Crown Royal Presents Dan Lowry 400 Race Review

Richmond International Raceway -- 05/03/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday May 4 2008 1:26am

There might be two months until the Fourth of July, but in NASCAR the fireworks have already started.

Saturday night's Cup race at Richmond was dominated by one driver for 381 of the scheduled 400 laps, but was punctuated by brief episodes of complete mayhem.

Epitomizing the NASCAR truism that the fastest car doesn't always win the race, Denny Hamlin, winner of Friday's Nationwide race, set a record for laps led and appeared untouchable until lap 379, when he felt a tire starting to go down.

As he fell backwards through the field, Hamlin was passed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin's teammate Kyle Busch, and Clint Bowyer.

Earnhardt Jr. started to pull away from Busch, but Hamlin stayed on the track rather than coming to pit road in an apparent attempt to bring out a caution that would allow Busch to catch Junior - which is precisely what happened on lap 391. Hamlin was given a two-lap penalty by NASCAR for the ploy.

When the race restarted on 395, the running order was Earnhardt Jr., Busch, Bowyer, Mark Martin, and Tony Stewart.

Earnhardt and Busch were battling side-by-side at lap 397 when Busch got under Earnhardt and turned up into him, putting the 88 car in the wall. As the caution came out, Clint Bowyer assumed the lead.

Junior pitted for repairs and restarted 16th. Bowyer went on to win the green-white-checkered finish, followed by Busch, Martin, Stewart, and Martin Truex Jr.

Busch, who'd already had a controversial finish in Friday's NWS race, characterized the incident with Earnhardt as a racing deal, saying, "We just didn't give each other enough room getting into turn three, and I didn't feel like I slipped, but, I mean, we just kind of banged simultaneously and then that's when I got loose and got corrected and he was gone."

The incident drew immediate outrage from the Junior Nation, who pelted the track with cans aimed in Busch's direction. Winner Clint Bowyer tried to make light of the chaos in his post-race interview, referring to the security officer who accompanied him to the media center: "The cops were out there and I said, 'I don't know why you need to escort me. You need to be escorting Kyle Busch out of here.' "

For his part, Earnhardt Jr. gave Busch the benefit of the doubt, though he hadn't yet seen a replay of the incident: "I got a great run around one and two, and he nearly got by me. He gave me room off the outside of two, so I wouldn't say that was intentional going into three - because if he had wanted to, he could have just thrown me in the fence off two."

Bowyer's 31st-place starting spot was the furthest back for any race winner at Richmond. Jeff Gordon also had an impressive move through the field, starting from the back after changing a starter before the race and battling an ill-handling car all day to finish in the top 10.

Of course, it didn't hurt Bowyer, Gordon, and others who drove from back to front that a number of cars were involved in a wild wreck at lap 229, set off when J.J. Yeley brushed the wall and cars started to pile up behind him. Among those damaged or taken out were Yeley, Patrick Carpentier, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael McDowell, Johnny Sauter, Regan Smith, David Gilliland and Jeff Burton.

Other drivers caught up in smaller skirmishes included A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, and Michael Waltrip, who was parked by NASCAR on lap 355 for rough driving.

Rounding out the top 10 in the finishing order were Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne. Earnhardt Jr. finished 15th and Denny Hamlin 24th. Regan Smith was the highest-finishing rookie at 21st.

Kyle Busch's second-place finish moved him into the points lead, now 18 points ahead of Jeff Burton, who finished 11th. Earnhardt Jr. held on to third in the points, Clint Bowyer moved up three spots for fourth, and Kevin Harvick climbed one spot to fifth.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who had joined the top 12 last week after a strong run in Talladega, fell out this week after finishing 32nd in Richmond.

Jeff Gordon gained a spot and is now in 13th, just six points behind Kasey Kahne in 12th.

It's more Saturday night action next weekend as the series travels to Darlington Raceway, one of NASCAR's most historic venues.