FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. (May 2) — Mark Richards didn’t want the picture to go public. Once it did, he realized he should have had a cover over the car as it sat in his Rocket Chassis shop in Shinnston, W.Va.

So last week the Rocket Chassis co-owner had to deal with questions and speculation regarding the photo posted on social media of a Rocket No. 1 machine that sported a blue and Day-Glo orange color scheme and carried the name Josh Richards, Mark’s son who has been inactive as a driver since November 2022.

Rumors of Josh Richards’s potential return to run a limited schedule this season have been bubbling across the circuit since late last year, but the photo represented the first concrete evidence that the five-time national champion who turned 37 in March just might climb back behind the wheel.

As Mark Richards’s Rocket1 team was prepping to run Saturday’s Dairyland Showdown finale on the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series with Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill. — after making the long overnight haul from Circle City’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Friday — the team owner officially addressed the whirlwind surrounding his son’s possible comeback.

The gist of the situation? Yes, he’s built a car for Josh, but it’s still to be determined if he’ll run it in competition.

“We’re going to test somewhere with Josh sometime at the end of May,” said Mark Richards, noting that his team will be very busy racing this month. “We’ll see how he feels and go from there.”

No specific race has been pinpointed for a Josh Richards return. No schedule or number of starts has been discussed. Mark Richards said everything will be up to Josh, who lives in western Ohio with his wife, Andrea, and has largely been absent from racing since deciding to put his standout career on hiatus following the 2022 season.

As for how the photo of Josh’s car filtered out to social media, Mark Richards said he determined that with some “detective work,” he quipped with a smile.

Long story short: checking the Rocket shop’s security tapes found the visiting customer who had snapped the picture, and more investigation uncovered the likely path the photo took to appearing on social media.