Winning Driver Martin Truex Jr. crosses the finish line at Richmond Raceway last fall. (Photo courtesy Richmond Raceway and NASCAR)
Crowds at NASCAR races aren’t what they were during the early 2000s, during the sport’s heyday. There was a time when traffic backed up for miles heading into Richmond Raceway on race day, the 112,000 seats in the grandstand were sold out and spectators camped out in nearby yards and parking lots in droves. Those days may be gone, and the raceway now has reduced its seating capacity, but the sport is still the biggest game in town, and it’s maintained its core audience, continuing to attract fans from miles away who just want to be there.
Race fan Jason Boleman has attended NASCAR events at the raceway since 2007. “I don’t remember ever being bored at the racetrack,” he says. “The tire and gas smells, the wind you get when the cars go by — it’s like sensory overload. … The difference between watching it on TV and going in person is night and day. It’s a totally different experience.”
Known as “America’s Premier Short Track,” Richmond Raceway has hosted NASCAR races for several decades. Hall of Famer Lee Petty won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race there in 1953, while his oldest son, racing legend Richard Petty, holds the all-time mark for wins at the raceway with 13. More recently, driver Martin Truex Jr. has recorded three victories in Richmond the past three years, and Chesterfield County’s Denny Hamlin has claimed three checkered flags.
“Richmond was a key part of the birth of NASCAR, a really big part of the growth and future of NASCAR,” says Richmond Raceway President Dennis Bickmeier, who has helmed the raceway for more than a decade, including steering it through the pandemic.
Located on Laburnum Avenue, just outside Richmond at the Richmond Raceway Complex, the track is a D-shaped asphalt oval that marked 75 years of operation last season. It was a part of the NASCAR playoffs from 2018 to 2021 and showcased NTT IndyCar Series events from 2001 to 2009. The Xfinity Series, NASCAR’s secondary tour, began racing at Richmond in 1982. NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series made its return in 2020.
This year, race weekends feature the return of qualifying and practice to determine the starting order, elements that had been mostly abandoned due to the pandemic. The introduction of the Cup Series’ Next Gen car, a new style of vehicle for all teams, will be a change as well.
The spring races, featuring Xfinity and Cup competition, will take place April 2-3. NASCAR’s shifting schedule moved Richmond’s fall slate into August. The Truck Series’ playoff event will take place on Aug. 13, with the Cup race held the following afternoon, unfolding over the course of 400 laps, with stages splitting the race into two 100-lap stints and a final 200-lap segment.
In 2018, the raceway overhauled its infield through a massive construction project and opened with a revamped layout. Amenities now include a walkway that overlooks the garages, where fans can get a close-up of pit crew members. Infield passes provide fan access, too, as well as proximity to pre-race ceremonies and victory celebrations.
“It’s really unbelievable access for fans to get up close to the sport,” Bickmeier says. “When we designed this infield, we redesigned it to be similar to how the access was back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.”
“When you see the drivers go over to that elevated fan-walk area and sign autographs, and crew members come over and answer questions from fans, to me, that makes my heart feel good because we’ve provided these authentic connections to the sport,” Bickmeier says. “And I really feel like we’ve accomplished that.”
