Richmond Raceway by the Numbers

Flat, and technical. In our system Richmond carries two tags. The format is Flat: a low-speed, low-banking oval where the driver matters more than the car. The skill tag is Technical Oval: the bucket for tracks where precision and tire management beat raw pace. Both classifications carry weight in the projection model, so who has been good on these track types this season is not trivia. It is an input.

Hamlin6.3

Gibbs8.7

Blaney9.1

Blaney6.5

Hamlin7.0

Gibbs8.0

Denny Hamlin tops the Flat list the week our sim makes him the favorite, Ryan Blaney tops the Technical list, and Ty Gibbs is the only other driver in the top three of both. Track-type form is one of the signals inside Thursday's projections; the full track profiles live in the research library.

The last repave, 21 years ago. Goodyear calls Richmond one of the highest-wear tracks on the circuit. Tires fall off hard here, and managing them is the whole game.

Aero barely matters here. Aerodynamic force scales with speed squared, and short tracks are NASCAR's slowest ovals. Richmond is a driver-and-tires racetrack.

Only 13 of 40 dominators won. Races since 2005 won by the driver who led the most laps. The final pit cycle decides more than the fastest car.

The pole hasn't won here since 2016. Six of the last 12 winners started outside the top 10.

17 different winners in 40 races. Wins since 2005. One name clears the pack.

Hamlin5

Denny Hamlin has led 2,367 laps here. That is 55% more than anyone else since 2005. Denny Hamlin is also a Virginia native: Richmond is his home track.

Hamlin2,367

Keselowski1,282

Kyle Busch won here from 32nd. 2018. The deepest winning drive since 2005, and Kyle Busch swept both Richmond races that year.

Dillon has won two straight here. Austin Dillon has back-to-back Cook Out 400 wins, 2024 and 2025. Two wins in 22 career Richmond starts, with a 15.2 average finish.

No champion has won here since 2008. The last title-year winner at Richmond was Jimmie Johnson.

Best average finish in the field: 8.2. Denny Hamlin over 37 starts. Christopher Bell (8.7) and Josh Berry (8.8) are the only others under 9.

Hamlin8.2

Bell8.7

Berry8.8

The entered field

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top 10	Avg	Laps led
Denny Hamlin	37	5	25	8.2	2,367
Christopher Bell	10	–	7	8.7	230
Josh Berry	4	–	2	8.8	12
Joey Logano	32	2	20	9.8	653
Kyle Larson	21	2	11	10.4	355
Brad Keselowski	31	2	16	12.0	1,282
Chase Elliott	18	–	8	12.2	105
Shane van Gisbergen	1	–	–	14.0	–
William Byron	14	–	3	14.8	239
Austin Dillon	22	2	8	15.2	198
Chase Briscoe	9	–	–	16.3	–
Daniel Suarez	16	–	5	16.6	94
Carson Hocevar	3	–	1	16.7	12
Tyler Reddick	10	–	2	16.8	130
Alex Bowman	18	1	5	18.2	19
Ty Gibbs	6	–	1	19.3	–
Ross Chastain	13	–	3	19.4	100
Austin Cindric	8	–	1	20.8	2
Bubba Wallace	14	–	1	20.9	206
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	24	–	2	21.7	8
Ryan Blaney	35	–	5	21.9	172
Chris Buescher	18	1	3	21.9	88
Todd Gilliland	7	–	–	22.1	–
A.J. Allmendinger	27	–	3	22.3	1
Cole Custer	7	–	–	22.4	2
Erik Jones	16	–	1	22.7	–
Zane Smith	3	–	–	23.0	–
Ryan Preece	10	–	1	23.5	60
Noah Gragson	6	–	–	24.7	–
Ty Dillon	14	–	–	25.2	–
Michael McDowell	28	–	1	29.0	16
John Hunter Nemechek	4	–	–	30.5	–
Riley Herbst	2	–	–	32.0	–
Cody Ware	5	–	–	34.4	–
Josh Bilicki	2	–	–	36.5	–

Every Richmond Cup winner since 2005