By JIM HART
Special to The Tidewater News

RICHMOND
During the 58th Annual Federated Auto Parts 400 this past Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, Joe Gibbs Racing continued to spread its wings as three of the four teams under its umbrella led all but 25 of the race’s 400 laps. Matt Kenseth set the pace after starting on the outside pole and taking over the lead from pole setter Joey Logano on lap 15. Kenseth led for a total of 352 laps during the night, while Logano led for 25 followed by Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch with 14 and nine laps led, respectively. There were a total of 6 cautions for 47 laps, with the most interesting accident being that of Michael McDowell hitting the safety truck during one of the caution periods. If there were to be a hard charger award, it would certainly be deserving to hand it to Aric Almirola, who started from the 26th spot and raced his way into the top 5 position late in the race. He brought the Smithfield Foods/Waffle House Ford home in the 4th position, just missing the cut for the Race For The Chase final spot.

In Friday night’s 35th Annual Virginia 529 College Fund 250, Chase Elliott reigned in his first victory of the season ending a 39-race winless drought. Starting from the sixth spot and never falling back, Elliott took over the lead on lap 168 and cruised to victory. This is Elliott’s fourth win in 58 NASCAR XFINITY Series races. He currently sits in 2nd place in the points standings (-21) behind series leader Chris Buescher.