Post-Race Report -- Richmond

Location: Richmond International Raceway; Richmond, Va.

Top-five finishers: Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr.

Race recap: Rarely has one driver dominated a race like Denny Hamlin did at Richmond on Saturday night, and still not come away with a victory.  Hamlin led 381 of 410 laps but suffered a V-shaped cut in his right-front tire causing it to go flat.

To add insult to injury, Hamlin stayed out on the track as his tire lost air, eventually causing NASCAR to throw a caution flag.  The result was the driver being held in the pits for a penalty which helped contribute to his 24th-place finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took over the lead when Hamlin had his problem, but that was short-lived.  He and Kyle Busch had contact on lap 398, causing Earnhardt Jr. to crash.  Clint Bowyer passed Busch before the caution came out and went on to the victory.  He held off Busch and Mark Martin on the final restart and two-lap dash to the finish.

Overall there were only four lead changes among four drivers, while the race was slowed by 11 cuation flags for 62 laps.

Busch's second-place finish helped him take over the championship lead.  He is currently 18 points in front of previous leader Jeff Burton after 10 of 26 regular season races.

The series' next race is at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway next Saturday night.

Companion event: Virginia native Denny Hamlin led once on the night, for the final 12 laps of the NASCAR Nationwide race to take the victory.  The race started out with a 66-lap green flags run, but then bogged down with eight yellow flags over the final 184 circuits.  Carl Edwards led the most laps with 126 of 253.  Clint Bowyer currently leads a tight points battle over Edwards (-9) and Kyle Busch (-12).

Goodyear quote -- Justin Fantozzi: "Wear rates looked good and our racing Eagles performed well all weekend in Richmond.  We expected a lot of close, tight, short-track racing and we were not disappointed."

05/05/2008