Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]
Richmond, VA(March 22, 2011) — It may have took a little more doing this year, but the announcement is finally out, the 2011 “Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown” will be held on Thursday April, 28th at Richmond International Raceway. While we knew the facts for some time now, the details were finally ironed out in the past few days with Hamlin making the official announcement from the raceway this afternoon. It is going to be a spectacular event with all the stars from Cup to your weekly racers, and Race22 will be there for every minute with “Full Blown” live coverage.
While the announcement came out to everyone from a fans standpoint, the racers are still wanting to know the details as they have not been made available. Well, we have them right here first. The whole process will start out with invitations being sent out to selected drivers, this years list is coming entirely from NASCAR themselves. There will be 55 invites sent out, with it looking like 15 of those will be Sprint Cup drivers who will be automatically locked into the field. The entire list will be made available in the next two days.
A special test will be held on Wednesday, April 20th for those INVITED, so don’t just load up and come thinking you’ll make laps without an invitation as it will not happen. Crew members will be $10, any other fees will be handled by NASCAR and have not been released at this time but we’ll get them to you as soon as they are available.
When race day comes tentatively it will go down like this. Haulers will enter that Thursday at roughly 6:30 AM. The haulers will unload all equipment needed (and I’ve been told already, get EVERYTHING you need) behind the Nationwide garage on the backstretch then park outside the track. Inspection will begin shortly after, with all the rules following the NASCAR Late Model rulebook, same process as the Late Model event at Martinsville. Practice will start around 2pm with qualifying rolling off between 5:30 and 6pm, where you qualifying is where you start, 36 cars total with the Cup guys locked in. Remember, all times are not set in stone yet but should not vary much if any.
The event will start directly after the K&N East Series race which is set to roll off at 7pm, 8 o’clock is the tentative start time for the “Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown”. The race itself will be 75 laps total with $7500 going to the winner and $600 to start, total purse with all awards will be $51,550.
When the green flag flies the Late Models will race for 45 laps, the caution will then be thrown for a mandatory pit stop. During this pit stop teams may change four tires and make minor adjustments, no spring changes, shock changes or anything or the sort, strictly minor adjustments. We then race until ten laps to go when NASCAR looks to throw a competition caution to tighten the field up for a ten lap sprint. The race to the checkers will only have ONE green-white-checkered, so if the caution flies on the first attempt the race is over.
One thing not decided on yet is how the restarts will be laid out. While Richmond is a large track by Late Model standards, NASCAR is looking at making this race as exciting as can be. Double-file restarts will be the norm, but how they are laid out is the question, NASCAR is thinking hard about one option that a lot of tracks are going to on the local level………….the cone restart. Wow, at Richmond that should be exciting.
The Cup drivers attending are stout as usual, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne just to name a few. Another driver that looks to be 100% positive on racing is wildman Travis Pastrana and your hearing that info for the first time anywhere as the deal is being worked out as we speak. Throw in all your local Late Model Stock Car stars and this event looks to be raising the bar once again, as if that is even possible after the amazing race last year.
While some people think that the race should be held at a weekly track, for the type of event this is, Richmond is a perfect fit. The Cup drivers are already there, it will give your drivers and the Late Model division much needed exposure, not to mention that every driver has always wanted to race at Richmond. Special thanks goes out to Buck Ruess with the Denny Hamlin Foundation and the foundation itself for all their hard work, we can’t wait to get there in April for this great charity event. Stay tuned to RACE22.com for more info leading up to this great event as you will likely hear it here first.
