Spring in Richmond means 2 things. The azaleas blooming at Augusta National and Kyle Busch celebrating his birthday with another dominating victory at Crown Royal 400.
Undoubtedly Kyle Busch's Bristol and Richmond winning traditions, makes him every statistics fan favorite driver, but Kyle Busch in his 3rd consecutive victory at Richmond International Raceway had to dominate over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin who has also won the past two fall races. Although he led 235 of the 400 laps, including the final 84, Busch’s victory came this time, right in the fuel edge as both Joe Gibbs teammates conserved fuel since their pitstop on lap 293/400 but Kyle was found unable to complete his post-race celebration burnout.
“We were late to the celebration. This is pretty awesome. We had a really good car, and we knew that if we could play through traffic a little bit better than the 11 [Hamlin] that we had a shot at the win, and we did that [Saturday night]. I learned from Denny Hamlin last fall -- and I'm not going to say what I learned, but he might know. We did a good job of doing what we needed to do early in the run, and once we got out [front] and had to go through traffic, the traffic kind of fell our way, so we were able to pick our way through there."
Kasey Kahne finished third, followed by David Ragan and series points leader Carl Edwards. Clint Bowyer, A.J. Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart claimed positions 6-9 as the last cars on the lead lap.
Although Hamlin was also determined to win on his home track, a second place was a complete salvation after struggling during the Spring races without logging any top five finish. Hamlin also confirmed that he helped Busch by sharing his short tracks secret but claimed that it was a fair exchange for what he had learned from Busch about running intermediate speedways.
"Yeah, I opened my mouth -- I never should have told him. That's the thing. If I don't tell him the things I know on short tracks, and the crew chiefs don't relay information, then it's not a good team. We got paid back on the bigger intermediate tracks. I learned so much from him. Yeah, it might cost me a race here or there because he outruns me, but I think, in the grand scheme of things, it makes me an overall better driver."
The race featured a rerun of ill tempers in the Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya camps, where there is a history of trouble. Tight racing between the pair produced the race’s first caution on lap 108 as the right rear of Montoya’s car slapped the wall and scattered debris on the track. Montoya lost two laps in the pits. About 100 laps later, the two cars met again, this time Montoya initiating the contact by bumping Newman from the rear and sending him spinning, causing another caution. Newman visited the NASCAR hauler after the race to discuss the incidents with officials. Montoya left the track hurriedly without comment. NASCAR officials eventually warned both drivers for their behavior on track.
Yet, race’s biggest crash occurred with 100 laps to go with much of the field bunched for a restart. The wreck began as a traffic incident when Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer made contact. Kenseth’s car shot to the right and hit Gordon, sending Gordon into a wild slide and hard into the inside wall. Mark Martin, David Reutimann and Bobby Labonte were also unlucky to be involved.
The victory was Busch’s second of the year, enabling him to join Kevin Harvick as a multiple winner and significantly boost his chances to get a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
