Virginia race fans have it all. They really do.

Two NASCAR sanctioned tracks plus one so close to the border it qualifies as a third. Martinsville, Richmond and Bristol…

With these you have access to the major NASCAR series Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World…

Add in the road coarse at Virginia International Raceway and you get even more with American Le Mans, SCCA, AMA… Sports cars, open wheel, motorcycles…

Virginia has smaller tracks all over the state for weekend racing of every sort. From South Boston to Motor Mile to Langley to Southside to Shenandoah… All sorts of locals and series run all summer long.

Drag strips and dirt tracks and race, race, race… (more…)

It may be home for Denny Hamlin but the Busch brothers owned it for the weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

Friday night for the Nationwide “Virginia 529 College Savings 250”, Kurt Busch drove the #54 Monster Energy Toyota to Victory Lane. Denny Hamlin made a run on the final lap to the finish with a drag race to the checkers and was a nose behind at the line. Kevin Harvick seemed to have it wrapped up for most of the race but Busch slipped by with 8 laps to go and took a comfortable lead until Hamlin filled the mirrors. Apparently, Kurt Busch had just enough to hold Hamlin to the line.

The #54 Toyota, by the way, is owned by Kurt’s brother, Kyle, who drove to Victory Lane on Saturday night in the Sprint Cup race.

Denny Hamlin also ran in the top 10 throughout the “Capitol City 400 presented by Virginia is for Lovers” but couldn’t quite make it into the top spot. He rode the #2 slot for a few laps but finished fourth at the end of the night.

Kyle Busch also ran the top 10 all night. He had the lead with 100 to go but Tony Stewart’s #14 car had found footing and was running too well for Busch to hold it at that point in the race. (more…)

NASCAR is a big part of Virginia. Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond have driven NASCAR and a big part of Virginia tourism for many years. To celebrate some of that history, Richmond International Raceway is going back in time a bit and pulling up a name from the past for the Sprint Cup race this Saturday. “Capitol City” was the namesake of the race for many years and will be again this weekend as RIR and the Virginia Tourism Corporation present the main event.

Richmond is celebrating 60 years of racing this year. The “Capital City 400 Presented by Virginia is for Lovers” is the Sprint Cup Series race to crown the weekend. (more…)