NASCAR Saturday schedules: Richmond/Texas

Saturday’s NASCAR schedule at Richmond Raceway includes Cup and Xfinity Series practice and qualifying and a 250-lap Xfinity race. Sunday’s Cup race is scheduled at 3:30 p.m.

Also on NASCAR’s Saturday schedule is a 4:30 p.m. Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Trucks also will practice and qualify Saturday.

The Richmond Cup race is the first of three consecutive short track races. After Richmond, the tour moves on to Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

A look at the Saturday NASCAR schedules for Richmond and TMS:

Saturday: Morning rain then partly cloudy and windy. High of 77 degrees with wind gusts of 20-30 mph. Chance of rain is 31% at the start of race.

Garage open

Track activity

Saturday: Sunshine mixed with clouds. High of 76. Winds 10-15 mph. No chance of rain at start of race.

Garage open

Track activity

After a rock’em, sock’em race at Circuit of the Americas last weekend, NASCAR heads to Richmond Raceway to begin a three-race stretch at short tracks. Just the prefect place for drivers to gain revenge with one another.

There have been eight different winners in the last eight short track races at paved tracks. Christopher Bell is the most recent winner, having won at Martinsville last fall.

Sunday’s race is the seventh of the season, meaning the 26-race regular season has hit the quarter mark.

(All times Eastern)

START: Toyota car owner Alex Williams will give the command to start engines at 3:32 p.m. … The green flag is scheduled to wave at 3:39 p.m.

PRERACE: Cup garage opens at 12:30 p.m. … Drivers meeting at 2:35 p.m. … Driver introductions at 2:55 p.m. … Invocation will be given by Nick Terry, Motor Racing Outreach chaplain, at 3:24 p.m. … Technical Sergeant Melissa