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Doug Fritz is the President of Richmond International Raceway. Normally, he would be wearing a suit and tie to work. But, on Tuesday he had a slight change in wardrobe.
He donned a painter’s jumpsuit.
RIR will play host to “One Last Race to Make the Chase”, a.k.a. the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevy Rock & Roll 400, this Saturday night. The series will take the green flag for the final race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup cutoff, meaning it will be a make-it-or-break-it effort for certain teams. Realistically, there are 11 drivers vying for the eight remaining spots in the Chase. To honor these drivers, RIR has decided to paint their numbers on the track wall and the apron of the track. Fritz lent a helping hand by putting the finishing touches on Kasey Kahne’s No. 9 on the apron.  As NASCAR’s premier series heads to the historical facility in Virginia, points leader Tony Stewart has already been locked into the Chase as well as 2nd, 3rd and 4th place drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, respectively. Carl Edwards currently sits 5th in points and is the first driver who has not yet secured his Chase berth. Kahne, Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth are the remaining drivers in the top-12 who have yet to be locked in. Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch and David Reutimann are currently 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively. All three drivers are within 132 points of the top-12 so they still have a shot at it. Fritz has prepared his race track as a shrine of sorts to those drivers who will be running the race of their lives this weekend. For some the painted numbers will a monument to their successful run in Saturday’s race, for others it may end up as more of a headstone on the site of their loss. The Chevy Rock & Roll 400 is scheduled to broadcast on ABC at 7pm ET on Saturday night.
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