Alex Weaver and Alan Cavanna preview the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway set for Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network) with no shortage of story lines after Pocono.
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00:00 We've got a battle for the lead in turn number three.
00:02 Chris Pusher is there.
00:04 The bottom here.
00:05 Yep, looking inside, inside the four.
00:07 Inside, inside the four.
00:09 Chris has got a big run coming on the high side.
00:12 Let him go here, let him go, let him go, let him go.
00:14 Oh, you got it.
00:15 Last lap here.
00:16 Hell yeah.
00:17 Kevin Harvick wins.
00:18 Yeah, boys, great job.
00:20 Great job.
00:22 Good job, buddy.
00:23 Hell of a job.
00:24 Finally got us one at this joint.
00:25 I appreciate it.
00:27 [ENGINE REVVING]
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00:35 Hey, race fans.
00:38 Welcome to the preview show delivered by DoorDash.
00:40 I'm Alex Weaver.
00:42 That is Alan Kavanaugh.
00:43 And AC, there is one way that you
00:46 can tell that the regular season is winding down.
00:48 And you still hear him?
00:50 I can't hear you, Alex.
00:51 They're still booing Denny Hamlin and poking.
00:53 Can you speak a little louder?
00:55 Boo, boo.
00:56 Love it.
00:57 Love the passion from the fans.
00:58 That means we're getting close to the playoffs.
01:01 Every single point count, stage point win, the passion.
01:04 It's awesome.
01:05 Such an incredible crowd at Pocono.
01:07 And they let us know that they were there.
01:09 But we didn't just see the aggravation
01:11 between fans and drivers.
01:12 It was also drivers versus drivers.
01:15 And that's how you really know that we're starting
01:18 to heat up the season.
01:18 Absolutely.
01:19 Kyle versus Denny.
01:21 Kyle Larson versus Denny Hamlin.
01:22 And we're heading to the short track of Richmond.
01:24 How does this play out?
01:26 I don't think either driver, or any driver really,
01:28 should go out of their way to get some revenge.
01:31 Not during the race.
01:32 You have to be focused on your own race.
01:34 You've got to be focused on getting
01:35 every position and every win.
01:37 But let's just play a scenario here
01:39 where Kyle Larson, late in the race,
01:40 is close to Denny Hamlin.
01:42 Maybe they're going for a win.
01:43 I would say the five car owes the 11 one or two, or a few.
01:48 So if we're getting close, that's the only scenario
01:50 I see any type of revenge for Kyle Larson.
01:52 You've got to stay focused on what's really the key.
01:54 That's the checkered flag.
01:55 But if it comes down to one of these late race scenarios,
01:59 it's going to happen.
02:00 Well, I spoke to Kyle Larson after the race.
02:02 Obviously, he was nicer than I thought he was going to be.
02:05 But he did say that it is hurting their playoff push.
02:08 Yeah.
02:09 So we're starting to get closer and closer to the playoffs.
02:12 I know he wants those points.
02:13 The wall at Richmond, I'm just saying, looks like a nice--
02:16 Ooh.
02:17 Look out for Alex.
02:18 Yeah.
02:19 Well, Joe Gibbs racing, Denny Hamlin, obviously,
02:21 the latest winner.
02:21 And then Martin Truix, Jr. They have back-to-back wins
02:24 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
02:25 All the momentum right now is over there at that JGR shop.
02:29 And guess what?
02:30 We're heading to Richmond, which is
02:33 known to be a Toyota-dominated racetrack,
02:36 but not as of recent.
02:38 Yeah, not as recently as the spring.
02:39 That's why this is a great test on Sunday night.
02:42 Earlier on in the year, it was Hendrick.
02:44 It was Kyle Larson who won at Richmond.
02:46 William Byron led a bunch of laps that night.
02:49 They dominated early on in the season.
02:51 Toyotas, as you mentioned, they've been on lately.
02:53 They've won two in a row.
02:54 So this is a great test, apples to apples.
02:56 What do we see show up?
02:58 Do we see the dominant Chevys that we saw in the spring?
03:00 Or do we see the current Toyotas with all their momentum
03:03 show up and get the win, have all the speed on Sunday?
03:05 That's a great test to see who's really the dominant force
03:08 in NASCAR right now.
03:09 That's what we'll learn on Sunday.
03:10 Is it the Toyotas of Joe Gibbs racing
03:12 or the Chevys of Hendrick Motorsports?
03:14 Yeah, you also remember the spring race
03:16 at Richmond, super windy.
03:17 It was really cold.
03:18 Now we're going in the heat of the summer.
03:20 So we'll see who has the best setup.
03:22 But if you're keeping track on Chase Elliott,
03:25 I think it's now a must-win situation.
03:27 I've thought this pretty much since he came back
03:29 from that snowboarding injury earlier in the season,
03:32 that he's going to have to win to make the playoffs.
03:34 In Hendrick Motorsports, you have the domination
03:36 of William Byron and the 24 crew this season.
03:38 Kyle Larson is locked easily into the playoffs.
03:41 And then you have Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott,
03:43 who can't find victory lane and are now suddenly
03:46 in must-win pressure situations for these winding down
03:50 races of the regular season.
03:51 Yeah, will the real Hendrick team please stand up?
03:54 Is it the 24 and 5?
03:55 Is that the real Hendrick team?
03:56 Or is it the 9 and 48?
03:58 Which one is the real Hendrick team?
03:59 That's what we need to find out, especially
04:01 toward this playoff push.
04:02 We've been doing it every week.
04:03 Let's throw up the chase tracker.
04:05 He's 56 points out below the elimination line.
04:08 Again, I think we're now officially both team.
04:10 He's got to win.
04:11 Yes.
04:11 Let's look at his Richmond stats.
04:13 Maybe some bad news if you're a 9 fan.
04:15 He's never won there.
04:17 He hasn't led a ton of laps there.
04:18 He finished second once.
04:20 That's good enough in many years.
04:23 But will a second place finish be good enough for Chase
04:25 Elliott this year?
04:27 Probably not.
04:28 That's a tough position for a driver, for a team,
04:30 for anybody to be in when second place may not be good enough.
04:34 It's going to be tough for him on Sunday.
04:35 Chase Elliott obviously missed the spring race at Richmond
04:38 due to that snowboarding injury.
04:39 So it's a brand new notebook for them this year.
04:41 They'll have to look back at 2022, which, oh, by the way,
04:44 he finished 14th and 5th last season.
04:47 Good, but not great.
04:49 Not great.
04:49 Not what you need when you're 56 points below the elimination
04:52 line.
04:52 All right, our NASCAR 75 flashback.
04:54 AC, let's toss them back to one of the great memories
04:57 at Richmond in 2008.
04:58 2008.
04:59 If you thought the boos were loud in Pocono on Sunday,
05:02 you should have been in Richmond in 2008.
05:04 Let's go to three laps to go.
05:06 Hard racing between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
05:10 Kyle Busch gets into Jr., sending the 88 into the wall.
05:14 The boos that rained down were so memorable.
05:17 One of the biggest moments and memories of the century,
05:19 I promise you.
05:21 Alex, do you remember who won the race?
05:23 Barely.
05:24 Barely, right?
05:24 It was Clint Boyer.
05:25 No one remembers that, because everybody
05:27 remembers Kyle Busch getting into Dale Earnhardt Jr.
05:30 But Clint Boyer did get that win.
05:31 Congratulations, Clint.
05:32 But everybody remembers what happened
05:34 with Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
05:36 Such a huge memory.
05:37 All right, well, it's time to make some more memories.
05:39 The Commonwealth of Virginia is coming up for the NASCAR Cup
05:42 Series.
05:42 Richmond Raceway, you're going to want to tune in to the Cookout
05:45 400, 3 PM Eastern on USA.
05:48 And make sure you join us right back here
05:49 next week for the preview show delivered by DoorDash.
05:52 She's Alex, I'm Alan.
05:53 We'll see you then.
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