Richmond Crown Royal 400
Just days before the 53rd running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway, American heroes were honored by Crown Royal and the NASCAR community during a patriotic ceremony where country music star Rodney Atkins unveiled United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant (SSgt.) Matthew Hansen as the grand-prize winner of the annual Crown Royal “Your Name Here” 400 program.
Traditionally, the race at Richmond International Raceway has donned the first and last name of the grand-prize winner, but the April 30th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will not just recognize Matthew, but also his identical twin brother and fellow Marine, Daniel, who was killed in action Feb. 14th, 2009. Forty-three of NASCAR’s finest drivers will compete for the Crown Royal Presents the Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400 trophy.
The Crown Royal 400 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup stock car race held at the Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.
Crown Royal Richmond 400
2011 Crown Royal Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400
Sat, April 30, 2011
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond, Virginia
Defending champion: Kyle Busch
Corporate sponsor: Crown Royal
First race: 1953
For several years prior, Crown Royal 400 was held as a daytime race event, the weekend following the Daytona 500 in February. Then the lights were installed, but the race remained during the day. The cold weather, even snow delay in 1989 forced the race to take place in early spring. Now this race is finally placed at May, since 1999. The first time this race was aired in network television happened in 2007 for Fox.
The Sat. April 30th, 2011 Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway will be called the Crown Royal Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400.
Crown Royal race sponsor has a contest which honors one lucky winner by naming the race after “The Crown Royal”. “Presents the Your Name Here 400” is a new name race method that has been happening since 2007 by an essay contest during Daytona Speedweeks in order to select the name. And this year has been named Heath Calhoun 400 in order to an Army veteran Heath Calhoun of Clarksville, Tennessee.
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond International is a short track that drives like a superspeedway. Side-by-Side all night long is possible. A faster driver has a lane to move up or down and get the pass done. The racing is tight and fast and the finishes are usually exciting. Saturday night racing under the lights in Richmond is NASCAR at its best.
The 3/4-mile D-shaped oval has just 14 degrees of banking in the corners but it is enough banking to provide great racing. While the other short tracks on the circuit (Martinsville and Bristol) tend to force drivers to hug the inside line to be fast, Richmond has multiple grooves. Drivers can run side-by-side for laps on end with no clear advantage to either lane.
Richmond Crown Royal 400 previous names:
- Richmond 200 (1953, 1955-1957, 1960-1961)
- Richmond 100 (1959)
- Richmond 250 (1962-1968)
- Richmond 500 (1969-1975)
- Richmond 400 (1976-1983)
- Miller High Life 400 (1984-1987)
- Pontiac Excitement 400 (1988-2003)
- Chevy American Revolution 400 (2004-2005)
- Crown Royal 400 (2006)
- Crown Royal presents the Your Name Here 400 (2007-present)
Crown Royal Richmond 400 Results
2011 Crown Royal Presents the Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400 Winner
It was Joe Gibbs Racing with a one, two finish at Richmond International Raceway, as Kyle Busch took the checkered flag (almost 2 seconds) ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin to win the NSCS Crown Royal presents the Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400.
Busch, who led 235 laps of the 400 that were run, received his 2nd series win of the 2011 season, his 21st series career win and his 3rd series win at RIR
2010 Heath Calhaun 400 Winner
Kyle Busch Returns to Victory Lane at Richmond With Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 Win. Kyle Busch celebrates with an impressive burnout after winning the Crown Royal. Kyle Busch snapped a 21-race losing streak — an eternity by his standards — with a late-race pass at Richmond International Raceway that denied Jeff Gordon yet another victory.
2009 The Russ Friedman 400 Winner:
Kyle Busch won the 400 lap race in his Toyota, with Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, and Ryan Newman following. In total, there were 15 caution flags during the course of the race. Busch also won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race the previous day.
