Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Capital City 400
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”236″]
[/media-credit]Virginia may be for lovers but that was not the only emotion running high at Richmond International Raceway. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 58th Annual Capital City 400 Presented by Virginia is for Lovers.
Surprising: While Kyle Busch is no stranger to Victory Lane in the spring race at Richmond, it was still surprising to see the pure joy and raw emotion he exhibited after the checkered flag flew.
The win, Busch’s first of the 2012 season, along with the victory of his team and brother Kurt in the Nationwide race the night before, just seemed to send Kyle Busch over the moon.
“It means so much that we’re able to come to this place every time and know that we can have a decent car again and again,” the driver of Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 M&Ms Toyota Camry said. “It wasn’t the best car but it was really good.”
“It was a gift,” Busch continued. “We just kept fighting, kept ourselves up there in track position, kept the fenders clean, the right side clean and kept us in the game all race long.”
This was Busch’s 24th victory in 266 Cup races. The win, his fourth consecutive at Richmond, broke a tie with Richard Petty, who held that record from 1971 to 1973.
Not Surprising: While it is never surprising that tempers flare at this Virginia short track, this time drivers were not as mad at each other as they were at NASCAR.
Both Tony Stewart, who was bitten by a late race caution for debris and problems on pit road, and Carl Edwards, who was penalized by NASCAR for jumping the restart after leading the most laps, were very unhappy campers at race end.
“When the caution is for a plastic bottle on the backstretch, it’s hard to feel good about losing that one,” Stewart said. “And we gave it away on pit road.”
“So we did everything we could to throw it away and it got taken away from us,” Stewart continued. “We lost it for a caution for a plastic bottle, so you tell me how you’d feel.”
Edwards was equally frustrated after being black flagged for jumping the restart. He and his crew chief Bob Osborne argued their case with NASCAR in the hauler after the race.
“We had to just agree to disagree and that’s the way it is,” Edwards said. “They run the sport and they do the best job they can.”
“I drive a race car and do the very best job I can,” Edwards continued. “This whole thing is very frustrating. I don’t feel like we did the wrong thing.”
The driver of the No. 99 Ford EcoBoost finished tenth, while the driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet finished third. Both drivers held serve in the point standings, with Stewart remaining in eighth and Edwards in ninth.
Surprising: Fans of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet witnessed another surprisingly bad run by Jeff Gordon and company. While the team managed to qualify decently, in sixth, they fell back immediately after the green flag flew, then ending up cutting a tire to finish a miserable 23rd.
This was Gordon’s sixth finish of 21st or worse in the last 11 races. The four-time champ is currently mired in the 17th position in the point standings, out of Chase contention at present.
Not Surprising: While none of the Hendrick drivers scored the elusive 200th win for Mr. H, that most popular one, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., had another solid run at the short track.
In spite of brake issues, Junior scored the runner up spot. This was his 11th top-10 finish at Richmond and his seventh top-10 finish in 2012.
“We had some brake problems all night long,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mount Dew said. “Kind of tried to overcome them best we could.”
“We were maybe a fifth place car,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued. “I’m really happy to gain a couple of spots there at the end with that caution and get some more points.”
Speaking of those precious points, Junior currently sits in the same points position as where he finished the race, second. He is now just five points back from points leader Greg Biffle.
Surprising: Rolling tires, not tire wear, was one of the most surprising factors influencing the race at Richmond, especially for five-time champ Jimmie Johnson.
The driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet was penalized to the tail end of the lead lap due to his pit crew losing contact with a rolling tire. Yet, in spite of the mistake, Johnson finished sixth and remained philosophical about it all at race end.
“Stuff happens,” Johnson said. “It’s racing.”
“Unfortunately we had a tire get away from us and had to serve that penalty and go to the back,” Johnson continued. “But the good news is we had a very fast race car.”
“I certainly wish we didn’t have that mistake, but when you’re in this deal long enough mistakes happen,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to beat anybody up.”
Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see the majority of Michael Waltrip’s team continue their good runs. The best of the bunch this race was Clint Bowyer, who brought his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota home in the seventh spot.
Nipping at Bowyer’s heels was veteran and pole sitter Mark Martin, who scored an eighth place finish in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.
“I’ve never seen a guy (Rodney Childers, crew chief) improve one of my cars that much in one race,” Martin said. “You’ve got to be able to do that.”
“I’m really impressed,” Martin continued. “They did a great job.”
Surprising: Although Greg Biffle was sporting the ‘Give Kids A Smile’ promotion on the outside of his No. 16 EM Ford, it was surprising that there were no smiles from inside that race car. Biffle struggled most of the night and finished a disappointing 18th.
“It was a tough night,” Biff said. “We never recovered from our poor qualifying run and struggled with the turn and forward drive.”
“We just didn’t have the turn and the drive that we needed,” Biffle continued. “It is frustrating.”
Not Surprising: It was not surprising to hear the disappointment in Denny Hamlin’s voice after not winning at his home track. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota finished fourth.
“Yeah, I’m a little disappointed,” Hamlin said. “We just never really hit it today.”
“We had times where we were competitive and we just got behind on one run,” Hamlin continued. “So, we just couldn’t recover from that.”
Surprising: It was surprising to see Trevor Bayne in his fire suit on the pit box throughout the race, waiting in the wings to see if Marcos Ambrose would be in need of his services.
But the young Daytona 500 winner never got to climb aboard as the driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford drove through his back pain to finish 22nd.
Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, Brad Keselowski, behind the wheel of the Blue Deuce, was the highest finishing Dodge in the Capital City 400, scoring ninth place.
Also, not surprisingly, Kes and his crew are all about clawing their way into Chase contention with top-10 finishes.
“We just keep knocking top 10s out,” Paul Wolfe, crew chief of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, said. “That’s what we need to do to continue to gain points right now and put ourselves in position to get into the Chase.”
From domination to frustration for Edwards and Stewart in Richmond
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Saturday night in Richmond wasn’t the first time that the fastest car didn’t win the race.
But neither Tony Stewart nor Carl Edwards were happy or accepting about the ways in which they lost the Capital City 400. Stewart felt he had the win taken away from him, first from NASCAR then his pit crew.
Edwards wasn’t too pleased with NASCAR either after he received the black flag with less than 90 laps to go. NASCAR officials ruled he had jumped the restart, ordering him to serve a penalty, which took him out of contention.
It all started during a caution on lap 311 during green flag pit stops when Jeff Burton hit the turn three wall. Everyone except for Edwards had already pitted and returned to the track.
Jimmie Johnson was on pit road when the caution came out, he was listed as the leader. Except he’d have to serve a penalty for a tire violation putting which in turn put Stewart back into the lead.
Heading for the restart Stewart and Edwards lined back up with Stewart on the inside and Edwards on the outside.
However, the scoring tower had Edwards listed as the leader, how? From images provided by viewers after the race it shows that Edwards was cleaning his tires when he crossed the start/finish line ahead of Stewart. In doing so says NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton, the transponder on his car scored him crossing the line ahead of Stewart, even though he technically wasn’t the leader.
The team and Edwards had no idea what had occurred and genuinely believed they were the leader. When the green flag flew Edwards took off and left Stewart in the dust. That’s when NASCAR deemed he jumped the start, having gone before the designated restart area.
Stewart took back the lead; Edwards served his penalty in confusion and frustration. From the car Edwards called for NASCAR to correct themselves but to no avail, saying they had taken the win away from him.
He went on to get lapped by Stewart, then to get the lucky dog before eventually finishing 10th. Afterwards he still wasn’t happy and went to NASCAR looking for answers.
“I am trying to not be too frustrated and say something stupid,” said Edwards before talking with NASCAR. “So right before that [restart] my spotter Jason Hedleskey was told by NASCAR officials that the 99 was the leader, the 99 is the leader. Jason told me and I had a split second to decide what I was going to do.
“I thought, ‘okay, NASCAR made a mistake and they lined us up wrong.’ I was at a disadvantage being on the outside so I thought I was getting the best start I could get. It looked like Tony waited or spun his tires so they black-flagged me. I still don’t understand why they black-flagged me. They said we were the leader and I restarted the best I could given the disadvantaged position I was in.
“The problem is I don’t know if NASCAR is going to take the stance that I jumped the start. If they are saying that I jumped the start then that would be real frustrating.”
After his meeting with NASCAR and hearing their explanation, Edwards didn’t have as much to say. And still didn’t believe that he had done anything wrong.
“We had to just agree to disagree and that’s the way it is,” he said. “They run the sport and they do the best job they can and I drive a racecar and do the very best job I can.”
Meanwhile Stewart looked like he was in control and headed toward his third win of the season. But just as they always do, a caution changed everything.
NASCAR officials called debris in turn two but some, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart, didn’t think it was anything more than a bottle. No matter though, the leaders came down pit road for their final stops.
Stewart lost the battle on pit road to Kyle Busch and it ended up being the battle for the win. On the restart with eight laps to go Earnhardt Jr. took another spot from Stewart who ended up finishing third.
While pleased with what he called the best car he’s had at Richmond, he wasn’t pleased about anything else.
“When the caution is for a plastic bottle on the backstretch, it’s hard to feel good about losing that one,” said Stewart. “And we gave it away on pit road. So we did everything we could to throw it away; it got taken away from us.”
Even more frustrating for Stewart about the debris caution was that he felt “it was out of the groove. It had been sitting there for eight laps.”
Through all the chaos Stewart holds onto his two wins, Edwards remains winless, dating back to March of last season while Busch went on to score his fourth straight Richmond win, first of the 2012 season. He led twice for just 32 laps
Edwards and Stewart on the other hand had led for a combined 324 of 400 laps.
Controversy at Richmond — Who is at Fault?
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]What happened at Richmond on Saturday night was typical when circumstances get out of control. Why? It’s pretty obvious. Let’s forget for a second how the race played out. The top two drivers were Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. After a caution, they were lined up alongside each other. Everyone assumed that Stewart was the leader including NASCAR. Trouble was NASCAR officials as well as the track python showed Edwards as the leader, according to various sources. NASCAR official Robin Pemberton said it has a lot to do with electronics. Edwards had been scuffing his tires and the pylon showed him the leader, so the scoreboard was erroneous. Interesting.
I’ve attended hundreds of races over the last 40 years. I can tell you that once in those years have I seen a scoring python change over cars moving to warm tires during cautions. Never. It may have happened, but never on my watch. The confusion from the official who supposedly told both spotters that saying that Edwards was the leader to the so-called electronics that put Edwards as the leader has to be investigated. Would a caution or a re-start been more appropriate? Not being a rules guru, but knowing what I’ve seen, bad starts have always been stopped with a caution. Some say that since it was the second place car (with the driver not knowing it), is a different situation, but I don’t know. If an official tells you that you are in the lead, you’re going to go for it. Misinformation is a terrible thing. Why doesn’t NASCAR have a plan to let drivers know who is the leader?
Compounding the problem was that no one, from the driver to the crew chief to apparently the track really knew what was going on. That troubles me. Given that information, shouldn’t the respective teams been given official information? Also, given the information Carl was given, shouldn’t have someone not been asleep at the switch to correct things? It’s a mess and I hope it doesn’t decide the title come November. I don’t for a minute think that Carl Edwards would have won that race, but one thing you cannot predict is events that happen later after a call NASCAR dropped the ball in this case,
One more thing. The final caution will forever be considered a makeup for that call. I don’t believe that. And yet, the damage is done. Kyle Busch is the winner and Carl Edwards finished tenth. If we had boring races the last few weeks, this evens the score somewhat. And yet, some weaknesses in the system have been exposed and it’s up to NASCAR to correct this. Will they?
