After a two week hiatus for the Olympics, NASCAR returns to this weekend racing at Richmond Raceway in Virginia.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson held off Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick in overtime to collect the Indianapolis victory he tried to get at the Indy 500 in May.
Larson’s try at the motorsports double two months ago ended as rain delayed the IndyCar event. Larson flew to Charlotte and the Coca-Cola 600, where rain also delayed that NASCAR Cup Series race. Larson never got on the track as rain and the late hour ended any attempt at finishing the race.
Last year in the summer race at Richmond, Chris Buescher pulled away on a restart with three laps to go to win and lock up his playoff spot. Buescher finished ahead of Virginia native Denny Hamlin.
Kyle Busch took third, followed by Joey Logano and Ryan Preece. The victory started a strong run by Buescher, who won twice more (a week later at Michigan and at Daytona) before the playoffs.
Larson wasn’t going to stop racing despite NASCAR’s break and won a pair of sprint car races at Pevely, Missouri last weekend.
There are four races left in NASCAR’s regular season with Michigan, Daytona and Darlington coming after the run at Richmond. Larson is 15 points ahead of Denny Hamlin in the driver standings. Christopher Bell is third and Larson’s Henrick Motorsports teammate William Byron is fourth.
Practice and qualifying is at 3:30 pm on Saturday. Race time is 5 pm Sunday evening.
The Xfinity Series has one more weekend free before racing at Michigan on Aug. 17.
Meanwhile, the Craftsman Truck gets back to racing this weekend in Virgina.
Ty Majeski won for the second straight season at Indianapolis two weeks ago.
Majeski overcame a restart violation on Lap 50 that sent him to the rear of the field, but he fought back for his first victory of the season and fourth of his career. Corey Heim finished second with Grant Enfinger third and Christian Eckes fourth.
The series has been on a mid-summer break since the Indianapolis race.
Richmond is the final race of the regular season with the playoffs starting at the Milwaukee Mile on Aug. 25. Christian Eckes leads the driver standings by 50 points over Corey Heim, even though Heim has five victories this season to Eckes’ three.
Seven drivers (Eckes, Heim, Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger) have qualified for the 10-team playoffs.
Practice and qualifying is at 1:30 pm Saturday afternoon. Race time is 6:30 pm Saturday evening.
