2012 Richmond 400 Free Picks
RICHMOND, VA (ATS Consultants) – The Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, April 28 for the Richmond 400, at 7:43pmET.
NASCAR returns to Richmond, where the defending champion in this race was Kyle Busch, who is the favorite at 5-1. Busch also won in 2010 and 2009 so he’s looking to become the first driver to win four straight at Richmond and first Sprint Cup driver since Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip to win the same even four straight seasons. There’s really nothing like short-track racing as Richmond is unlike any other track on the Sprint Cup circuit. This is the third and final time the Sprint Cup series will race in Richmond. Last year, Busch put on a dominating performance as he led 235 of the 400 laps as he easily held off teammate Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin won last week and now is racing on his favorite track. Hamlin owns a 5.8 average finish in the last four races at Richmond, with three top 10s and has led 289 laps in that span. Hamlin was a win and a driver rating of 110.8 over those four races. He also was successful at Phoenix earlier in the year. On the short track, Hamlin has six wins in his career and 18 top 5s.
Harvick owns a 6.3 average finish with three top 10s at Richmond in the last four races. He also finished second at Phoenix. When you look at the stat sheet, Harvick led the most laps at Phoenix earlier this year. In the last fourteen races here, Harvick has finished inside the top 10 on ten separate occasions, and that includes five top 5s. Statistically, this is the fourth-best track on the circuit for Harvic, and his average driver rating of 110.1 in the last two years here is third-best in the series.
Live Longshot
Clint Bowyer blew an engine last week at Kansas and will be looking to rebound. This is one of Bowyer’s best tracks. In the last four races at Richmond, he averages a 11.5 finish and scored two top 10s. He has top 10s in both short track events in 2012 (10th at Martinsville and 4th at Bristol). Also, he has the third-best average finish (10.5) of anyone in the series at this race track, despite only having only one top 5 finish, which was his win in 2008. Bowyer has three 6th-place finishes to his name in his last five starts here, and he has qualified in the top 5 in each of the last three Richmond races. His average driver rating of 104.3 in the last two years here is sixth-best in the series.
2012 Richmond 400 Information
Race Date: Saturday, April 29
Location: Richmond International Raceway Speedway, Richmond, Va.
Start Time: 7:30pmET
Green Flag: Approx. 7:43PM ET
TV Coverage: FOX
Radio Coverage: Motor Racing Network (MRN/Sirius NASCAR Radio)
Track Type: 0.75 mile oval (400 laps, 300 miles)
Last Year’s Race
Top 5
Kyle Busch
Denny Hamlin
Kasey Kahne
David Regan
Carl Edwards
Recent Winners
2011: Kyle Busch
2010: Kyle Busch
2009: Kyle Busch
2008: Clint Boyer
2007: Jimmie Johnson
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