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2022 NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Live Coverage

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2022 NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Live Coverage 6 photos
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2022 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Live Coverage2022 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Live Coverage2022 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Live Coverage2022 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Live Coverage2022 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Live Coverage
Nascar Cup Series is moving to the Richmond Raceway for the 2022 Federated Auto Parts 400 race.
Kyle Larson, who is fifth for the moment in the drivers' championship, took the pole on Saturday, posting a lap of 23.042 (117.177 mph) in the final round of qualifying, edging out Ross Chastain for P1. It is his third pole this year.

Five teams had multiple failures in pre-qualifying tech inspection, with Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, and Todd Gilliland's cars all failing the official checks two times. Each team lost pit selection and had a crew member ejected from the weekend.

Chase Elliot (leader of the championship) qualified only on P23, while title contender Ryan Blaney also finished lower than expected in P10.

With three rounds left until the playoffs, the battle is getting more intense by the race. Let's see what happens in Richmond, Virginia.
Live updates (ended):

22:35 UTC  See you next week at Watking Glen where Kimi Raikkonen will take part in the race.

22:32 UTC 

22:30 UTC 

22:30 UTC  What a historical moment for Harvick with his 60th win.

22:28 UTC 

22:27 UTC 

22:26 UTC 

22:26 UTC  Top ten at the end of the race:

  • 1 - #4 - Kevin Harvick
  • 2 - #20 - Christopher Bell
  • 3 - #17 - Chris Buescher
  • 4 - #11 - Denny Hamlin
  • 5 - #9 - Chase Elliott
  • 6 - #22 - Joey Logano
  • 7 - #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
  • 8 - #10 - Aric Almirola
  • 9 - #18 - Kyle Busch
  • 10 - #12 - Ryan Blaney

22:24 UTC 

22:24 UTC  Only two more laps and Bell would have overtaked Harvick without a problem.

22:23 UTC  Bell is not close enough and Kevin Harvick wins in Virginia.

22:22 UTC  Bell overtakes Buescher for P2 and at his pace he could catch Harvick in the last lap.

22:21 UTC  Interesting things. Bell is three seconds away from the leader, but his got fresher tires than Harvick and Buescher. With less than ten laps to go let's see what happens.

22:17 UTC  Less than 20 laps to go and Harvick lead over Buescher is 1.5 seconds.

22:14 UTC  Harvick makes the pass on Wallace. Buescher has changed his line and is running about three lanes off the bottom of the track.

22:14 UTC  Harvick has been able to open up a six tenth of a second lead on Buescher in clean air. Lack of lapped traffic has led to the race for the lead settling down a bit.

22:13 UTC 

22:10 UTC  Harvick is dealing with a lot of backmarkers and the pressure is on from Buescher with 32 laps to go.

22:03 UTC  Blaney and Truex are coming in for their last set of tires.

22:00 UTC  Buescher's pit stop brings Kevin Harvick to pit road, and now everyone else follows.

21:59 UTC  This is the moment when Harvick took P1 from Logano.\



21:57 UTC  Finally Harvick makes it work and takes the lead with less than 70 laps to go.

21:56 UTC  Harvick is all over Joey Logano. Outside, inside, he tries everything.

21:55 UTC  Harvick battle with Logano allowed Buescher to close up. Now this is a three car battle for the lead.

21:52 UTC 

21:51 UTC  Meanwhile, Briscoe's crew seems to believe that the fire was caused by rubber buildup.

21:51 UTC  Kevin Harvick caught Joey Logano for the lead. Let's see the battle between those two.

21:49 UTC 

21:47 UTC  Crazy moments for Chase Briscoe. Fire in his cockpit made his team to remove the window and use a fire extinguisher. Happy that he is alright.

21:45 UTC  With him so does Trux Jr. and Christopher Bell.

21:44 UTC  Hamlin comes to the pits in Lap 305.

21:42 UTC  Pit road penalty for Ty Dillon.

21:41 UTC  Ryan Blaney has come to pit road under green. Blaney was among those who pitted under the last caution, but he'll now be the first driver on new "kicks".

21:37 UTC  Kyle Larson has now fallen outside the Top 10.

21:37 UTC 

21:34 UTC  Big day for Detroit as the first four positions are filled by Ford cars.

21:32 UTC  Joey Logano (by far the driver of the day) opened up a two-second lead since the restart. If no mechanical problem appears, he is set to win the race at his current pace.

21:29 UTC  Buescher has moved up to fourth and is closing in on both Larson and Harvick as they race for second.

21:26 UTC  However, seconds after the green flag Larson made a quick contact with Briscoe.

21:25 UTC  Green flag out again at Lap 257.

21:25 UTC  Fun fact: Fifth caution of the day, which is tied for the most in the last six Richmond races.

Last time we had more than five cautions was six in the spring of 2018. Last time we had more than six was seven in the fall of 2017.

21:24 UTC  A lot of strategies are changing under the yellow.

21:21 UTC  Christopher Bell who was running so well the whole race spun off Turn 4. Another quick caution is out.

21:21 UTC 

21:18 UTC  Erik Jones' damage from that last accident made him retire.

21:18 UTC  Green flag back out at Lap 246. A strong restart by Joey Logano, and it allows him to take the lead back from Larson.

21:18 UTC  The caution was a good brake for Bell. Bell now comes to pit road for fresh tires, putting him on the same cycle as everyone else.

21:17 UTC 

21:17 UTC 

21:17 UTC  Green flag is back out on Lap 240. Just a little under half this race to go.

21:16 UTC  Kyle Larson wins the race off pit road by using the first pit stall to his advantage.

21:04 UTC  After the Stage 2 the top ten is like this:

  • 1 - #22 - Joey Logano
  • 2 - #5 - Kyle Larson
  • 3 - #11 - Denny Hamlin
  • 4 - #4 - Kevin Harvick
  • 5 - #12 - Ryan Blaney
  • 6 - #10 - Aric Almirola
  • 7 - #17 - Chris Buescher
  • 8 - #9 - Chase Elliott
  • 9 - #14 - Chase Briscoe
  • 10 - #18 - Kyle Busch

21:04 UTC 

21:04 UTC 

21:03 UTC  Joey Logano win Stage 2. He did an awesome job in this race until now.

21:03 UTC 

21:01 UTC  Daniel Suarez makes the pass and opens the floodgates. Martin Truex makes the pass and gets his lap back. Alex Bowman also passes Logano to get one of two laps back. A lot of action at the back of the grid.

21:00 UTC  Daniel Suarez (two laps down) is on fresh tires and is trying to get back to only one down.

20:52 UTC  Kyle Larson is starting to cut the lead from the leader. Now the difference is only one second.

20:50 UTC  In the front of the field, Joey Logano's lead is currently 1.6 seconds over Kyle Larson.

20:47 UTC  Ty Gibbs' team is pushing his car behind the wall. Team spotted a bunch of oil under the hood.

20:47 UTC  Gibbs went to the pits with a mechanical problem. Smoke was coming from under the car.

20:43 UTC  Pit road penalty for Christopher Bell. He had to serve a pass-through penalty for a crewmember over the wall too soon.

20:41 UTC  Here comes the onslaught to pit road again. Byron, Cassill, Logano, Cindric, Larson, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Haley, Burton, Harvick all pitting.

20:38 UTC  Pit stops happening again. Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin now coming to pit road with 60 laps to go in Stage 2.

20:34 UTC  Things go from bad to worse for Stenhouse. He had to come back to the pits to serve a speeding penalty.

20:34 UTC 

20:34 UTC  Massive mistake by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He tried to make his way to pit road, but he couldn't hold his car down on the bottom and slid up the racetrack into the side of Martin Truex Jr.

20:33 UTC 

20:31 UTC  Almiola started on P32 and now he is on fifth. What an incredible run.



20:26 UTC  Joey Logano has almost five seconds over Kyle Larson.

20:23 UTC  Joey Logano easily takes the lead from Ricky Stenhouse.

20:23 UTC  Ricky Stenhouse is losing a huge amount of time as he runs long.

20:22 UTC  Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, William Byron and others are now pitting. Once the first couple of lead lap cars came to pit road, a land rush followed. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Noah Gragson are the only two drivers who have yet to pit.

20:20 UTC  Kyle Busch and Gibbs are battling again for P16.

20:16 UTC 

20:15 UTC 

20:15 UTC  A lovely image at the track. Michael Jordan is paying much attention to race. We know his massive passion for motorsport. Maybe he even made a gamble on who will win.

20:13 UTC  An interesting thing about this race will be the strategy part. Teams could do a one stop strategy or a two stop strategy.

20:08 UTC  Contact between Ty Gibbs and Busch for P15.

20:05 UTC  At the same time, Chastain is falling back as well.

20:05 UTC  Cole Custer reports that he has lost power steering in his car. He is now attacked by Byron.

20:04 UTC  Ross Chastain loses another spot, now to Hamlin. Chastain is in P4, looking worse and worse.

20:03 UTC 

Cole Custer's car left a smoke trail from the exhaust. A bad sign for Cole.

20:03 UTC 

20:02 UTC  Check out here the move for the lead.



20:02 UTC  Battle for the lead. Joey Logano finds something on the high line to challenge Ross Chastain, and he powers off Turn 4 to complete the pass and take the lead.

20:01 UTC 

19:55 UTC  Chastain holds the lead on the first round of pit stops under caution. Kyle Larson took second back from Denny Hamlin with a quick stop.

19:53 UTC  After Stage 1 take a look at the top ten:

  • 1 - #1 - Ross Chastain
  • 2 - #11 - Denny Hamlin
  • 3 - #5 - Kyle Larson
  • 4 - #6 - Brad Keselowski
  • 5 - #24 - William Byron
  • 6 - #12 - Ryan Blaney
  • 7 - #22 - Joey Logano
  • 8 - #48 - Alex Bowman
  • 9 - #41 - Cole Custer
  • 10 - #19 - Martin Truex Jr.

19:52 UTC  [

19:52 UTC 

19:52 UTC  Ross Chastain won Stage 1 after Hamlin was closing in. A little bit too late.

19:48 UTC  Ten laps to go in Stage 1. Denny Hamlin has cut about a second into Ross Chastain's lead, but the gap is still a very comfortable 1.6 seconds.

19:46 UTC  Busch has no real damage to the car after the light contact with the wall.

19:45 UTC 

19:45 UTC  Ross Chastain is going very good and he will probably win Stage 1.

19:44 UTC  For the second time Kyle Busch lost the car on the high side into the wall.

19:44 UTC  The race is in a stagnant place at the moment, with everyone going more carefully than before.

19:40 UTC  Bell forced his tires a little to much, sitting in P11 for quite some time.

19:36 UTC  Hamlin powers around Kyle Larson for second place and he is two and a half seconds behind race leader.

19:35 UTC  Chase Elliot is struggling a little bit, sitting only on P16 for the moment.

19:34 UTC  Bell is making so much time on the top and now a lot of drivers are copying him.

19:32 UTC  Christopher Bell is giving everything, overtaking left and right.

19:31 UTC  Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney now side-by-side for P6 and for a playoff spot.

19:31 UTC  [

]

19:30 UTC  Is a little bit early for aggressive moves, but Joey Logano doesn't care and is up in eighth.

19:27 UTC  Green flag is back out on Lap 8 with Chastain holding the lead.

19:26 UTC  Take a look at the start of the race:



[ ]

19:24 UTC  Looked like Tyler Reddick might have closed Ty Dillon's door and got into it to send him around.

19:22 UTC  [

]

19:22 UTC  Tyler Reddick spun in Turn 4 and the first caution is out on Lap 3.



19:22 UTC  With the green flag out, Ross Chastain goes around Kyle Larson on the outside, tooking the lead from the polesitter.

19:20 UTC  [

]

19:20 UTC  The race is on.

19:20 UTC  Two cars are headed to the rear of the field: Harrison Burton and BJ McLeod's teams both made unapproved adjustments after qualifying.

19:19 UTC  [

]

19:19 UTC  The top ten for the start:

  • 1 - #5 - Kyle Larson
  • 2 - #1 - Ross Chastain
  • 3 - #11 - Denny Hamlin
  • 4 - #24 - William Byron
  • 5 - #48 - Alex Bowman
  • 6 - #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
  • 7 - #41 - Cole Custer
  • 8 - #6 - Brad Keselowski
  • 9 - #43 - Erik Jones
  • 10 - #12 - Ryan Blaney

19:18 UTC  [

]

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About the author: Silvian Irimia
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Silvian may be the youngest member of our team, being born in the 2000s, but you won't find someone more passionate than him when it comes to motorsport. An automotive engineer by trade, Silvian considers the Ferrari F50 his favorite car, with the original Lamborghini Countach a close second.
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