITY Series victory at Richmond, his eighth in 14 starts this season and the 84th of his career, extending his own gargantuan series record.

"I never would have guessed that," Busch exulted on the team radio before he started his celebratory burnout. "Great pit stop! Awesome!"

Before the second caution flew on Lap 164 of 250, Busch had a lead of 7.312 seconds and had lapped up to eighth place in the running order before a cycle of green-flag stops began.

Busch finished 6.453 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and runner-up Erik Jones, who ran the same setup Busch had in his No. 18 Toyota. The victory marked a decisive return to form for the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, who had crashed out of his two previous XFINITY races.

"I just doubted our car today," said Busch, who led 197 laps and scored a perfect driver rating of 150.0. "It just wasn’t right. We just kind of missed it all through practice. It wasn’t good there, and then we qualified, and it was just a handful in qualifying. We didn’t qualify very well -- seventh. That’s not very well for my expectations.

"We worked on it there at the start of the race. We were really out of control and loose, and I got to fourth, I thought that was kind where we were going to be. But my guys had an awesome pit stop, got me out front, and (crew chief) Chris Gayle made some really smart adjustments to it that first time on pit road.

"After that, it was lights out. It was on a rail from there."

Jones could only admire the skill of his more experienced teammate --  when he was close enough to see Busch ahead of him, that is.

"Not much to say," said Jones, whose two laps led during a cycle of green-flag pit stops constituted the only interruption to Busch’s charge to the finish. "He had the same setup as us. He’s just that good. It’s unfortunate. We’ve run second to him a number of times this year.

"I wish all those were wins, but we’ve been getting stronger every time."

Brad Keselowski ran third, followed by XFINITY regulars Elliott Sadler, the series leader, and Justin Allgaier. Ty Dillon, polesitter Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman and Brennan Poole completed the top 10.

Ryan Reed, the last driver to finish on the lead lap, clinched a spot in the inaugural XFINITY Series Chase with an 11th-place run, leaving two berths still open heading to the Sept. 17 cutoff race at Chicagoland Speedway.