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Saturday’s Richmond race provided almost enough excitement to cover for the lack thereof in a few other races this season. The first half of the race did not as much follow that script, as Denny Hamlin led nearly every lap and there were few cautions.

Just past the race’s 2nd half, on lap 233, 11 cars, including those of Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Juan Pablo Montoya were involved in a crash, bringing out a red flag. Despite those big names being taken out of the race, the only three in the whole race that mattered were Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Virginia native Hamlin, winner of Friday’s Nationwide Series race, led 381 of the 400 laps, (the first 206 and then from laps 208-382), before a tire leak allowed Earnhardt Jr. and Busch to pass him. Hamlin, who wanted to win at this track more than any other, because of its proximity to his hometown Chesterfield, surrendered the lead to Junior, who last won two years ago at the track, and was just as hungry for a win. He seemed to be in the right position.

Junior led for 15 laps, until Hamlin intentionally stopped his car on the track to bring out a caution. Some speculate that he did this to erase Junior’s lead over his teammate, Kyle Busch. After the next restart, Busch made a gutsy move under Junior in turn two, got loose, and sent the #88 Chevy into the wall, eliminating Junior’s chances at a win. Clint Bowyer snuck under Kyle Busch during the wreck, gained the lead, and kept it during the green-white-checkered finish, for his 2nd career win.
The barrage of Junior fans, so elated with his near win, turned to fist-pumping and name calling at young Busch. Instead of being apologetic, Busch waved off the criticism.

“Junior and I were just racing hard into Turn 3,” Busch said after the race. “It was just a product of good, hard racing. If I had wanted to do it deliberately, I would have waited till the last lap, when I probably still could have won the race.”

Junior seemed to agree that Busch did not intentionally wreck him, but still was very disappointed with the finish, saying that he had a top-3 car all night and deserved to finish there.

“We’d been racing each other before, and we had no problem. I’ve been priding myself on running good all year, and [Saturday night] we got wrecked. It’s disappointing.”

The Junior-Busch tangle was not the only mix-up during the Richmond race…

NASCAR not levying penalties after Richmond wrecks

NASCAR may be keeping their promise to let drivers show more personality and be less politically correct. The sanctioning body has decided not to levy additional penalties against drivers for Richmond infractions, besides the in-race penalties they received.

Casey Mears drove into Michael Waltrip late in the race, prompting Waltrip to ram Mears from behind, careening both into the wall. Officials parked him for the remainder of the race.

Denny Hamlin also received a penalty for intentionally stopping his car on the track, after it lost a tire.

Georgia boys not too bad in Richmond brouhaha

Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson’s dismal season may be turning a corner. In the 2nd race after swapping crew chiefs with Ganassi teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, thus gaining Donnie Wingo atop the Target pit box, Reed piloted the #41 Dodge to at 12th place finish at the track. He still sits 31st in the points. More rumors surfaces this week questioning whether or not Target would remain with the team or in the sport next season.

#6 AAA Ford driver David Ragan started well in the Crown Royal presents the Don Lowry 400, fell far back in the pack after damaging his car, but rebounded to a 17th place finish. He now sits 14th in the standings, just 50 points behind Jeff Gordon and 56 points out of Chase contention. Bill Elliott did not race last weekend.

In the Nationwide Series race, Ragan finished 4th, solidly remaining in the top-5 in the Series standings. The Truck Series was off last weekend and will not race until next week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The Tony Stewart rumor mill continues

At a press conference during the Lowe’s Motor Speedway testing sessions this past week, Tony Stewart still had nothing solid to offer to the public, regarding his future plans.

Media members asked him a questions ranging from his views on Toyota to his desire to run IRL and the Indy 500. On the latter, he had something solid to offer.

“If I was going to come to Indianapolis again, I don’t want to come and show up for the month of May,” he said. “If I am going to do it, I need to start at Homestead. I need to run all of the races leading up to the month of May to really feel like I am being fair to the team and being fair to myself. … As long as I’m driving a stock car that basically takes that part of it out of the equation.”

This statement leaves his future wide open, as to whether or not he will remain at Gibbs, drive for and/or own another team, or leave NASCAR altogether and go to IRL. A rumor surfaced earlier this week that he and sponsor Bass Pro Shops may team up. Stay tuned here for further updates.

In other Silly Season news…

Martin Truex Jr.’s future at DEI is still up in the air. Gossip floating around the garage mentions Truex possibly going to a 4th Penske team. DEI does wish to keep the driver. If Truex exercises an option in his contract, he will remain with the team.

UPS says it has not yet had discussions with other teams about sponsorship for 2009. Carl Edwards seems to be the leading candidate to have that sponsor on the #99 car. Office Depot, Edwards’ current sponsor, may not be able to afford primary sponsorship on his car, meaning they could be in the market to fund another team.

PRN and MRN settle New Hampshire squabble

When Speedway Motorsports, Inc. bought New Hampshire International Speedway late last year, one issue that had to be ironed out was who would get to broadcast the races.

Motor Racing Network had the broadcasting rights prior to the purchase, but Performance Racing Network broadcasts all Speedway Motorsports races. PRN officials assumed that they had the rights to broadcast the coming race, but MRN had already sold advertising for the race.

According to the agreement, MRN will air the June race and PRN will then take over the duties for the September race and beyond.

Lowe’s Testing leaves some teams ready for the big race

With NASCAR giving the green light for teams to test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, teams headed to the Charlotte track this past Monday and Tuesday to try the track. Overall, Elliott Sadler recorded the fastest speed of the test in the 1st evening session at 186.245 mph. Following him were Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, A.J. Allmendinger, and Scott Riggs. David Ragan’s fastest speed was 32nd fastest and Reed Sorenson scored in just behind him in 35th.

Entry blank changes for the top-two series

The Nationwide Series race at Darlington will display a sign of the economic times, as the RCR #21 Chevy will not compete. The team has been unsponsored all season, despite being a championship-winning team in 2006 and being a contending team for the better part of this decade. Bobby Labonte was scheduled to drive the car.

A last minute change to the entry blank in the Cup Series has Johnny Sauter in the Hass-CNC #70 Chevy, instead of Ken Schrader.

Sterling Marlin is the driver of the #40 Chip Ganassi Dodge this weekend, the team he enjoyed the most success with. He is filling in for the injured Dario Franchitti, who broke his ankle in a Talladega Nationwide Series crash two weeks ago. He is still listed as week-to-week, as he is being fitted for a carbon-fiber brace.

Chase Miller will drive the #9 Motorola/Verizon Dodge for Gillette-Evernham Motorsports Dodge in the Nationwide Series race this weekend.

For live updates of NASCAR’s top-two series at Darlington, tune in to the Bellamy Strickland 120 with Captain Herb Emory, on News/Talk 750 WSB and online at wsbradio.com, this Saturday from 2-4 p.m.