Denny Hamlin celebrates his first victory at his home track at Richmond International Raceway by pulling into the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 victory lane.
Hamlin would be as emotional as he told the media that he had all the same items in his car that he did in Pocono, including the FedEx hat he was wearing, something his grand mother gave him, his same helmet and visor and the heat shield boots to bring him luck in this race.
Hamlin would have show the drivers and fans that he would be the one they had to contend with on the track for the Saturday night race.
Key notes of the race – Kyle Busch, Kenseth out, Vickers in, Martin tops the charts, Stewart struggles.
Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth are out of the Chase. For Kenseth, this would be his first Chase that he has not been in since he has started his Cup career. Kenseth would struggle for most of the race as he started 28th to wind up with a 25th place finish. Kenseth would end up 14th overall in the points standings 38 points from 12th.
Kyle Busch’s day would be much different. Busch would start with just a few points that he would need to get himself and the team into the show. Busch’s challenge though, finish several positions in front of Kenseth and Vickers.
Vickers would be the challenge for Busch. The points race would come down to the end of the race where Busch would run 5th, Vickers on his heels for the entire race and at times would be in front of Busch. In the end though, Busch did not have the time to pass any other driver which allowed Vickers to finish 8 points in front of Busch.
Vickers started his day 6th and saw the top ten for most of the race. The team assisted Vickers to keep the pressure on Kyle Busch for the race as we said. Vickers told the media that it was a team effort to end up in 7th at the end of the race.
Mark Martin would have a pretty good night. He started on the pole, have some challenges in the top ten to finish 4th in the event. Martin and his team would remain in the top runners of the day to where he would feel good about how his race was when he finished.
The other thing that Martin must like, is being at the top of the Chase. With the wins during the year, this will propel Martin from 6th in the Chase, to where now the points are reset to have the 50 year old driver from Batesville, Arkansas leading the other 11 drivers. (See the unofficial reset points at the end of this article.)
Tony Stewart did not have a great day, but will be 10 points behind Martin in the Chase. Stewart would fall a lap down after hooking the apron on lap 45 where he would spin out, going a lap down. It took many laps for Stewart to recover and hop back onto the lead lap. By that time, it would be too little too late for the Rushville Rocket. Stewart finished 17th.
Carl Edwards had a real tough day starting 10th, having issues with his car and pit stops to drop far back in the field. Edwards, like Stewart would recover to finish on the lead lap 15th.
Someone who had a great day, even though not in the Chase was Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish Jr. would start his day 33rd. Hornish would come up quietly in the ranks of the field to close out the race in the top ten with a 8th place finish.
To Recap the Race -
Martin started the race, grabbed 5 bonus points for leading a lap. Denny Hamlin started 3 and by lap 4 took the lead. This may start the race to be a long one as the first caution came out on lap 5 after Scott Speed spun out in turn two after minor contact with Jeff Burton.
Hamlin looked strong since the restart continuing over the next yellow flag on lap 45 after Tony Stewart hooked the apron as he was three wide on the inside of Reed Sorenson and David Stremme, causing Stewart and Sorenson to spin out. Hamlin’s team kept the Virginia native out in front during pit stops.
The green flag came back out where the drivers ran for another dozen laps. Jeff Gordon closed in on Hamlin looking to take the lead, but had it taken away from him as the yellow came out after Regan Smith’s car lost power on lap 57. Hamlin would hold the lead for another ten laps, where on lap 67 Jeff Gordon who started 7th for tonight’s race would take the lead from Hamlin.
Gordon would lead the race for an additional 40 laps when the next caution came on the track for debris. The leaders hit pit road where Gordon’s team nailed the stop to keep their driver in front.
Gordon would lead the field for an additional 44 laps where he caught the slower driver in the field. This would allow Hamlin who seemed to have a better handling car to get around Jeff Gordon to grab the lead back.
Hamlin had a good running car in the front of the field where he lead Gordon by 1 second. That lead would disappear though when a debris caution would come out on lap 172. The lead would change on pit road though as Jeff Gordon’s team would launch their driver a fender in front of Hamlin at the exit of pit road.
Gordon and Hamlin battled for the lead, where it changed eight times between the two and would see the two door to door over the next 33 laps. Regan Smith has had a rough day on the track as he brought out two cautions during the race, where he brought out the caution on lap 205 by slamming on the outside turn one wall after his right tire blew out. We saw a three wide battle for the lead out of pit road which was won by Hamlin.
A long green flag run for 65 laps would allow Hamlin to lead Gordon from 1 to 2 seconds on the track. The separation would again disappear with a caution out on lap 279 after Truex Jr. slammed into the outside wall under the starter’s stand. Hamlin had no issue getting back to the track 1st as the team got him out by 15 to 20 feet.
Hamlin would lead an additional 30 laps where he was consistent with his 1 to 2 second lead. The lead would vanish once again as Jeff Burton would have contact with Casey Mears, causing his rear tire to blow out, tire chunks on the track to bring out the caution.
This caution would allow all the teams to be in the window to make it to the end. The drivers would come out the same way for the lead as Hamlin’s team once again would get him around Gordon.
The green flag would come out with 76 laps to go Bowyer, who was in the top 3 for the first time today would drop to the apron to go three wide for the lead with Hamlin and Gordon. Gordon would be the looser as he pushed way outside to drop back to 6th.
The caution would come out the next lap for a Waltrip spin on the front stretch. On the restart Hamlin would remain in front as Gordon would be outside the top 5. The new challengers would be Martin and Kurt Busch for the lead.
Hamlin proved that his car was strong once again as he would leave the field in his mirror once again. 50 green flag laps would see Hamlin ahead by the customary 1 to 2 seconds over 2nd place. As before though, the dreaded caution would come out as Brad Keselowski’s engine would blow up with 19 to go.
It would be the last restart that Hamlin would have to endure to make it to the end of the race. On the restart, 2nd place Martin spun his tires which allowed Kurt Busch to take over the position.
Over the closing laps, two battles unfolded on the track. The first one was for the lead between Hamlin and Kurt Busch, the second was Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers. Vickers would move into 7th during the race where Kyle Busch was running 5th. The points favored Vickers though by a lead of 8 points. Kyle Busch would make his best efforts to pass Martin and get him into the show, but Martin was better.
PRE RACE CHATTER (Courtesy NASCAR Media.com)
Something’s Gotta Give: 11 Drivers Pursuing 8 Chase Spots
When the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” format was instituted in 2004, Richmond International Raceway inherited the annual Chase “cut-off” race, the final event before the Chase field is set.
Drama at RIR has been considerable on a yearly basis since then, but clearly, this year shapes up as the most dramatic yet.
Coming into Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400, only four spots in the 12-driver field have been clinched. Those guaranteed berths in NASCAR’s “playoffs” have been nailed down by Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet), Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Wounded Warrior Chevrolet) and Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota).
That leaves eight spots open — and 11 drivers in the running.
Only 217 points separate fifth-place Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford) from the last driver in Chase contention, 15th-place David Reutimann (No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota).
When the situation is condensed around the 12th-place bubble, the outlook becomes even more uncertain.
Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford), rolls cautiously into Richmond in 12th place, the second-straight week for the 2003 series champion to hold that position. Kenseth is trying to extend a remarkable streak that he co-holds with Jimmie Johnson; they are the only two drivers who have qualified for the Chase every year. Johnson already has a sixth-straight Chase berth secured, so that leaves it to Kenseth to keep pace.
It won’t be easy. Kenseth has one Richmond victory, that coming in September 2002. Saturday night he’ll be fighting off three guys close behind in the points. Brian Vickers (No. 83 Red Bull Toyota) is only 20 points behind, while Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) is only 37 back. The last driver still in mathematical contention is 15th-place Reutimann, an obvious long shot, as he is 132 points behind Kenseth.
Above Kenseth in the standings, there is also nervousness: 10th-place Mark Martin (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) is only 69 points ahead of 13th-place Vickers while 11th-place Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford) is 68 ahead of Vickers, a former champion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series champion trying to qualify for the Chase for the first time.
Kenseth comes off a 12th-place finish this past Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway that allowed him to retain his precarious position.
“I just want to run good and be back up front where we belong,” Kenseth said. “We have a championship-caliber team as far as personnel … we’re capable of much better than this.”
Indeed, Kenseth showed that the first two weeks of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season when he captured the Daytona 500 then followed with a victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. He hasn’t won since.
“We’ve got to beat all the guys we’re around to get in the Chase. There are about five or six guys that are really close in the points and whoever outperforms the rest of them will make it in, so we’ve just got to go out and run as hard as we can and hope our results will be good enough.
“Through certain parts of the year we probably haven’t capitalized on all the races we could have and got all the points we could have, so we’re in this spot and we just have to race as hard as we can and do the things we know how to do and hope that’s good enough.”
Chase Seedings To Shake Out, Post-Richmond
Mark Martin and Kyle Busch have a leg up toward earning a potential top seeding at the outset of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Now, all they have to do is make the Chase.
Strange but true: Because of the increasingly demanding competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the guys with the most race victories thus far this year are in danger of not qualifying for NASCAR’s “playoffs.”
The 12 drivers qualifying for the Chase will have their season point totals “reset” to 5,000. They then will get 10 bonus points for each race victory during the “regular season” — meaning the 26 races preceding the Chase. Those adjusted totals will determine the seedings to start the Chase.
Both Martin and Busch have four victories this season, which would give them 5,040 points. To determine seeding order for the Chase, ties are broken by the traditional NASCAR method — looking at a driver’s race results beyond victories.
That means as of now, Martin has an edge on Busch, with two runner-up finishes compared to Busch’s none.
Of course, all of that will be moot if they don’t make the Chase. The fact that they are even in this sort of predicament underscores the cold hard facts of competitive life in NASCAR’s top series these days.
No longer is it enough to only run consistently.
And, no longer is it enough to have only a few great days along with some poor ones.
Nowadays, you need to both challenge for race wins and do so consistently.
Martin, although he has those four victories, also has three DNFs — virtual negation in terms of points, of his trips to Victory Lane.
Busch’s four wins are nice, but on the other side he has only eight top 10s overall and two DNFs. Compare that to series points leader Tony Stewart’s series-high 18 top 10s and the 17 top 10s by current points runner-up Jeff Gordon.
Rock N Roll Qualifying at Richmond
Mark Martin won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 with a lap of 21.292 seconds, 126.808 mph. This is his 47th pole in 748 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This is his sixth pole and 14th top-10 start in 2009. This matches Martin's career high in poles. He also had six poles in 1989. This is his fourth pole in 48 races at Richmond International Raceway.
Out of 106 races at Richmond, 21 of them were won from the pole. This means that Martin has some work to do at Richmond. Martin’s average finish is 11th at Richmond.
Martin Truex Jr. (second) posted his seventh top-10 start of 2009 and his fifth in eight races at Richmond International Raceway.
Denny Hamlin (third) posted his seventh top-10 start at Richmond International Raceway. It is his 12th in 26 races this season.
NO ONE’S GOING TO THE BACK TONIGHT – IT’S GAME ON!!
NOW LET’S WATCH SATURDAY SHORT TRACK ACTION AT ITS BEST!!
Rain hit the track about an hour and a half before the start of the race. IT has been pushed back by a half hour and looks like we will get a full race in tonight.
The 29th Army band performs the National Anthem. Lots of military on the scene tonight, which is way cool.
Martin and Truex Jr. lead our 43 contestants for the winner’s trophy out of turn four to the…
GREEN FLAG as Martin rockets away from Truex Jr. Denny Hamlin passes Truex Jr. to take over 2nd place followed by Jimmy Johnson on lap 3 to take 3rd. Lap 4 Hamlin takes the lead from Martin coming out of turn two
YELLOW FLAG lap 5 as Scott Speed spins out after getting a possible nudge from Jeff Burton as Tony Stewart pushed up high as the drivers headed into turn 1. We see some drivers from the back head to pit road. No lucky dog.
GREEN FLAG lap 10, Hamlin on the inside, Martin on the outside. Lap 15 as the field stretches out to a half track, Hamlin runs almost a second in front of Martin. Lap 17 Truex Jr. is 1.5 seconds back in third followed by Jeff Gordon who has moved up to 4th from his 7th place start.
Lap 19 Kasey Kahne challenges Johnson for 5th place with Kyle Busch closing in from behind running 7th. Lap 23 a mover on the track is Dale Earnhardt Jr. started his day 15th has moved into 8th place. We also see Kevin Harvick who started 19th move up to 11th.
Lap 25 your top ten drivers are Hamlin, Martin, Jeff Gordon, Truex Jr., Kahne, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers. Lap 33 Hamlin starts to put drivers down a lap. Lap 34 from some reason Regan Smith lost power for a half lap, recovers and continues. So far Speed is one lap down along with Smith and Max Papis.
Lap 36 the next drivers who will be added on the lap down list would be Dave Blaney, Michael McDowell, Mike Bliss, John Andretti, Joe Nemechek and David Ragan.
Lap 40 Harvick has moved up to 10th, in front of Earnhardt 11th. We also have seen Brad Keselowski fall back in the pack from his start of 9th back to 27th along with Chase contender Carl Edwards who started 10th back to 29th.
Lap 44 Bliss and Blaney are start and parked.
YELLOW FLAG lap 45 as Tony Stewart and Reed Sorenson spin together heading into turn three running three wide with David Stremme. Stewart hooks the apron, hitting Sorenson as both spin together in the middle of the turn. Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Martin, Kurt Busch and Truex Jr. are the first five back to the track. Michael Waltrip’s team looses a tire from the pit box, so he will have to do a drive through. Ragan is the lucky dog.
Lap 50 your top 20 drivers are Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Martin, Kurt Busch, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kahne, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, Vickers, Montoya, Marcos Ambrose, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Casey Mears.
GREEN FLAG lap 51 as Hamlin gets the show going again. Lap 55 Earnhardt Jr. has moved into 6th place. Lap 57 Jeff Gordon closes in on Hamlin for the lead.
YELLOW FLAG lap 57 for Regan Smith’s car dieing on the track. Sorenson is the lucky dog. The leaders stay out.
GREEN FLAG lap 64 with Hamlin and Jeff Gordon leading the field into turn one. Lap 67 Jeff Gordon tires the outside line to take the lead. Hamlin keeps the pressure on Gordon over the next lap. Lap 67 Jeff Gordon holds the lead. Lap 68 we see big action in the middle of the pack with three wide action around the area of 19th place Edwards, Casey Mears, Jeff Burton and Ryan Newman.
Lap 70 Hamlin holds off a charge from Truex Jr. Lap 75 your top ten drivers are Jeff Gordon, Hamlin, Truex Jr., Johnson, Martin, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Allmendinger and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Lap 80 Jeff Gordon starts to pull away from the field to have a 1 second advantage over Hamlin. 3rd place Johnson is 2 seconds back. Lap 84 Earnhardt Jr. drops back to 11th after Brian Vickers took over 10th. Lap 86 as the laps tick away, Kahne moves past both Earnhardt Jr. and Vickers to take over 10th place.
Lap 88 where is the Chase at the moment? We see the locked in points leader of Stewart the first driver a lap down, running 34th. Jeff Gordon is 2nd in points running as the leader, Johnson is 3rd in the race, Hamlin runs 4th in the race, Kurt Busch runs 6th, Martin is 4th, Kahne 11th, Montoya 9th, Edwards 24th, Newman 25th, Biffle 23rd and Vickers 10th. Kyle Busch is 59 points out of the Chase running 11th and Matt Kenseth 73 points out running 29th.
Lap 100 (300 to go) as Jeff Gordon leads the field by 1.5 seconds is followed by the rest of the top twenty of Hamlin, Johnson, Martin, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Truex Jr., Allmendinger, Montoya, Vickers, Kyle Busch, Kahne, Earnhardt Jr., Ambrose, Mears, Burton, David Reutimann, Sam Hornish Jr., Sorenson and Joey Logano. So far we have seen 4 lead changes among 4 leaders with 3 cautions for 14 laps.
YELLOW FLAG lap 107 for debris. Stewart is the lucky dog. The leaders head to pit road. Jeff Gordon, Hamlin, Johnson, Martin and Kurt Busch are the first back to the track.
GREEN FLAG lap 111 as the drivers race into turns one and two. Johnson tired for 2nd place, Hamlin would not let him keep the position though. Jeff Burton had a great stop where he restarted in 12th place. Lap 115 Harvick is running 6th and Allmendinger 7th from his start of 17th.
Lap 117 three wide between Hornish Jr., Mears and Kahne as they fight for 14th. Lap 119 Earnhardt Jr. battles with Truex Jr. to keep him from grabbing his 11th place position. Lap 121 Truex Jr. takes the position. We also see that Kahne made contact with Vickers in the turn running 13th.
Lap 125 your top ten drivers are Jeff Gordon, Hamlin, Johnson, Martin, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Montoya and Burton. Lap 127 Harvick passes Kurt Busch to take over 5th. Lap 129 Jeff Gordon leads by a half second over Hamlin.
Lap 130 the movers of the race since the start of the race are Harvick from his start of 19th to 5th, Allmendinger from 17th to 8th, Burton 22nd to 10th, big mover Hornish Jr. from 33rd to 13th, Mears from 38th to 15th and Bobby Labonte from 37th to 26th.
Some of the drivers that have fallen off pace are Truex Jr. from 2nd back to 11th, Kahne 5th to 14th, Sorenson 11th back to 22nd, Edwards 10th to 23rd, Brad Keselowski 9th to 33rd and Stremme 12th to 34th.
Lap 141 as Jeff Gordon continue his half second lead over Hamlin, we see Speed down one lap along with John Andretti, Elliott Sadler and Nemechek are two laps down, Papis is three laps down. Smith, McDowell, Bliss and Blaney are in the garage.
Lap 146 as Jeff Gordon encounters slower drivers, Hamlin is all over him now for the lead. Lap 150 the top twenty drivers are Gordon, Hamlin, Martin, Johnson, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Allmendinger, Burton, Montoya, Vickers, Truex Jr., Hornish Jr., Kahne, Mears, Earnhardt Jr., Logano, Newman, Biffle and Edwards.
Lap 151 Hamlin’s car looks to be handling better than Gordon, who seems to be pushing in the turns, takes the lead back. Lap 161 the Chase race sees the same top 11 drivers that we spoke about earlier in the points battle with one change for the 12th position as Kyle Busch currently runs 7th and Vickers running 13th as 5 points separate the two drivers for the bubble position.
Lap 167 Hamlin leads Jeff Gordon by 1 second. Lap 169 Kyle Busch closes in on his brother Kurt for 6th place. Other battles on the track we see Vickers challenge Kahne for 12th and Reutimann challenge Logano for 22nd.
YELLOW FLAG lap 172 for debris in turn 4. David Gilliland is the lucky dog. The leaders head to pit road. A race out of pit road between Jeff Gordon and Hamlin has Gordon winning the race followed by Martin, Johnson and Kurt Busch. Keselowski is tapped from behind by Ragan on pit road entrance, where Keselowski is spun out in his stall. The team performs the stop on the sideways car, but he is in the stall.
GREEN FLAG lap 181 as Gordon had a good start over Hamlin. Behind the two leaders it was a battle between Kurt Busch and Johnson as the fought for 4th place. Johnson lost it for a lap, but got it back the next lap. Lap 184 Hamlin is back in the lead.
Lap 186 three wide action between Kahne, Edwards and Montoya for 13th. Edwards is the winner. Lap 188 Jeff Gordon drops to the inside of Hamlin for the lead as they headed into turn one. Gordon is back in the lead. Lap 191 Hamlin pulls the same move as Gordon did to challenge back for the lead. Gordon holds him off this time around. Lap 194 side by side action between the two. Out of turn four Hamlin is back in front on lap 195.
Lap 200 (Halfway home) as the top twenty drivers are Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Martin, Johnson, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Hornish Jr., Burton, Truex Jr., Vickers, Montoya, Mears, Bowyer, Edwards, Kahne, Newman, Sorenson, Stewart and Logano. So far we have seen 12 lead changes among 5 leaders as well as 5 cautions for 25 laps. 27 drivers remain on the lead lap.
Lap 204 Jeff Gordon is back in front of Hamlin.
YELLOW FLAG lap 205 as Regan Smith slams the wall in turn one after he either blew out a tire or something broke. Stremme is the lucky dog. The leaders head for their pits. Three wide battle for the lead out of pit road. Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Martin, Johnson and Kurt Busch are the top five out to the track.
GREEN FLAG lap 212 as Hamlin would be strong into turns one and two, holding off Jeff Gordon. Martin would hang on Gordon’s bumper for 3rd place. Lap 214 Harvick on the inside of Kyle Busch for 6th place. Kyle Busch is back to 7th after the pass on lap 216.
Lap 217 Stewart is trying to recover from his earlier mis-fortune running 22nd on the lead lap. Lap 219 battle for 4th between Johnson and Kurt Busch where Busch takes the position. Lap 220 Kenseth challenges Logano for 22nd as Stewart takes 21st. Logano holds the position.
Lap 225 your top ten drivers are Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Martin, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Hornish Jr., Bowyer and Montoya. Lap 226 Bowyer works on Hornish Jr. for 8th.
Lap 228 the Chase picture looks like this Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Johnson, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Martin, Montoya, Kahne, Edwards, Newman, Biffle and Kyle Busch. 5 points still separate Kyle Busch from Vickers, who is 13th in points. Kenseth has dropped out of the top twelve to 14th.
Lap 235 Hamlin leads by almost 1 second over Gordon and 2.6 seconds over 3rd place Martin. Lap 238 Stewart has moved up to 17th. Lap 241 Hamlin leads Gordon by 1.2 seconds. The leaders have spread out on the track where we see Hamlin lead 5th place Johnson by 6 seconds and 10th place Montoya by 10 seconds.
Lap 245 Mears and Edwards work on Biffle for 18th. Lap 247 Stewart closes in on Burton for 15th to take the position on lap 248. Lap 250 your top 20 drivers are Hamlin, Gordon, Martin, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Harvick, Hornish Jr., Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Montoya, Truex Jr., Vickers, Kahne, Sorenson, Stewart, Burton, Newman, Biffle, Edwards and Logano.
Lap 255 27 drivers remain on the lead lap. Earnhardt Jr. would be surprisingly the next driver who would go a lap down followed by Kenseth, Stremme, Gilliland, Mears and Reutimann. Down a lap we see Ambrose in the lucky dog position followed by McMurray, Menard two laps down, Labonte, Ragan, Waltrip, Keselowski, and Andretti.
3 laps down we see Speed, 4 laps down is Nemechek, Sadler and Papis. No change in the garage as Smith, McDowell, Bliss and Blaney’s cars sit there. Lap 264 Earnhardt is a lap down. Lap 265 Kenseth is close to going a lap down.
Lap 267 we see two battles on the track. One for the lead and the other being Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers for the 12th Chase position. Vickers moved up a position passing Truex Jr. to take 12th in the race, where he closes to 2 points of Kyle Busch. The next lap Kyle Busch passes Johnson to take 7th to bring the separation to 5 points.
Lap 272 Hamlin leads Gordon by 2.3 seconds and 3rd place Kurt Busch by 4.5 seconds. Lap 275 your top ten drivers are Hamlin, Gordon, Kurt Busch, Martin, Hornish Jr., Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Harvick and Montoya. We are about 25 to 30 laps from green flag stops.
Lap 277 Kenseth is a lap down along with Stremme, Mears and Gilliland.
YELLOW FLAG lap 279 as Truex Jr. slams the wall at the start finish line after his tire blew out. Gilliland is the lucky dog. The leaders head to pit road. NASCAR gives Mears a penalty for some issue and will hold him a lap. The race back to the track is Hamlin, Gordon, Kurt Busch, Martin and Bowyer.
GREEN FLAG lap 288 as Hamlin takes off like a rocket from Gordon. Lap 291 Vickers moves past Harvick to take 10th. With the move, Vickers is now ahead of Kyle Busch to take the last Chase position. Busch runs 7th. Lap 297 Hamlin leads by ¾’s of a second over Gordon. Lap 298 Kyle Busch is all over Johnson for 6th and takes it.
Lap 300 (100 to go) with your top twenty drivers of Hamlin, Gordon, Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Martin, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Vickers, Harvick, Montoya, Hornish Jr., Newman, Kahne, Biffle, Burton, Edwards, Logano, Stewart, Sorenson and Reutimann. So far there have been 16 lead changes among 5 leaders along with 7 cautions for 39 laps. 22 drivers remain on the lead lap.
Lap 309 three wide between Edwards, Logano and Burton for 15th. Edwards is the holder of 15th. Lap 311 (89 to go) Hamlin leads by 1.1 seconds over Gordon and 3.1 seconds over 3rd place Kurt Busch. Lap 312 Logano takes 15th from Edwards.
Lap 313 (87 to go) Stewart takes 17th from Burton. 84 to go as Bowyer passes Martin for 4th place. Bowyer started 18th. 83 to go Burton has a tire down as Earnhardt Jr. bangs into him after Stremme made contact with Burton.
YELLOW FLAG with 81 to go for the tire chunks from Burton. Burton is the lucky dog as the caution was for debris. The leaders to pit road. The race out of pit road is Hamlin, Gordon, Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Martin.
GREEN FLAG lap 324 as Hamlin leads the drivers into turn one. A battle would come between Gordon and Bowyer as the fought for 2nd place. Gordon would be the looser as he was tagged on the inside by Bowyer, who pushed up from the apron when he tried to pass Hamlin for the lead. Gordon would slip back to 6th place.
YELLOW FLAG lap 325 as Waltrip spins out on the front stretch and no contact, except the grass. Earnhardt Jr. is the lucky dog this time.
GREEN FLAG lap 332 as Hamlin, Martin and Bowyer lead our drivers into turns one and two. Mears has a penalty from NASCAR for not letting the lead cars get in line. Lap 336 (63 to go) Hamlin leads Martin by over a half second.
62 to go we see Vickers and Kyle Busch for 5th place of the race. At the moment, Vickers is ahead of Busch by 22 points. 59 to go Kyle Busch has the challenge of Gordon on his inside for 6th place. 57 to go Johnson moves around Kyle Busch to take 7th where Busch falls back many more points.
55 to go Hamlin has running room in front of Martin by a half second and 1.8 seconds in front of third place Kurt Busch, 3 seconds in front of 4th place Bowyer and 3.5 seconds in front of 5th place Vickers.
50 to go and your top twenty drivers are Hamlin, Martin, Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Vickers, Gordon, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Hornish Jr., Newman, Stewart, Montoya, Kahne, Logano, Biffle, Sorenson, Edwards, Burton and Allmendinger.
46 to go Hamlin starts to pull away from Martin to 1 second. Newman falls back to 12th after Stewart takes 11th from him. 42 to go Kyle Busch has a run on the inside of Johnson as they run 7th and 8th. Busch is now 30 points behind Vickers.
40 to go is a side by side battle between the two drivers as Johnson is slideways out of turn two which allows Kyle Busch to take over 7th. Hamlin leads by 1.1 seconds. 34 to go, Stewart slips back to 13th after Newman and Logano pass him.
32 to go Vickers takes over 4th from Bowyer.
30 to go Hamlin leads Martin by 1.3 seconds, 3rd place Kurt Busch by 2.2 seconds, 4th place Vickers by 4.5 seconds, 5th place Bowyer by 5.2 seconds, 6th place Gordon by 5.8 seconds, 7th place Kyle Busch by 6.7 seconds, 8th place Harvick by 8.9 seconds, 9th place Johnson by 9.3 seconds and 10th place Hornish Jr. by 9.6 seconds.
25 to go it looks like Keselowski has a blown engine. 22 to go Kahne moves up to 12th passing Logano.
20 to go Hamlin has been slicing through traffic.
YELLOW FLAG with 19 to go as Keselowski blows up big time on the front stretch. Ambrose is the lucky dog. The leaders head to pit road. The race out of pit road is Hamlin, Martin, Kurt Busch, Gordon and Bowyer. Kyle Busch’s team gets him out before Vickers.
GREEN FLAG with 15 to go as Hamlin starts on the inside of Martin. Martin spins the tires to drop back to 3rd which allows Kurt Busch to takes 2nd. 13 to go the two takes off from the field.
12 to go the show is Vickers and Kyle Busch. Vickers passes Harvick to take 8th. Kyle Busch is 5th.
10 to go Hamlin is in front of Kurt Busch by a few car lengths.
9 to go Bowyer challenges Kyle Busch for 5th. Vickers is in the show at the moment.
7 to go Kurt Busch closes in on Hamlin for the lead.
5 to go Vickers on the inside of Hornish Jr. for 7th. Vickers needs this position if Kyle Busch passes Martin.
4 to go Vickers clears Hornish Jr. and a 8 point advantage.
3 to go Hamlin pulls away from Kurt Busch
2 to go as Vickers is locked in without a mistake.
WHITE FLAG for Hamlin, Kurt Busch closes in. Out of turn four…
CHECKERED FLAG for Hamlin with his first win at Richmond. Kyle Busch is out of the Chase by 8 points
The race lasted for a bit more than 3 hours. We saw 16 lead changes among 5 leaders. 10 cautions came out on the track for a total of 56 laps. 27 drivers finished on the lead lap. 6 drivers would sit out the race in the garage.
The Chase picture looks like this after the points are reset (Unofficial) –
Mark Martin
Tony Stewart -10
Jimmy Johnson -10
Denny Hamlin -20
Kasey Kahne -20
Jeff Gordon -30
Kurt Busch -30
Brian Vickers -30
Carl Edwards -40
Ryan Newman -40
Juan Pablo Montoya -40
Greg Biffle -40
