Johnny Benson

The Sprint Cup Series goes short-track racing on Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, and I look for history to be made as Tony Stewart wins his first race for the new organization of Stewart-Haas Racing.

Working in Stewart’s favor
The two-time Cup champion has debuted impressively with Stewart-Haas Racing. After nine races, he is fourth in the standings, just 67 points off the lead. More than a few figured Stewart to struggle, at least early on, when he turned away from Joe Gibbs Racing after a decade to go out on his own and form a new team.

But in the first year of his new venture, he is off to a flying start. His move back to Chevrolet from Toyota has worked, and he’s set up well with his team getting its engines, chassis, and engineering support from Hendrick Motorsports. Now he’s ready to visit Victory Lane for the first time this season.

Give credit to Stewart’s new crew chief, Darien Grubb, who has proven a solid addition. The period of adjustment for all involved in the creation of Stewart-Haas Racing isn’t yet over, but they’ve pushed their performances to the max, and they are primed for a win on Saturday night.

This will be Stewart’s 21st Cup start at Richmond, a track he favors racing at. One can tell that by his results at this oval. He has two wins (1999, 2001), eight top-fives, and 14 top-10s. His average start is 15.7, and his average finish is 10.5. He’s led for 10 percent of the laps he’s run.

Other drivers to watch
Mark Martin has the most starts (46) at RIR of any active Cup driver. He’s so smooth and consistent at this track. The veteran won at Phoenix a couple of weeks back, and Phoenix and RIR are very similar in their Turns 1 and 2 so Martin’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will have his driver back in the same car he took to Victory Lane in Phoenix.

He should feast upon most if not all of the field at RIR, where he has three poles, a win (1990), 15 top-fives, and 25 top-10s. His average start is 10.1, and his average finish is 12.1.

Denny Hamlin is a lot younger than Martin so he has nowhere near the experience of Martin at RIR, but if you want to get a good read into how well he runs at what is considered his home track (he’s a native of Chesterfield, Va.) look closely at his numbers at this venue.

In six Cup starts at RIR, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has two poles, three top-fives, and four top-10s. His average start is 5.2, and his average finish is 8.8. And he’s filthy rich when it comes to being out front, having led for almost 19 percent of the laps he’s run. Hamlin’s won at least one race in each of his three full seasons in NASCAR’s top series, and come Saturday night he could very well extend that streak.

Just seven laps into last weekend’s race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Jeff Gordon got caught up in a big wreck. He spent a lot of time in the garage, and the best he could do was a 37th-place finish. That result dropped him to second place in the standings, which he had led for seven weeks.

Gordon is looking for good things at RIR, where to put it mildly, he’s run a bunch of laps. This will be the four-time Cup champion’s 33rd RIR Cup start. His resume reads five poles, two wins (1996, and 2000), 12 top-fives, and 20 top-10s. His average start is 7.8, and his average finish is 15.1. He’s led for just over eight percent of the laps he’s run.

One of Gordon’s teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, has won three of the last four RIR Cup races. A sign of things to come on Saturday night? Could be. In 14 Cup starts at RIR, the three-time defending Cup champion has two poles, three wins, four top-fives, and four top-10s. His average start is 11.9, and his average finish is 17.5. He’s led for 6.5 percent of the laps he has run.

My dark horse is David Stremme, a good short-track racer, who’ll be making only his seventh Cup start at RIR. He’ll pull all the stops out for good finish, and if they hit it right, that’s just what he will get.