Saturday night short trackin' under the lights! The traditional late season Richmond night race was an interesting one. It was a race with three cautions, but zero for incident. The Cup series stars put on a display of clean, competitive short track racing. Saturday's race was refreshing in my opinion. A race that had actual strategy was a nice change of pace. Although one driver dominated the entire back half of the event, the racing product still sufficed. To me a good race has the best cars in the front, and if they get stuck in the back they can recover. Richmond had that. I would rate the race a 7/10. It wasn't a race I'll remember forever, but a good race in the moment. Stage one was won by local favorite Denny Hamlin, however after a pit road speeding penalty at the stage break, he had to restart in the back. Unfortunately, Hamlin never really recovered. His team struggled with the car's handling all night. He finished the race with a 12th place finish. The lack of cautions helped eventual winner Brad Keselowski dominate the race. Keselowski lead 192 of the 400 laps and won stage two. His win automatically advances him to the next round of the playoffs with Darlington winner Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin advanced on points after Saturday's race. Team Penske as a whole was the story of the race. Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano were upfront all night. This is a performance statement from the two past champions, showing their current championship threat level. If they can continue this type of speed, they will be in the mix for the title in Phoenix. Through it all the biggest surprise of the night was Austin Dillon's performance. After finishing second at Darlington he finished fourth on Saturday. He appeared to be the only driver capable of challenging Brad Keselowski. Dillon also got a pit road penalty at the end of stage one. He was, however, able to rebound to the top-5 and a legitimate threat all night. In conclusion Richmond was a good race to further prove a few things from Darlington. Austin Dillon has upped his game, Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto are almost in must win situations heading into Bristol, and it highlighted drivers who just might make the final 4 and win it all.

From the arcade to the cell phone, video games have taken the world by storm. The arcade and simulation racing genre has grown just as large as others. Many of the drivers in the motorsports community have played console and pc-based racing sims for the last two decades. Our team has as well. Below is a list of our Top-5 Favorite NASCAR Video Games. 5. NASCAR Thunder 2004 EA Sports' Thunder Gaming Engine introduced in 2002 was the the first major gaming experience to include full fields of Cup Series drivers and a full racing schedule. Their inclusion of multiple driving paint schemes with each driver made the game even more realistic to the passionate NASCAR fans. The 2004 installment featured then 1x Winston Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart on the cover and was known for the in-depth career mode that it offered. In career mode, the player would invest money into R+D, employees, sign sponsors and even work on property development. The game allowed players to participate in a 20 year career in hopes of winning the Cup Series Championship and included online play for Playstation, Xbox, and PC users. 4. NASCAR 2000 "Go Buddy, Go Go Go!" the spotter would yell at the start of the NASCAR 2000 video game presented by EA SPORTS. This new millennium game was the first of a new generation, featuring the EA 'Cyber' Athlete. In the game, pit crews were fully animated and had the possibility of making mistakes. This variable made for an interesting evolution of gameplay between the player and the AI. Multiplayer split-screen mode was included and legend commentary duo Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons were in the booth to call all of the action. A somewhat limited roster was included in this game, but all three major racing manufacturers of Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Ford made the cut. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Sr. was in the game as the cover athlete, as were retired legends including Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough. 3. Gran Turismo 5 (2010) Sit back and relax as Sony's Polyphony Digital studio straps you into Gran Turismo, 'The Real Driving Simulator'. The fifth generation of Turismo was the first to include a license from NASCAR. In the NASCAR portion of the game, which was exclusive to the Playstation 3 console, drivers were able to go through a driving school led by 4-Time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon. A limited amount of drivers were included in the first patched release and only Daytona and Indianapolis were included as tracks from the Cup Series Schedule. Despite this limited availability of drivers and track, the physics and online stability of this game were exceptionally popular with fans. The draft/wake effect was able to be modified from somewhat ineffective to over-exaggerated which made for a variance of both tandem and pack style drafting. Sony would extend the license with NASCAR to future releases and are expected to be continuing their relationship heading into the release of Gran Turismo 7 this holiday season. 2. NASCAR Thunder 2003 Thunder 2003 from EA SPORTS was their first game to have a fully animated experience. From the cars to the pit crews, to the fans, to the flying aircraft after the national anthem. Their pre-race festivities included MRN's legendary team of Barney Hall and Joe Moore and the presentation was as if you the player were living the race weekend. The game included legendary drivers and lots of Busch Grand National drivers as well becoming the first game to include then young-guns Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne amongst others. The career mode has the player seeking the opportunity to earn the seat of a retiring racer en route to their first championship and was known for realistic difficulty from rookie to champion. Added game modes including the Thunder Plate Licenses and Lightning Challenges put the player into a must win scenario for new unlocks including paint schemes, free pole positions, extra race tracks. Players could also unlock exhibition events such as the All-Star and the Shootout Event at Daytona. The game didn't cut corners and had graphics superior to most racing games at the time. Every time we listen to 'Steppenwolf' we think of NASCAR Thunder 2003's great album of rock music as well. Dale Earnhardt Jr. graces the game's cover and many drivers including Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty have video cameos in the arcade sim. Honorable Mentions NASCAR Rumble NASCAR Racing 2003 Season NASCAR 98' NASCAR 2005 : Chase For The Cup 1. NASCAR HEAT 4 (2019) 704Games' production of NASCAR HEAT 4 isn't necessarily the best game ever made, but it falls in line as our favorite. This game is responsible for cleaning up years of growth on a low-income studio attempting to give racing fans what they want in a motorsports experience. Their continued support of the teams and drivers and fans was apparent in this release and the expansive career mode was the closest a game had come to the Thunder Series games in nearly 20 years. Their marketing team's success in including every major driver across multiple series has been unmatched. They helped fund the release through an expansive DLC package that included hundreds of paint schemes to the player, and alcoholic branded sponsors. The online play of this release eliminated long-time glitch lags and 'bumper-car' effects in which players were unable to make casual contact with one-another in previous releases. NASCAR Heat 4's soundtrack included a variety of rock, country, and folk music from independent artists and allowed players to compete for a spot in the annual NASCAR PRO LEAGUE. The major graphics improvements in the Heat 4 release from the previous installments of the Heat series were notable from the start. It was a win from the day it released. Did we match your picks? Tell us your thoughts on where we got it right and wrong.

Segments: Intro, Race Review, Pit Road Picks, NASCAR News, Virtual Hot Lap, What Year Was It?, Race Preview, eSports Invitational Interview, Closing Time HOST(s): AJ Appeal On-Air: Tyler Lawler On-Air: Logan Morris Guest(s): Zachary Bell What Year Was It: Daniel Foster Virtual Hot Lap: The Setup Man Writer: Peyton Lohr Producer: AJ Appeal Director: AJ Appeal Source: Syndication / Live Via Facebook and YouTube

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/Team_Penske) Brad Keselowski's #2 Alliance Parts Team Penske Ford finished the evening in victory lane after leading nearly half of the scheduled 400 laps on Richmond's .75 mile oval. Pre-race favorite Martin Truex Jr. was not as fortunate, finishing 2.568 seconds behind in second place. Pole sitter Kevin Harvick finished 7th. Every caution in Saturday night's event was predetermined. There was one competition caution, and a caution at the end of the first and second stage of the event. No wrecks or debris caused the race to break. The win tonight is Brad's fourth of the 2020 season, second at Richmond Raceway, and 34th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series. With the win, his team has now advanced into the next round of NASCAR's playoffs. (UPDATE) - Post-race inspection is complete. The win is official. Top 5 : 1. Brad Keselowski 2. Martin Truex Jr. 3. Joey Logano 4. Austin Dillon 5. Chase Elliott Notables 6. Kyle Busch 7. Kevin Harvick 12. Denny Hamlin 31. Jimmie Johnson

Two time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has his work cut out for him this weekend at Richmond. The 6 time Richmond Raceway winner has yet to finish in first in his 2020 campaign, and the opportunity just became a little more challenging for Saturday's event in Virginia. His Mars Brands Toyota failed the scanning inspection system on two separate attempts and he will start the race from the rear of the field as punishment. The #18 team also failed post race inspection a week ago today at Darlington's Southern 500.

Zachary Bell has been a NASCAR fan since 2001 cheering on John Andretti, and Kurt Busch. Residing in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs Zachary is studying to be a history teacher, and has a background in journalism. He is the commissioner of an up and coming online racing league called the Reddit Cup Series, and streams the races on YouTube. Zach joined RacingRefresh.com as an online contributor in September of 2020.

1)#4-Kevin Harvick (8 wins) 2106 73 2)#11-Denny Hamlin (6 wins) 2087 54 3)#22-Joey Logano (2 wins) 2060 27 4)#2-Brad Keselowski (3 wins) 2055 22 5)#88-Alex Bowman (1 win) 2052 19 6)#19-Martin Truex, Jr. (1 win) 2049 16 7)#9-Chase Elliott (2 wins) 2045 12 8)#3-Austin Dillon (1 win) 2043 10 9)#24-William Byron (1 win) 2042 9 10)#18-Kyle Busch 2040 7 11)#1-Kurt Busch 2037 4 12)#10-Aric Almirola 2033 0

After coming off of his big win at Darlington in the annual Southern 500, NASCAR point leader Kevin Harvick will start first going into the weekend at Richmond. This is in result to the new qualifying format that sets the field by race finish, points position, and fastest race lap. For a full starting lineup, click HERE .

7-Time Champion Jimmie Johnson announced via Twitter today that he would be participating in the NTT Indycar Series in 2021 and 2022. His commitment has been reported to be for street and road-course events only with a possibility of running in his first Indianapolis 500 in 2022. Johnson's initial interest in the Indianapolis 500 was limited due to safety but he stated he was impressed with the results of the new aeroscreen on the open-wheeled race cars. No mention of Jimmie's potential part-time future in NASCAR was made during the announcement.

Nascar fans are in luck with the addition of our newest member of the team. Journalism major Zachary Bell has been added as a content creator for Racing Refresh. His content will be primarily reciews of stock car events in NASCAR's top three series. We look forward to this new content coming soon!

Long time NASCAR veteran, Mike Wallace has been indefinitely suspended by NASCAR after violating section 12 of the NASCAR handbook. Per the rule book: "Member actions that could result in a fine and/or indefinite suspension, or termination: "Public statement and/or communication that criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition." Wallace must complete as directed by NASCAR a sensitivity training to be permitted back within the sport. No comment by Nascar has been made as to what actions took place to result in this punishment.

Reported first by Jordan Bianchi of the Athletic, it has been announced that Darrell Wallace Jr. will not be returning to the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports Entry. He notified the team of this news earlier in the week. Wallace's name has been listed as one of the biggest pieces to the silly season puzzle, and widespread news that he has at very least had meetings with Chip Ganassi Racing while looking at different job opportunities for next season. Wallace is the only African American driver to have competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in more than one full season. Still winless, he has 3 top-5 finishes in 103 starts. Visit RacingRefresh.com for more updates and other racing news.