Scott Returns To Site Of Dominating Performance
In his last trip to Richmond International Raceway, Richard Childress Racing driver Brian Scott put on a dominating performance. He led the entire race … that is until the waning moments when Brad Keselowski passed him with just 11 laps left to run.
Scott came so close to capturing his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory that Friday night last September that the sting of finishing runner-up might still be fresh in his mind. He gets his chance at redemption in Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250.
Through the first seven races of 2014, Scott has one top-ten finish (a seventh at Las Vegas), but has not finished lower than 17th, averaging a personal-best 12.0 finishing position. He currently ranks sixth in the standings, 46 points behind leader Chase Elliott.
In nine series starts at Richmond, Scott’s only top-ten finish came in the fall race last year. His average finish in his first eight starts at the .75-mile track is 25.9. In last year’s race, he started on the pole before leading the first 239 laps of the 250-lap affair. The 239 are the only laps he has led at Richmond, and account for most of the laps Scott led throughout the entire 2013 campaign in which he paced the field for a total of 254 laps.
The Richmond race will be a milestone event for Richard Childress Racing. With four drivers – Cole Conley, Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan and Scott – entered, it will mark the 1,000th start for the organization in the Nationwide Series.
The entire outfit is having a solid start to the 2014 season with three full-time drivers currently running in the top seven in the standings. In addition to Scott’s sixth-place ranking, Dillon is fourth (-23) with Gaughan seventh (-56). Richmond will only be Conley’s third career start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Next Up: Who Will Be The Next First-Time Winner In Nationwide?
Kyle Larson did it first. Chase Elliott did it next – only to do it again the following week.
When Larson crossed the finish line first at Auto Club Speedway, he became the season’s first first-time winner to win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. One race later, Chase Elliott notched his first career series win by outlasting the field at Texas, and then he won again – this time at Darlington in the series’ most recent race.
With the recent run on first-time winners, the burning question is who will be the next first timer in the series … and could that person do so at Richmond?
Possible candidates include Ty Dillon, Brian Scott, Brendan Gaughan, Dylan Kwasniewski and Ryan Reed, who are all in the top-ten in the points standings.
Dillon has come closest to winning through the first seven races of the season, having compiled six top-tens with a low showing of 11th. His highest finish was sixth in Bristol. In two Richmond races, his best result was seventh in the fall 2012 event.
Scott, Gaughan and Reed each have one top-ten finish in limited experience at Richmond. Scott finished second in the fall 2013 race, the same race in which Reed finished ninth. Gaughan’s best showing there was a ninth in the spring 2009 event. Kwasniewski has never made a series start at the short track.
Sadler Heads Home Looking For First Win Of 2014
In 2012, Elliott Sadler scored a personal-best four wins during the NASCAR Nationwide Series season, finishing second in the standings to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Since then, Sadler wants to find his way back to Victory Lane, and he’s come so close by finishing second twice last season.
This weekend, Sadler will be competing in front of a hometown crowd at Richmond International Raceway, which is about 60 miles away from where he grew up. In 21 Nationwide starts at the short track, Sadler has eight top-ten finishes, including a runner-up performance in 2005.
After the first seven races of 2014, he sits third in the standings, 20 points behind leader Chase Elliott. He has put together a solid season so far, compiling three top fives, five top-tens, with a season-best showing of second at Darlington. His two results outside the top-ten are 13th and 17th.
This weekend’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond marks the Nationwide début of Daniel Suarez, who this season has won two races each in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series.
The Richmond Nationwide Series race is also the first in which BUBBA Burgers will sponsor Joe Nemechek. The two will partner up for two other races in the near future (Charlotte, Kentucky).
Speaking of Kentucky, the name for the track’s June Nationwide Series event was officially announced and is the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 presented by Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, and is on the schedule for June 27.