Why is Richmond deceptively tough?

RICHMOND, Va. — Like many drivers on NASCAR’s top circuit, Chase Elliott had a hard time figuring out the best way to navigate the layout at Richmond Raceway when he first raced on the track.

Some think the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval drives like a mini superspeedway; others enjoy the short-track feel it provides. Elliott still isn’t sure what to make of the layout that appears on the Cup Series schedule twice each year.

“The driving at Richmond is honestly very straightforward,” the reigning series champion said this week. “I think that’s what makes Richmond really hard is because it’s just not a super challenging place, I don’t think, for the drivers to run the proper line.

“But what makes it really hard there is to just be different. And everyone is doing the exact same thing. … You’re riding that really razor-thin edge much like you do at Martinsville, but it’s definitely a challenge. And I think the reason it’s a challenge is that everyone is just doing the same thing.”

Elliott finished fifth at Richmond last fall — NASCAR was at the Virginia track just once last year, with the COVID19 pandemic wiping out the spring race — but was 15th and 13th in two starts in the 2019 season.

As the series wraps up a three-race stretch of short tracks, Elliott hope to improve on his 10th-place finish on the temporary dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway and his second-place run last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, where 2017 season champion Martin Truex Jr. became the first repeat winner in the series this year.

And no, Elliott is not concerned about the fact that he’s winless after eight races.

“We all want to win, but I feel no different today than I did at the end of last year, and the results were just fine then,” said the 25-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver, who won the last two races in 2020 to take the championship.

Added Elliott: “I know we can go out there and accomplish our goals.”