{"id":43661,"date":"2017-09-11T10:29:14","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T17:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=43661"},"modified":"2017-09-11T10:30:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T17:30:14","slug":"championship-battle-begins-at-richmond-international-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/championship-battle-begins-at-richmond-international-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"Championship Battle Begins at Richmond International Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Championship
The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Field Set Following the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a weekend when most sports news was centered around the start of the 2017 NFL season, the stars of NASCAR were all abuzz about the kickoff of the 2017 Championship season at Richmond International Raceway.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Virginia 529 College Savings 250
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Championship
Brad Keselowski celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Friday night\u2019s NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While not racing for a championship, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski knew that his No. 22 Penske Racing machine was a superior part of the 40-car field during Friday night\u2019s Virginia 529 College Savings 250 race.<\/p>\n

\"Championship
Kyle Busch leads the field to the wave of the green flag in Friday night\u2019s Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the No. 18 of Kyle Busch led the way during the start of this 250-lap race, he struggled to stay at the top as fellow Cup Series drivers Ty Dillon and Brad Keselowski found their way to the top of the pack.<\/p>\n

The No. 3 of Ty Dillon took the Stage 1 win, but it was Keselowski who amazed fans with his powerful move to the top, where he took home the Stage 2 win after passing Busch on the final circuit (Lap 150). This dominating lead continued for the final caution-free 89 laps to grant Keselowski his second XFINITY Series victory this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t quite where we wanted to be on the short runs, but good enough to be right there,\u201d said Keselowski. \u201cWe just hung on in the long runs and we were able to pounce for the lead ahead of Busch. I\u2019m happy to get another win in this series. It was truly a great night at Richmond and I am proud of my whole team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keselowski wasn\u2019t the only driver with a reason to celebrate following Friday\u2019s race, as XFINITY Series points leader Elliott Sadler, who rolled home in fifth place, clinched the regular-season championship.<\/p>\n

\"Championship
Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, wraps up 2017 XFINITY Series Championship following race at Richmond International Raceway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting ourselves in playoff form,\u201d said Sadler, who locked up the title with one race left in the regular season. \u201cWe\u2019re fired up and ready to go to Chicagoland.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Federated Auto Parts 400<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Championship
Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While one NASCAR championship was decided this weekend, a field of 16 drivers would find out that they would officially make the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 2017 playoff field following Saturday night\u2019s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.<\/p>\n

A member of this elite club was Chip Ganassi driver Kyle Larson, who took home the illustrious win at Richmond.<\/p>\n

\"Championship
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Hurricane Harvey Relief Toyota, leads Denny Hamlin at the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the No. 20 Hurricane Harvey Relief driver Matt Kenseth took the Cup Series field to the wave of the green flag, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch got his revenge for Friday\u2019s XFINITY Series debacle by taking the lead and Stage 1 win.<\/p>\n

Much like his earlier XFINITY Series performance, Busch once again gave away his lead to fellow hard-charger and regular-season champ Martin Truex, Jr., who took home the Stage 2 win. While Truex had a comfortable lead over young Kyle Larson as the laps wound down in this race, a caution on lap 397 of 400 turned what looked like another comfortable win for Truex into an unexpected but hard-fought victory for Kyle Larson, who also cemented his place in the Cup Series playoff field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got the greatest team out here and definitely the best pit crew,\u201d said Larson. \u201cThat definitely showed during this race. I can\u2019t thank these guys enough and this win is a huge congrats to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson\u2019s victory also ensured playoff spots for three other drivers who were fighting for these illustrious spots: Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth.<\/p>\n

While each of these young drivers have helped each other in clinching a position in the Cup Series playoffs, which will begin in Chicago, it will be every man for himself for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Stay tuned to RacingJunk.com<\/a> for all the latest in NASCAR news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a weekend when most sports news was centered around the start of the 2017 NFL season, the stars of NASCAR were all abuzz about the kickoff of the 2017 Championship season at Richmond International Raceway.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":43663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3424,3470,5029,22],"tags":[3053,1619,3148,683,127,41,1632],"class_list":["post-43661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-news","category-racing","category-event-coverage","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-ellen-richardson","tag-elliott-sadler","tag-kyle-larson","tag-nascar","tag-news","tag-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/RIR-Feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-bmd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43661"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43669,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43661\/revisions\/43669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}