08/12/2025
RFK Advance | Richmond
Richmond Event Info:
Date: Saturday, August 16
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Format: 400 Laps, 300 Miles, Stages: 70-230-400
TV: USA
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 4:30 p.m. ET, Cup Practice (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 5:40 p.m. ET, Cup Qualifying (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 7:30 p.m. ET, Cup Race (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- Richmond hosts the 25th race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule as they embark on a 300-mile race on Saturday night, the second to last race before the start of the playoffs.
- Jack Roush has 16 wins all-time at Richmond, including six in the Cup Series, with Chris Buescher most recently finding victory lane in 2023.
- Buescher holds the third highest average starting position (11.2) in the Cup Series this season, anchored by 11 starts inside the top 10.
- Buescher is also one of nine drivers with 12+ top-10 results this season, and has an average finish of 13.7 which is the fifth highest among Cup drivers.
- Buescher was the 2023 winner at Richmond, leading 88 laps en route to his first of three victories that season, and the first of three in a stretch of five weeks.
- Brad Keselowski has posted three top-10 finishes over his last four races, including two in the top five, with an average finish of 12.3.
- Keselowski has led 1,280 laps at Richmond in 14 different races, his most of any track in his career. He’s also finished inside the top-15 in 17 of the last 18 Richmond races since the spring of 2015.
- Ryan Preece has set Cup Series career highs this season in top-fives (3) and top-10s (10), and has finished inside the top-20 in each of his last 10 starts.
- Preece (5,908) has also completed the third most laps of any Cup Series driver this season, behind Tyler Reddick (5,941) and Chase Elliott (5,950).
- RFK Racing will also host Australian Supercars driver Thomas Randle this weekend. Randle, driver of the No. 55 Castrol Ford Mustang, is slated to make a special appearance on the NASCAR Experience Stage located in the Fan Zone on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET.
6 Team Info:
Driver: Brad Keselowski
Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com
17 Team Info:
Driver: Chris Buescher
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fifth Third
60 Team Info:
Driver: Ryan Preece
Crew Chief: Derrick Finley
Partner: Kroger / Kleenex
Keselowski at Richmond
Starts: 30
Wins: 2 (2014, 2020)
Top-10s: 15
Poles: 2 (2014, 2019)
- Keselowski, a two-time winner at Richmond, makes his 31st Cup start at the ¾-mile track on Sunday. He won the lone race at Richmond in 2020 after leading 192 laps, and won back in 2014 after starting on the pole, leading 383 of the 400 laps.
- Last spring, Keselowski finished eighth, at the time one of three-straight top-10s, but is coming off a fall event in the 2024 season where placed 16th.
- He’s finished inside the top-15 in 17 of the last 18 Richmond races since the spring of 2015, and in that stretch has led laps in 11 different races.
- His 12.1 average finish holds as one of his best among all tracks with 15 top-10s overall and six finishes inside the top five.
- He also has two poles – 2014 and 2019 – for an average starting position of 12.0, also one of his best marks.
- Keselowski made 17 Xfinity Series starts from 2006-17 earning four victories and 10 top-10s. He won his last NXS start there in 2017 and also went to victory lane in 2010 once and 2013 twice.
Buescher at Richmond
Starts: 17
Wins: 1 (2023)
Top-10s: 3
Poles: —
- Buescher was the 2023 winner of this race at Richmond, having led 88 laps en route to his first of three victories that season, and the first of three in a stretch of five weeks.
- In the spring of last season, he finished ninth while he placed 18th in the fall race.
- Despite a 21.5 average finish at the track, Buescher has two top-3 finishes in the last five Richmond races. He finished third in the 2022 fall event and ninth last spring, two of his four top-15 efforts in the last six outings at the ¾-mile track.
- Buescher has a 19.2 average qualifying effort with a best effort of seventh (three times) – last season, spring of 2023, and spring of 2019.
- Buescher made five NXS starts for Jack Roush from 2011-15, earning three top-10s with a best finish of seventh (2014).
Preece at Richmond
Starts: 9
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —
- Preece is set for his 10th Cup start at Richmond this weekend, where he earned a top-five finish in the fall of 2023.
- He holds a 22.2 average starting position at Richmond across his nine starts, with a best of 11th in the fall of 2023.
- Preece has also made four NXS starts at Richmond, with an average finish of 20.8.
RFK Historically at Richmond
Cup Wins: 6 (Mark Martin, 1990; Jeff Burton, 1998; Matt Kenseth, 2002; Kurt Busch, 2005; Carl Edwards, 2013; Chris Buescher, 2023)
- History in the Commonwealth of Virginia: Overall, RFK has 370 starts at Richmond Raceway, earning a total of 16 wins, 91 top-five and 156 top-10 finishes. RFK Fords have sat on the pole 14 times and led 5,151 laps across NASCAR’s three major touring series.
- To Xfinity and Beyond: RFK has earned nine victories, 43 top-five finishes, 66 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 11.8 at Richmond in the Xfinity Series. All in all, three different drivers are responsible for the nine victories at the Virginia short track (Edwards, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton).
- Nine and Counting: RFK’s nine victories at Richmond rank fourth among all tracks the organization has competed on in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, trailing Darlington Raceway (15), Charlotte Motor Speedway (12) and North Carolina Speedway – formerly known as Rockingham – (11).
- Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 229 NCS races at Richmond with 79 top-10 and 39 top-five finishes along with seven poles. Former drivers Mark Martin (1990), Jeff Burton (1998), Matt Kenseth (2002), Kurt Busch (2005), and Carl Edwards (2013) are responsible for RFK’s five Cup wins, with Buescher adding his name to that list in 2023, and a Jack Roush Cup Series Ford has led 2,633 laps at the .75-mile track.
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Watkins Glen: Buescher 3rd; Preece 13th; Keselowski 31st.
Points Standings (17: 16th, 60: 17th, 6: 21st): Buescher sits 34 points above the playoff cutline, ahead of his teammate Preece for the final playoff spot. Keselowski remains 21st in the standings after earning five stage points and leading five laps at Watkins Glen.
