In a way, there’s a lot of good things about being away from the drafting nightmare that is Talladega. Then again, despite the turmoil it may cause, the race was still talked about all week in the NASCAR garage.
But, this week it would be a completely different style of racing. There’s no restrictor plates, no drafting, and if you bump someone, it means you want to move them out of the way. Saturday night, it was an old-fashioned, short track shootout as the Sprint Cup Series went under the lights at the Richmond International Raceway.
Pole-sitter Kyle Busch led the field to green before a crowd of about 93,000 people, and right away he got the jump. By lap eight, he was pulling away to a 1.5-second advantage.
Soon, lapped traffic became an issue and the lead began to shrink. Second-place Jeff Gordon was reeling the No. 18 in until the race’s first caution on lap 44. Right in front of Gordon, Joe Nemachek hit the wall coming into turn 3.
The field got their chance to hit pit road for the first time, with most getting adjustments as the night skies began to settle in.
What didn’t change was the car out front as Busch yet again held the advantage coming to the restart. This time, the race would see something not very common for Richmond. The green flag on lap 47 would start a long stretch of green-flag racing, and Busch was the car to lead majority of the way. His car was extremely strong, opening up over a two-second advantage on second-place Gordon.
But, much like before, lapped traffic closed the field again, letting Gordon close up and challenge for the lead. Finally, after 140 laps, a new face would be out front as Gordon would make the pass and take the top spot.
At the same time, green-flag stops were going on as the leaders came in for service. Gordon would only lead four laps before giving up the lead to come in for service, giving the lead back to Busch. After Busch completed his pit stop, he again would hold the lead, but this time it would be nearly eight seconds back to Gordon.
That lead would evaporate because of a caution for debris on the backstretch. Most of the leaders stayed out having just pitted, but again Busch would be out front and looked to run away from the field.
Another debris caution on lap 170 changed the outlook on the field. As the field came to pit road, it was Ryan Newman using strategy to get out front with just right-side tires. However, to his outside was Busch and he was just a rocket on restarts.
The field went back to green on lap 176, and Busch got the lead back on lap 177. His car was that strong it appeared he would not yield the lead for anything.
At this point, the field really began to settle in, and for the second time on the night, it would be a long stretch of green-flag racing. But, this time it would turn out to be the longest green-flag stretch of racing so far this season.
Busch held the top spot until lap 229, but it wasn’t Gordon who took the top spot. Instead, it was Virginia native Jeff Burton taking the lead for the first time on the evening. Meanwhile, Busch began fading back as Gordon passed him for second, despite reporting brake trouble.
Gordon would overcome that as he would take the lead on lap 250, as soon it would be time for another round of green-flag pit stops. Gordon would pit on lap 267, one lap after losing the led to Kevin Harvick. The field would cycle through on lap 272, and once again it was Gordon back out front of the field.
This would be a common theme as Gordon would continue to pace the field for over the next 100 laps, including one more round of green-flag stops.
But, the caution flag would fly once again on lap 367, immediately after the cycle of pit stops were completed. This time, it was Elliott Sadler blowing out a tire coming out of turn 4, and by the time he was done spinning, all four Goodyears were flat.
Many of the front cars decided to stay out, while others near the back decided to pit. The restart came on lap 377, but just as quickly the field was slowed as two laps later David Ragan and Sam Hornish Jr. got together in the first turn.
The field would not go back to green until lap 385, but Gordon was still out front. However, he knew that cars behind him had fresher tires, so he had to get a jump out on the field rather quickly. He managed to do that as Harvick and Busch began battling for second.
However, in what seemed to be a case of “here we go again,” the caution flew one last time as Hornish spun and hit the inside wall on lap 389. Gordon now had reason to be worried as the second-place car was now the No. 18 of Busch, who had fresher tires. Gordon and his team had to decide what line to take on the restart to give him the lead for good.
Gordon decided to take the inside line, hoping that because he controlled the restart, he would get enough of a jump to get ahead of Busch.
The green flew on lap 395, and both Gordon and Busch got great starts, but Busch pushed Gordon through the second turn, and got ahead of the No. 24 out of turn 4. Gordon would fall back into the clutches of Harvick, who was running third. By that time, the race was over.
After not seeing victory lane since Bristol last year, Kyle Busch put the No. 18 M&M’s Camry into victory lane as he wins the Heath Calhoun 400. After some very smoky donuts, Busch exited his car on the front stretch, and he got to hear a lot of cheers from the crowd. This was after a season where he snubbed the fans and the media with his antics. But, the crowd knew what this win meant to him and his team.
At the same time, Gordon felt victory slip away yet again. On the radio, he told crew chief Steve Letarte, “This is getting damn old.” Still a great run by the team.
Next week, it is my favorite race track on the circuit. Call it the “Lady in Black” or the track “Too Tough to Tame.” Call it the unique “egg-shaped oval” if you want. Whatever the case, next week it will be wall-grinding, paint smearing, and hard racing as NASCAR heads a bit farther south to South Carolina to go racing at the Darlington Raceway.
Coverage of the Southern 500 will be on FOX beginning at 6:30 p.m. this coming Saturday night. The race will go green shortly after 7:30 p.m.
RESULTS: 1-Kyle Busch 2-Gordon 3-Harvick 4-Burton 5-Edwards 6-Montoya 7-Truex Jr. 8-Newman 9-Ambrose 10-Johnson
NOTABLE FINISHES: 11-Hamlin 13-Kenseth 18-Kurt Busch 21-Kahne 23-Stewart 25-Martin 32-Earnhardt Jr.
CAUTIONS: 6 for 37 laps. Lap 45-49 (#87 accident-T3), 155-160 (Debris-BS), 172-176 (Debris-BS), 368-377 (#19 spin-FS), 381-385 (#6, 77 accident-T1), 390-395 (#77 accident-BS)
LEAD CHANGES: 12 among 8 drivers. Kyle Busch 1-140, Gordon 141-144, Kyle Busch 145-172, Newman 173-176, Kyle Busch 177-229, Burton 230-249, Gordon 250-266, Harvick 267, Truex Jr 268, Edwards 269-270, Stewart 271-272, Gordon 273-395, Kyle Busch 396-400.
TIME OF RACE: 3 Hrs. 00 Mins. 47 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 99.567 mph
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.755 Seconds
POINT STANDINGS: 1-Harvick, 1467 points 2-Johnson, -10 3-Kyle Busch, -109 4-Kenseth, -119 5-Biffle, -133 6-Gordon, -162 7-Hamlin, -199 8-Kurt Busch, -212 9-Burton, -220 10-Martin, -225 11-Edwards, -240 12-Bowyer, -254