Kyle Busch Wins Richmond Cup Race; Denies Jeff Gordon Trophy in Final Laps

Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

As a NASCAR short track event, the Richmond event was a very tame affair with only two drivers, Sam Hornish Jr and Joe Nemechek, recorded as out because of accidents. 12 lead changes throughout the 400 lap distance also meant long periods of a single driver setting the pace. From pole position, Kyle Busch led the first 143 laps of the event until the #24 car of Jeff Gordon briefly snatched the top spot for a 4 laps. Busch quickly retook the 1st place position for an additional 28 laps. Overall, Kyle Busch's #18 M&Ms Toyota remained in front the lion's share of the Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 leading 226 laps.

On lap 199 Dale Earnhardt Jr's #88 Chevrolet was sideswiped the #98 Ford of Paul Menard causing the Hendrick Motorsports car to suffer a cut tire. Having a mediocre run in the early stages of the Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400, the Hendrick Motorsports #88 car was dropped 2 laps off the lead as he was forced to pit under green flag condition. Based on the distance lost and the uneventful nature of the mid-stage of the Richmond race, Earnhardt never recovered and finished 32th place. With NASCAR conceding to changing the current spec Sprint Cup car by reverting back to the spoiler, it's surprising that the razor blade-like front splitter remains on the vehicle.

Hitting a lead stride during the second half of the event, Jeff Gordon rested in control of the Richmond short track uninterrupted from lap 273 for 123 circuits. Gordon led within a long 196 lap long under green flag run which was disturbed on lap 368 by the #19 of Elliott Sadler spinning on the frontstretch.

Within the last 50 laps distance of the 400 lap event, a rather sparse field of stock cars was condensed by three cautions periods. This closure allowed the field to finally mount a challenge on the Dupont #24 Chevrolet. On the first one of these late race restarts, Gordon launched perfectly as than 2nd place Jeff Burton in the #31 Chevrolet was unable to hold the runner-up spot to the challenge of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.

When caution came out 12 laps after the restart for Sam Hornish Jr and David Ragan spinning into turn 2, Kevin Harvick held second place over Kyle Busch with Jeff Gordon still leading. Going for his first victory since the Texas Motor Speedway race in 2009, Gordon again showed performed another powerful take-off to leave the #29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet behind to duel with the hungry Kyle Busch. With 14 laps left in the race, Kyle Busch gained the upper hand on Kevin Harvick taking the second place spot just before caution fell for the 7th and final time in the races when Sam Hornish Jr's #77 Dodge slid hard into the backstretch wall. The caution ultimate setup a 5-lap shootout between the lead car of Jeff Gordon and the ultra-fast Kyle Busch.

Lane choice turned out the be a final deciding factor as Jeff Gordon elected to stay on the inside for the restart. The restart was a dead heat as both Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch read the green flag perfectly. Heading into turn 1, Kyle Busch on the outside was able to maximize his roll through the corner as an advantage over the #24 car. With four laps remaining, Busch regained the 1st place position for the final time as he took victory for the second year in a row in the spring race at Richmond International Raceway.



Photo Credit: Al Bello/Getty Images

Jeff Gordon finished second for his highest placement in a 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Losing in the late laps of Las Vegas and Martinsville rounds prior to the Richmond International Raceway race, Gordon and the #24 Dupont Chevrolet looks at this race as being another missed opportunity to celebrate in victory lane this year.

In 3rd, Kevin Harvick mounted a strong enough run to unseat the #48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson from the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings. In contrast to several races this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series where Kevin Harvick overcame deficits of unremarkable qualifying runs, Harvick in the #29 Chevrolet remained in the front since the start of the race. In retaking the points lead, Harvick now stands 10 points ahead of Johnson heading into Darlington next Saturday night.



Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Final Results

Pos # | Car # |Driver | Sponsor/Car Make

1) 18 Kyle Busch       M&M's Toyota
2) 24 Jeff Gordon      DuPont Chevrolet
3) 29 Kevin Harvick    Reese's Chevrolet
4) 31 Jeff Burton      Caterpillar Chevrolet
5) 99 Carl Edwards     Scotts EZ Seed Ford
6) 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
7) 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
8) 39 Ryan Newman      Army Medicine Chevrolet
9) 47 Marcos Ambrose   Bush's Best Baked Beans / Kingsford Toyota
10) 48 Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet 
11) 11 Denny Hamlin     FedEx Ground Toyota
12) 33 Clint Bowyer     BB&T Chevrolet
13) 17 Matt Kenseth     Crown Royal Ford
14) 12 Brad Keselowski   Penske Dodge
15) 00 David Reutimann   Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota
16) 20 Joey Logano      The Home Depot Toyota
17) 43 A J Allmendinger Valvoline Ford
18) 2 Kurt Busch       Miller Lite Dodge
19) 1 Jamie McMurray   Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
20) 83 Brian Vickers    Red Bull Toyota
21) 9 Kasey Kahne      Budweiser 25th Anniversary Ford 
22) 16 Greg Biffle      3M Ford 
23) 14 Tony Stewart     Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet
24) 6 David Ragan      UPS Ford
25) 5 Mark Martin         Hendrickcars.com / GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
26) 36 Casey Mears      H.D. Segar Inc. Insurance Chevrolet
27) 98 Paul Menard      Schrock / /Menards Ford 
28) 7 Robby Gordon     BAMVIP.com / James Otto / Whitney Duncan Toyota
29) 26 David Stremme     Air National Guard Ford
30) 78 Regan Smith      Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 
31) 37 David Gilliland         Taco Bell Ford
32) 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
33) 71 Bobby Labonte     TRG Motorsports Chevrolet
34) 34 Travis Kvapil     Long John Silver's Ford 
35) 82 Scott Speed      Red Bull Toyota 
36) 77 Sam Hornish Jr.   Mobil 1 Dodge
37) 38 Kevin Conway     Extenze Ford
38) 19 Elliott Sadler    Reynolds Ford
39) 46 Terry Cook       The Atlantic Company Dodge
40) 09 Mike Bliss       Phoenix Construction / Graceway Chevrolet
41) 32 Reed Sorenson    Braun Racing Toyota
42) 64 Tony Raines      Gunselman Motorsports Toyot
43) 87 Joe Nemechek     NEMCO Motorsports Toyota

Scott Dixon Dominates Kansas IndyCar Race; Penske's Power Stumbles

Photo Credit: Jim Haines

Having completed four races so far in this 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season Team Penske led by the driving talents of Will Power quickly established themselves as a near unbeatable entity. However, having appeared in the wake of Penske Racing's dominance through the first three races, Andretti Autosport stepped up to become a firm challenger with more than 3/4s of the season left to be run. The Penske Racing trio battles with Andretti Autosport teams in 2010 with last year's dynamic duo of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon at Target/Chip Ganassi Racing making little impact on the tour. As the 2009 open wheel series champion and runner-up drivers sets sights on the 1.5 mile oval of Kansas Speedway, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing organization surrounded themselves with season-high optimism.

The first oval and Saturday afternoon show for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 race at Kansas Speedway started without incident as drivers adapted well to the significant changes in this year's racing action. In benefit of his qualifying performance on Friday, Ryan Briscoe led from the start of the event recording a person-best run. Taking the lead away from pole sitter Ryan Briscoe for the first time working lap 32, Scott Dixon led 167 of the 200 circuits composing the race distance. Besides Dixon and Briscoe, the only other driver leading the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 was Dixon's Target/Chip Ganassi Racing partner Dario Franchitti for 2 laps during a pit stop exchange.

The race ran clean and green for 78 laps until the first caution fell on the track for EJ Viso. Getting caught in the notorious marbles and debris at the top of the speedway's turn 4, Viso's #8 swept into the wall knocking the Venezuelan out of the event. Offering a breather from the 200-plus mile per hour race pace, cars left on the lead lap pitted for fuel and tires. Two major incidents occurred within the 10 lap caution period. Firstly, during this pit stop round, the cars of Takuma Sato and Milka Duno collided as they raced side-by-side off the pit lane. Despite shooting each other into the in-field grass area through turn 1, both cars amounted only minor damage and were able to continue. A second, more significant event transpired when Ryan Briscoe's #6 Penske Racing vehicle lost its left front wheel. Fortunately with the field still under yellow, Briscoe was able to safely pit for a new tires but lost ground on the race track.

While Scott Dixon held the top spot uncontested at Kansas Speedway, competition for the remaining top-5 positions was hot as common sights such as the #3 Penske Racing car of Helio Castroneves was joined by some surprise front runners including the #06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing machine of Hideki Mutoh. Drivers Dario Franchitti and Alex Tagiani made use of strong starting spot to stay upfront with others teams joining the party. Two cars belonging to the Andretti Autosport team, the #11 of Tony Kanaan and the #37 of Ryan Hunter-Reay, both made significant movements up from their starting positions.

In the final 25 laps, the race was slowed by two cautions for accidents. On lap 179, the first yellow flag came when Jay Howard, making his first run for Sarah Fisher Racing of the 2010 season, lost control off turn 4 and flew into the frontstretch wall. Howard exited the car unhurt. With a restart on lap 185, the caution came out one more time 2 laps later when the Japanese drivers Takuma Sato and Hideki Mutoh came together on frontstretch when they were three-wide running alongside Simona Silvestro.

Thanks to a sizable separation caused by a multitude of lapped cars, Scott Dixon was left unchallenged as he sprints to his first IZOD IndyCar win of the year. Dario Franchitti made it a Target/Chip Ganassi Racing one-two passing Helio Castroneves for the second spot. Franchitti still finished more than 3 seconds behind Dixon.

Despite losing a position in the final laps, Tony Kanaan and the whole #11 Andretti Autosport group can happily celebrate an impressive podium run in the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 climbing 10 places from his starting position. Finishing 3rd, Kanaan has shown blazing speed but had struggled to transfer the pace to a top result on the four road courses. The #37 Andretti Autosport car also enjoyed a good race at Kansas. Ryan Hunter-Reay emerged up 17 positions to finish 5th as a brilliant way to back-up his victory last race on the streets of Long Beach.

As for the Penske Racing organization, the Kansas Speedway oval provided a mixed result. Helio Castroneves arrived home 4th and Ryan Briscoe recovered from his wheel issue to finish a well-earned 6th place. As for Penske's road course ace Will Power, the first visit to a circle track was a shockingly off-day for the #12 team. Having finished on the podium three of the last four races, Power finished 2 laps down in 12th spot. In overall IZOD IndyCar points, Will Power retains the lead but loses 34 markers to Scott Dixon, 14 points to teammate Helio Castroneves and 12 to Ryan Hunter-Reay. The top 4 drivers are within 31 points entering the Indianapolis 500.

In a post-race interview, Scott Dixon enlightened the race viewers on the driver's mindset leading an IndyCar event. "When you're leading that long, you're waiting for something to go wrong, whether it's the engine, you hear noises, or if you're going to have a tire go flat. In that scenario, it's going quite smoothly. It's not going easy, but it's going smoothly. You're waiting for maybe lap traffic." Dixon said.



Photo Credit: Jim Haines

2010 Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway
IZOD IndyCar Series
Race Results

1. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
2. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
3. 11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
4. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
5. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
6. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
7. 32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
8. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
9. John Andretti/American/ Team Window World
10. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Enterprises
11. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
12. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
13. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
14. 24 Mike Conway/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
15. 4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
16. 2 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
17. 67 Sarah Fisher/United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing
18. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
19. 19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
20. 36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing
21. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing
22. 34 Mario Romancini/Brazil/ Conquest Racing
23. 06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
24. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
25. 66 Jay Howard/England/Sarah Fisher Racing
26. 18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing
27. 8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology

Kyle Busch Will Lead NASCAR Sprint Cup Field at Richmond

Photo Credit: Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

Taking pole for Saturday's running of the Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 is the #18 Toyota of Kyle Busch. Lapping the 0.75 mile Richmond International Raceway short track at 21.247 seconds, Busch prevailed over the Michael Waltrip Racing-owned #00 Toyota of David Reutimann by 8/100ths of a second.

In 3rd and 4th spot, the Hendrick Motorsports team placed two Chevrolets behind the Toyota pairing starting the Saturday night Richmond event. Jimmie Johnson's #48 Chevrolet is one spot higher than the #24 of Jeff Gordon to secure the second row. Don't expect for any fuel to be added the overblown alleged feud between Johnson and Gordon. Reports have team owner Rick Hendrick sitting down with both drivers to talk through the rift between the tightly-knitted teammates.

Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers and Clint Bowyer round out the top-10 starting positions.

Also capturing the pole for the NASCAR Nationwide running for Friday night, Kyle Busch has a lot positive history at Richmond International Raceway. The site of his first NASCAR race win in the than-Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) in 2004, Kyle Busch has been the highest finishing driver in the past 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup series events at the short track. Busch and his #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is also the reigning winner of the 400-lap race.

The running of the 2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 will be televised on FOX with the cue to start engines coming shortly 7:30PM.


2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400
at Richmond International Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Starting Lineup

Pos # | Car # | Driver | Sponsor/Car Make

1) 18 Kyle Busch         M&M's Toyota
2) 00 David Reutimann   Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota
3) 48 Jimmie Johnson   Lowe's / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
4) 24 Jeff Gordon      DuPont Chevrolet 
5) 39 Ryan Newman      Army Medicine Chevrolet 
6) 12 Brad Keselowski   Penske Dodge
7) 29 Kevin Harvick    Reese's Chevrolet
8) 1 Jamie McMurray    Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
9) 83 Brian Vickers    Red Bull Toyota 
10) 33 Clint Bowyer     BB&T Chevrolet 
11) 87 Joe Nemechek     NEMCO Motorsports Toyota
12) 82 Scott Speed      Red Bull Toyota
13) 36 Casey Mears      H.D. Segar Inc. Insurance Chevrolet
14) 5 Mark Martin      Hendrickcars.com / GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
15) 43 A J Allmendinger Valvoline Ford
16) 2 Kurt Busch       Miller Lite Dodge
17) 31 Jeff Burton      Caterpillar Chevrolet
18) 14 Tony Stewart     Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet
19) 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
20) 47 Marcos Ambrose    Bush's Best Baked Beans / Kingsford Toyota
21) 17 Matt Kenseth     Crown Royal Ford
22) 9 Kasey Kahne      Budweiser 25th Anniversary Ford
23) 20 Joey Logano      The Home Depot Toyota
24) 19 Elliott Sadler    Reynolds Ford
25) 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
26) 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
27) 77 Sam Hornish Jr.   Mobil 1 Dodge
28) 99 Carl Edwards     Scotts EZ Seed Ford
29) 78 Regan Smith      Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
30) 11 Denny Hamlin     FedEx Ground Toyota
31) 71 Bobby Labonte    TRG Motorsports Chevrolet
32) 98 Paul Menard      Schrock / /Menards Ford 
33) 16 Greg Biffle      3M Ford 
34) 32 Reed Sorenson    Braun Racing Toyota
35) 6 David Ragan      UPS Ford
36) 09 Mike Bliss       Phoenix Construction / Graceway Chevrolet
37) 7 Robby Gordon     BAMVIP.com / James Otto / Whitney Duncan
38) 34 Travis Kvapil     Long John Silver's Ford 
39) 26 David Stremme     Air National Guard Ford
40) 37 David Gilliland   Taco Bell Ford
41) 46 Terry Cook       The Atlantic Company Dodge
42) 38 Kevin Conway     Extenze Ford
43) 64 Tony Raines      Gunselman Motorsports Toyota