Clint Bowyer wins at Richmond, but that’s hardly the story
Quote selected text Published May 3rd, 2008 in NASCAR News
Denny Hamlin appeared headed toward an easy victory. Then, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed poised to snap his two-year losing streak.
In the end, surprise winner Clint Bowyer celebrated in Victory Lane, stealing a victory Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway that ended in wild fashion.
Hamlin, the hometown favorite, ran away with the race and led a record 381 of the 400 laps in search of his first Cup victory at Richmond. Nobody came close to challenging him until a leaking right front tire allowed Earnhardt and Kyle Busch to catch him.
The two drivers split Hamlin as they moved past him, with Earnhardt emerging as the leader with 18 laps to go. Hamlin’s tire finally failed with eight to go, and NASCAR accused him of intentionally bringing out the caution that regrouped the field.
Earnhardt and Busch staged a strong battle for the lead when the race resumed, but Busch and Earnhardt made contact in turn three that sent Earnhardt into the wall.
“Just a bummer deal,” Busch shrugged. “We were both racing hard there.”
“Whether it was fair or not, he’s going to need security,” Earnhardt lamented.
Bowyer used the opportunity to slide past both Earnhardt and Busch and into the front for the first time all night. Bowyer then held off Busch on a final restart to score his first Cup victory of the season, second of his career.
Busch finished second, then was confronted on pit road by his former crew members at Hendrick Motorsports. Busch spent three years driving for Hendrick, but was replaced by Earnhardt this season.
Mark Martin finished a season-best third and was followed by Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 10.
Earnhardt finished 15th and Hamlin was a disappointing 24th after nearly routing the field.
Richmond GM teams race quotes
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UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
FIN, ST, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, PTS/BNS, LAPS, STATUS
1 31 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 190/5 410 Running
2 7 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Pedigree 170/0 410 Running
3 2 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 165/0 410 Running
4 15 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 160/0 410 Running
5 3 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 155/0 410 Running
6 10 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Alltel 150/0 410 Running
7 19 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 146/0 410 Running
8 11 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 142/0 410 Running
9 28 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 138/0 410 Running
10 9 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 134/0 410 Running
11 33 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 130/0 410 Running
12 5 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 127/0 410 Running
13 39 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Speed Racer / Cheerios 124/0 410 Running
14 23 16 Greg Biffle Ford DISH Network / DishDVRs 121/0 410 Running
15 22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 123/5 410 Running
16 34 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Discount Tire 115/0 410 Running
17 13 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 112/0 408 Running
18 17 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 109/0 408 Running
19 8 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 106/0 407 Running
20 30 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Haas Automation 103/0 407 Running
21 26 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet Steak-umm Burgers 100/0 407 Running
22 14 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 97/0 406 Running
23 35 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 94/0 406 Running
24 1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 101/10 406 Running
25 41 109 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 88/0 406 Running
26 38 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Charter Comm. 85/0 405 Running
27 32 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 82/0 405 Running
28 42 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 79/0 405 Running
29 36 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row/ DenverMattress.com 76/0 405 Running
30 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 73/0 399 Running
31 25 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Moen / Menards 70/0 396 Running
32 6 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 67/0 388 Running
33 37 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Haas Automation 64/0 373 Running
34 20 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 61/0 364 In Pit
35 43 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 58/0 364 Running
36 16 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg’s / CARQUEST 55/0 354 Running
37 27 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 52/0 352 In Pit
38 24 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT NANO Technology 49/0 345 Running
39 18 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 51/5 259 In Pit
40 29 00 Michael McDowell * Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 43/0 258 In Pit
41 40 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com 40/0 229 Running
42 21 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 37/0 229 Running
43 4 10 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge LifeLock 34/0 228 Running
- Top 12 drivers heading into Richmond
- 5 drivers test tires at Daytona
- RCR teammates Burton, Bowyer in altercation after Daytona 500-UPDATE
- Bowyer re-signs with new 3 year deal with RCR
- Bowyer running the triple at Atlanta
Heartbreak on my birthday weekend.
happy bday andy! Mine was today too… Jr.nation please understand that was a racing deal and busch had ample opportunity to dump Jr before turn 3 if that was his intent. I feel so bad for Denny! Stupid tire robbed him of a dominating victory
Wanted to see Stewart up there for the win… oh well.. top 5 finish for him.. congrats to Clint
I hate busch anyway, but for him to not even take the win
after ruining Jrs easy win after hamlin went down just turns him into a bigger jacka$$
Expect it from schrub,they were saying how much car control he has,well twice this year he couldn’t control his car/truck and took out someone else(Johnny Benson @ Martinsville)both times can’t take blame,Jr. is a class act!!!!!!!!!
Wow only 4 responses so far I’m honestly surprised.
As far as the Jr thing I’ll say this. I DO NOT think Kyle took him out on purpose (I think even Jr said that in his interview) but he did go into that corner a little to hard and they just got together in a racing thing (it kinda looked like Jr cut down a bit early but it was hard to tell). But oh well its short track racing ‘S’-Happens.
Reminds me of the incident with Stewart and Harvick @ Bristol.. just a racing incident.. lets move on.
I think Kyle did get loose… however i was watching HotPass
and they had a slow motion replay of Kyle’s tires..and even after
the initial “loose” contact, his tires went to the right just ever
so slightly and tapped his car again.. i dont know. it seemed like
he might have given it a little more than what it appeared..
but whatever. better luck next time !
I am a Jr fan and cant stand Busch. Busch is an idiot he drove the car into the corner to hard and lost control that was easy to see. If he would have been more patient he would have probally gotten around jr. He didnt deserve to get second place after Jr pretty well saved busch from spinning out and hitting the wall by himself
I didn’t say he did it on purpose,I sure he didnt,I just think the little schrub drives way over his head,Look at it again Jr. had to come down to make the turn, schrub had more than enough room on the bottom,drove over his head and wrecked Jr. simple as that.
This girl has watched Kyle make this mistake one to many times. Not to mention Kyle was running the bottom of the track up until that point. Did he just suddenly decided the high line of the track was better? I don’t think so.
His driving style is very reckless. If anyone on here can tell me they’ve never noticed that before, then you haven’t been paying much attention. It doesn’t take someone from Jr Nation to point that out. It’s been pretty obvious even before now.
But now that Jr has been added into the mix, it’s going to be a long time before he lives this one down.
just to be fair, I dont think he did it intentionally, It dont change the fact that hes an a hole but for once, I just dont think it was intentional
No, not intentional….Just dumb and reckless. But it still ranks right up there!
No it’s hardly ever intentional but it happens to often,schrub just drives over his head.PERIOD.Lots of talent ,Lack of Brain.
I think he ment to run junior up the track and take away his line but as usual he screwed up and someone else paid for it. btw when he is talking slow he is making it up as he goes along. but his comment to his old friend “it aint all about him” leaves you wondering whats up.
Mess with the bull you’re gunna get the horns… It just so happened that this time it was the chrome horn….. l0l
Plain and simple, Busch Drove it in too far too hard and ran out of tallent. Coto’s to JR. for the very Tactfull way he handled the interview, it was easy to tell how upset he was and it would have been very easy to lay it on Busch hard and heavy. But not to worry JR. will win several races before the year is over!! The worst thing is that the people that will stick up for Busch are and will continue to be the ones who dog JR. for not being able to win a race.
Busch wasn’t very popular before tonight but he would win most unpopular driver of the year hands down now. I cant wait to here all the boo’s for him next week.
dkcrasher wrote:
not to really change the subject but would people think it differently if it was tony, jeff or jimmie giving the spin to jr
rubbins racin
not to really change the subject but would people think it differently if it was tony, jeff or jimmie giving the spin to jr
>>
Actually people know that Tony, Jeff and Jimmie race clean ,and they get respect for that. So, no they most likely wouldn’t be bashed. As least not as bad as Kyle is getting it. You should really check out some of the other forums on Kyle right now. It’s pretty bad.
wrote:
no
wrote:
sorry for the double
What I meant was if it was tony than no cause hes just a cry baby and if it was johnson or gordon, they are teamates so they would probably get itev en worse
ganjadude wrote:
What should of been said is if it was the other way around… probably people would be cheering.
I truely believe that Kyle is the best driver in nascar. he is only 23 years old and look what he has done. awsome kid. he could drive a ford and take it to victory lane. he’s the best and every one can’t see that he is so very darn slicking good. so they say bad things about him and they all try to come down on him. gooo kyle
Congrats to Clint! He raced a smart race and his car was comming.
Anyone wondering why Denny Hamlin stopped on the track to bring out a caution?
Jr fans..
TAKE A LOOK AT 2000 ON BACK WHEN SR WAS STILL ALIVE..
Kyle is almost a mirror image of Sr’s driving style. So Jr fans, your going to bash Kyle just for driving agressively and giving it his all like Sr did and getting loose causing your ‘jesus’ to spin?
Dale Jr is NOT God. He is a driver who doesn’t have the racing ‘gift’. He can run up in the top for the first 1/3 of the race, but when he gets the lead or gets close, notice how he can’t hold onto it? Can’t blame ANYBODY but him; he just isn’t the most talented driver out there.
And to whoever brought up Ky’s tires turning into Jr when the wreck was happening..
If you look closely, and just like the commentators were saying, Ky was trying to straighten out his car and hold onto it so he wouldn’t make the mess any worse. He wasn’t intentionally trying to hit Jr.
sushstewart20 you must be in your own little world,seeing only what you want,NO he didn’t do it on purpose,but he over drove the car into the corner,got loose and took out Jr. I haven’t seen anywhere ,where someone said he did it on purpose.the problem is schrub is not the driver HE thinks he is.As for JR. not having the “gift”.He wouldn’t be where he is today without it,No JR. is not GOD,but when he starts winning again,not even GOD has gotten so much press.you’ll eat those words.As for schrub being mirrior image of SR.not even going to quilify that.
First of all, you’ve done nothing but insult Sr. by comparing Kyle to him. They are nothing alike.
And by saying Jr has no gift, after he is out there proving himself otherwise, just shows how much people don’t know before they speak. And for the last time, no one said it was intentional!! People need to get their eyes checked and pay more attention!
As for Hamilin, I honestly think he was trying to make it through the last laps of the race hoping the tire wouldn’t give. But at the same time his team should have known better. But I really can’t wait to hear the audio to see for sure or not.
Well said Roxanne!! And colonel said schrub is best driver in NASCAR.HA. If he’s so good why can’t he go a week or two without wrecking someone,he brings on the trash himself.
Roxanne Many Many people including Earnhardts have compared Kyle to Sr.
And in my opinion (which I do recall being able to speak) he is nothing like him. But thanks for the imput that I care nothing about.
Jeff wrote:
Amen…
The only thing that was truly unfortunate about last night… is that dill-weed Dale Junior was permitted to finish way too high in final placement.
So far, I’ve placed bets with people before each race this season about where Dale Junior would finish at the conclusion of each race. Thus far, I haven’t lost a bet yet! When you know the FACTS about what a narcissistic little monster Dale Junior is… it’s very easy to know why this stuff happens to him, and where his over-rated, useless career is heading.
Last night at 7:30 pm, my “bet” ~ was that Junior would finish NO BETTER than eleventh place at Richmond. On lap 380-ish, when Junior took the lead by showing off and over-driving his car again (as he always does)… somebody called me on my mobile and said “see… told ya so”…
My immediate, calm response was: “not a problem… just be patient…. DOOM will soon strike, because “divine justice” would step-in and “correct” the little brat.
Fast forward 15 laps from that moment… and BOOM! Justice struck promptly in time to “correct”.
Once again, “blackmail embracing, pornography approving Junior Nation” is acting like their disgusting self, which is further evidence as to why I repudiated and parted ways with Dale Junior and THEM last year.
If you watch all the camera angle replays of Junior’s “Justice”…
It is plainly clear that Kyle did nothing wrong or intentional. In fact, It appears Junior came down into Kyle’s lane before his car was a full length ahead of him. Junior did what he always does…. he was showing off and over-drove the car.
The truly shameful dimension of the whole evening is that despite the “Justice”… Dale Junior was still able to finish far better than he deserved. 15th is way too good for the little jerk… But fortunately, there are still 16 more races before the chase begins, in which Junior will not even finish in the top-10 for the balance of the season. THAT’S JUSTICE!
It’s coming ~ BANK ON IT!
I have to agree (sorry) that Junior is over-driving his car. Most of the time he was in the lead I saw tire smoke coming from hsi car from tire rubbing which mean he was over-driving the car and could of resulted worse than it was.
hey guest… you can stop posting the same comment on every thread… we heard you the first time and didnt care than either
ganjadude wrote:
I couldn’t have said it better myself……….
I’ll bet that Steven Wallace laughed his a$$ off watching Kyle take out Junior. And he probably wanted Junior to go after Kyle but that didn’t happen. Isn’t Kyle the guy that always says he can wreck as many cars as he wants to?
ganjadude wrote:
LMAO… just for that… i’m gonna post it twice as often because you shot your pissy little mouth off…
I just enjoy grabbing Jr. Nation by the throat and smashing their face into the TRUTH… given how evil the majority of them behaved last year and more…
Now I do it with divine pleasure!
Once again some nameless chicken s#%& offers their words proving what an idiot they are,who was overdriving their car ,schrub.Jr. was “permmited to finish”.what a stupid thing to say,he drove to the front from 22nd start ,stayed top 5 all nite and got taken out by a Overdriving,kid that thinks he’s better than he is.real easy for you to predict what will happen to Jr. when schrub is behind you ask Johnny Benson….get some guts state your name so you can eat your words later this year.
Fisha695 wrote:
It looked like Kyle Schrub turned into Junebug from my 65 inch tv, I had a great view!!!
wrote:
Yes, I would think the same if it warrants it!!!
colonel wrote:
No, he is not the best driver of Nascar, that would be Dale Earnhardt Sr, nothing could ever replace good ole Dale☺☺☺
Sushstewart20 wrote:
VERY FAR FROM DALE SR’S DRIVING STYLE, NOT EVEN CLOSE TO IT!!!
Thank you Jag!!
Fisha695 wrote:
I doubt the Earnhardt’s would compare Kyle’s driving habits to the old mans, they have more brains than that, even Teresa has more brains not to compare, LOL…….
Guest wrote:
You wish you were Jr, so, so jealous you can’t be as good as him, you sound like a 10-96 speaking, if you don’t know what a 10-96 is, look it up in police codes or ask a cop what it is…Sounds like you are a Kyle Shrub cornholio…
Roxanne wrote:
You are very welcome, I am a die-hard Dale Sr addict, when I hear garbage like that, I will defend Sr all the way even to the grave…Almost cracked me up, I was starting to think we had commedians out here today…
Guest wrote:
Is the wind blowning again? What a @@@@@!
LOL…….Ignore the mentally disturbed and they eventually go away!
I just watched the replay like 10 times and in slow motion, he turned the wheel, before there was any contact
Well the kid has been compared to Dale Sr. more than once, and as someone who has worked for RCR Danny (Chocolate) Myers, he even said Kyle is exactly like Sr. was and I think he is right. he is a wheel man and if you cant hold your own against him oh well. it was a great race and it was a great finish.
Yep, and I’m watching the after race interview in Victory Lane. They even commented on how well Dale’s after race interview was total class. Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace even reviewed the video and said Jr gave Kyle plenty of room, and Kyle took to much. Lack of respect, is what was said. (and on a 50 inch screen it was obvious.)
Roxanne wrote:
Well i remember Dale Sr. takin out Terry Labonte in Bristol and he got done and said well i just wanted to rattle his cage and they called it a dirty move too, so i guess Kyle might be watchin to many old race videos.
Roxanne wrote:
You’re lucky aren’t ya.
Roxanne wrote:
yeah the 50 inch screen made the total difference,
on my 20 inch i watched it on i gave him slack and said it was just good racing, on the big screen it was clear as day