The 2001 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the 11th stock car race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 47th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, May 5, 2001, in Richmond, Virginia, at Richmond International Raceway, a 0.75 miles (1.21 km) D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Tony Stewart, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would hold off the field on the final restart with two to go to win his 10th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series win and his first of the season. To fill out the podium, Jeff Gordon, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, and Rusty Wallace, driving for Penske Racing South, would finish second and third, respectively.

The Toyota Owners 400 is a 400 lap NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. From 2007 to 2011, former race title sponsor Crown Royal named the race after the winner of an essay contest during Daytona Speedweeks. The winner of the first essay contest was Jim Stewart from Houma, Louisiana, with subsequent contests won by Dan Lowry of Columbiana, Ohio, and Russ Friedman of Huntington, New York, with the 2010 race being named for Army veteran Heath Calhoun of Clarksville, Tennessee. Since 2010 only military service members have been eligible to win the contest. Crown Royal moved the "Your Name Here" sponsorship to the Brickyard 400 beginning in 2012.