NASCAR Insider

When it comes to the spring Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, Kyle Busch is the driver to beat. He’ll try to extend his spring-race winning streak to five in Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400.

Even before he started his streak, he had some amazing runs in Richmond’s first Cup race of the season. In his rookie season of 2005, he finished fourth at Richmond in his first Cup start there. He followed that with a fifth, then two seconds before the win streak started in 2009. He’s never won in the fall at Richmond, but his finishes have been good enough to give him an overall average finish of 5.4 on the three-quarters of a mile oval.

He also has four Nationwide Series victories at Richmond, including his first major NASCAR victory in the spring of 2004, but his Nationwide wins there are split evenly between the spring and fall races.

“I love going to Richmond,” Busch said in his team’s weekly release. “I’ve just kind of taken to that place. I know what I need in my car to run well there.

“The (crew) guys have done a good job making good adjustments through practice. Sometimes we try to dial ourselves out, but we get honed back in on what we know works there.”

Hamlin out: Denny Hamlin's hopes of returning to the seat of his No. 11 Toyota this weekend at his home track, Richmond International Raceway were dashed this week after doctors determined that his back hadn't healed sufficiently to return to racing.

“Unfortunately I won’t be racing this weekend at Richmond,” Hamlin said Wednesday via Twitter. “It kills me to not be in the car for my team and sponsors, but after long discussions with the doctors we have decided to wait on my return back to racing. Thanks to all of my fans who have sent encouraging messages over the last month. I’ll be back in no time.”

Hamlin injured his back in a last-lap crash at Auto Club Speedway on March 24.

Sauter penalty: Among the major penalties in NASCAR of late was one on Johnny Sauter and his No. 98 truck team in the Camping World Truck Series. They were penalized for a fuel-cell violation discovered at Kansas Speedway.

Sauter and the team lost 25 points, and crew chief Joe Shear has been fined $10,000 and suspended for the next four races. Before the penalty, Sauter was the series points leader. Now he’s tied for second place with Jeb Burton behind new leader Matt Crafton.

Inside look: Swan Racing, which fields the No. 30 Toyota driven by David Stremme on the Sprint Cup circuit, plans to provide an inside look at the goings on of a Cup race team.

Working with Wheelhouse Media, the team will produce a reality-TV-like video each week that will be available on YouTube.com.

The videos, from three to six minutes in length, are intended to raise the profile of the team and show viewers that Stremme and his crew are much like the grass-roots racers who compete on short tracks across the country each weekend.

Late Model updates: The South's newest touring series for asphalt Late Model drivers, the Southern Super Series, moves to Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson on Saturday night for the Racing Radios 125.

Senoia’s Bubba Pollard is the series points leader, having won the circuit’s inaugural race at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tenn., earlier this month in dominating fashion.

Among those hoping to challenge Pollard is Clemson student Ross Kenseth, the son of Sprint Cup veteran Matt Kenseth.

“Hopefully we can go down there and have another one and run up front with the guys and maybe get our win,” Kenseth told reporters recently. “Bubba (Pollard) seemed to have it a little too easy (at Nashville), so maybe we can change that at GMP.”