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Sparks Fly At Richmond (Richmond At A Glance)by Mike Wells ~ May 4th, 2008. Filed under: Water From The Well(s). |
Hamlin leads 380 of 400, Kyle spins Jr, 11 car pile up and sparks fly! Gordon fights back to finish 9th from a 43rd starting position! Tony Stewart’s jack man slides across the hood holding the jack… If you missed this race, you need to kick yourself!
Denny Hamlin was in the driver seat for a side-by-side showdown under the lights. He was coming in the winner of the Nationwide Series race when leaders Edwards and Harvick did not take tires while Hamlin did during the final caution. That move allowed him to storm by the two of them for the win. Hamlin was also the pole winner for this race.
Folks this kid was dominating the race, first one out of the pits every time, getting perfect restarts and led 380 of 400 laps. The kicker is, he didn’t win. If you have to ask why, you must have missed the race, so I will fill you in below in a quick glance at Richmond.
Pre-race note;
Jeff Gordon starts in 43rd due to a starter malfunction. This being an impound race, he had to start at the rear after taking care of this issue.
* Right out of the gate sparks were flyin’ as the cars circled the track bouncing against the track.
* By the first commercial break Hamlin was leading all the laps (15) and Jeff Gordon had moved up 3 spots to 40th
* Lap 27 Jeff Gordon was up to 38th position
* Lap 56 , Hamlin still leading
* A tire goes soft, car goes into the wall bringing out the first caution of the night caused by Johnny Sauter. Pit road very busy.
Dale Jr said he was tight in the center, free in and free off.
Hamlin said he needed help off the corners so they dropped air pressure in the rear tires and raised the track bar.
Brian Vickers got the free pass
* Restart at lap 72
* Lap 90, at this point Hamlin and Martin are dominating the race.
* Lap 99 Gibbs had 3 cars in the top 10.
Hamlin 1st
Kyle 3rd
Tony 9th
* Lap 100 31 cars were on the lead lap
* Clint Bowyer was bumping his way towards the front. He apologized for the “Sheetmetal Kisses” he was giving the drivers on the way through.
* 109 laps in and yes, Hamlin still leading every lap
* Debris on the backstretch causes the 2nd caution of the night @ lap 128
* Hamlin just barely beats Martin off of pit road
* Montoya spins out @ lap 140 bringing out the 3rd caution of the night.
Jeff Gordon gets the free pass. Hamlin has still lead every lap.
Tony’s jack man pulls off a “Bo and Luke Duke hood slide” while holding the jack as Tony comes into his pit stall. He was able to get both sides of the car up fine. Pulling out of his pit stall, he bumps the #41 as if to say “Move up more next time”
* Lap 155 Hamlin still leading
* Jeff Gordon makes it up to 18th by lap 166 and 15th by lap 175
* 1/2 way point, Hamlin still leads.
* Regan Smith and Almindinger bring out the 4th caution. Hamlin slams on brakes to avoid hitting them as he entered the cloud of smoke.
* Hamlin wins the race off of pit road again, this time with Kyle gaining a spot over Martin.
* Hamlin gains 5 more points for leading the most laps.
* 5th caution comes when Menard ties up with Vickers. Gilliland forced Menard into Vickers and there was nowhere for him to go.
* THE BIG ONE @ lap 231…
11 car pile up. Involved was;
Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Juan Montoya, Carpentier, Sauter, Gililand, McDowell, Regan Smith and Yeley. This brings out the RED flag.
* After the red flag Dale Jr goes with a track bar adjustment.
* Lap 243 Jeff Gordon makes it up to 5th position
* Lap 247 Hamlin, Kyle and Martin continue to dominate
* Almendinger and McDowell crash bringing out the 7th caution.
* 116 to go and Hamlin has led all laps except one during a caution
* The biggest movers with 75 laps to go were;
Jeff Gordon +33
Bowyer +26
Labonte +23
* 68 laps to go and Dale Jr’s lap times mirror Hamlin’s
* 46 laps to go when Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip get tangled up together. This is the 8th caution. Sorenson gets the free pass.
* Hamlin comes out of the pits 1st again
The next four also come out as they went in.
Kyle Busch
Dale Jr
Martin
Bowyer
* 35 laps to go Jamie McMurray spins into the wall for the 9th caution
* Turn of events. Hamlin fears he has a flat and Dale Jr takes the lead
* Hamlin’s fear was right, he blows that tire bringing out the 10th caution of the night
* Dale Jr and Kyle fight it out with just 3 laps to go! Side by side! Little givin’ and a little takin’. Kyle gets into the rear of Jr’s #88 and spins Jr towards the wall allowing Bowyer to take the lead as the caution comes out!
* Now we are down to the final 2 lap shot out. Bowyer, Kyle, Martin and Stewart. As Kyle and Martin fight it out for 2nd Bowyer hangs on to take the checkered
After the race notes;
Kyle said “It was just a bummer deal, we were both racin’ hard there you know… ” ” …you know Jr and I were just racin’ hard there gettin’ in to turn 3. From the front end replay it looked like HE came down a little bit lower getting into the corner. He probably could’ve moved up a little bit higher. It’s just a product of hard racing.”
When asked was that a fair move by Kyle Busch and would he need security to lead him out of Richmond, Jr said “Whether it’s fair or not, he’s gonna need security from all of us!”
This gives Jr his 72nd race in a row without a victory and he was so close.
Hamlin’s thoughts on the race “God didn’t want me to win today, there’s a better time for us to win evidently and uh, today was not our day…”
May 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I think that Kyle, or Baby Brat as I like to call him needs to learn how to drive. Dale gave him plenty of room and while it was a racing deal, it could have been avoided. Kyle Bush needs to learn how to drive smarter and not so wrecklessly and can understand why Junior nation was furious and I am sure that security got him out of there before the nation got to him, but he should just be ware that Darlington is around the corner.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Nice summary of the race. But to be fair, during Kyle’s on-camera comments after the race, when he said that Junior could have gone a little higher, he also said, “maybe I could have gone a little lower.”
Also, I have seen some sites that try and make something out of the fact that Kyle’s wheels turned slightly right just before his car hit Junior’s. Anyone who has ever learned car control knows that if your back end skids out to the right (which it tends to do if you get loose on a corner when you’re underneath another car) you turn the wheel INTO the skid (to the right), to regain control and, if you’re as good a driver as Kyle Busch, to hopefully prevent the back end from getting completely away. He also clearly backed out of the throttle at the same time, which is also an indication that he was loose in the corner. I guarantee you that if Tony Eury, Jr., thought it was just a racing incident, then it probably was. It sure looked that way to people who actually race.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Also, for Lin, you should know that Dale did not give Kyle “plenty of room”. His line through that corner was lower than previously and had the look of someone who was trying to block a pass (a legal move in NASCAR, but not in most open wheel series). And yes, the accident could have been avoided, but not during the final 3 laps of a short track race. Avoiding it would have required different actions by both Dale and Kyle and neither were going to give the required space that close to the end of the race and neither thought (or intended) the outcome was going to be a wrecked out Dale, Jr.