The Ritual of Richmond, the final race before NASCAR's Chase begins

You can ask most any of NASCAR’s top drivers and they will tell you that when it comes to short track racing, Richmond International Raceway is perhaps their most favorite venue.

The D-shaped, ¾ mile track has tight turns with 14 degree banking, which provides just enough speed to keep things exciting. For the seventh consecutive season, the September race at Richmond has been billed as the “last race to make the chase.”

Four times over the past six years, a change in the Chase filed of drivers has occurred in race #26 at Richmond.

In 2004, Jeremy Mayfield stunned everyone by overcoming a 55 point deficit. He won the race and jumped from 14th to 9th in points and into the Chase field. Kasey Kahne got knocked out.

In 2005, Jamie McMurray got knocked out by Ryan Newman. The next season in 2006, Tony Stewart was the victim of Richmond as he fell out of the Chase, while Kasey Kahne made it into the field. Again last season, Brian Vickers raced his way in at Richmond with Matt Kenseth falling out.

As we come to Richmond this time around, ten of the 12 spots in the Chase have been locked in. Greg Biffle is in 11th place, but with a 161 point lead over Ryan Newman in 13th, Biffle virtually clinches his spot by merely starting the race. Clint Bowyer is the man on the bubble in 12th with a 117 point lead over Newman. Bowyer won at Richmond back in May of 2008, which by the way is the last time that Bowyer has gone to victory lane, 87 races ago. His 117 point edge is more than double of any deficit that's ever been made up in this event at Richmond. Bowyer has an average finishing position of 10th at Richmond, and he only needs to finish 28th or better to clinch his spot in the Chase, so Bowyer appears safe.

A little glimpse of hope for Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans. Junior has won three times at Richmond, but the last trip to victory lane there was back in 2006. Considering the fact that over the last three races coming into Richmond, Junior has posted a 32nd, a 21st and a 27th place finish, it does not appear that Junior will threaten to end his 82 race winless drought on Saturday night. I told you it was a little glimpse of hope.

Jimmie Johnson also has three wins at Richmond, winning both races there back in 2007 and going to victory lane again in the 2008 fall race. Tony Stewart is coming off of last week’s win at Atlanta. He as well has 3 wins at Richmond as does the “iron man” Terry Labonte.

Kyle Busch won at Richmond back in May in fact he has won two of the last three races there. In 19 races at Richmond, points leader Kevin Harvick has never posted a DNF, while Jeff Gordon comes into this race with seven consecutive top-10 runs at Richmond, including a 2nd place finish there in May.

The winner of this race last September was Denny Hamlin and he hopes to turn his fortunes around Saturday night. Hamlin is tied with Jimmie Johnson with five wins this season, but the word “momentum” has not been in the #11 team’s vocabulary as of late. Three of his past four finishes have been nightmares: a 37th at Watkins Glen, a 34th at Bristol and a 43rd at Atlanta. Richmond however is one of Hamlin’s favorite tracks, located near his hometown of Chesterfield, Virginia.

Richmond is a multi groove race track so you can expect some good ole, Saturday night, under the lights, side-by-side racing as NASCAR will set the field for the Chase when the checkers wave at Richmond.

Buddy Pittman is the auto racing analyst for Bright House Sports Network. He has covered over 35 Daytona 500s, and puts his expertise to use several times per week in his blog on BHSN.com.