NASCAR AMERICA: Clint Bowyer faces virtual must-win at Richmond (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

Last weekend’s 38th-place finish at Atlanta (broken shifter, transmission) has left Clint Bowyer with one last chance to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup: Winning Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season finale at Richmond International Raceway.

Bowyer can still make the Chase on points alone. But at 23 points behind 16th-place Greg Biffle on the Chase Grid, he pretty much has to go for the victory from sixth on the grid in the Federated Auto Parts 400.

Luckily for Bowyer, Richmond has been a happy hunting ground for him. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver has won a pair of Sprint Cup races there.

“If I could ever pick a track that I had to go to that I had to try to fight my way into this Chase, it’s this one,” Bowyer said today to reporters at RIR. “This is one of my best tracks. I love this place and love racing here and competing here.

“Hopefully, she’ll be good to me one more time.”

One year after the race manipulation scandal at Richmond that involved him and MWR, Bowyer will be in the spotlight again. But he’s in no mood to revisit the event and the impact that it had on him.

He has other things to worry about.

“…Why you [in the media] choose to be hung up on things that happened a year ago is beyond me,” he said. “I’m here out of desperation to try to race my way in.”

NASCAR AMERICA’s Leigh Diffey and Kyle Petty talked about Bowyer’s chances at Richmond in today’s show. You can hear their thoughts in the clip above.

Follow @estradawriting

In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

Read more about SuperMotocross