News

Track:  Richmond Raceway    
Race:   Toyota Owners 400
Date:   April 3, 2022
 
 
No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 20th
Race Finish: 20th
Stage 1 Finish: 17th
Stage 2 Finish: 17th
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings: 15th (-71)
 
Race Rundown: Austin Cindric started 20th and finished 20th in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. The driver of the Discount Tire Ford Mustang started from the rear after unapproved adjustments following qualifying, but wasted little time making his way into the top 20 early.  Cindric would run solidly inside the top-15 for much of the race, despite finishing 17th in each of the two stages.  The Rookie of the Year candidate would overcome a lap 258 spin as a result of contact from another car, along with a significant loss of track position, to come home 20th at the checkers.
  
Cindric's Thoughts: "It was a decent day for the 2 car.  We had to come from the back a couple of times.  I wish we wouldn't have gotten run over there in the middle of the race.  That ended up putting us in a box for strategy with the tires we had left.  All in all, we just needed a little bit more in the long run.  Overall, it was a solid day. We passed a lot of cars out there."

 
No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Start: 1st – Third pole position of 2022
Race Finish: 7th
Stage 1 Finish: 1st
Stage 2 Finish: 5th
Laps Led: 128
Point Standings: 1st (+0)  
 
Race Rundown: Ryan Blaney started from the pole for the third time in four weeks, won the opening stage after leading the race's first 70 laps and finished seventh in the No. 12 Menards Richmond Ford Mustang on Sunday at Richmond Raceway. Blaney led a race-high 128 laps, a career-high at the three-quarter-mile Virginia short track, en route to his 100th career top-10 finish.  It allowed Blaney to continue his streak of leading at least one lap in each NASCAR Cup Series event this season.  With the top-10 finish, Blaney took over the top spot in the series point standings as the series heads to the half-mile Martinsville Speedway Saturday night.
 
Blaney's Thoughts:  "It's tough.  There were a handful of cars that could kind of run up and run in traffic pretty good and we just weren't really good enough to run in traffic.  Once we lost track position I struggled a little bit, but it's nice to win a stage.  It's cool to get the pole and good stage points.  We finished seventh, my best finish here.  Overall, a fun day.  It was kind of frustrating because we were running so good early.  I wanted to run better, but I can't complain about it too much.  Overall, not a bad day.  We just have to find a little bit more speed, but it was nice that we kind of put together some decent notes and have an OK run at Richmond."

 
No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang – Joey Logano
Start: 11th
Race Finish: 17th
Stage 1 Finish: 8th
Stage 2 Finish: 4th
Laps Led: 1
Point Standings:  5th (-26)
 
Race Rundown: Joey Logano started 11th and finished 17th in Sunday afternoon's NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Logano scored stage points in both the first two stages and was running inside the top-10 when a jack failure during a late-race pit stop resulted in a significant loss of track position in the final stage. The team would fight their way back toward the front, using a long-run strategy as others elected to go with an additional pit stop. 
  
Logano's Thoughts: "We had a good Shell-Pennzoil Mustang. Felt like most of the race we were as fast as anybody, just had the issue with the jack on the pit stop and lost the track position we'd worked to get the whole race. One of those deals, but we had speed and that's a positive."