StatChat 2025 - Cook Out 400 at Richmond
- Adam Carabine
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
By Adam Carabine
Happy Friday everyone! This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Richmond, Virginia for the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Richmond is a 0.75-mile D-shaped oval with fairly low banking in the corners. The track was built in 1946, though the first Cup Series race was held there a few years later. Lee Petty won the inaugural NASCAR race there in 1953. Last year’s winner at this race was Austin Dillon (in rather controversial fashion).
Tomorrow’s race will be 400 laps long (for a total of 300 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 70 – 230 – 400. The fuel window is approximately 120-135 laps. Pit road speed is 40 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 45 mph.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 5,951 laps, for 8,615.35 miles so far this season. No driver has completed every single lap, but Chase Elliott is one lap behind, and Tyler Reddick is ten behind.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Richmond:
Christopher Bell | 7.33 over 9 races |
Kyle Busch | 7.55 over 38 races (6 wins) |
Denny Hamlin | 8.14 over 36 races (5 wins) |
Josh Bery | 9.00 over 3 races |
Joey Logano | 10.03 over 31 races (2 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Richmond:
Cody Ware | 35.00 over 4 races |
Riley Herbst | 33.00 over 1 race |
Michael McDowell | 29.41 over 27 races |
Justin Haley | 29.13 over 8 races |
Zane Smith | 29.00 over 2 races |
Richmond is a Short Track
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.29 over 190 races (13 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 11.90 over 103 races (4 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 12.37 over 59 races (6 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 12.69 over 107 races (3 wins) |
Brad Keselowski | 12.90 over 180 races (10 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Michael McDowell | 26.72 over 167 races |
Zane Smith | 26.23 over 20 races |
Ty Dillon | 25.05 over 79 races |
Noah Gragson | 24.53 over 28 races |
JH Nemechek | 23.89 over 28 races |
Richard Petty is by far the winningest driver at Richmond, having scored 13 victories here. Bobby Allison had 7, and then a crew of four drivers that include current veteran Kyle Busch scored 6 each.
Notable drivers who have not won at Richmond:
Chase Elliott | (has won at 15 other tracks) |
William Byron | (has won at 11 other tracks) |
Ryan Blaney | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Christopher Bell | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
No current drivers scored their first career Cup Series victory at Richmond.
Based on average finish, no drivers list Richmond as their BEST or WORST.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2024
Chase Briscoe | +263 pts |
Ryan Preece | +257 pts |
JH Nemechek | +244 pts |
Erik Jones | +168 pts |
Zane Smith | +123 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024
Brad Keselowski | -241 pts |
Noah Gragson | -199 pts |
Daniel Suarez | -172 pts |
Ty Gibbs | -125 pts |
Kyle Larson | -92 pts |
Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:
Best Career Year
Chase Elliott | 10.96 |
Christopher Bell | 12.13 |
Chase Briscoe | 13.33 |
Ryan Preece | 15.88 |
JH Nemechek | 19.46 |
Worst Career Year
Cole Custer | 24.83 |
Carson Hocevar | 22.13 |
Zane Smith | 20.79 |
Rookie of the Year Battle
SVG | 441 (4 wins) |
Riley Herbst | 287 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 885 |
Toyota | 861 |
Ford | 798 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Hendrick | 842 |
Joe Gibbs | 831 |
RFK | 677 |
Penske | 676 |
Trackhouse | 670 |
23XI | 654 |
Spire | 586 |
Legacy MC | 555 |
RCR | 546 |
Front Row | 535 |
Kaulig | 513 |
Hyak | 372 |
Wood Bros | 370 |
Haas Factory | 292 |
Rick Ware | 169 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
William Byron | 230 |
Ryan Blaney | 202 |
Kyle Larson | 167 |
Denny Hamlin | 161 |
Tyler Reddick | 151 |
Alex Bowman | 143 |
Chase Elliott | 138 |
Bubba Wallace | 133 |
Christopher Bell | 117 |
Austin Cindric | 116 |
Milestone Watch
Zane Smith | This will be his 70th Career Cup Series Start |
Carson Hocevar | This will be his 70th Career Cup Series Start |
Alex Bowman | This will be his 350th Career Cup Series Start |
Chris Buescher | Looking for his 30th Career Top 5 |
Ryan Blaney | Looking for his 90th Career Top 5 |
Joey Logano | Looking for his 170th Career Top 5 |
SVG | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Ty Gibbs | Looking for his 30th Career Top 10 |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 100th Career Top 10 |
Kyle Busch | Looking for his 390th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 165 races |
Cole Custer | 121 races |
Erik Jones | 103 races |
Kyle Busch | 81 races |
Michael McDowell | 72 races |
Daniel Suarez | 58 races |
Brad Keselowski | 47 races |
AJ Allmendinger | 44 races |
Alex Bowman | 40 races |
Austin Dillon | 37 races |
The race begins Saturday, August 16th at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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