Kyle Busch Gets Cake, Eats It Too with Win at Richmond

He swept the weekend, became only the second driver in history in the Cup Series to win on his birthday, and has the most wins (15) of any driver his age.

Not bad for twenty four year old Kyle Busch, who survived a caution filled Russ Friedman 400 to take the cake.

It was his third victory in the Cup Series this season, and moved him into fifth in the points standings.

"You guys are awesome!" Busch radioed his crew. "May 2, baby! Thank you."

Busch took the lead, his first of the day, with 48 laps to go from then leader Jeff Gordon.

"It's an awesome win for us," Busch said. "It's really exciting to win on my birthday and to have my team guys enjoy it as much as I do. They're having a good time. We struggled for four weeks. It's been a struggle for us—we haven't finished where we want to. We made it happen here."

It looked as if, late in the race, Busch would face competition from the No. 14 of Tony Stewart and No. 31 of Jeff Burton—both who had much fresher tires on their Chevrolets.

But Busch's Toyota prevailed, never letting go of two and a half second lead over the pair, who finished second and third, respectively.

"Those guys had to run us down," Busch said. "We took four tires and then we were going to stay out from then on out. We made the most of the effort. I didn't think we could do it. I knew we had a good car, not a great car.

"All you have to do is hang around with a good car and let the race fall your way."

The Saturday night short track event was, just as expected, eventful, with a record tying fifteen cautions on the night.

A late afternoon rain shower forced the race to begin under a green yellow, giving five bonus points to pole sitter Brian Vickers.

And while it was a good day for Rowdy, the same can't be said for Jimmie Johnson.

It was a difficult night for the defending champion Johnson, who suffered a pit road speeding penalty early in the race, telling crew chief Chad Knaus he was confused on where the commitment line was. Johnson would later have brake line problems, rear ended rookie Joey Logano on lap 180 and spun out ten laps later.

Black flagged on lap 197, the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet would end up finishing 36th, dropping three points positions to sixth.

"This team is awesome," Busch said in Victory Lane, after crowd surfing with his crew members. "We didn't have the best car by a long shot, but we made it work."

Thanks to NASCAR.com, UPI.com, Jayski, and the Associated Press for the quotes and information used in this piece.