The Cup Series has reached race No. 7 on their 36 race schedule. NASCAR will take their show to Richmond Raceway this week for another short-track race. It wasn’t long ago when NASCAR gave the teams the weekend off for Easter. Those days are over. I would have preferred at Saturday night race, but I am sure NASCAR has their reasons for the start time for the race at Richmond. The Toyota Owners 400 can be seen Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET on FOX.
The Cup Series will use the new short track aero package that was used at Phoenix for the race at Richmond. Most of the teams said the new aero package did not change the racing much. That may be the case, but it was obvious that Joe Gibbs Racing has this aero package figured out. The Toyota’s led 298 of the 312 laps at Phoenix. It wasn’t just one driver dominating the race. Denny Hamlin led 68 laps, Tyler Reddick led 68 laps, Ty Gibbs led 57 laps, Martin Truex Jr. led 55 laps and Christopher Bell led 50 laps. It will likely be tough to beat the Toyota’s Sunday night in the Toyota Owners 400.
I typically focus on the stats from the previous races at a track when I calculate the driver rankings. We cannot ignore what happened at Phoenix. The Toyota’s were the class of the field and they also won the short track race in the Clash at the Coliseum. William Byron led 117 laps and Kyle Larson led 93 laps in this race last year. I expect the No. 24 and the No. 5 car to be good this weekend, but will they be able to outrun the Toyota’s? I do not think so right now (that could change after practice).
I focused on the stats from Phoenix for the Driver Rankings for the Toyota Owners 400. I used the Driver Rating, Average Running Position and Average Green Flag Speed from the race at Phoenix for this week’s rankings. I combined it with the Driver Rankings and Average Green Flag speed from the two races at Richmond last year. The Toyota’s came out on top.
Here are the Driver Rankings for the Toyota Owners 400 …
| DRIVER |
| 1. DENNY HAMLIN |
| 2. CHRISTOPHER BELL |
| 3. BRAD KESELOWSKI |
| 4. TY GIBBS |
| 5. TYLER REDDICK |
| 6. MARTIN TRUEX JR. |
| 7. WILLIAM BYRON |
| 8. KYLE LARSON |
| 9. RYAN BLANEY |
| 10. CHRIS BUESCHER |
| 11. CHASE ELLIOTT |
| 12. BUBBA WALLACE |
| 13. ROSS CHASTAIN |
| 14. CHASE BRISCOE |
| 15. KYLE BUSCH |
| 16. JOEY LOGANO |
| 17. ALEX BOWMAN |
| 18. JOSH BERRY |
| 19. MICHAEL MCDOWELL |
| 20. RYAN PREECE |
| 21. NOAH GRAGSON |
| 22. DANIEL SUAREZ |
| 23. CARSON HOCEVAR |
| 24. TODD GILLILAND |
| 25. RICKY STENHOUSE JR. |
| 26. ERIK JONES |
| 27. JOHN H. NEMECHEK |
| 28. AUSTIN DILLON |
| 29. AUSTIN CINDRIC |
| 30. JUSTIN HALEY |
| 31. HARRISON BURTON |
| 32. COREY LAJOIE |
| 33. DANIEL HEMRIC |
| 34. ZANE SMITH |
| 35. TY DILLON |
| 36. KAZ GRALA |
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