The Sprint Cup Series headed to Richmond for the 26th and last race before the Chase for the Championship.
The race was scheduled for Saturday night, but Hurricane Hanna moved the race to Sunday instead. The field was set by owner points, which meant that Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, and Kasey Kahne, would be starting 12th, 13th, and 14th at the start of the race.
Before the race began, Bowyer was ahead of Ragan by 17 points and Kahne by 48 points. Bowyer was in the last transfer spot, before the race started, to see who would have a shot to race for the championship.
Since qualifying was rained out due to the hurricane, Kyle Busch started on the pole with Carl Edwards alongside in second spot. Busch would lead the first 28 laps of the race until Kevin Harvick mounted a charge to take the lead.
Harvick would be the leader of the race when NASCAR waved a competition caution for teams to come down pit road and make any necessary adjustments due to the lack of track time that the teams had because of the hurricane.
All the leaders would take advantage and come down pit road for tires and fuel. Jeff Gordon would win the race out of the pits with the help of a two-tire change.
Gordon would take the restart as the leader but Harvick would soon pass Gordon for the lead on lap 44. Harvick would continue to lead a good chunk of the race before Denny Hamlin passed him for the lead on lap 77.
Hamlin’s lead would be short lived though as Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed Denny on lap 80 for the top spot. Earnhardt was leading the field under a long green flag run when the second caution flag of the race came out for Johnny Sauter cutting down a right front tire on lap 97.
The leaders would come down pit road once again with Earnhardt leading them out.
Earnhardt would continue to lead the race through three caution periods between a 20 lap span. The third out of the three cautions proved to be the most significant as David Ragan got loose and spun into the wall along with Matt Kenseth.
Ragan and Kenseth would make repairs and continue because both drivers were fighting for a chance to race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.
Earnhardt was still the leader through all this mess until Kevin Harvick passed him on lap 134 for the lead. Harvick was now leading the field when the sixth caution flag waved for a spin by Juan Pablo Montoya and Elliott Sadler on lap 165. This would allow all the leaders to come down pit road again with Earnhardt winning the battle off.
Shortly after the race restarted, the lead changed hands on three separate occasions. Harvick took the lead from Earnhardt on lap 173, Earnhardt took the lead from Harvick on lap 186, and Kyle Busch took the lead away from Earnhardt on lap 187.
A handful of laps later, after the halfway point of the race, the caution flag waved once again for a spin by Martin Truex Jr. and Sam Hornish. The leaders would hit pit road for another time, with Busch coming out as the leader.
As the race restarted, Earnhardt was all over the back of Kyle Busch for the lead. What happened a few laps later was a turning point in the race. Earnhardt got into turn one too hard, locking up his brakes, when Kyle Busch moved down the track into Earnhardt causing him to spin into the outside wall.
2 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Mary Jo Buchanan 9 months ago
Great recap Samuel - an exciting race for sure! I'm thinking that Jeff Burton may take the win at New Hampshire - he is pretty good there. And I think you are right that Jr. - and Jr. nation - will prevail for the Cup!
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Dave Gainer 9 months ago
many times this season the guy who finished second in the previous race goes onto win the next race. my pick is the 20 car next Sunday. Tony will be up on the wheel at loudon. my prediction of who's the champ this year, well that's easy, the 48 will win his 3rd in a row....
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