I haven’t been to a NASCAR race since I covered the Bristol Night Race in 2023 for Pit Pass Network. That was a tough race as a fan for me to watch, but I still found joy in covering it. I thoroughly enjoyed being down on pit road at the Last Great Colosseum. My driver Kevin Harvick was eliminated from the playoffs in his final season. The next season I discovered that my favorite team, Stewart-Haas was leaving NASCAR. Thus, in 2024, I skipped NASCAR all together and went to the CARS Tour race at North Wilkesboro. I had no plans to attend any race this year, until I won tickets to Richmond from Sheetz on X. To sum up my experience, Richmond Raceway rocks!
Don’t get me wrong. I love stock car racing. Furthermore, I would even consider myself a “hardcore” fan. First, I don’t just show up to watch havoc. I enjoy watching one driver just destroy the entire field, just as much as I enjoy watching a photo finish. Fuel mileage and tire strategy races are just as enjoyable to me as everyone going 110% in a short run to the finish. It’s just tough trying to find a new favorite driver and a new favorite team. I was leaning towards Shane van Gisbergen, especially if Team Trackhouse can hire my all-time favorite crew chief, Rodney Childers for team 88. (This experience has solidified that for sure.)
A Bit More Backstory
Richmond Raceway Frontstretch Entrance; Image Credit: Gregory Latham — Pit Pass Network
I was sitting at my day job on Wednesday August 13th 2025, checking my X notifications on a break. It was at this point I noticed a reply to a comment I left on an X post by Sheetz. It stated that I had won tickets to the upcoming Cup series race at Richmond Raceway. At first, I was in disbelief. I asked my fellow Pit Pass Network-ers’ on our group chat, and was told indeed it was real. Richmond Raceway was about 9 hours away from home, but I wasn’t turning down free tickets. Overall, Sheetz gave me 4 free tickets and 4 free infield passes. My fiancee’ Emily, was excited because the last NASCAR race we had went to, I had to leave her in the stands as I covered it with my pit pass. She was going to get to experience a little bit of what I got to experience previously at Bristol.
I gave my other two tickets to my fellow Pit Pass Network-er, Tiffany Faw, and she brought her nephew, Mitch. You can read about his first time fan experience here on Pit Pass Network.
Definitely Worth the Drive
Chase Elliott’s Night Ends Early; Image Credit: Gregory Latham — Pit Pass Network
Overall, it was definitely worth the drive. From the stands, this actually felt like a fun Next Gen short track race. I didn’t keep up with the news much given how much I was driving, but from what I gather Goodyear did something with the tires. Well, it worked. I don’t know how it turned out on television, but live at the track it was great.
Richmond Raceway has a lot of pre-race stuff for fans to do, especially if you get the infield pass. I had a ton of fun, getting my picture with the trophy. Emily and I had showed up at around 130 PM and went straight to the Trackhouse merchandise hauler hoping to get something for SVG to sign later, but all the wristbands were sold out. Odd, because on X it sometimes seems like a lot of fans don’t like SVG too much. I guess he wins too much. Oh, speaking of SVG, Amazon Prime should have had SVG say “did someone say road course” on their NASCAR on Prime advertisements. Chase Elliott dominating on road courses is so, like five years ago!
SVG’s 88 Chevy in the garage pre-race; Image Credit: Gregory Latham — Pit Pass Network
Speaking of SVG: Don’t Look Now; He’s Getting the Ovals Down
The pre-race activities were great at Richmond Raceway and so was the racing. While I was really hoping to see Ryan Preece win, as I still represent my former drivers as a Stewart-Haas fan #4EVER, the Austin Dillion win really shook up the playoffs. Still, I saw something that might shake up the playoffs even more happen Saturday night at Richmond. I watched Shane van Gisbergen search out and run his own line.
SVG was one of the first to go to the high line, and even then the line he was running was rather unique. This wasn’t a defensive move either. He wasn’t running the high line to take away the exit from Alex Bowman, no matter what Bowman fans might think. He was running that high line all night and using it to make his way through traffic. For any other rookie driver, this performance at Richmond, by SVG, would have garnered more attention. Yeah, he’s won four races this year, so what is so special about a 14th place finish?
The answer to that question is simple. He’s starting to learn how to apply his obvious talent to ovals. I’m starting to think he will have no problem getting through the first round of the playoffs, and then why on earth would anyone bet against him at the ROVAL. SVG seems like he is definitely capable of making it to at least the round of 8.
Tiffany, Mitch, myself, & Emily; Image Credit: Gregory Latham — Pit Pass Network
Thank you Sheetz
&
Thank you Richmond Raceway
I just want to close this article with a big thank you to Sheetz, and also to Richmond Raceway. NASCAR has always been a part of my life that I could go to no matter what was going on and escape the day to day. In all honesty, I was starting to worry that was no longer going to be the case. In many ways, I felt like I was slowly moving away from the sport. These free tickets and infield passes have reinvigorated my love for NASCAR. So thank you Sheetz and Richmond Raceway.
Richmond Raceway rocks!
Richmond Raceway Post Race; Image Credit: Gregory Latham — Pit Pass Network