NASCAR Live Race Updates: Cook Out 400 at Richmond
Welcome to Racing America On SI's live NASCAR race updates post for Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. This post will be updated throughout the day and night on Saturday with key updates leading into and through the penultimate race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season.
Video highlights of crashes or incidents will be populated along with lead changes, stage and race results, and more. Continue checking back for additional updates on the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway throughout the day.
Final Stage Updates
Lap 400: Austin Dillon Wins!
And just like that, a rough season for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team has been turned around! Austin Dillon led 107 laps on his path to his first win of the NASCAR Cup Series season, and he secures his place in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Cook Out 400 Results
Fin | Car | Driver | Laps | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 400 | -- |
2 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 400 | 2.471 |
3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 400 | 8.246 |
4 | 22 | Joey Logano | 400 | 8.491 |
5 | 2 | Austin Cindric | 400 | 9.270 |
6 | 5 | Kyle Larson | 400 | 10.186 |
7 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 400 | 11.385 |
8 | 21 | Josh Berry | 400 | 14.063 |
9 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 400 | 15.124 |
10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 400 | 15.429 |
Lap 396: 4 Laps to Go
Dillon continues to lead, but Bowman is slicing into the lead. Dillon leads Bowman by just 2.8 seconds now.
Lap 390: 10 Laps to Go
Austin Dillon continues to manage a lead of more than 3 seconds over Alex Bowman. The lead is now 3.4 seconds with 10 laps remaining in the Cook Out 400.
Lap 385: Alex Bowman to P2
Alex Bowman is the fastest car on track, and he just got past Ryan Blaney for the runner-up spot, but he still sits 3.683 seconds behind Dillon, who has caught lapped traffic.
Lap 379: Dillon's Lead Has Stabilized
Austin Dillon's tires have seemingly equalized out with Ryan Blaney's, and Dillon is maintaining a lead of more than 3.5 seconds as he is turning faster laps than Blaney with just over 20 laps to go.
Lap 360: Blaney Continues to Close In
Ryan Blaney has cut Austin Dillon's lead to under 5 seconds with 40 laps to go in the Cook Out 400.
Lap 352: Dillon to Race Lead As Pits Cycle Out
Austin Dillon has taken the lead on Lap 352 after the pit sequence has shaken out.
Lap 346: Dillon Shakes Out to Large Lead Over Blaney
Austin Dillon Ahead of Blaney By 8 Seconds following the varying strategies. However, 10 laps later, Blaney has cut Dillon's lead to 6.2 seconds as he has the fresher tires now. Still, it's going to be a hard gap to overcome without help, I think.
Lap 345: Blaney Pits
Ryan Blaney screamed to his team that he had no right rear tire left. They call him to pit road. We'll see how he shakes out compared to Austin Dillon.
Lap 340: Dillon Finally Pulls Off Pass
Austin Dillon has finally taken the lead after a hard-fought battle with Ryan Blaney. He took the lead in a three-wide battle with Carson Hocevar, who was unlapping himself on fresh tires. Dillon then chooses to pit, which will give him laps on fresh tires while Blaney stays out longer on older tires.
Lap 328: Austin Dillon All Over Ryan Blaney for Lead
Austin Dillon has caught Ryan Blaney for the lead, and he is giving Blaney all he can handle on Lap 328. Dillon goes to the inside lane, and he is side-by-side with Blaney on Lap 329.
Lap 321: Hocevar to Pit Road
Carson Hocevar is the lone driver attempting to make three pit stops in the final Stage of the Cook Out 400, and that could yield him the additional speed with fresh tires he needs to win the race -- BUT, the car fell off the jack on pit road. That will certainly cost them some time.
Lap 304: Blaney to the Lead
Ryan Blaney was able to get around Carson Hocevar on fresher tires on Lap 304 for the race lead. Austin Dillon and William Byron followed Blaney past Hocevar as well. Blaney leads Dillon by one second.
Lap 302: Gibbs Reports He's Blowing Up
Ty Gibbs is now radioing to his No. 54 team that the engine is going south on his car following the issue which led to the brakes catching fire. He remains on the track for now.
Lap 294: Carson Hocevar Assumes the Lead
Carson Hocevar leads the race over Ryan Blaney on Lap 294 as everyone is attempting to cycle through pit stops.
Lap 293: Christopher Bell Penalized; Ty Gibbs Has Fire on Car
Christopher Bell has been busted for pit road commitment box violation at Lap 293, which will ruin his night. Ty Gibbs is reporting he has no brake pedal as there is a fire breaking out in the brake area on his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Lap 292: Bubba Wallace Loses Wheel on Pit Road
Bubba Wallace's hopes at winning have gone awry as he had the left front wheel fly off of his car while exiting pit road under green on Lap 292.
Wallace was able to stop in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team's pit box, which allowed him to get the wheel put back on without incident.
The No. 23 team owes the No. 19 team a steak dinner for this. pic.twitter.com/2jzaTPHhtW
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
Lap 256: Austin Dillon Has Pulled Away
Austin Dillon's lead over Bubba Wallace is up to 2.063 seconds. The defending winner of the Cook Out 400 is looking really good at Lap 256.
Lap 241: Back to Green!
Michael McDowell brings the field back to green, but he is unable to hold off Bubba Wallace, who leads Lap 241. However, McDowell makes contact with Wallace in Turn 1 on Lap 242, which allowed Austin Dillon to go into the race lead. Dillon looks to follow up his controversial win a year ago with another tonight.
Two-for-one special at @RichmondRaceway! @austindillon3 jumps two spots and takes the lead in the #CookOut400. pic.twitter.com/8oyiyq0AxC
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
Lap 235: McDowell Takes Lead On Pit Road
Michael McDowell utilized a strategy that will likely result in him losing a lot of track position at the start of Stage 3, but he will take over the race lead as he took two tires on pit road.
Bubba Wallace came out of pit road second after taking four tires, Ryan Blaney was third (2 tires), followed by Austin Dillon (4 tires), Daniel Suarez (4 tires), Alex Bowman (4 tires), Kyle Larson (4 tires), Carson Hocevar (2 tires), and Ryan Preece (4 tires).
Stage 2 Updates
Lap 230: Bubba Wallace Wins Stage 2
Bubba Wallace capped off Stage 2 by taking a Stage Win and along with it, he added 10 regular season points and one Playoff Point to his season total.
Stage 2 Results
Fin | Car | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 10 | 1 |
2 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 9 | -- |
3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 8 | -- |
4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 7 | -- |
5 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 6 | -- |
6 | 60 | Ryan Preece | 5 | -- |
7 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | 4 | -- |
8 | 2 | Austin Cindric | 3 | -- |
9 | 24 | William Byron | 2 | -- |
10 | 5 | Kyle Larson | 1 | -- |
Lap 214: Back to Green!
We're back to green, and Bubba Wallace continues to lead this race. Daniel Suarez is up to the runner-up spot and looking to save his season with a win tonight.
Lap 198: Big Crash!
Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain collided on the exit of Turn 2, which sent Chastain into Brad Keselowski. This caused damage on Keselowski's car. As they head into Turn 3, Chase Briscoe spins while trying to pass Kyle Larson low. Briscoe spun back across the track and collected Busch, Denny Hamlin, Justin Haley, and as Chase Elliott was trying to squeeze through, he got clipped by Busch, which sent him hard into the outside wall.
A huge stack up involves a bunch of contenders! pic.twitter.com/lpdyz5K7hV
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
Lap 197: Back to Green!
Bubba Wallace leads the field back to green, and Ryan Preece is making up a lot of ground on the top side of the track on fresh tires! Preece is up to sixth.
Lap 191: Caution!
Cody Ware got spun around in Turn 2 after contact from John Hunter Nemechek, and we're back under caution after an absolutely wild restart.
Lap 189: Back to Green!
Bubba Wallace leads the field to green, and Ross Chastain goes way high back in the pack. This has caused a stack-up back in the pack, and there are some four wide battles now!
Lap 181: Caution!
Oh my, in the middle of the latest pit sequence, Tyler Reddick got spun from contact with Ty Gibbs, who looked like he got help from behind from Daniel Suarez. Reddick had been running near the front most of the race, and will now likely need to put his rally cap on.
Wrong place at the wrong time. @TylerReddick gets turned at the exit of Turn 4! pic.twitter.com/vmXv1EiSda
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
Kyle Larson had yet to pit, and was leading the race at the time of caution. The caution also saved Kyle Busch, who was the last driver on the lead lap in 23rd when the yellow flag waved.
Lap 178: Hamlin With Another Slow Pit Stop
As Denny Hamlin had worked his way back through the running order into the top-10 following a slow pit stop and pit road speeding penalty earlier in the race, the No. 11 pit crew had an issue getting one of his tires off the car on pit road on Lap 178.
This will ruin his track position.
Lap 175: Alex Bowman Kicks Off Next Wave of Pit Stops
Alex Bowman has come to pit road on Lap 175, which will kick off the next wave of pit stops. Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez and others follow Bowman's lead onto pit road.
Lap 164: Bubba Wallace to the Lead
Bubba Wallace has gone back to the lead as he got around his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick for the top spot on Lap 164.
Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric run in positions three through five right now. Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin round out the current top-10 runners.
Lap 139: Comers And Goers
The trend of comers and goers with these Goodyear tires that are ultra-soft and that give up a lot of time over a sustained green flag run. Tyler Reddick took the lead from Austin Dillon on Lap 139, and Bubba Wallace has followed him through. Wallace has three-lap fresher tires than Reddick as they run.
Top-10 as they run: Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, and Chase Briscoe.
Lap 131: Ryan Preece Takes Lead; It's Short Lived
Ryan Preece utilized the fresh tires he took on Lap 113 to take the lead from Bubba Wallace, but he would only lead two laps before he was passed by Austin Dillon for the lead. Dillon has roughly 11 lap fresher tires than Preece.
Lap 122: Tyler Reddick Goes to P2
Tyler Reddick has worked around Christopher Bell, who had started to fade, for the second position. Bubba Wallace continues to lead the race as more and more cars head to pit road for fresh tires.
Lap 113: Ryan Preece Kicks Off Green Flag Pit Stops
Ryan Preece, who has an extra set of tires to work with, has decided to come to pit road on Lap 113 as he had fallen from 15th to 19th since the restart. This will allow Preece to gain track position if it cycles out without a caution.
Lap 112: Hamlin Inside Top-25
Denny Hamlin continues to charge forward as he attempts to rebound from a pit road speeding penalty between Stages 1 and 2. Hamlin is up to 24th on Lap 112.
Lap 99: Bell Keeping Wallace in His Sights
Lap 80: Back to Green!
Bubba Wallace leads the field to green, and Christopher Bell works his way into the runner-up spot on the restart.
Lap 75: Bubba Wallace Wins Race Off Pit Road; Hamlin, Allmendinger Penalized
Bubba Wallace won the race off pit road and will restart from the race lead in Stage 2. Wallace won the race off pit road ahead of Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, and William Byron. Ryan Preece will restart 15th.
Denny Hamlin, who had a rough pit stop, was busted for speeding on pit road. AJ Allmendinger and Chase Elliott were also flagged for pit road penalties, and will go to the rear of the field.
Stage 1 Updates
Lap 70: Reddick Wins Stage 1 Over Teammate Bubba Wallace
Tyler Reddick was able to take the Stage 1 win of Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. Ryan Preece, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman chose to remain on track while Reddick and others pitted for tires, which means they will have an additional set of tires for later in the race.
Stage 1 Results
Fin | Car | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 10 | 1 |
2 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 9 | -- |
3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 8 | -- |
4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 7 | -- |
5 | 2 | Austin Cindric | 6 | -- |
6 | 20 | Christopher Bell | 5 | -- |
7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 4 | -- |
8 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 3 | -- |
9 | 21 | Josh Berry | 2 | -- |
10 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 1 | -- |
Lap 59: Lead Change
Tyler Reddick registers the first lead change of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond as he worked around Ryan Preece on Lap 59.
Lap 57: Hamlin to Second
Denny Hamlin is now in the runner-up spot with 13 laps left in the Stage, and he is closing in fast on Preece for the lead. However, Tyler Reddick pulls to the inside of Hamlin and they are now side-by-side for second. Hamlin actually pops the wall a little bit.
Lap 53: Hamlin Moving on New Tires
Ryan Preece continues to lead, but Denny Hamlin is up to third on his fresh tires. Hamlin is turning laps 1 to 2 seconds faster than Preece, and he is now 4.818 seconds back with 16 laps remaining in Stage 1.
Lap 43: Majority of Field Has Pitted, Preece Remains on Track
While the majority of the field has hit pit road, Ryan Preece's crew tells him they have made their bed as it is too late for them to also pit if they want to win the Stage. Preece will remain on track, and will look to see how much he can hang on. He'll likely loose the opening Stage, but he'll pocket a set of tires for later in the race.
Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell, and Justin Haley have also remained on track.
Lap 31: William Byron Kicks Off Green Flag Pit Sequence
William Byron, who has complained of a tight race car in the opening laps of Saturday's Cook Out 400, has been called to pit road by crew chief Rudy Fugle. Byron will kick off a round of green flag pit stops. A couple of laps later, Byron's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson also pits.
Lap 29: Denny Hamlin to Third
Denny Hamlin has worked his way around Tyler Reddick, who started on the outside pole, for the third position on Lap 29. Hamlin, one of the best in the sport at tire conservation, is now trying to reel in the top-two drivers -- Ryan Preece and AJ Allmendinger.
Lap 25: Logano Inside Top-30
Joey Logano continues to make up ground as he has moved into the 29th position with a pair of passes on Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch on Lap 25.
All 38 cars in the field are still on the lead lap, but Preece is starting to close in on the back-end of the field.
Lap 24: Allmendinger Reeling in Preece
It looks like the long run is going to be good for AJ Allmendinger, who has started to reel in Ryan Preece for the race lead. Allmendinger sits less than a half-second back on Lap 24.
Lap 21: Logano Up to 31st
Joey Logano has rallied from the rear of the field and now sits 31st, one spot behind his best friend forever (sarcasm), Ross Chastain.
Lap 15: Allmendinger to Second
AJ Allmendinger has moved past Tyler Reddick and now runs second to Ryan Preece. Allmendinger showed incredible speed in qualifying by notching the third starting spot, and he is looking to prove it was no fluke.
7:40 PM ET: Green Flag!
Ryan Preece leads the field to the green flag from the pole, and he takes full possession of the race lead. William Byron is making some early moves and is up to 11th on Lap 1.
Our stars shine brighter under the lights.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 16, 2025
We're GREEN at @RichmondRaceway!
📺: @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/fGeCNti95C
Pre-Race Updates
7:28 PM ET: Engines Fired!
With a command from youngster Roo Reaves from the Cook Out family, the engines have been fired in the 38 cars on the starting grid for Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. The cars will head onto the track behind the pacecar in mere moments to begin the pace laps for tonight's race.
Let's hear those engines roar! pic.twitter.com/f5l9j5Ahne
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 16, 2025
Logano and Gilliland to Start at Rear Due to Unapproved Adjustments
Joey Logano, who cut a tire and crashed in practice on Friday afternoon at Richmond Raceway and Todd Gilliland, who qualified 31st for Saturday night's event, will have to drop to the rear of the field prior to the green flag of the Cook Out 400.
Both the No. 22 and No. 34 cars had unapproved adjustments performed after qualifying was complete on Friday afternoon, which led to NASCAR declaring that the two cars would drop to the rear.
NASCAR Reveals Pre-Race Festivities Schedule
NASCAR has revealed the official pre-race festivities timeline ahead of Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
- 6:30 PM ET: Driver's Meeting
- 6:55 PM ET: Driver Introductions
- 7:20 PM ET: Invocation
- 7:28 PM ET: Command to Start Engines
- 7:35 PM ET: Green Flag
Cook Out 400 Pre-Race Info
The Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway will be televised on USA Network and can also be streamed on HBO Max. The race broadcast will begin at 7:30 PM ET.
The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of Sunday's race. For subscribers of the HBO Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today's race.
The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Sunday's race, is a total of $9,797,935.
The race distance is 400 laps around the 0.750-mile short track, which equates to a 300-mile race distance.
The Cook Out 400 will be broken up into three Stages. Stage 1 will end at the conclusion of Lap 70. Stage 2 will end at the conclusion of Lap 230. And the race is scheduled to finish at the end of Lap 400, barring an Overtime finish.
The winner of Stages 1 and 2 will be awarded one Playoff Point, and the overall race winner will be awarded five Playoff Points. The Playoff Points will be added to the reseeded point totals if the drivers make it into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and will be carried through each round of the Playoffs.
Austin Dillon is the defending winner of this event.
Ryan Preece Snags Second Career NASCAR Cup Series Pole at Opportune Time
Ryan Preece collected his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole with an impressive 22.244-second (121.381 mph) lap time in Friday's qualifying session at the 0.750-mile short track. Preece topped Tyler Reddick by 0.087 seconds to take the pole position in the penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season.
With two races remaining in the regular season, Preece enters this weekend's race at Richmond Raceway as the first driver outside of the Playoff cutline. A win on Saturday night would secure the driver his first career Playoff berth, and a good run could put him in a potential spot to point his way in at Daytona next weekend.
Preece's pole-winning run came after the driver was 37th-fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice earlier in the day. Preece had high praise for crew chief Derrick Finley, who made adjustments to the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford after practice.
"Yeah, that was great adjustments by [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] and everybody with this Kleenex/Kroger Ford Mustang. I can't thank RFK enough for the opportunity, and boy, what a racecar," Preece said in his post-qualifying interview on TruTV. "It might not have shown up in practice early on for that fast lap, but it did in qualifying."
Read Full Story on Ryan Preece's Richmond Pole by clicking here.
Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup
Pos | Car | Driver | Lap time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 60 | Ryan Preece | 22.244 | 121.381 |
2 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 22.331 | 120.908 |
3 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | 22.341 | 120.854 |
4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 22.347 | 120.822 |
5 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 22.361 | 120.746 |
6 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 22.362 | 120.741 |
7 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 22.379 | 120.649 |
8 | 20 | Christopher Bell | 22.384 | 120.622 |
9 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 22.397 | 120.552 |
10 | 71 | Michael McDowell | 22.406 | 120.503 |
Click here for the full Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup.
Joey Logano, Carson Hocevar Find Trouble in Practice
Joey Logano suffered a cut right front tire on his 21st lap in NASCAR Cup Series practice, a session where the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford ranked dead-last in single-lap speed. Logano reported that his car was extremely tight in his opening lap on track, and the condition never improved.
Heading into turns 3 and 4 on his 21st lap on track, the tire let go, and Logano pounded the outside wall.
The No. 22 gets into the wall during Group 2 practice. pic.twitter.com/0OdvUubIbA
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 15, 2025
Logano's team would attempt to repair the car enough to make a qualifying run, but Logano suffered from a massive tire rub on his qualifying attempt and was unable to complete a timed lap.
As a result, Logano will be at a major tire disadvantage to the rest of the field in Saturday night's race as he will be unable to transfer his tires from qualifying to use in the race (NASCAR rules state you must scuff you tires by completing a qualifying run in order to transfer the set to the race).
Carson Hocevar also experienced a moment in the final moments of NASCAR Cup Series practice as he went for a spin, but didn't hit anything, on the exit of Turn 4.
Around goes the No. 77. pic.twitter.com/dcvoJXxNJt
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 15, 2025
Hocevar would go on to qualify in the 15th position for Saturday night's race.
Allmendinger Loses Car Chief, Pit Selection After Multiple Pre-Race Inspection Failures
AJ Allmendinger, who would eventually go on to secure the third-place starting spot for Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, saw his weekend get off to a less than ideal start as his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection multiple times on Friday afternoon.
While the No. 16 car would pass on its third attempt through the inspection bay, which allowed Allmendinger to take a qualifying time on Friday and prevented the driver from having to perform a pass through penalty following the start of Saturday's race, Allmendinger will be without car chief Jaron Antley, who was ejected, for the remainder of the weekend.
Additionally, Allmendinger's No. 16 Kaulig Racing team will get the final pit stall available this week (pit stalls are selected in order of qualifying results), which turned out to be a big penalty as Allmendinger was the third-fastest qualifier on Friday afternoon.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
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