NASCAR at Richmond

The Cup Series enters the regular season finale at Richmond, where we'll find out which 16 drivers are running for the championship in the 2015 Chase.

2015 Richmond Chase Clinch Scenarios:

Regardless of who wins at Richmond
#1-Jamie McMurray clinches by starting the race.
#31-Ryan Newman clinches by finishing 31st or better; 32nd with at least one lap led; or 33rd with the most laps led.
#24-Jeff Gordon clinches by finishing 17th or better; 18th with at least one lap led; or 19th with the most laps led.
#27-Paul Menard clinches by finishing ninth or better; 10th with at least one lap led; or 11th with the most laps led.

If there is a repeat winner
#1-Jamie McMurray, #31-Ryan Newman and #24-Jeff Gordon will clinch regardless of finish.
#27-Paul Menard clinches by finishing 38th or better; 39th with at least one lap led; or 40th with the most laps led.
#15-Clint Bowyer clinches by finishing 28th or better; 29th with at least one lap led; or 30th with the most laps led.

In summary
Four drivers control their Chase destiny without a win: Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Paul Menard).
Three drivers can clinch without a win, but need help in the form of poor finishes from winless drivers ahead of them in points and/or a repeat winner: Bowyer, #43-Aric Almirola and #5-Kasey Kahne.
Drivers need to win to clinch a Chase spot: #16-Greg Biffle, #42-Kyle Larson, #3-Austin Dillon, #47-AJ Allmendinger, #13-Casey Mears, #10-Danica Patrick, #14-Tony Stewart, #55-David Ragan, #9-Sam Hornish Jr., #6-Trevor Bayne, #17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and #51-Justin Allgaier.

The Xfinity Series is on now. Kyle Busch started on pole. Brian Scott is currently leading with over 100 laps to go.

I want to see McMurray do well in the chase, I kind if want to see him be like Newman last year and almost win it.

We probably won't see Ben again if that's the case.

This race sucks.

McDowell, you blithering idiot.

Pretty sure they're using the high drag package here. So there you go.

Also McDowell just did a Montoya.

McDowell, crew chief, and spotter are all going to the hauler. Will be interesting if anything comes from that.

What the heck was that AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I don't even, I won't even, I shouldn't even.

Officials are blind as hell to not see the 20 jumped that last restart.

Kenseth won. I don't give a shit. This race sucked.

Kenseth was the man all night. So year 2 of the B.S. Chase begins next week.

Here's my final four predictions: Kenseth, Keselowski, Harvick and Kyle Busch.

Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, and Paul Menard are all in the Chase together, I can die happy now lol.

My thoughts on the race, even if a few days late on it...

I had hockey and thought nothing of the race... Glad to see I really didn't miss anything

McDowell was funny

I tried watching the race but couldn't stay awake after 50 laps. Looks like that was the correct decision.

Richmond only got 1.7 in the ratings. That's terrible.

I know this is a week late, but I was finally able to watch the race in full today, so here's my review on it...

Yeah, pretty mediocre race.

It had its moments, like on some of the restarts where we saw three wide racing, as well as some battling for the lead, but it was pretty much the Matt Kenseth Show for a large majority of the race, leading 352 of the 400 laps.

Of course, some of the no-calls the officials made, like not penalizing Kyle Busch for changing lanes on a restart, or when Kenseth jumped the final restart, certainly made me scratch my head. Why put rules in if you're not gonna enforce them?

And of course, the race ends in a typical, boring fashion. Seems to be a running theme this season.

Final rating for the Federated Auto Parts 400 @ Richmond:

Mediocre race at best. A 3/10. Still way too much JGR dominance for my liking, and having this race score just a 1.7 in the Nielsen ratings is just a glimpse of how bad the racing has been this season.

Next up, we begin the Chase at Chicagoland.