NASCAR hopes Hurricane Hanna is one visitor that steers clear of Richmond International Raceway this weekend. (Photo: Robert Laberge, Getty Images) » More Photos

Blog Post: Saturday, September 6, 2008 11:07 AM Eastern

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY With Richmond International Raceway shut down Saturday for Tropical Storm Hanna, many of the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams left the area Friday night, venturing back 300 miles or so to Charlotte, where they could get an extra day at home. The revised schedule at RIR calls for the Sprint Cup garage to open at 8 a.m. on Sunday, with the driver/crew chief meeting at 11 a.m. and the Chevy Rock ‘N’ Roll 400 race at 1 p.m. The NASCAR Nationwide Series Emerson Radio 250 will be run at 7 p.m. on Sunday. NASCAR doubtless isn’t too thrilled about going head-to-head with the first of the NFL season, but the weather didn’t give them much choice. State and local officials also were involved in the decision to close the track all day Saturday.

“We’ve postponed everything until Sunday in lieu of the weather, in lieu of the forecast and in lieu of all the state, local and city officials telling us about the impending wind and rain that could knock down power lines and trees, ” NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter said Friday night.

OH, WHAT A FEELING With the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup to be set on Sunday, no one is feeling better right now than Lee White, president and general manager of T.R.D. USA, Toyota’s racing arm. A year ago, Toyota teams were struggling just to make it into the Sprint Cup races, but barring some unexpected outcome on Sunday, Toyota should have three drivers in the Chase — Joe Gibbs Racing pilots Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. And that has White pleased.

“If we’re able to get three cars in the Chase, it’ll certainly be a quantum change from last year, because I’m not even sure we had any people in the top 35 here last year for the second Richmond race,” White said. “It’s a huge change.”

The big difference between 2007 and ’08, of course, was the addition of JGR into the fold to the existing Toyota lineup of Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull Racing and Michael Waltrip. For 2009, White said he didn’t foresee expanding Toyota’s presence in the Sprint Cup garage.

“I think we’re just trying to hang on to what we have,” he said. “I think that probably is the case with most manufacturers that are involved in the sport. Frankly, at T.R.D., we’re still working on getting our arms around figuring out how to do this. We’d like to get better before we get bigger.”