[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Last weekend at Richmond after the controversy that surrounded the restart with Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, followed by the debris caution for supposedly a water bottle, it was Kyle Busch who came out on top. The win marked his first win of the season and his 24^th win in 266 starts.

“It was an awesome weekend all around,” Busch said after the race. “We unloaded here yesterday and had a decent car off the truck and was able to work on it and just kept making some changes to it, try to make it better for us.  And you know, there through much of the race we just kept ourselves in position and did what we needed to do to stay in the top 5 and had a good race car to do that with, and the guys on pit road gave me phenomenal stops to gaining ground every time even when we were pulling spring rubber.  Can’t say enough about those guys.”

If it wasn’t for that last caution, there was good potential that Stewart would’ve been in victory lane as he had a good sizable lead on Busch. Busch says that if the caution hadn’t come out, he would not have caught Stewart as he was losing a tenth a lap.

“At that point I kept trying and staying with him there early in that run to get him the pressure and use up his tires a little bit, and I could see him doing some of that,” he added. “But then my car just started getting a little bit too tight in the center and a little bit too loose off where I started losing ground, and once I about couldn’t see him anymore, I figured, okay, I’m going to save what I’ve got here and just try to make it to the end here and see if any of the guys catch me from behind, give me something that I have left that I can reach them with if they get to my back bunker.  No catching Stewart without that caution.”

The No. 18 team is off to a slow start this year, which is uncharacteristic for them. In the first nine races of the season, he only has two top fives and four top 10s while sitting 11^th in points.

“To evaluate our program we feel like we’ve definitely had some ups and downs,” Busch said. “We definitely feel like we haven’t run to the competitiveness that we want to.  You know, we’re not out there leading all the laps and running up front and doing what (Greg) Biffle has been able to do or Martin Truex (Jr.) has been able to do or some of those guys.”

Some of their bad finishes were due to things happening out of their control, like being involved in wrecks. The one that stands out for Busch is wrecking on lap 25 at Bristol, being taken out of the race. For that reason, team owner Joe Gibbs says he wasn’t worried as he had confidence in his guys.

“I think tonight was a good example of a total team effort,” he added. “I think Dave did a great job.  Obviously our pit crew, that was awesome.  Those guys are lightning quick.  And then Kyle, I think, too, just stayed real patient, never worried about things, kept his poise, and things just turned out right for us in the end.”

Crew chief Dave Rogers knows that they got some work to do, though, as it hasn’t all been due to just plain bad luck.

“Obviously a year ago I think you look back and we were leading the most laps and contending for the win nearly every week at this point in the season,” he said. “Now we’re not living up to that standard.  That tells me we’ve got to work harder, bring better race cars to the racetrack.  I feel this race is what of an indication that we’re turning the corner.  I think Kansas was an indication.  Kyle came back after Kansas and just gave me phenomenal feedback about what we need in our mile-and-a-half program and that we’d come back to Richmond, a place we think we should run good, and we do.  I don’t think one race makes or breaks a season, but pleased we were able to run up front here, now looking forward to going to Talladega, Darlington, Charlotte and seeing what we can do at those tracks.”

Other years, Busch would’ve got frustrated and thrown a temper tantrum. However, Rogers says one of the keys to their victory was that Busch kept himself calm.

“He never got frustrated or discouraged,” Rogers said. “Kyle said the car is pretty good.  I thought we were off a little bit more than I thought it was going to be, and Kyle just did a great job giving us feedback, giving us direction on what he needed to make the car better and was patient with us and just drove a smart race.”

Seeing Busch win on a short track like Richmond is the complete opposite of the start of the year, considering he finished 32^nd at Bristol and 36^th at Martinsville. However, Busch has always ran well at Richmond in spring, now winning four spring races in a row. His worst finish in the spring at Richmond is fifth, which came in 2006.

“It’s just something that keeps going well for us,” he says. “It probably could have been spring in Richmond the year before that, too.  Unfortunately the last two laps I got into a little tangle with a pretty popular race car driver.  Aside from that, this race has always been great to me.  I’ve run well here in the Cup cars here for a long time and I won my first Nationwide Series race here.

“I guess being the last week of April, first week in May, birthday week, it’s always kind of fun, too.  Won here on my birthday two years ago and coming up on another birthday.  Every time I come to Richmond in the spring it’s really good, but yet I feel really bad because I’m getting older.”

With the struggles of Joe Gibbs Racing this season, a lot of people are looking at Michael Waltrip Racing as the top Toyota team as they have finished in the top 10 in most of the races this season with at least one driver, sometimes all three in one race.

“I think we have a great relationship with Michael’s group and with Michael Waltrip Racing and Rob and everybody over there, and hopefully, because we do, with our partnership, and working through Toyota, that we do share some things,” Gibbs says. “But also I think the great thing about our sport, what I love about this sport, you’ve got to earn it and you can’t fake it.  There’s nothing you can do about it.  You’re either good or you’re not good, you’re going to be up front or not up front.  I love the competitive part of it.

“I think having partners like that, it pushes you.  I think it’s great.  I applaud them, what they’ve been able to do over there, and I think they’ve stepped it up, and hopefully at some point, that’s up to us to try and keep up with them.”

Heading into Talladega, Busch looks to have another solid finish as he begins his climb up the point standings. The track hasn’t historically been Busch’s best as he only has two top 10s in 14 starts.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]We all knew that the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Richmond International Raceway had the potential of becoming very lively and entertaining. After all, the basic premise of this race featured the concept of 43 cars stacked up on a three quarter mile oval and, as we all know, NASCAR style short track racing can present genuine surprises within a fraction of a second.

The element of surprises from Richmond included a penalized race leader who actually wasn’t the race leader. There was another race altering issue over debris which could have been a plastic bottle, a piece of sheet metal or a beer can. There was a physical altercation on pit road over a run away tire and no fewer than six Nationwide Series cars received a NASCAR mandated nose job. Even that age old concept of beating down the Busch(es) didn’t seem to work.

Let’s first accent the positive by issuing a HOORAH to Kyle and Kurt Busch for their excellent Richmond weekend. Kyle Busch led the final 12 laps of the Capital City 400 and scored his first Sprint Cup win of the 2012 season. He also scored his fourth, consecutive, win in the Richmond spring race which broke the previous record held by Richard Petty dating back to the early 1970’s.

HOORAH to the winning driver’s M&M’s/Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew who played a big role in their team’s win. This is especially true of the flawless final pit stop that put their driver in the lead for good.

Another HOORAH goes out to this team for scoring a win at a point when they needed that level of momentum. Busch and company began the 2012 season on somewhat of a sluggish note much to every one’s surprise. The Richmond win will help get the team heading back in the right direction.

HOORAH to Kurt Busch for winning the VA 529 College Savings 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond in a Toyota owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports. It marked KBM’s first win for their new Nationwide Series venture.

HOORAH to the ending of this Nationwide Series race. The sight of Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin trading paint all the way to the checkers was awesome.

HOORAH to the Busch brothers for proving us wrong. Many said the concept of big brother working for little brother, combined with their volatile personalities, was never going to work. The relationship looked pretty stable at Richmond.

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Okay, let’s get to the one item every NASCAR fan is debating this week. WAZZUP with that restart situation during the Richmond Sprint Cup race? This incident created a state of confusion that had more square miles than the state of Virginia.

Prior to a double file restart, around lap 319, the cars were given the one lap to green sign. Carl Edwards’ Ford came across the start line slightly ahead of race leader Tony Stewart. The electronic transponders on the cars automatically recorded this data and transferred it to the scoring tower which now showed Edwards as the leader. Spotters, representing both teams, deferred to the NASCAR official located on the spotter’s tower who allegedly confirmed that Edwards and the #99 team were the race leaders.

With the race ready to return to green flag racing, Edwards accelerated to the front of the field while Stewart’s car seemingly did not respond nearly as fast as it should have. Next came officials notice from NASCAR that said Edwards was going to be black flagged for jumping the restart and crossing the start line ahead of Stewart, the race leader.

Again, WAZZUP with the confusion that was felt inside of the race cars, on the pit boxes, in the television broadcast booths and in the living rooms of the fans? NASCAR later claimed that the Sprint Cup teams were informed that Tony Stewart was the race leader. This was confirmed on Tuesday by Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition, who claimed they actually had audio indicating that Edwards was told multiple times by his own spotter that he was in second place prior to the restart. It would have helped to alleviate the confusion to have heard this information sometime Saturday night or Sunday.

Momentarily putting the confusion aside, it’s only fair to issue a HOORAH to NASCAR for showing Edwards the black flag and initiating the drive through penalty. Video replays clearly indicated that he really did jump the restart and that’s an infraction whether the scoring tower shows you in first, second or even 43d.

Despite the disappointment of a potential win turning into a tenth place finish, Edwards deserves a HOORAH for a very strong run at Richmond that could put his Roush Fenway Racing team heading in the right direction again. Frankly, this team has gotten off to a somewhat sluggish start this year well below expectations. In the first eight races of 2012, Edwards only led one lap. He led 206 laps at Richmond.

HOORAH to SPEED Channel’s Jimmy Spencer was injecting some humor in this situation. During his Tuesday appearance on “NASCAR Race Hub”, Spencer said “Carl Edwards is so fast on starts that team owner Jack Roush is thinking about entering him in the Kentucky Derby as a horse. There’s a rumor that says Jason Leffler is going to be the jockey.” This is why we all love “Mr. Excitement.”

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WAZZUP with the confusion that came with a late in the race caution for debris? With 13 laps to go, Tony Stewart was in the lead and seemingly on his way to his third win of the season when the caution flag came out. The debris was at first reported to be a plastic bottle. An angry Stewart claimed that a plastic water bottle was lying outside of the racing groove and had been there for approximately eight laps. After the race, an extremely upset Stewart said “the race got taken away from us, we lost it on a plastic bottle on the back stretch.”

Under caution the majority of the field came to pit road for tires and a splash of gas. WAZZUP with Stewart’s team turning out a less than stellar pit stop? It allowed Kyle Busch to get off of pit road first and assume the race lead. WAZZUP with the pit crew having to explain that stop, to an angry team owner and driver, during the post race team meeting? WAZZUP with another in a series of sluggish restarts that also cost Stewart the race win?

WAZZUP with yet another round of confusion associated with this race? Conflicting post race reports later said the debris was actually a piece of sheet metal lying on the track. Then there was a second report that said the debris was an aluminum beer and/or soda can.

HOORAH to NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton for again offering a plausible explanation the following Tuesday when he said: “there was an aluminum object, a beer can or something on the track in addition to a plastic bottle.”

That, in turn, leads to a HOORAH to NASCAR for making the decision to throw the yellow flag. Running over an aluminum anything can easily puncture a tire.

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WAZZUP with that emotionally charged pit road altercation? On lap 311 Paul Menard pulled into his pit stall behind Jimmie Johnson’s car. A tire from Johnson’s car got away from the team and landed on the ground in the Menard pit stall. Erik Pringle, the right front tire carrier for the Menard team, tripped over the Johnson tire and fell to the ground hard. The tire he was carrying fell out of his hands and rolled out onto pit road.

The first WAZZUP goes to Pringle for running out onto pit road to retrieve the loose tire. It was an extremely unsafe thing to do at a time when pit road was so busy. Grabbing another tire located behind the pit wall would have been a far better choice.

The next WAZZUP came when an angry Pringle walked into the Johnson pit and shoved one their crew members who fell over the pit wall.

HOORAH to Slugger Labbe, Menard’s crew chief, for immediately coming over the team radio to inform his crew to settle down, this type of behavior will not be condoned and anyone who can’t settle down will be looking for a job.

HOORAH to the crew chiefs, Labbe and Chad Knaus, for getting together to view the video of the pit stops. After seeing exactly what happened, Knaus apologized to Labbe and later, after the race, found Pringle to issue a personal apology. That’s how NASCAR veterans make quick work of resolving issues.

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WAZZUP with six NASCAR Nationwide Series teams being told their cars need a nose job? During an April 26th first round tech inspection for the Richmond Nationwide Series race, NASCAR officials discovered modified upper front bumper covers on three cars from Richard Childress Racing and three cars from Turner Motorsports. The modified bumper covers were confiscated by NASCAR and the teams were told to replace them.

Impacted teams included the cars driven by Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick, representing Richard Childress Racing, along with Turner Motorsports cars driven by James Buescher, Justin Allgaier and Kasey Kahne.

The following Tuesday NASCAR announced that the crew chiefs from all six teams were going to be fined $10,000 each and placed on probation until December 31st. Additionally, NASCAR announced that the car chiefs from all six teams were also placed on probation until December 31st.

WAZZUP with the fact that these penalties seem to be a little on the light side? In past cases, especially in the Sprint Cup Series, the penalties often included a much larger fine, usually around $100,000, along with the loss of championship driver’s and owner’s points. In some cases there has even been personnel suspensions.

HOORAH to SPEED Channel analyst Kenny Wallace for referring to all of the above as “drama for your mama.”

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In some final thoughts HOORAH to Jimmie Johnson for being named as Forbes Magazine’s Most Influential American Athlete. The honor stemmed from his talent and accomplishments as a driver as well as his demeanor off the track. Another factor here was Johnson’s humanitarian efforts especially through his Jimmie Johnson Foundation. When you consider the list of athletes, from all of America’s major sports, who had major career and personal accomplishment last year, this is a huge honor for Johnson and he didn’t have to do the drop to one knee Tim Tebow move to earn it.

Finally, the in house girlfriend, aka the card carrying, T shirt wearing, member of the Junior Nation, insisted that I write: HOORAH to Dale Earnhardt Jr for his second place finish at Richmond and the fact that he’s now second in the championship standings and only five points away from first. The girlfriend also wants you all to know that Junior is going to end the winless streak this Sunday at Talladega.

That’s fair. Earnhardt had a strong run at Richmond despite having to deal with a brake problem. He clearly is carrying the flag for Hendrick Motorsports at least for the moment and, with his track record at restrictor plate races, he could actually end the winless streak at Talladega.

Having said that, WAZZUP with me having to listen to her Junior Nation lectures all the way to next Sunday?