Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

Federated Auto Parts Salute to American Heroes 400

Richmond Raceway

September 11th, 2021

Race #28 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 400
Miles Raced : 300.0
Time of Race : 03 Hours 03 minutes 06 seconds
Average Speed: 98.307 mph
Margin of Victory : 01.417 seconds
Cautions: 5
Caution Laps: 30
Lead Changes: 21
Cars in Race : 37
Finished On Lead Lap: 9 (24%)

Martin Truex Jr celebrates after winning at Richmond Raceway — Richmond, Virginia - September 11th, 2021: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Red White Blue Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders at Richmond Raceway. Photo by Jared C Tilton | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	3	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	51	40	11	5	400	80	3	8	3	Running
2	2	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	55	35	20	2	400	197	6	1	1	Running
3	10	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	39	34	5	0	400	10	3	0	6	Running
4	13	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	42	33	9	0	400	58	3	2	0	Running
5	6	22	Joey Logano	Ford	46	32	14	0	400	0	0	3	5	Running
6	1	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	45	31	14	0	400	8	3	4	4	Running
7	17	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	39	30	9	0	400	4	1	6	7	Running
8	5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	32	29	3	0	400	0	0	9	10	Running
9	15	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	37	28	9	0	400	39	1	0	2	Running
10	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	33	27	6	0	399	0	0	5	0	Running
11	19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	26	26	0	0	399	0	0	0	0	Running
12	12	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	27	25	2	0	399	0	0	0	9	Running
13	7	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	28	24	4	0	399	0	0	7	0	Running
14	9	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	27	23	4	0	399	0	0	10	8	Running
15	11	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	22	22	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
16	26	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	21	21	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
17	22	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	20	20	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
18	28	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	19	19	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
19	14	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
20	24	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	17	17	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
21	31	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	398	0	0	0	0	Running
22	21	41	Cole Custer	Ford	15	15	0	0	397	0	0	0	0	Running
23	23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	14	14	0	0	397	0	0	0	0	Running
24	18	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	13	13	0	0	396	0	0	0	0	Running
25	20	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	12	12	0	0	396	0	0	0	0	Running
26	30	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	11	11	0	0	396	0	0	0	0	Running
27	29	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	396	0	0	0	0	Running
28	16	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	9	9	0	0	395	0	0	0	0	Running
29	25	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	395	0	0	0	0	Running
30	32	78	BJ McLeod	Ford	0	0	0	0	393	0	0	0	0	Running
31	36	51	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	389	0	0	0	0	Running
32	27	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	5	5	0	0	388	0	0	0	0	Running
33	34	15	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	387	0	0	0	0	Running
34	37	53	JJ Yeley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	386	0	0	0	0	Running
35	35	0	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	2	2	0	0	386	0	0	0	0	Running
36	33	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	1	1	0	0	385	0	0	0	0	Running
37	4	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	40	4	1	0	0	Accident

Race Infractions

Federated Auto Parts Salute to American Heroes 400 at Richmond Raceway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Martin Truex Jr	Jumping the start	Pass Thru	0	2	Green
Kyle Larson	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple inspection failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Cody Ware	Pre-Race to the Rear Driver change	Tail End	0	0	White
Cole Custer	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple inspection failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Kyle Busch	Equipment Interference	Tail End	32	36	Yellow
Ryan Preece	Equipment Interference	Tail End	32	36	Yellow
Bubba Wallace	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	32	36	Yellow
Cole Custer	Tire violation	Tail End	32	36	Yellow
Cody Ware	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	33	36	Yellow
Bubba Wallace	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	41	47	Yellow
Quin Houff	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	46	47	Yellow
JJ Yeley	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	84	88	Yellow
Daniel Suarez	Equipment Interference	Tail End	84	88	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	132	136	Green
Cody Ware	Safety violation	Pass Thru	136	142	Green
JJ Yeley	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	181	187	Green
Ross Chastain	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	238	244	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	238	244	Yellow
Bubba Wallace	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	250	254	Yellow
JJ Yeley	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	252	254	Yellow
Corey Lajoie	Commitment Line Violation	Pass Thru	289	294	Green
Michael McDowell	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	295	298	Green
Josh Bilicki	Commitment Line Violation	Pass Thru	297	301	Green
Michael McDowell	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	298	301	Green
Kyle Busch	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	344	349	Green
Corey Lajoie	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	350	352	Green

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Race Fast Facts

Richmond Raceway
64th Annual Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders
Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
Age: 41
Team : No. 19 - Bass Pro Shops Red White Blue Toyota
Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
Crew Chief: James Small
Martin Truex Jr. won the 64th Annual Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders, his 31st victory in 577 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his fourth victory and 15th top-10 finish in 2021.
This is his third victory and 14th top-10 finish in 31 races at Richmond Raceway.
Denny Hamlin (second) posted his 19th top-10 finish in 30 races at Richmond Raceway. It is his 19th top-10 finish in 2021.
Christopher Bell (third) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Richmond Raceway.
Chase Briscoe (16th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Joe Gibbs Racing leads the NASCAR Cup Series in victories at Richmond Raceway with 17 wins: Tony Stewart (1999, 2001, 2002), Denny Hamlin (2009, 2010, 2016), Kyle Busch (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018 sweep), Matt Kenseth (2015), Carl Edwards (2016), Martin Truex Jr. (2019 sweep, 2021).

Race Recap

Martin Truex Jr. wins Playoff race at Richmond Raceway

September 11th, 2021

By Holly Cain - NASCAR Wire Service

Martin Truex Jr. received a penalty on the opening lap of the race for crossing the start/finish line in front of polesitter Denny Hamlin at the green flag. But 400 laps later Truex led the field across the line again – this time as the race winner of Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

The convincing 1.317-second margin of victory over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Christopher Bell marked Truex's third win in the last five races at Richmond, his fourth win of the 2021 season and, most importantly, gave him that coveted automatic bid into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Truex joins Hamlin, who won last week's Playoff opener at Darlington, S.C. and Regular Season Champion Kyle Larson, who finished sixth on Saturday, as the only three drivers to have officially secured positions in the Playoffs' Round of 12 that begins in two weeks at Las Vegas.

The first thing Truex did after climbing out of his winning No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was acknowledge the importance of the September 11 date to our country and thank the fans for showing their support on the solemn anniversary and for their patriotic support of the sport of NASCAR.

As for his early setback, "That was frustrating, I'm not going to lie," Truex said of the race start. "But I knew we had a good enough car to overcome it. Just one of those things you have to put out of your mind and go race. A lot on the line tonight.

"But going to Bristol (Tenn.) next week without any worries is always fun," he added with a smile.

Truex, who led a total of 80 laps, took the lead for good – pacing the field for the final 51 laps – following a series of green flag pit stops in the final portion of the race. Just prior to the pit sequence, another JGR teammate, Kyle Busch, had positioned himself to be a factor at the checkered flag. Instead, Busch received his second pit road penalty of the night – a speeding violation during his green flag stop with 55 laps remaining. At the time, it dropped him to 10th place, the last car on the lead lap after he had been out front for 39 laps just prior to the green flag stops. He ultimately finished ninth.

Last week's winner Hamlin had been the strong car early, leading 100 of the opening 152 laps and a race best 197 on the night, winning both Stages. But the pit road sequence, lapped traffic and an awakened Truex forced Hamlin to play catch-up in the end.

"The whole JGR team had fast cars for all of us today. I really wish we had gotten two in a row, but regardless still a great day for the team," Hamlin said.

Unlike last week's Playoff opener at Darlington, when several of the 16 Playoff cars suffered setbacks and disappointing finishes, Saturday night those cars reminded why they are in position to challenge for a championship. Thirteen of the top 15 cars were driven by Playoff drivers.

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott finished fourth in a Hendrick Chevrolet and Team Penske's Joey Logano was fifth in a Ford. Larson finished sixth, followed by the only non-Playoff driver among the top 10, Ross Chastain.

Stewart-Haas Racing's driver Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 10.

Playoff drivers Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola and Tyler Reddick finished 12th-15th. William Byron (19th), Michael McDowell (28th) and Kurt Busch (37th) rounded out the Playoff finishers.

Busch, who led laps early, suffered a tire problem that sent his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet hard into the Turn 1 wall only 40 laps into the race.

"Something happened with that left rear, it let go," said Busch, who was running in the top-five at the time of his accident. "It let go of our points and it let go of our whole season right now. I don't know what we're going to have to do at Bristol other than win."

Despite the tough luck, Busch heads into Saturday night's Playoff Round of 16 finale at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in a mathematical tie with Bowman for the 12th Playoff position – and last transfer position.

Reddick (-5), Byron (-18), Daytona 500 winner McDowell (-38) are currently outside the top-12, with four of the 16 cars eliminated from the Playoffs following Bristol's Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Harvick is the defending winner of the Bristol Playoff race. Joey Logano won the 2021 race at the Bristol track's inaugural dirt race in March. Kurt Busch has six previous wins at Bristol and his younger brother Kyle is the winningest active driver with eight victories.