Busch Birthday Bash at RIR
Written by Racin with Russ, Monday May 04 2009
Kyle Busch had the kind of week most drivers would or could only dream of. From Thursday night at Southside Speedway (special celebrity Late Model event) to Friday night’s Nationwide race at Richmond International Raceway to the Cup run on Saturday night, the birthday boy swept them all and in convincing fashion.
Not since Cale Yarborough in the 1980’s won a race on his birthday has a driver won on the special day, but this past weekend, it appeared the controversial driver would not be denied.
Starting with the Cup race, under threatening skies and a late day rain event cleaned up effectively by track officials, the race started with some flying caution laps and polesitter Brian Vickers out front. By lap 22, Jeff Gordon jumped on point with a pass into turn 1. About 50 laps later, hometown favorite Denny Hamlin took one of many turns out front en route to leading the most laps on the night.
Kurt Busch took a shot out front as did half a dozen other drivers. But, it was his brother Kyle taking over the lead from Gordon with about 50 to go, going on to claim his third Cup win of the season, 15th career and first at the Virginia speedway.
Notables in this one are of particular interest starting with three-time champion Jimmie Johnson. His No. 48 Chevy experienced brake problems early forcing a few spins, pit lane violations, extra work to the car all adding up to a three lap down finish in a forgettable 36th place. Johnson drops three places in the standings to sixth.
Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr struggled all day as well coming home with a 27th place finish, also losing three spots in the big picture to 18th. Unless that team wakes up with some consistency, they can forget the Chase.
Carl Edwards ran as high as second but his Roush-Fenway Ford and all of his teammates were just junk. It’s as if they pulled a plug wire or two and loosened more than one shock to have the entire team with dismal outings. Jamie McMurray wound up the high man on the totem pole at seventh, but his four teammates averaged a high teen’s finish ending with Edwards at a very disappointing 26th.
A lug nut bobble on Hamlin’s final pit stop sent the local favorite down the charts, recording a discouraging 14th on the day.
On the Nationwide side, Matt Kenseth may have brought the field to the stripe for the start of Friday night’s race, but once again, it was Kyle Busch standing tall in victory lane by night’s end.
It was the usual beatin’ and bangin’ affair on the tight ¾-mile track with Kenseth leading a few at the beginning, Carl Edwards led a bunch, as did Mike Bliss, but no one had anything for Busch in his quest for a third Nat win this season.
Edwards, Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick wrapped up the top five finishers.
In the overall point’s battle, Busch extends his lead over Edwards, now by 82 and 116 over Nat regular Jason Leffler.
From Rumorville – Don’t be surprised to see last week’s Cup winner Brad Keselowski land somewhere full-time next year. For now, he has several Cup outings with Hendrick backing, but there’s no room at the Inn for the bright young driver as they are full, yet there might be something cooking with Junior Racing.
--- With all of the changes about to take place with Chrysler, current Dodge competitors are holding their breathe as to what will happen next. The third member of the big three has already cut their NASCAR backing by some 30%.
Did you know? - How much a set of NASCAR Sprint Cup tires are? Would you believe $1,700 for a set of four? That’s correct. After speaking at length at RIR last week with one of Jeff Burton’s tire guys, we spoke of many details of mounting tires, lug nut attachment, longer studs, etc, then got to the topic of cost. $425 for each tire….no, that doesn’t include the rim, just the tire. As I looked down at the myriad of tires, in this case, eight complete sets plus the set on the car puts just the tire bill at $15,300!! Big bucks!
That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will cover the results from Darlington for the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series along with more racing news from around the globe.
Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net
Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton / Icon SMI
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