Prior to last weekend’s race at Richmond, exactly half of the six Cup Series races contested in 2022 had produced first-time winners, and several drivers — most notably, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suarez — who haven’t customarily run up front in past seasons seemed to be in the hunt almost every week. That all changed at Richmond, however, where Briscoe, in 11th, was the highest finisher among the group of drivers who’ve made the most notable gains in 2022. So is the parity that we’ve witnessed throughout most of 2022 about to be replaced by a return to familiar faces dominating the sport? Suarez, for his part, left Richmond feeling discouraged and doesn’t sound overly optimistic about what lies ahead.
“It was a tough day,” said the Trackhouse Racing driver, who finished 16th. “I just feel like we missed it the entire weekend. We didn’t have the speed in practice. We didn’t have the speed in qualifying. The race was a battle. I feel like we were OK in the long runs at times, but overall, we just didn’t have a lot of speed. We just have to go back home and try to learn what we did right, what we did wrong and come back strong.” Briscoe, who earned his first career Cup win at Phoenix a few weeks ago, considered himself fortunate to even finish as well as he did at Richmond. “That’s definitely the farthest off we’ve been all year,” he said. So will Martinsville usher in a return of the parity that has been one of the season’s biggest storylines, or will Saturday night’s race be a continuation of last weekend when veterans and familiar faces stole the show? Stay tuned.