Saturday night marked the first of many night races leading into the month of May for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.
Juan Pablo Montoya earned the pole at Richmond International Raceway but on a short track tempers were flaring early and often.
Kyle is king…
After starting 20th it shouldn’t surprise many that Kyle Busch won this race but how he did it. He battled his teammate Denny Hamlin all night long but when it counted Busch found his way to the front. He was able to avoid the mayhem in the final 125 laps.
Busch led 235 laps and on the final restart weaved his way to the front and held off teammate Hamlin for his second win of the season and his third in a row at RIR in the spring race.
The Big One…
100 laps to go in the race and drivers on different pit strategies with some on two tires and some on four tires. Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer were taking it three wide when Bowyer made contact with Kenseth who then made contact with Gordon. Gordon spun and hit the inside wall hard.
Gordon had one of the best cars all night long but got shuffled back with pit strategy but would finish 38th. Kenseth and Bowyer were able to continue. The wreck included Mark Martin, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray and David Reutimann.
Drivers have at it, again…
Well short tracks are known for flaring tempers and broken bumpers. On Saturday night Ryan Newman and pole sitter Montoya took their ongoing feud to another level. Newman made contact with Montoya which sent Montoya hard into the wall.
Montoya took exception and turned Newman who suffered some damage to his car. Newman was able to continue but not without making it clear he would handle Montoya after the race. The two have has issues with each other since Homestead last year.
Kurt Busch who struggled all night long got collected in Newman’s spin and then took exception to the incident and made sure Newman was aware. Busch struggled all night long with an ill handling race car. The post race confrontations were sure to be interesting especially between Newman and Montoya.
Lug nuts…
- After struggling for much of the race Jimmie Johnson worked his way to an eighth place finish. Johnson did not have a car good enough to battle for the win but they battled back for a solid top 10 finish.
- Tony Stewart was another driver that struggled all night long but took advantage of the cautions and worked their way to a top 10 finish.
- David Ragan who needed a solid run after struggle to get started this season. At RIR Ragan worked his way to a top five finish.
- Dave Blaney earned a 13th place finish. His best finish in 2011 and allowed him some breathing room in the very tight battle for the top 35.
Carl Edwards maintains his point lead over Johnson. For the complete results click here and for the standings click here.
Next week the series heads to Darlington Raceway on Saturday at 7pm ET on Fox.
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