NASCAR Tickets - Kyle Busch Wins at Richmond
June 4, 2011 by Stub_Hub
Kyle Busch took his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season on April 30 in Richmond, edging out Denny Hamlin at the Crown Royal presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400. Busch dashed the hopes of several drivers still looking to qualify for this month's All-Star Race on May 21, and his big win at Richmond solidified his standing as one of the NASCAR elites.
Busch is a regular victor now at the Richmond International Raceway, as his April 30 win at the .75-mile track marked his third spring Richmond race in a row. The win was also his 21st career victory in the Cup Series, and Busch, a top seller of NASCAR tickets, cruised to victory after taking a gamble on conserving fuel on the green flag to the finish, last pitting on Lap 293 of 400. In fact, Busch was so low on fuel that he ran out of gas during his post-race burnout in Victory Lane, marking an extremely close finish for the Joe Gibbs Racing superstar.
Busch finished the Richmond race immediately in front of JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, and was followed quickly by Kasey Kahne (third), David Ragan (fourth), Carl Edwards (fifth), Clint Bowyer (sixth), A.J. Allmendinger (seventh), Jimmie Johnson (eighth), Tony Stewart (ninth) and Brian Vickers (10th).
After the tight Richmond race and getting his car pushed into Victory Lane after running out of gas, Busch told NASCAR.com, "We were late to the celebration. This is pretty awesome. We had a really good car, and we knew that if we could play through traffic a little bit better than the 11 [Hamlin] that we had a shot at the win, and we did that [Saturday night]."
The short track at Richmond was kind to Kyle Busch, but also saw a score of crashes throughout the race. Jeff Gordon checked out of the race after his No. 24 car hit a wall in one of the biggest accidents of the day, and other drivers involved in contact during the day included Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Paul Menard, David Reutimann, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman.
The next time these drivers will start their engines at that racetrack will be this fall, as the second Richmond race of the year - the One Last Race to Make the Chase 400 - is just that. The Sept. 10 race at Richmond will be the final race at Richmond International Raceway before the Chase begins, and if Kyle Busch is on the cusp before the mid-September race, he will at least have some confidence in making the Chase based on another Richmond finish.
After the April 30 race at Richmond, Kyle Busch is still in a great position to make the Chase. He is currently (as of May 2) in third place in overall driver standings, behind only leader Carl Edwards and runner-up Jimmie Johnson. The rest of the Top 10 belongs to (respectively) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.
Next up for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is the Showtime Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway on May 7.
