Richmond Racing

   It was an exciting race Saturday night at Richmond. 400 laps, 43 cars, and 1 winner. Dale Earnhardt Jr. clocked in the fastest lap in the first practice session, then Juan-Pablo Montoya not only was fastest in the final practice, but he won his 7th career pole as well. Despite the impressive pole award I did not expect Montoya to finish in the top 10, there are too many drivers that can be competitive at Richmond. The favorites to win that were well documented in the pre-race show were Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.


Fast Facts
Hamlin: Has 2 victories at Richmond in the Nationwide Series, and 2 in the Sprint Cup series
Kyle Busch: Has won this event 2 times in a row (before the race on Saturday)
Jeff Gordon: Has led more laps at Richmond than any other active race car driver in NASCAR
Montoya: Has finished 2nd three times on an oval track, he has only won in NASCAR on a road course
Clint Bowyer: Former Richmond winner
Earnhardt Jr: Came to Richmond on Saturday 3rd in the point standings

   Clint Bowyer qualified 2nd, Mark Martin qualified 5th, and Jeff Gordon qualified 6th. These three drivers raced in the top 5 for the majority of the race while Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Burton slowly fought their way to the front as expected. Jimmie Johnson who qualified 30th struggled all race long and for a lot of laps I thought he was never going to get back on the lead lap. Jimmie seems to always find a way to be consistent even when off to a horrible start, he is like Kevin Harvick in that sense. On lap 300 a multi-car crash ended Jeff Gordon's day with an evil bang. The 4-time champion had a top 5 car all race long, it was a shame to see him finish in 39th place. Not much justice for the #24 team so far this season. Kasey Kahne was another driver that I figured like Montoya would slowly drift towards the back of the competition as the drivers continued to get chances to adjust their handling issues, and for a while it looked this way. Kasey qualified 4th and earned an impressive 3rd place finish, right behind the two Joe Gibbs Racing cars.

   I expected Kyle Busch to be fast and a contender for the victory at the end, but I was certain either Clint Bowyer or Denny Hamlin had a few more tricks up their sleeves. Kyle has now won this event three times in a row, I continue to be impressed by "Rowdy" Busch. Denny Hamlin won the Nationwide Series race at Richmond on Friday, I knew there was a tremendous chance for him to win both events this weekend. What can I say about David Ragan except "Where the heck did this come from?". It was probably the best performance I have seen from this young man, David raced in the top 15 all evening long and never looked back. After a couple long green flag runs it becomes hard to stay on the lead lap when certain cars will be good at cleanly passing cars that have been lapped by the leader. A solid job for the top 9 finishers from Richmond, they were able to survive and finish on the lead lap. I continue to be impressed by the short track talents of Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick.

Richmond Results:
1. Kyle Busch #18
2. Denny Hamlin #11
3. Kasey Kahne #4
4. David Ragan #6
5. Carl Edwards #99
6. Clint Bowyer #33
7. A.J. Allmendinger #43
8. Jimmie Johnson #48
9. Tony Stewart #14
10. Brian Vickers #83 -1 lap down



Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/2011_Crown_Royal_400
Written by: Tyler McMurter