Richmond Review, Martinsville Preview, and More | Chasing The Cup S1:E10

The host, Will England, reviews the recent NASCAR Cup Series race in Richmond. Danny Hamlin became the first driver over 30 to win a race in the next-gen era. Kevin Harvick finished second and William Byron finished third. The race was considered boring overall. The Xfinity and Truck Series races were also reviewed, with Ty Gibbs winning the Truck Series race and Noah Gregson winning the Xfinity race. The upcoming races at Martinsville were previewed, with Zane Smith predicted to win the Truck Series race, Noah Gregson predicted to win the Xfinity race, and Chase Elliott predicted to win the Cup Series race. Some news updates were also provided, including Blake Lafian making his Truck Series debut and the possibility of Junior Motorsports moving to the Cup Series. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I am your host, Will England, and in this episode, I'm going to be reviewing the races from Richmond from this past weekend. I'll also go over the news, and I'm going to preview this weekend's races from Martinsville. But first, let's review the races from Richmond. The old guys are back on top as Danny Hamlin becomes the first driver over 30 to win a NASCAR Cup Series race in the next-gen era. Kevin Harvick comes up short and second behind Hamlin after making a charge at him, but due to lap traffic, he was unable to catch him. William Byron finishes third after a gamble with fuel strategy, but the strategy did not work out, and that led to Hamlin and Harvick passing him. Martin Trix Jr. finished fourth, Kyle Larson finished fifth, Christopher Bell finished sixth, Ryan Blaney finished seventh, Alex Bowman finished eighth, Kyle Busch finished ninth, and Austin Dillon rounds out the top ten. So it was kind of refreshing to see two of the oldest drivers in the Cup right now finish one-two, but besides that, the race was kind of meh. It was pretty boring overall. Of course, the pitch charging was interesting, as well as the finish, with Byron's strategy failing, probably because his tires wore out because of Richmond's slick surface, and then Hamlin passing him and Kevin Harvick on the charge by getting stuck in lap traffic. Besides that, the racing itself was not that good. It was slightly better than last year's Richmond races, which were usually like everyone was separated two-plus seconds, but things were slightly more compact, but it was still pretty boring. I would say that's probably how Richmond was designed, because it's basically a flat, wide, one-groove track. You can sort of get a second groove on the top, but besides that, the dominant line is pretty much the low line. Meanwhile, tracks like Bristol and Martinsville are either multi-groove, high-banked, or tight. Next for the extended results, Ty Gibbs muscles the win away from John Hunter Niemicek, who finished second. Sam Mayer won the Dash for Cash for this weekend and finished third. AJ Amundanger finished fourth. Riley Hurst finished fifth. Daniel Hamrick finished sixth. Josh Berry finished seventh. Brandon Brown finished eighth. Ryan Seig finished ninth. And probably the standout performance during this race, Parker Ritsliffe finished tenth after having a very good day, running solidly in the top ten. In my opinion, I see some good things coming from Parker in the future. So just like Cup, it was boring. There was very little pit strategy with Xfinity because it was shorter, but the finish was very good with Ty Gibbs battling hard with John Hunter Niemicek in the closing laps and then they were side by side coming down the back stretch on the final lap and then coming into turn three, Ty Gibbs muscled his way in front and got the win. And I know John Hunter Niemicek was not happy with that and he said afterward that he wasn't happy with that move and he said he wouldn't have done that, but he has and even worse than that. When he won at Canadian Tire in a truck race, he straight up got into Cole Custer and beat and banged off each other to the start finish line and he got the nudge over him. And then Cole Custer, once he got out of his truck, he came and fought him. He came out to the start finish line and he just tackled him right onto the ground. So John Hunter can't really say that move was extremely dirty because he's done dirtier himself. Now with the Richmond results out of the way, let's get to the news. This week's news will be brief because I'm recording this on Monday to get it out by Wednesday or early on Thursday because the Truck Series is on Thursday. So not all stories will be up to date as they usually would be if I recorded on Tuesday. Blake Lafian will make his Truck Series debut at Martinsville this weekend with the Rayon Brothers. Lafian is a NASCAR Drive 4 Diversity alumni and a local short track star. Junior Motorsports is apparently still open to move the cup. Co-owner of Junior Motorsports, Kelly Earnhardt Miller, said that the window is not closed as she told NBC Sports' Zach Sternilio, but also said that the timing would need to be right. So if you guys thought Junior Motorsports after 2021 would not go move up the cup, you might be wrong because Junior Motorsports is apparently still open for a cup. So keep an eye on that for a silly season. I'd say if they find any charters, I think they'll make a jump at it unless there's anyone else that can go at it. SS Greenlight Racing has acquired points from DGM. It was announced last Tuesday that SS Greenlight Racing purchased the points of the 92, which was 24th in the standings, and those points have now been transferred to the 08. Kleskin will be sponsoring the pole qualifying at Talladega in April for the Geico 500. Navaj Nasal Care has begun a partnership with Mike McDowell's number 3014 for Front Row Motorsports. That began this weekend at Richmond. Yellowwood has extended its partnership for the fall cup race at Talladega. They'll be continued to be called the Yellowwood 500 through 2024. And finally with some sad news, Bill Mears, father of four-time Indy 500 champion Rick Mears and grandfather of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Casey Mears, has died at the age of 93 on March 27th. So my thoughts go to the Mears family, and I hope they get through this hard time. And now, let's preview this weekend's races at Martinsville. The Truck Series is back this weekend with the Blue Emu Maxxman Pain Relief 200. The race will be 200 laps and 105 miles, and the race will be on Thursday, April 7th at 8pm Eastern Time. And so for my pick for the truck race, I'm gonna go with Zane Smith. Zane Smith got his only win last year at Martinsville, clinging his way into the championship four, and he's been on a roll with two wins already, which is the most of the current full-time drivers. So I'm gonna go with Zane Smith as my pick. Next for Xfinity, we have the creatively named Call 811 Before You Dig 250, powered by Call811.com. The race will be 250 laps and 131.5 miles, and the race will be on Friday, April 8th at 7.30pm Eastern Time. And my pick for Martinsville, I'm gonna go with Noah Gregson. Noah Gregson won in the fall last year at Martinsville. That allowed him to clinch his way into the championship four, and a track like Martinsville seems to fit his driving style. And he already has a win at Phoenix this year, so I'm gonna go with Noah Gregson. And finally, for the Cup Series, we have the Blue Emu Maxxman Pain Relief 400. The race will be 400 laps and 210 miles. The race will be on April 9th at 7.30pm Eastern Time. So here's the forecast for Saturday night for the Cup Series. On Saturday night, some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. It'll be 35 degrees with winds west to northwest at 5 to 10 miles per hour, with a 4% chance of rain. So bundle up! And it's gonna be cold in Martinsville because it'll be the night race. So get a winter coat and maybe some mittens, and as well eat warm foods like the Martinsville hot dog, maybe hot cocoa, if you can get that stuff. Because that was a problem in the fall last year when I went. There was like only one stand open, and there was like a huge line. That'd probably take like two hours to get food. So I hope Martinsville has enough concession stands open with warm food because it's gonna be cold. And finally my pick for the Cup Race is Chase Elliott. Martinsville has been one of Chase Elliott's best tracks. He usually runs up front most of the time, and most of the time wins if he doesn't get screwed by his pit crew, or he gets taken out by someone, or his car doesn't fade in the closing laps. I'd say his luck will turn around this weekend because he's been very strong with the next gen car, and hopefully because I'm not there, I won't have my curse. So I'm gonna go with Chase Elliott. And so that's it for this week. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please leave a like and subscribe for more. And if you're going out to Martinsville this weekend, I hope you have a good time. Make sure to cover up and stay warm. And if you're not, have a good time wherever you are. And I'll see you next week.