NASCAR at Richmond 2015: Winners and Losers from the Toyota Owners 400
In a week where NASCAR touted its green initiative, Mother Nature saw fit to soak Richmond International Speedway Saturday with gallons of rain. Under blue skies on Sunday, the Toyota Owners 400 finally hit its stride.
Kurt Busch led 291 dominating laps at Richmond and slammed the door shut on the surging Kevin Harvick to win his first race of the year and take the burn of what has been a challenging few months for Busch.
“We saw a lot guys charge to the front,” Michael Waltrip said during the Fox broadcast. “They had inconsistent parts of the race. Kurt Busch, no inconsistencies, he got to the front and he stayed there and that car stayed there all day.”
Actually, he was consistent: consistently good all day long.
Read on for some winners and losers from Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400.
Loser: Car Won't Crank
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While running 15th, Tony Stewart had a decent car with about 40 laps to go. Stewart cut a tire on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s left rear quarter panel spinning him out and shutting his car down.
The netting dropped and Smoke could do nothing but walk off the track with a DNF since, according to on-track reports, his car wouldn't crank.
In pure Stewart fashion he declined comment following his admission to the infield care facility. USA TODAY’s Jeff Gluck tweeted, “Stewart then just threw his helmet and all his equipment into his hauler and left the track on a golf cart.”
Earnhardt was visibly annoyed at the end of the race. When asked what happened with the No. 14, Earnhardt said during the broadcast, "I don’t know you’ll have to ask him. He hit me on the left rear quarter panel. I was trying to clear the 51. I was as high as I could go. You’ll have to ask him."
Richmond was the site of Stewart’s first career win, and now the worst start to his career keeps going. Watching his teammate/employee Busch lead nearly 300 laps and win the race is good medicine. Having Kevin Harvick close out the exacta helps too.
Stewart is quickly falling into the Michael Waltrip area of ownership: someone who when he does suit up becomes more ceremonial than anything with the reins to the chariot held firmly by drivers who have long passed him by.
Winner: The Non-Eventful Day of Chase Elliott
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Chase Elliott made his second career Sprint Cup start and didn’t disappoint. He finished a career-high 16th and wasn’t involved in any wrecks. In fact, he was stronger the longer his No. 25 car was able to cruise.
“I thought like we had a solid day overall,” Elliott said on Fox after the race. “I was disappointed there when we couldn’t get going on the restart. I had a great a car on the long run and ran some guys down late. Unfortunately it always comes down to the short runs on these things.”
Elliott represented a fifth car for Hendrick Motorsports. Since Elliott is a rookie, he’s allowed entry into seven races this year as a fifth car.
"This is a tough deal for a four-car team to bring an extra car to the racetrack. That’s asking a lot out of an organization. For them to do it, and the way that they did it in Martinsville, I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the team. I just want to go out and do my part the best that I can this weekend in Richmond.
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Here’s a list of drivers Elliott finished ahead of in the Toyota Owners 400: Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle.
HMS must love what it sees from Elliott.
Loser: Carl Edwards' Lost Opportunity
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Carl Edwards, still desperate for that first win under the Joe Gibbs banner, was never a factor at Richmond.
He started 18th with a middle-of-the-pack car and finished 19th with a middle-of-the-pack car.
“I don’t think the 18th starting spot really is reflective of what this car is capable of,’’ Edwards said on NASCARTalk.NBCSports.com. “I love racing here. It’s a fun place, so we’ll go forward.’’
This was a missed opportunity for Joe Gibbs Racing. JGR has the short tracks dialed in with wins at Martinsville and Bristol. Add in Hamlin’s win Friday night in the Xfinity race, and it appeared that Toyota had the right setup for a winning run at the final short track of the spring.
Not so.
To his credit, Edwards got back on the lead lap.
The season is a quarter through, and there are only nine spots remaining in the Chase. There are only 17 more weeks to qualify for the Chase, and next week's race at Talladega won't be the place he earns that coveted spot in the playoffs.
Edwards is 0-for-21 at the biggest, baddest, fastest track on the circuit.
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Winner: Jimmie Johnson
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Jimmie Johnson is quietly having a dominant year. With Harvick getting all the attention—and deservedly so—Johnson just keeps popping off top fives. Despite starting 36th, Johnson grinded his way up to third.
“We had a great race car and we really felt like that was the case on Friday except for qualifying laps,” Johnson said during the broadcast. “I don’t know what happened Friday and in general I’m not the best qualifier. We’ve got to get those better in order to win as often as we’d like to.”
Only one driver (Harvick) is having a better year. With two wins, Johnson is tied with Harvick.
“We have two wins and we’re making the most of these poor starts and poor pit choices,” Johnson said during the broadcast. “With all the long runs that we had I was able to get through the field. The last few restarts I was able to duke it out with those guys and get a top-three finish.”
These efforts are announcing loud and clear that rain or shine, Johnson is driving his way to a showdown at Homestead.
Loser: Dropped Cylinders
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It wasn’t going to be a repeat of the fall race where Brad Keselowski romped at Richmond. Keselowski had a strong car and then the engine dropped a cylinder.
“We just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a plugged wire,” Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief, said during the broadcast. “We figured it was internal, maybe it’ll hold to the end of the race and we’ll get some points out of it.”
It did hold, and for quite some time the No. 2 car kept pace with the leaders. While sitting in fourth place, he made a slick pass into third, but that dropped cylinder was a time bomb waiting to go off.
Then the cautions came and with every restart he couldn’t contend slipping out of the top five, the top 10 and the top 15 to 17th overall.
His teammate Joey Logano picked up the Team Penske slack by charging up through the field during the late restarts to earn a top five. Logano led the first 94 laps of the race, and it was that early shot of energy that could not keep up with the Stewart-Haas cars.
"We had a decent car, but we weren’t very good from Lap 12 to Lap 60 or 70 in a run," Logano said during the broadcast. "It wasn’t until late in a run that our car started gaining some speed, but we could never make up what we lost in the middle of the run."
Winner: Jamie McMurray's Late Speed
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When assessing the game’s best drivers, Jamie McMurray’s name doesn’t naturally come up, but perhaps it should.
McMurray overcame a loose wheel early at Richmond. Over the course of the race and many long runs we saw, McMurray picked his way up to the top to finish fourth on the day.
McMurray said during the broadcast:
"We were good on the long run. After 30 laps my car was as good as the leaders. It reminded me of the old Darlington or the old Rockingham when someone would take off and then there would be the guy who would come at the end. It was a lot of fun to be that guy with the speed at the end.
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Earlier in the year, McMurray was in a position late to duel with a storming Harvick in the CampingWorld.com 500. Had McMurray fully challenged Harvick it would have led to a wreck. McMurray was wise to let it go.
Now with his second top five, McMurray is setting himself up as a sleeper to get into the Chase.
Loser: The Deliverminator's Failure To...Deliver
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Denny Hamlin could do nothing wrong Friday night while winning the Xfinity Series race, leading 248 of the 250 laps. The win was the 100th for Toyota, an especially poignant win.
"It was unbelievable ... 100 XFINITY wins for Toyota, that's a big weekend," Hamlin said on FoxSports.com. "They put a rocket under me tonight."
That rocket crashed down to earth for the Toyota Owners 400. Hamlin started second and methodically plummeted all the way down. Friday brought the promise, and Sunday killed it.
Good news remains. Hamlin won the spring race at Talladega last year, and that’s where the circuit heads to next. He can put the pain he had in the neck from Martinsville behind him; he can put this upsetting Toyota Owners 400 behind him and get back to driving fast.
Winner: Kurt Busch
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Since Busch's return from a suspension surrounding alleged domestic abuse charges, he’s been downright Harvickian, leading laps, and now a winner.
“When you pull deep from within and you go through troubles, when you’re accused of something and things go sideways, your personal life doesn’t need to affect your professional life and I’m here in Victory Lane,” Busch said during the broadcast.
Fox’s Darrell Waltrip said it best, “When you have a car that dominant, the only thing that can beat you is yourself. They didn’t do that. They had great calls in the pit, the team did a great job and Kurt drove a flawlessly perfect day.”
Busch has been a force for Stewart-Haas racing since his return. The No. 41 team has been in contention just about every week. He’d be the best driver on a lot of teams, but the recent dominance of Harvick makes it easy to miss what Busch has done since made his return at Phoenix.
He’s driving like a champion, and he’s got the team and the engine/chassis combination to reach Homestead with a chance at the Cup.
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