Old Guys Rule at Richmond
Until this Sunday, NASCAR’s young guns - drivers 30 years of age or younger - had dominated the Cup Series.
In fact, it had been 12 races since a driver older than 30 had won a Cup race - way back when Denny Hamlin won at Las Vegas on September 26.
However, NASCAR’s “old guys” still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Such was the case Sunday afternoon when several young guns of years past finished upfront at Richmond Raceway.
Ironically enough, it was the 41-year-old Hamlin who was the victor Sunday evening, clinching his fourth win at his home track. The timing could not have been better for the Virginia native, as all Toyotas had been struggling this season and Hamlin had not finished better than 13th through the first six races of the year.
“It was just a matter of time. We weren’t just going to hang back where we were, but everyone worked so hard on my JGR Toyota Camry team,” Hamlin said. “You just have a tough season and things aren’t going well. It seems like everything is not going your way and the law of averages say things are going to work out and we’ll get our performance better and today’s the day where it all matched up.”
Finishing second was another oldtimer who also has been down on his luck as of late. Nicknamed “The Closer” and “Mr. Where Did He Come From?”, 46-year-old Kevin Harvick has been known as a driver who comes out of nowhere late in the race to contend for wins.
A win really would have been great for Harvick, as it would’ve been the first time he reached Victory Lane since the 2020 Bristol summer night race. He came close this weekend, but still had to settle for second.
“I’m just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for just staying in there and having a great strategy and doing everything that they did all day,” Harvick said.”It was really the first clean day that we’ve had all year.
"The cars have been fast and (we) had a shot there at the end. I wanted to be close enough with the white (flag) to just take a swipe at him (Hamlin), but the lapped cars kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Still, it’s a great day for us and hopefully a little bit of momentum in a positive direction.”
Another “old guy” who had a good finish was Martin Truex, Jr. The 41-year-old led 76 laps before finishing fourth. Still, Truex wishes his day could have ended a little better than it did.
“It’s frustrating, but it’s part of it,” Truex said. “It’s part of the whole day. We did good there for a while. James (Small, crew chief) did a great job all day with the strategy – getting us up-front, getting us the lead. Our Auto-Owners Camry TRD was super-fast out front. Super-fast in clean air.
"At the end there, I think we just tried to gamble on beating the 24 (William Bryon) and then he ended up doing our strategy and we both screwed up. Heads up the other way, I think we had the best car, but it doesn’t matter.
“Overall, just really proud of our guys and big step in the right direction from Phoenix. Completely different mindset coming here, after today what we can do going forward. Excited about that.”
And let's not forget two other guys over 30 who did well Sunday, too: 36-year-old Kyle Busch finished ninth, giving Joe Gibbs Racing four drivers in the top-9, while 31-year-old Austin Dillon finished 10th.
While NASCAR’s rising stars have dominated the last several races, the sport's established veterans proved Sunday that they still have some gas left in the tank.
And given how cyclical NASCAR racing can be, perhaps Sunday may have marked a turning point where, after trying to figure out the new Next Generation car and getting warmed up, maybe it's time once again for the oldtimers to show their young rivals how it's really done.