It is possible that NASCAR and Easter may be an egg in the basket too far. A handful of races were run on Easter in the “early days” of the series from 1953 to 1989. Then for over 30 years Easter marked a Spring break for the season. The dirt races at Bristol put Easter back in the mix and, this year (2024), the date caught up with Richmond Raceway.
Easter may have been a hard sell for NASCAR and Richmond. The start time was set as an evening race but it still pulls at holiday family time and the reality of Monday “back to work” for many whose jobs do not offer the Monday off.
The novelty of the dirt surface at Bristol may have put enough interest on the race to overcome chocolate bunnies and “traditional” family gatherings but Richmond did not have novelty or dirt. The rumblings are in the background of the possibility of losing a double race schedule. It is unfortunate that Richmond has been caught in a scheduling battle. It wasn’t long ago that Richmond was a focal point for early season racing and a “CHASE” finale with the Championship contenders put in place.
For the Toyota Owners 400, the race ran “mostly smoothly” after a mostly cloudy day had rain earlier that challenged the scheduled start. NASCAR pushed the green flag a few minutes and started the field on Goodyear rain tires. A competition caution pulled the field at lap 30 to swap back to standard racing tires. A couple of cautions outside of stage finishes allowed some shakeup but it was the final caution that pushed the race to overtime that brought the heat.
Martin Truex Jr was out in front when the final caution and restart shook it up for the finish. The restart had team mates Truex and Hamlin on the front row. Hamlin took an early nose out for rounding the first turn and kept the lead to the finish. Truex fell back to fourth. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson were second and third with Chase Elliott rounding the top five.
This was Hamlin’s second win of the season and his fifth Cup win at his “home track” in Virginia. Martin Truex Jr had some issue at the conclusion with his team mate and tactics on the restart but NASCAR did not issue any penalty for what could have been an early hit on the throttle.
Race photos supplied by DoS Images
