THREE-SPOT: Three Drivers' Take on Richmond International Raceway

In the heirarchy of NASCAR, Richmond has been around forever. It's a great place to watch a race, and according to this week's three drivers, a heck of a place to race.

Our three drivers for this week sound off to the following question: What's the secret to solving Richmond?

Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry

“Richmond is getting a little trickier it seems like just with the asphalt kind of getting older and the way the cars are and the tire hasn’t really changed there in the last few years. The consensus of Richmond is of course just trying to get your car to turn, but yet having really good forward bite.  You have to be able to get off the corners at Richmond.  You have to have good brakes as well, too, and be able to turn the center. All of it correlates, everything that you want as a race car driver, you’ve got to have most all of it and if you don’t then you better hope that you have more forward bite than the rest of them.  That’s sort of the equation of Richmond -- it’s a fun place to race, it’s really cool. As a driver, you wish that it could widen out and give you more options of being able to run around in different grooves, but it hasn’t shown us that the last couple years.”

Tony Stewart, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet

“As much as you’re racing everybody else, you have to race the racetrack. It just seems like a place where if you can get the balance right it makes it an extremely fun day. With the two ends of the track being different like they are, it seems like you’re always fighting something, but that’s what always makes the racing good, too. You never really get anybody who gets their car perfect. Even the guy that gets the lead still isn’t happy with his car. So, it’s really trying to find that balance and trying to figure out how to balance both ends of the track together.”

Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford

“In my mind, Richmond is real short-track racing. It’s a very fast short track and things happen in a hurry. This is another one of the tracks that require a driver to manage tires. The other thing that I think of when I think of Richmond is pit stops. It’s true at every track, but here with the laps being so quick a bad stop will really hurt your race. I like racing at Richmond and we are better there than our results show. This weekend is a welcome opportunity to demonstrate what we are capable of and we will do all that we can to get our Detroit Genuine Parts Ford to Victory Lane.”