The 2016 Federated Auto Parts 400 was a
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States.
The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...
stock car
race held on September 10, 2016 at
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It currently hosts one NASCAR Cup Series race weekend and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. It formerly h ...
in
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
. Contested over 407 laps—extended from 400 laps due to an
overtime finish, on the D-shaped short track. It was the 26th race of the
2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
file:Chase Elliott 2016 NASCAR Media Touir.jpg, Chase Elliott, the 2016 NASCAR Rookie of the Year
The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 68th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 45th modern-era Cup seri ...
season, and the final race of the regular season before the playoffs.
Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...
's
Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...
won his second career race at his home track from the pole and his third race of the 2016 season.
Kyle Larson
Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. ...
made his way to a second place finish, the race had seven lead changes among different drivers, as well as a new track record with sixteen cautions for 89 laps, and one red flag for 20 minutes and 23 seconds.
Report
Background

Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
in
Henrico County
Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico Coun ...
. It hosts the
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States.
The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...
and
Xfinity Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
. Known as "America's premier short track", it formerly hosted a NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series i ...
race, an
IndyCar Series
The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...
race and two
USAC sprint car races.
Entry list
The preliminary entry list for the race included 41 cars and was released on September 5, 2016 at 12:07 p.m. Eastern time.
Practice
First practice
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and par ...
was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 22.318 and a speed of .
Final practice
Casey Mears
Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978) is an American professional off-road racing, off-road and stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang, Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Garage 66. He ...
was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.396 and a speed of .
Qualifying
Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...
scored the pole for the race with a time of 22.069 and a speed of . Asked why it took so long in the season to get a pole, Hamlin said he had "no idea. We were second and third so many times it was crazy. We were actually looking at the rainouts and were like, ‘We’re going to start seventh because of the rainouts. It hurts our average.’” He also added that Richmond was his "hometown (being from nearby
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is a County (United States), county located just south of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north an ...
), so I’d probably be a little more aggressive than I would at any other racetrack, but ultimately this race isn’t going to make or break a championship run for us, but it surely would do a whole lot for momentum and feel-good going into the Chase if we could win."
Qualifying results
Race
First half
Under mostly clear evening
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
skies,
Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...
led the field to the green flag at 7:47.
Ryan Blaney
Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske. He i ...
brought out the first caution of the race on lap 10 after suffering a tire blowout and slamming the wall in turn 1.
The race restarted on lap 16. The field settled into place and rode around the track.
Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Camry XSE for Tricon Garage. He is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series ...
took the lead from Hamlin on lap 52. The second caution of the race flew on lap 85 for
A. J. Allmendinger
Anthony James Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981), nicknamed "the Dinger,” is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet ZL1 for Kaulig Racing.
Allmendinger ...
spinning out in turn 4.
Kurt Busch
Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...
exited pit road with the race lead after missing his pit stall. He came back in and the lead went to Hamlin. During the caution,
Greg Biffle
Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969), nicknamed "the Biff", is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver.
After racing in the NASCAR Winter Heat Series in the mid-1990s, he was recommended to Jack Roush by former race ...
got into and turned
Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...
on pit road.
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...
and
Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American professional dirt track racing and stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet SS for Richard Childress Racing. Currently, K ...
were sent to the tail end of the field for speeding on pit road.
The race restarted on lap 92. The third caution of the race flew on lap 96 for
Chase Elliott
William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Hendrick Mo ...
suffering a tire blowout and slamming the wall on the frontstretch.
The race restarted on lap 100. For the next 102 laps, the race ran green. Truex took back the race lead on the restart and held it until Johnson suffered a tire blowout, slammed the turn 1 wall and brought out the fourth caution of the race on lap 202.
Second half

The race restarted on lap 212. Debris on the frontstretch brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 223.
Brad Keselowski
Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, a te ...
was sent to the tail end of the field for speeding.
The race restarted on lap 228.
Kurt Busch
Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...
held the lead for two laps before Truex took it back.
Matt Kenseth
Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and the current competition advisor for Legacy Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series. Most recently, he raced part-time in the Superstar Racing Exper ...
took the lead from Truex on lap 246 as the sixth caution of the race flew for
David Ragan
David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on ...
suffering a tire blowout and slamming the wall in turn 1.
Regan Smith opted not to pit when the lead lap cars did and assumed the lead, but came down two laps later and handed the lead to Hamlin. Five drivers were sent to the rear for various penalties during the caution:
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''.
He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...
and Ragan for speeding,
Aric Almirola
Aric Michael Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Almirola previously compete ...
and Kenseth for a pit box violation, and
Brian Scott
Brian Joseph Scott (born January 12, 1988) is an American former professional stock car racing driver.
Racing career Beginnings
Scott has been racing competitively since the age of 12. One of his early career highlights came at the 360 Nationals ...
for too many crew members over the wall.
The race restarted on lap 251. The seventh caution of the race flew on lap 266 for
Paul Menard
John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who currently competes full-time in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 3 Ford Mustang for 3GT Racing. Menard is the 2024 Trans-Am ...
rear-ending the wall in turn 2. He went on to finish 40th.
Kyle Larson
Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. ...
exited pit road with the race lead.
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver and model. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win ...
(commitment line violation) and Truex (speeding) were sent to the tail end of the field for pit road infractions.
The race restarted on lap 272. Hamlin powered by Larson to retake the lead on lap 273. The eighth caution of the race flew on lap 280 for a single-car wreck involving
Casey Mears
Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978) is an American professional off-road racing, off-road and stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang, Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Garage 66. He ...
in turn 3.
The race restarted on lap 285. The ninth caution of the race flew on lap 292 after
Michael Annett
Michael Wayne Annett (born June 23, 1986) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports.
Racing career
Early career
Save for a fe ...
suffered a tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 2. Larson exited pit road with the race lead.
The race restarted with 104 laps to go. Truex worked his way back to the lead with 96 laps to go. The 10th caution of the race flew with 78 laps to go for a single-car wreck in turn 2 involving
Carl Edwards
Carl Michael Edwards Jr. (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current analyst for ''NASCAR on Prime Video''.
He last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No ...
. Hamlin exited pit road with the race lead.
Ryan Newman (speeding) and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (pit box violation) were sent to the tail end of the field for pit road infractions.
The race restarted with 73 laps to go. The 11th caution of the race flew with 71 laps to go for Allmendinger slamming the wall in turn 1.
The race restarted with 67 laps to go. The 12th caution of the race flew with 63 laps to go for Kenseth slamming the wall in turn 2. This came after contact with Keselowski on the previous restart. Kenseth said after the race that he was sure Keselowski would "send a Tweet out or go on a TV show and explain how it wasn't his fault. But he knows better than that. He knows his angle was bad and he just drove way up in the corner because he made a mistake and he was trying to make up for it and had no respect for anybody on the outside lane. Unfortunately, we had a wrecked car because of it." Keselowski said he "just missed a shift and ruined Matt's day. ... I made a mistake, and it was kind of crappy for everyone. Hopefully, he’ll accept the apology. … That’s not what anybody wants to see, including myself.”
The race restarted with 56 laps to go. The 13th caution of the race flew with 53 laps to go for Allmendinger wrecking on the fronstretch.
The race restarted with 49 laps to go. The 14th caution of the race flew with 45 laps to go for
Matt DiBenedetto
Matthew Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Viking Motorsports.
...
suffering a tire blowout and slamming the wall in turn 3.
The race restarted with 38 laps to go. The 15th caution of the race flew with 36 laps to go for an eight-car wreck in turn 3. It started when Stewart came down across the nose of Newman's car and sent both of them into the wall. As they continued traveling, more cars were collected as Ragan slammed into the back of Newman's car, Scott slammed into Ragan's car and
Dylan Lupton
Dylan Jarin Lupton (born December 7, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for AM Racing, p ...
got into Newman and his car ended up off the ground. Newman said afterwards that Stewart "has got issues. We all know he’s got issues. He proved it again tonight. I was clearly inside of him getting into Turn 1, he cut across my nose, I was on the brakes, on the apron and I hit him coming off of Turn 2, but only because I got loose, I was on the apron. The next thing I know he is driving across my nose on the back straightaway because he’s Tony Stewart and he thinks he owns everything. It’s unfortunate, but shouldn’t expect anything less from him.” Stewart responded to Newman's comments saying his former teammate "had to press the issue tonight and put himself in a couple of bad spots. There’s 39 other guys you can put yourself in bad spots with. Don’t put yourself in a bad spot with me and don’t start shoving me around the racetrack because he knows from experience I don’t put up with it.” “It’s an important race," Stewart added. "He was in a pressure situation coming into here and I had nothing to do with the first 25 races to put him in a pressure situation. You expect to get run into once or twice but the third time’s the charm and that’s when I had enough of it. I wrecked myself doing it. So it wasn’t like I didn’t wreck myself doing it. I’m not really sure that I’m going to lose a lot of sleep over his opinion.”
The red flag then came out to ensue to facilitate cleanup around the track, After 20 minutes and 23 seconds, the red flag was lifted and the field continued under caution.
The race restarted with 31 laps to go. Hamlin was pulling away from the field and had the race all but locked up until Smith suffered a tire blowout, slammed the wall in turn 3 and brought out the 16th caution of the race with two laps to go.
Overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
*by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
The race restarted with two laps to go, six laps past the 400 lap advertised distance, and Hamlin scored the victory while Kurt Busch spun out coming to the overtime line.
Post-race
Driver comments
Hamlin said in victory lane that winning the race "feels great. I’ll tell you, our cars were really running well.
Wheels
A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axl ...
and the whole group just gave me a great car. Really got it tuned in there the last half of the race. Just good restarts, finally everything just kind of worked well for us all day. I didn’t think staying out was the right thing to do, but great call there, and actually, I got this from one of our Toyota guests on his birthday day today. He gave me this. He said it helped him get through tough times, so kept that in the car, and thank Eli for that.”
Race results
Race summary
* Lead changes: 7 among different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 16 for 89
* Red flags: 1 for 20 minutes and 23 seconds
* Time of race: 3 hours, 31 minutes and 33 seconds
* Average speed:
Media
Television
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
covered the race on the television side.
Rick Allen,
Jeff Burton
Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed "the Mayor", is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is a member of the Burton racing family. He scored 23 career victories in the NASCAR ...
and
Steve Letarte
Steven Letarte (born May 14, 1979) is an American professional NASCAR crew chief and TV sportscaster who works as a color commentator for ''Amazon Prime'', ''TNT'' and ''NASCAR on NBC''. He also works as a consultant for Spire Motorsports, a ...
had the call in the booth for the race.
Dave Burns,
Mike Massaro
Michael Massaro (born August 7, 1970) is an American sportscaster and journalist. He has worked for RFK Racing in their Marketing and Communications department since 2025. He previously worked as a pit reporter and host for '' NASCAR on ESPN'' ...
, Marty Snider and
Kelli Stavast
Kelli L. Stavast is an American sportscaster who formerly worked for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for both their NASCAR (in both the Cup and Xfinity Series) and IndyCar Series coverage. She has reported for numerous other forms of motorspor ...
reported from pit lane during the race.
Radio
The
Motor Racing Network
Motor Racing Network (MRN) is an American radio network that syndicates broadcasts of auto racing events, particularly NASCAR. MRN was founded in 1970 by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. and broadcaster Ken Squier, and is a wholly owned subsidiary ...
had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
Standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings after Chase reset
;Manufacturers' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the first sixteen positions are included for the driver standings.
References
{{2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup
Federated Auto Parts 400 Cook Out 400 may refer to:
* Cook Out 400 (Martinsville), at Martinsville Speedway.
* Cook Out 400 (Richmond)
The Cook Out 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, through 2024 being ...
Federated Auto Parts 400 Cook Out 400 may refer to:
* Cook Out 400 (Martinsville), at Martinsville Speedway.
* Cook Out 400 (Richmond)
The Cook Out 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, through 2024 being ...
NASCAR races at Richmond Raceway
Federated Auto Parts 400 Cook Out 400 may refer to:
* Cook Out 400 (Martinsville), at Martinsville Speedway.
* Cook Out 400 (Richmond)
The Cook Out 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, through 2024 being ...