Kyle Busch Completes Spring Richmond Three-Peat in 2011

The 2011 Crown Royal Presents The Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400 at Richmond International Raceway featured one of my favorite race tracks. Unfortunately the actual event was "meh" at best. Kyle Busch dominated the majority of the event and the end result was never really in doubt.

Qualifying

Richmond saw Juan Montoya put his Chevy on the pole with Regan Smith along side in second. This was Regan's first front row start of his career.

Row two featured Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne with Mark Martin rounding out the top five.

Drop Of The Green

Montoya got a run on the bottom to take the lead at the start.

The racing was pretty quiet in the early going and Montoya continued to lead until Clint Bowyer got past him on lap 26. Other early leaders included Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin as this race remained green through the first round of green flag pit stops.

Storylines

Juan Montoya and Ryan Newman put on a classic short track battle tonight. Both drivers were well out of contention but they were letting their tempers flow. Newman caused Montoya to slap the wall. There was further contact between the two at least three more times after that until Montoya, multiple laps down, spun Newman over 100 laps later.

Juan Montoya has a history of letting his temper get the best of him. Ryan Newman will stand up for himself when he needs to and vowed to take care of him after the race. Best of all, NASCAR remained true to its word and let them "have at it" without penalty.

After the race Montoya was whisked away and Ryan Newman went to talk to the NASCAR officials instead.

Chasing The Checkers

Kyle Busch had the race well in hand as the laps ticked away.

The announcers tried to make it sound like there was some doubt but Kyle Busch lead over half the laps including the last 84 laps of the race and cruised to the easy 1.8 second win over teammate Denny Hamlin. This was Kyle's third consecutive spring Richmond victory.

Top Ten

1. Kyle Busch
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Kasey Kahne
4. David Ragan
5. Carl Edwards
6. Clint Bowyer
7. A.J. Allmendinger
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Tony Stewart
10. Brian Vickers

The Points

Carl Edwards maintains his point lead for the third race in a row. Edwards gained four points on Jimmie Johnson to extend his lead to nine.

At the back end of the top ten Tony Stewart moved up into the tenth and final points-based Chase spot as Juan Montoya fell back to twelfth after his eventful night.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:

1. Carl Edwards
2. Jimmie Johnson -9
3. Kyle Busch -30
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -34
5. Kevin Harvick -35
6. Kurt Busch -46
7. Clint Bowyer -51
8. Ryan Newman -58
9. Matt Kenseth -59
10. Tony Stewart -60