NASCAR visits its third short track in four weeks.
This year the Toyota Owners 400 is scheduled for daylight hours. Like last week’s venue Bristol Motor Speedway, that means their two races will be run in different conditions, which could eventually lead to a pattern of some racers performing better in the spring or fall.
And that is likely to make a bigger difference at Richmond than Bristol. Mostly concrete, the half-mile bullring is not as heat sensitive as the three-quarter-mile asphalt track.
This little track has delusions of grandeur. It is a short track that has as many similarities to the similarly-configured, 1.5- and two-mile tracks as it does to the other short courses and in some ways it is the best of two worlds. At less than a mile in length, cars are constantly in traffic. And with only 40 cars instead of 43 as the maximum field, drivers can maneuver more skillfully around the course.
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