It almost appeared to be a Hendrick vs Gibbs kind of day at Richmond Raceway. The Toyota Owners 400 had good shows from Denny Hamlin with a stage win and others from the Toyota stable making good runs. It was the Hendrick drivers that ran the edge.
William Byron was pressing the lead with a stage win and up front performance. A late race restart jumbled the front row as Christopher Bell ran up on Byron’s #24 with a shove a bit too hard which spun Byron towards the outside wall.
This set a stage for another restart and another pair of Hendrick drivers to run for the finish. Kyle Larson in the #5 and the Chase Elliott fill driver, Josh Berry, in the #9. Byron was way back in the field after a good run for the day but time and damage had the #24 now. The final laps turned over and it was Kyle Larson out front for the win. Berry held on for a well earned 2nd place for his Cup filler Richmond run.
Ross Chastain followed for third on the day. Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick filled the top five.
The main NASCAR Cup eveny on Sunday, April 2nd closed a weekend of weather variety. The Whelen Modified race from Friday was pushed to Saturday as rain began minutes before the scheduled green flag. Practice and qualifying for the XFinity and Cup series was also blown out Saturday morning. The XFinity and Whelen races went off Saturday afternoon as winds kicked up a bit. For Cup Sunday, the skies were blue and the racing was set on schedule.
Racing returns to Richmond in July. Photos from the Sunday, April 2nd Toyota Owners 400 are below!
