Richmond Raceway expands the 2021 fall race weekend to host a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race under the lights on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. This will be the first Modified Tour race at Richmond since 2002. The 2021 season will mark the historic celebration of America’s Premier Short Track’s 75th anniversary.
“As we celebrate Richmond Raceway’s 75th anniversary season in 2021, our fall race weekend will become even bigger as it welcomes the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour,” said Richmond Raceway President Dennis Bickmeier. “We look forward to the Modified Tour bringing their thrilling, high-speed competition to America’s Premier Short Track.”
Richmond first hosted a modified race in NASCAR’s inaugural season on May 16, 1948. The race was the first NASCAR sanctioned race in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Richmond hosted the modern-day NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour from 1990-1993, 1997 and 1999-2002. Mike Stefanik, elected to the 2021 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and one of the Modified Tour’s 10 greatest drivers of all-time, holds the modern-day record with three wins at Richmond.
“Adding Richmond Raceway to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule is a win for our competitors and our fans,” said Jimmy Wilson, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Director. “The challenge this historic short track creates for our drivers is only surpassed by its prestige. A win at Richmond will certainly be a highly-coveted prize in our garage.”
Richmond’s fall race weekend will include three races over two days starting with the Modified Tour under the lights on Friday, Sept. 10. America’s Premier Short Track will host a day-night doubleheader with the NASCAR Xfinity Series race and a NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. This will be the second consecutive season the track has hosted a fall day-night double header with the Xfinity and Cup series. The fall race weekend will kickoff with a Thursday night concert by Cody Jinks at Virginia Credit Union Live. Tickets are available at vaculive.com.
Richmond will host its 66th annual spring Cup Series race on Sunday, April 18, 2021. The spring Cup Series race at Richmond has been held in the month of April since 2011. Lee Petty won the first-ever Cup race at Richmond on April 19, 1953.
Racing Virginia will be active in the month of April as the Commonwealth will host two Cup Series races in the same month for the first time since the April 2017 as Martinsville Speedway hosts a race on April 10, 2021 and Richmond on April 18, 2021. Richmond and Martinsville have hosted back-to-back race weekends four times, with the last time being in the spring of 1967.
Richmond will celebrate its historic 75th anniversary season in 2021. On Oct. 12, 1946, an open-wheel race was held on the half-mile dirt track at what was then known as the Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds. It was the first major auto race after World War II and more than two years before NASCAR was formed on Feb. 21, 1948. The race was won by Ted Horn.
The schedule for the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be announced in the near future. Start times and television networks for Cup and Xfinity Series races will also be announced at a later date.
2021 NASCAR race tickets are available for purchase via phone at 866-455-7223 or online at richmondraceway.com.
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