The fall race at Richmond International Raceway is one of NASCAR’s best for several reasons.
First, it is a night race around the 0.75-mile tri-oval with 43 cars running nose-to-tail and brake rotors glowing in the harvest moon. Beautiful sight.
With banking as high as 14o, Richmond is the third most difficult track for braking in the Sprint Cup series, trailing only Watkins Glen and Martinsville. Drivers are ‘on the brakes” 28% of each lap and if the race develops long green-flag runs the brake temperatures can reach nearly 1400 oF.
Brake cooling is critical; so the teams use carbon fiber air ducts to help keep the rotors, brake pads and tire beads from getting too hot as the extreme temperatures can cause failures in these areas.
The brake packages used are basically the same as the short tracks at Martinsville with large 6-piston front calipers (328mm x 40mm discs) and 4-piston rears (328mm x 32mm discs).
But the biggest reason for watching Richmond’s fall race is because it’s the last race before the chase begins next week at Chicagoland Speedway. Already eight positions are secure, including regular Chase participants Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. Newcomer Brad Keselowski has also made the Chase as a wild card entry on the basis of his 3 wins this year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (9th), Tony Stewart (10th) and Denny Hamlin (2nd wild card) are leading for the final 3 positions with challenges coming from Clint Bowyer and David Ragan, among a few others.