[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]Following weeks of build up and anticipation, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series arrived at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night for the final race before the Chase for the Championship.  Ten drivers arrived already locked-in to the Chase, including Tony Stewart who was assured of either a finish in the top ten or a wild card spot.  A select few, most notably Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon, were vying for tenth place or one of the two wild cards.  A handful others, including Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman, needed to win and get some help in order to have a chance.

After more than a 90 minute rain delay, the race started under green/yellow flags in order to finish track drying.  The green flag flew for real on lap 6.  Jeff Gordon moved around pole-sitter Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to take the early lead, only to give it back soon after.  Earnhardt led the early laps until a competition caution flag flew on lap 46.  All of the leaders pitted for four tires and came back out pretty much in order.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led the pack back to the green flag on lap 51. Following a caution for a spin by David Ragan, the field restarted again on lap 56.  Denny Hamlin made a strong move around the outside to take the lead away from Earnhardt on lap 60.  Those two cars were closely matched, as they swapped the lead several times.  After 100 laps, and still unswe threatening skies, Hamlin led Earnhardt, Clint Boyer, Jimmy Johnson, and Martin Truex, with those top five all within five seconds of each other.

After a long green flag run, the caution flag came out for rain on lap 138.  All the leaders came down pit road for fuel and tires, with Hamlin beating Earnhardt out to maintain the lead.  With the rain increasing, NASCAR brought the cars down pit road under the red flag at lap 152.  While Hamlin and Earnhardt were the class of the field through this point of the race, Chase hopefuls Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Paul Menard, and Joey Logano were one lap down and quickly watching any chances of making the Chase get washed away with the weather.

Or so we thought.

On lap 137, the rain that haunted the weekend came again and put us under caution.  Some were short on fuel and everyone came in for 4 tires.  After the restart, on lap 152, the red flag came out for rain yet again.  It was a red flag for about 45 minutes or so, and at about 11:25 pm, the drivers were called back to their cars.  At 11:40, Dale Jr. took the lead on the restart from Denny Hamlin, but quickly fell back.

At this point, all the wild card contenders were in the mid 20’s and a lap down, except for Kyle Busch, who was in 12^th spot.  Things would change.  Big time.

At the halfway point in the race, Denny Hamlin led the race.  However, for his JGR teammate Kyle Busch, the last 200 laps would be a struggle to say the least.  On lap 235, Clint Bowyer was trying to get around the lapped machine of Juan Pablo Montoya, made some contact and cut down Clint’s left rear tire.  He spun out the next lap coming off the front stretch and the caution came out.  Another wild card hopeful, Ryan Newman, had a penalty during his pit stop under that caution.  His crew let a tire get out of their pit box and they served a drive through penalty.  After yet another caution on lap 275 for rain, the aforementioned Ryan Newman took the lead with 100 laps to go on lap 300.

Soon after, the 15 machine of Clint Bowyer, who spun out a little earlier in the race, took the top spot from Newman.

Now here is where it gets interesting.

Kyle Busch, who had the wild card position in hand at the time, went a lap down as well as Jimmie Johnson to the leader.  With 68 to go, Kyle came in for a routine green flag pit stop.  Or so he thought.  He had a hang-up on the right rear.  The tire changer missed a lug nut and that incident caused him even more time on the racetrack.  At this point, Jeff Gordon had the wild card position.  He made a pit stop, the final one of the race, on lap 42.  While everyone is cycling through green flag pit stops, the 11 of Denny Hamlin and 15 of Clint Bowyer were trying to stretch it to the end on fuel mileage.  The question was, could they do it?

In the next 30 laps or so, Kyle Busch fell back rapidly, as Jeff Gordon climbed the leader board as it seemed with ease.  With 8 laps to go, Hamlin needed to pit for fuel because he couldn’t stretch his fuel mileage.  While that happened, Gordon was up to second position!  He controlled his own destiny for the wild card!  Clint Bowyer, with a 2 second lead over Gordon, was able to stretch it and won the race, Jeff Gordon clinched a chase spot with his remarkable night.

While Gordon was interviewed during the red flag by ESPN reporter Vince Welch, he was so dejected.  “I was deflated.” he said after the race looking back on his night.  He went on to say,”I knew we had a good race car.  I don’t care where we’re gonna start in points were in it! … Man that as so much fun at the end.  That was amazing!”  Who could blame him?  He just had the drive of his life to come back from a horrible regular season to get into NASCAR’s playoffs by 3 points. Three!

While there are winners, there are always losers.  A heartbroken Kyle Busch’s response was short and sweet.  “We missed it.  That’s it.  Plain and simple.”  Race winner Clint Bowyer was smug in victory lane.  He said with a smile, “Thank you Juan Pablo Montoya for wrecking me and winning me the race!”

`This race was scheduled to start at 7:44 pm.  It started late, and ended at 1:30 am on Sunday morning.   For all those fans that stayed up and watched this historic race unfold before your very eyes, be happy that you did.  The chase field is set.  Chicago next week will be full of surprises, just like this weekend.  You’ll want to tune in the next 10 weeks.  It’s truly going to be a “chase for the championship”.