Clint Bowyer Claims Classic Richmond Victory

Richmond International Raceway saw Denny Hamlin dominate much of the race and come away empty handed. The first 380 laps of the race didn't have much excitement but this race more than made up for it in the last 20 laps.

Qualifying

Toyota claimed the pole in the person of Denny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing #11. Mark Martin started on the outside of the front row in his Dale Earnhardt Inc Chevrolet.

The second row was made up of Martin Truex Jr. in another DEI Chevy and rookie Patrick Carpentier in a Gillette Evernham Motorsports Dodge. Reed Sorenson rounded out the top five in his Ganassi Dodge.

Drop Of The Green

Denny Hamlin got he jump on the start and lead lap one comfortably. Martin Truex Jr. settled into second over Mark Martin. The top three stayed in single-file and patience was evident in the early going.

Storylines

Denny Hamlin had a nearly perfect weekend at his home track. The Chesterfield, VA native won the Nationwide Series event on Friday night. Then he utterly dominated the Sprint Cup Series event on Saturday night.

Hamlin started on the pole and then dominated the race. Hamlin then set a new Richmond record for most laps lead during a race. Hamlin lead 381 of the first 382 laps on the Richmond short-track.

Chasing The Checkers

Heartbreak struck for Hamlin as he had a tire go soft with less than 20 laps to go. Busch and Earnhardt split Hamlin three-wide for the lead with just 17 laps remaining.

Junior came out of the three-wide battle with the lead and held on until Hamlin's tire finally came apart and brought out the yellow.

The final green flag flew with 5 laps to go. Earnhardt, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin lead them to the flag.

Kyle Busch hunted Junior as the laps wound down. With just over two laps to go Junior crowded Kyle Busch down in turn three and Busch got loose and slid up just a touch. The two touched and Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out of the lead and into the wall.

This allowed Clint Bowyer to slip past and take the lead as the yellow flag flew.

The way I see it this was a hard racing incident. Neither driver gave an inch and this sometimes happens. Busch lost it just a little and Junior was crowding him down so that there was no room for error.

I'm sure that Junior Nation is upset but this was just "one of those racing deals."

Clint Bowyer lead the field to the final green for the green-white-checkers finish over Busch and Mark Martin. Martin battled Busch for second which allowed Bowyer to get free and take the Richmond victory.

Top Ten

1. Clint Bowyer
2. Kyle Busch
3. Mark Martin
4. Tony Stewart
5. Martin Truex Jr.
6. Ryan Newman
7. Carl Edwards
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Jeff Gordon
10. Kasey Kahne

The Points

Kyle Busch took over the point lead with yet another strong finish. Jeff Burton fell to second, 21 points behind the leader.

Juan Pablo Montoya fell out of the top twelve making room for Kasey Kahne to claim one of those all-important Chase qualifying spots.

The top twelve are now:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Jeff Burton -21
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -107
4. Clint Bowyer -123
5. Kevin Harvick -137
6. Denny Hamlin -149
7. Jimmie Johnson -177
8. Tony Stewart -198
9. Greg Biffle -229
10. Carl Edwards -269
11. Ryan Newman -287
12. Kasey Kahne -337

Next Week

Next week we race under lights once again on Saturday night. The legendary Darlington Raceway has been repaved so "The Lady in Black" will have a new look.

"The Track Too Tough To Tame" will likely be smoother and see higher than normal speeds but Darlington will always be Darlington. This is a race track that will bite you if you challenge her.