Who … should you be talking about after the race?
The Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway marked the second race for the NASCAR Cup Series with its new short-track package, and for the second time in those two races, Kyle Larson had it figured out. Larson led four times for 93 laps, second only to teammate William Byron on the day.
And while Byron was perhaps a smidgen better than Larson, Larson had track position when he needed it, and when Byron tangled with Christopher Bell on a restart with 25 to go, Larson seized the opportunity to win the day, beating teammate Josh Berry on the final restart and winning by 1.5 seconds, his first victory of 2023.
And don’t forget Berry. In his fourth start filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, Berry has done an admirable job of keeping the seat warm with a pair of top 10s. He led 10 laps on Sunday and finished second after a pit gamble paid off in a big way.
Berry showed his short-track talent on Sunday, and while he ultimately fell short of the win, he has shown in his short stint that he could be competitive in the Cup Series with a top-notch ride of his own. The only problem is, there aren’t a lot of those in the pipeline right now.
What … is the big question leaving this weekend in the rearview?
Some solid racing at Richmond might not have come at a better time for NASCAR. Talk for the last couple of weeks has swirled about penalties and appeals more than about the racing, and that continued this week even as the racing improves.
Based on four major points penalties being overturned on appeal last week and at least one this week more likely to have a similar outcome, does the sanctioning body need to change its penalty structure?
While the appeals panel did not state why they made their decision, it seems likely that the outcome for Kaulig Racing, which received the same penalty for the same infraction, will be similar. Could the reason be that points penalties that take points that were not earned with an illegal car are a step to far? The five cars in question were caught before even hitting the track and raced with legal cars that weekend.
NASCAR is overdue for making a change to points deductions — only points earned with an infraction should be deducted for a penalty. It seems likely that the penalties would have stood if the cars had raced with the illegal hood louvers. Should NASCAR have let them and then nailed them to the wall? That…
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