As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway for today’s night race, one can’t help but remember the events that emerged the last time the series visited the short track.
It was Sept. 7, 2013 and NASCAR’s top series was geared up for the last regular season race before the Chase field was set.
In previous seasons, the regular season finale always had major storylines as a handful of drivers still had a realistic shot at making NASCAR’s postseason. That night was no different. Drivers Joey Logano and Kurt Busch made late-season surges to make the top 10 in points before Richmond, while drivers like Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex, Jr. still had a realistic shot to crack the top 10 or make the playoffs with a victory.
With all these story lines accumulating in one final race, let’s see how those 400 infamous laps transpired once again.
When it came time to race, it was Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch who led the field to the start of the Federated Auto Parts 400. Gordon established himself as the early favorite by leading the opening 49 laps. But his car faded on long runs and he fell to the mid-teens in the middle parts of the race.
With Gordon backsliding, Busch and Brad Keselowski, who needed a miracle to make the post season, dominated the middle stages with each driver leading 73 and 142 laps, respectively.
As the second half of the race rolled around, new players emerged. Clint Bowyer charged to the front and paced for 72 laps while Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman methodically worked their way to the top 10 after starting in the back.
But the complexion of the race changed with 58 laps to go when Jimmie Johnson cut down a tire and hit the turn 1 wall while the leaders were in the middle of green flag stops. The caution flag trapped many good cars like Bowyer and Keselowski one lap down, but gave new life to Edwards, Newman, Truex and Gordon.
When racing resumed with about 50 laps to go, it was Edwards who became the new leader with Newman on his heels. Truex, who was racing with a broken wrist, restarted in the top 10 and in contention for a wild card berth. And Gordon, who overcame losing two laps after pitting under green for a loose wheel, restarted in 14th place.
With about 10 laps to go, Newman caught and passed Edwards for the lead which put him position to capture a wild card berth by displacing Truex. Meanwhile, Truex was trying to fend off a hard-charging Gordon for 7th place; Gordon would have placed himself into 10th place in the standings if he would have finished 8th or better after Joey Logano fell out after struggling in 25th spot, two laps down.
This all changed once again when Bowyer spun out on his own off turn 4 with less than seven laps to go.
With tires being a premium, all the leaders pitted for fresh rubber. But not everyone took four tires as Paul Menard and Mark Martin took two tires and restarted 1st and 3rd, respectively.
On the restart, Edwards (who was in 2nd) got the jump on Menard after he spun his tires and ran away to a controversial victory, while Newman had to settle for 3rd after restarting in 6th place. Truex fought to finish 7th with Gordon right behind him in 8th place.
With no Richmond victory, Newman could not surpass Truex for the final wild card spot. And Gordon remained 11th in the standings, one point behind Logano who moved up from 25th to 22nd in the final three laps.
On paper, it looked like bitter defeats for both Gordon and Newman, who both had to overcome huge obstacles to place themselves in position for the playoffs.
But video and audio samples that were later released to the public revealed manipulation and cheating by at least three different racing organizations. With the evidence out in the open, public outcry rained through social media.
With the integrity of the sport being compromised, NASCAR conducted an investigation into the final laps of the Richmond race. The Monday following the race, NASCAR released its findings in a press conference, along with some of the harshest penalties in the sport’s history.
That evening NASCAR said that the team cars of Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) were “found to have violated Section 12-4 (actions detrimental to stock car racing).” As a result, NASCAR penalized MWR by fining the three team cars 50 championship driver points and 50 championship owner points (penalty being assessed before the Chase reseeding) which eliminated Truex from the second wild card spot. The penalty resulted in Ryan Newman being added to the Chase as the second wild card participant.
NASCAR took an even greater step on Friday the 13th by adding Jeff Gordon as a thirteenth Chaser after the sanctioning body determined that Gordon and crew were racing against an unfair disadvantage in final laps of the race.
In addition, NASCAR held a private meeting with all teams during race weekend at Chicagoland Speedway to discuss what the sanctioning body expects of them.
Now as the teams prepare for the first night race since the infamous debacle, the dynamics of racing have never been so different.
For instance, there is no more waving of teammates or manufacturer teammates by during the course of a race. In other words, teams and drivers are now expected to give their all on the track, or how NASCAR addressed it last September – they are to give 100 percent effort throughout the race.
Manipulation of a race by any driver or team is also forbidden by NASCAR with the utmost seriousness. And the penalties handed down to MWR last year are a clear warning to everyone in the garage that NASCAR will not be merciful with this issue.
In addition, restarts have been revamped to avoid unnecessary penalties for the 2nd place car. Since the double-file restarts were introduced on a full-time basis in June, 2009, the common perception was that the leader always controlled the restart and must not be passed before crossing the start-finish line. But numerous incidents have occurred in the last few years where the leader had trouble on the restart and was passed by the 2nd place car. NASCAR would then penalize the 2nd place car who had no fault with the leader’s troubles. Now, NASCAR has changed the restart rules where it’s every driver for themselves once the green flag is waved.
While these changes have helped NASCAR recover some of its credibility, doubt still creeps into some of the fans’ minds when a caution comes out.
The two most popular occurrences this season have occurred in different races.
The first incident occurred in the final laps of the Auto Club 400 when Clint Bowyer had a left rear tire go down which caused him to spin in turn 4 while he was racing Kyle Busch for 2nd with less than three laps to go. The spin eventually caused NASCAR to throw a controversial caution which turned the complexion of the race upside down. While there was little that Bowyer could do to keep his car from spinning out, many fans gave the driver who started the Richmond controversy no sympathy or support after the race concluded. In fact, many fans went to social media to raise the question if Bowyer had spun himself out on purpose once again.
The second incident occurred two weeks ago during the final laps of the Bojangles’ Southern 500. With about 10 laps to go, Joey Logano’s car began to smoke lightly and fell off the pace after apparently losing an engine. As a result NASCAR threw a caution which eventually saw pit strategy, two Green-White-Checkered restarts and a last lap pass by Kevin Harvick dominate the headlines of the night. Despite the exciting finish, several fans once again took to social media and accused NASCAR of trying to fix the finish from boring to exciting without proper justification for the late caution flag.
For NASCAR, it is this sting – doubt from fans – that might take the longest to get rid of.
Perhaps, the best way for NASCAR to gain completely trust from the fans is to start running these races without bizarre, game-changing caution flags late in races.
And tonight’s race might be the best way get started.
NASCAR and its teams need to run a solid 400 laps tonight. It will be the best way to show fans that pure racing still dominates the sport and that manipulation will never again be the main headline after the checkered flag falls.
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