Four rookies have potential to win Richmond - Auto Racing

Four rookies have potential to win Richmond

They could surprise the field if they figure out how to master the short track

Friday, May 02, 2008 - 12:07 AM

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By JILL ERWIN

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Not everyone can be Tony Stewart.

Stewart entered the Sprint Cup Series in 1999, fresh off a three-year stint in the IndyCar Series. It took him just two races to figure out Richmond International Raceway, as he led 333 of 400 laps in the fall race here for his first stock-car victory.

From that point on, Richmond has been Stewart's home away from home.

"Anytime anyone asks me what my favorite track is, it's always Richmond," Stewart said. "It's still short enough to have that short-track feel, but it's just big enough, being an extra quarter-mile longer, that you can kind of get away from each other.

"You can run the bottom, you can run the middle, you can run way to the outside. That's what makes it fun, especially for a short track."

So who's the next guy to try to tame Richmond in tomorrow's Dan Lowry 400? There are a few rookies who would love to follow in Stewart's footsteps:

Michael McDowell. McDowell made a splash in his first couple of races, upsetting Jeff Burton at Martinsville and then walking away from a terrifying wreck at Texas. He hasn't run spectacularly, but he's been solid for a guy with only nine NASCAR starts under his belt. The downside: Phoenix is Richmond's sister track, and he finished 34th there two races ago.

Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish is no stranger to RIR, but he has yet to turn a competitive lap in a stock car here. He's had an up-and-down rookie season, sitting 33rd in points with just two top-20 finishes. Positively for him, one of those top 20s came at Phoenix. He's had some good qualifying efforts, starting seventh at Fontana and Bristol.

Regan Smith. Smith made his requisite seven starts last year to hold on to his rookie status for this season, but it doesn't seem to have helped. His finishes have ranged from 14th at Martinsville to 38th at Atlanta. However, he qualified 38th and finished 35th at Phoenix.

Patrick Carpentier. The Quebec native has qualified for the past four races after missing three of the first five. He's still 41st in points but finished 33rd at Phoenix.

None of them figures to be much of a challenge for the established Cup stars tomorrow night. But not all of them were challengers early on either.

Denny Hamlin will make his fifth start at his home track tomorrow night, and he's been runner-up but never champ.

Kyle Busch won his first NASCAR race (the 2004 Nationwide race) at RIR, and he also won last fall's Nationwide race, but he has yet to capture a Cup race on the ¾-mile D-shaped oval. That doesn't lessen his memory of his one victory here.

"It was a pretty fun night," Busch said. "I started from the pole and led the most laps [236 of 250] and pretty much dominated the race.

"The biggest thing I remember was coming down toward the end of the race all of the caution flags there. We had a ton of caution flags at the end of that one. [Greg] Biffle was right behind me giving me a run for my money every single one of those restarts. It was a good race for us. Hopefully we can do that again."

Jimmie Johnson was never a big fan of Richmond. It tormented him, he said. He won the pole here in his second start (fall 2002), but he could never break through. He was second in the spring of 2004 but couldn't get past Dale Earnhardt Jr.

That is, until last year. Johnson swept both races at RIR, and he said that getting past that roadblock meant a lot to him.

"It's so frustrating when you can't figure out the rhythm of the track and after you've been there so many times and tried every combination of setup, driver's techniques and all those things and you don't hit it, it's really frustrating," Johnson said. "So to get it right last year was rewarding. I was fearful it was a fluke after the first race, and luckily, we came back the second race and had a similar performance."