Nascar 2012 - Race Nine

Busch Brothers Sweep Richmond Submitted by Rick A. Talford NASCAR Enthusiast RICHMOND, VA - Friday night, under the lights was the Nationwide race. 250 laps on the ¾ mile track. # 33 Kevin Harvick took the pole for the race, and dominated a good part of it. He came up just short finishing in third place. Moto-Cross racer Travis Pastrana started his first race of his Nationwide career, finishing in twenty second place, one spot behind Danica Patrick. They both were two laps down at the races end. Eighteen year old Ryan Blaney also started his first race of his career. Ryan is the son of well known driver, Dave Blaney. The first caution of the race came on lap 24 for debris. The second caution came out on lap 115, when # 23 Richardson spun out # 81 Bowles. During the round of pit stops, # 18 Denny Hamlin missed his pit box, dropping him from third to twenty-fourth. Lap 156, # 54 Kurt Busch (driving for younger brother Kyle) took the lead from Harvick. During a round of green flag pit stops, several drivers (including Pastrana) were caught speeding. They were all forced to make a drive through of pit road for the penalty. The final lap was completed with # 54 Kurt Busch bringing home the very first win for Kyle Busch Motorsports. The rest of the top ten were as follows: # 18 Denny Hamlin (Toyota), # 33 Kevin Harvick (Chevy), # 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (ford), # 12 Sam Hornish Jr. (dodge), # 2 Elliott Sadler (chevy), # 136 Ryan Blaney (chevy), # 43 Michael Annett (ford), # 3 Austin Dillon (chevy), and # 38 Kasey Kahne (chevy). Next race will be on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, starting at 2 PM. Saturday Nights Cup race was 400 laps under the lights. Fifty-three year old Mark Martin took his fifty-third pole of his career in the series. It was thirty-one years ago, that Martin took his very first pole award. Kyle Busch would be racing tonight for the chance of making it four in a row, winning this race in the spring. The track celebrated sixty years of racing as well. Before the race could begin, there were issues with the lights, that needed fixing before they could drop the green flag. # 55 Mark Martin would lead the first twenty-nine laps, before # 99 Carl Edwards would take over and dominate the nights race. On lap fifty, NASCAR threw a yellow flag as a competition caution, due to the track was washed off during the day from rain showers. The restart created some drama, as # 43 Aric Almirola ran into # 24 Jeff Gordon. Gordon then ran into # 16 Greg Biffle and # 51 Kurt Busch. Only Gordon would end up with damage, taking his chevy to pit road for a sliced tire. This put Gordon a couple laps down. Lap 117 # 51 Busch spun out all by himself, bringing out the second caution of the night. During the pit stops, # 27 Paul Menards team had a tire get away from them, causing them to be penalized. They would have to restart at the back of the field. On lap 201 # 14 Tony Stewart would take the lead away from Edwards. Just prior to this, the green flag pit stops had begun. During the stops, # 29 Kevin Harvick would take over the lead of the race. While racing through the field, Harvick ran up on a car that was four laps down. # 36 Dave Blaney raced Harvick hard and even got into the side of his car. Before Harvick could get his car back up to speed, Edwards went back past him to re-take the lead. Lap 227 had another caution for the phantom debris. (debris that was never shown to the fans) The race ran green for quite a while, with Stewart and # 18 Kyle Busch each taking the lead for a short time. Lap 310 # 31 Jeff Burton hit the wall and brought out the fourth caution of the race. During the pit stops, # 48 Jimmie Johnsons team rolled a tire from the car back to the pit wall. This is a violation of the rules, so he was penalized by going to the back of the longest line. He would restart in the thirty-sixth position. The re-start on lap 315 brought some controversy with it. # 99 Carl Edwards appeared to have jumped the restart, as # 14 Tony Stewart was the leader of the race, he was suppose to lead the pack back to the start-finish line. With no caution, Edwards was forced to make a drive through of pit road as a penalty, dropping him from the front row to becoming a lap down car. The fifth and final caution came out on lap 386 for once again, phantom debris. Stewart had a four second lead over Kyle Busch at this time, and had it erased after NASCAR called for the debris caution. With under ten laps remaining, Busch and the rest of the field made another pit stop, and Busch came out the leader. Edwards would get the “Lucky Dog” and returned to the lead lap in fifteenth spot. After another bad restart by Stewart (four out of five restarts, Stewart spun his tires) , # 18 Kyle Busch (Toyota) would race to his “Fourth” Richmond Spring Race Victory. The rest of the top ten were: # 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Chevy), # 14 Tony Stewart (Chevy), # 11 Denny Hamlin (Toyota), # 5 Kasey Kahne (Chevy), # 48 Jimmie Johnson (Chevy), # 15 Clint Bowyer (Toyota), # 55 Mark Martin (Toyota), # 2 Brad Keselowski (Dodge), and # 99 Carl Edwards (Ford). Wisconsin natives # 17 Matt Kenseth (Ford) and # 27 Paul Menard (Chevy) would finish in eleventh and thirteenth positions. The next race for the cup series will be held next Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, starting at noon.