The time has come for NASCAR to make its lone trip to Richmond Raceway this season.
Two of the national series will be in action for a pair of night races. The Craftsman Truck Series teams will close out the regular season with a Friday night race, and they will finalize the 10-driver playoff field.
The Cup Series teams will close out the weekend with a Saturday night race. This is one of two remaining races before the playoffs begin.
Richmond Raceway forecast and weekend schedule
Friday forecast: The WeatherUnderground forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies throughout the day. A high of 84 degrees and a 22% chance of rain at the start of the Craftsman Truck Series race.
Saturday forecast: The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies throughout the day. A high of 83 degrees and a 4% chance of rain at the start of the Cup Series race.
Friday, Aug. 15, schedule (Eastern Time)
- 9 a.m. -- Truck Series garage hours
- 11 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. -- Cup Series garage hours
- 2:05 - 3 p.m. -- Truck Series practice (FS2)
- 3:10 - 4 p.m. -- Truck Series qualifying (FS2)
- 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. -- Cup Series practice (truTV, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 5:40 - 6:30 p.m. -- Cup Series qualifying (truTV, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 7:30 p.m. -- Truck Series race (250 laps, 187.5 miles. FS1, Radio coverage on NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday, Aug. 16, schedule (Eastern Time)
- 4:30 p.m. -- Cup Series garage hours
- 7:30 p.m. -- Cup Series race (400 laps, 300 miles. USA Network, streaming on NBC Sports app, in-car cameras on Max, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
The last time: Last season's summer race at Richmond Raceway featured some major storylines. The first was the debut of the option tires, which Daniel Suarez used to secure a stage win and a 10th-place finish. The second major storyline was the controversial finish involving a new winner.
Austin Dillon led the race with under 10 laps remaining. He appeared en route to a smooth, easy win that would put him into the playoffs from below the cutline. However, a late caution set up an overtime restart.
Once the green flag waved to kick off overtime, Dillon lost the lead to Joey Logano. He raced back and moved Logano out of the way. He then wrecked Denny Hamlin, who had taken the lead in a frantic moment.
Dillon won the race, but NASCAR later penalized him by taking away his playoff eligibility. The sanctioning body also fined Logano after he angrily sped down a pit road filled with pedestrians.