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Kyle Busch Top Dog in Standings After 2nd Place in Richmond
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RICHMOND, VA (May 3, 2008) – Kyle Busch came to Richmond this week with a new, yellow No. 18 Pedigree® Brand Food for Dogs Toyota and loads of momentum on his side after winning in Talladega last week. He came in trailing Jeff Burton by only 22 points in the Sprint Cup standings. And after a tremendous, hard-fought 2nd-place finish, Busch now sits atop the standings once again, leading Burton by 18 points. However, becoming the new points leader didn’t come without a little drama and a little more controversy.
“I hate it the way this race finished,” Busch said. “First my teammate dominated all night long but didn’t get the win. And then Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and I got together there. It’s just really unfortunate.”
“(Dale Earnhardt) Jr. and I both know how these things race and they’re so touchy and so unforgiving. We’re both going after it trying to drive as hard as we possibly can there at the end of the race. We didn’t give each other enough room and enough space going into turn three and we made contact and he got the worst end of the deal and got turned around there. Fortunately for us we were able to continue with our Pedigree Camry and come home second and get a good points day.”
Kyle started Saturday night’s Dan Lowry 400 from the inside of row four in the seventh position. In less than 10 laps, he moved his way inside the top five, where he would remain for the rest of the race. Having a car that was a little tight in the center early on forced Busch to wait on the throttle in the middle and exit of each corner. But he was patient all night long and kept chipping away at the lead from the start.
Every pit stop from the Pedigree pit crew was near flawless. Each time Busch came in for service his crew never allowed him to lose any positions and on some occasions gained him a spot.
The No. 18 Pedigree Toyota was strong all night, a testament to good communication between Kyle and his crew chief, Steve Addington. Only minor changes were made to adjust on the handling of the car, and Busch made every change count, as he continually worked through lapped traffic and inched ever closer to the front with each lap.
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Busch’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, was clearly the class of the field all night long. Having started from the pole, Hamlin led a track record 381 laps of the 400-lap race. He was poised to win in his hometown for the first time in his Sprint Cup career, but a cut right front tire with just over 10 laps remaining brought on a huge wave of disappoint and dropped him to a 24th-place finish.
Hamlin’s cut tire put Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the lead for the next restart with Kyle right behind him. The two drove hard down the back stretch side-by-side, when both made contact going into turn three, causing Earnhardt to spin. As the two made contact, Clint Bowyer drove past to take over the lead before the caution flag waved. The race resumed for a green-white-checkered finish, and Bowyer held off Busch to the checkered flag. Busch finished in second place for the third time at Richmond International Raceway in his Sprint Cup career. It was also his sixth top-five in seven career Cup races at Richmond.
Clint Bowyer won his first race of the season while avoiding a hard-charging Kyle Busch. Behind Busch’s second-place finish was veteran driver Mark Martin who captured his 24th top-10 finish in 45 races at Richmond. Tony Stewart finished in fourth, while Martin Truex, Jr. finished in fifth.
Kyle Busch and his No. 18 team will take their lead in the standings to the Darlington Raceway next Saturday night for the Dodge Challenger 500. The FOX network will bring fans live television coverage of the race beginning at 7:00pm EDT. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will provide live radio coverage of the race as well.