Kyle Busch Wins at Richmond, Again; Holds On To Beat Hamlin

Kyle Busch wins his third straight Richmond spring race (Getty)

It was Joe Gibbs Racing with a one, two finish at Richmond International Raceway, as Kyle Busch took the checkered flag (almost 2 seconds) ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin to win the NSCS Crown Royal presents the Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400.

Busch, who led 235 laps of the 400 that were run, received his 2nd series win of the 2011 season, his 21st series career win and his 3rd series win at RIR.

Following Busch (who will celebrate his 26th birthday on Monday) and Hamlin to the drop of the checkered flag were: Kasey Kahne finishing in the third position, David Ragan fourth and Carl Edwards finishing in the fifth position.

Rounding out the top-ten finishers were Clint Bowyer finishing sixth, A.J. Allmendinger seventh, Jimmie Johnson eighth, Tony Stewart ninth and Brian Vickers finished in the tenth position.

Carl Edwards maintains the points lead heading into next weekend’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, as he has a 9 point lead over Jimmie Johnson in second-place.

RACE NOTES:
Average Speed: 95.280 MPH
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 08 Mins, 55 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.805 Seconds
Lead Changes: 14 among 10 drivers
Cautions: 8 for 60 laps
Attendance: 90,000

"We were late to the celebration," Busch said after his car was pushed to Victory Lane. "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].

"I learned from Denny Hamlin last fall -- and I'm not going to say what I learned, but he might know. We did a good job of doing what we needed to do early in the run, and once we got out [front] and had to go through traffic, the traffic kind of fell our way, so we were able to pick our way through there."

Hamlin acknowledged helping Busch on the short tracks but said it was a fair exchange for what he had learned from Busch about running intermediate speedways.

"Yeah, I opened my mouth -- I never should have told him," Hamlin said, though he, too, declined to reveal the secret he had shared with his teammate. "That's the thing. If I don't tell him the things I know on short tracks, and the crew chiefs don't relay information, then it's not a good team.

"We got paid back on the bigger intermediate tracks. I learned so much from him. Yeah, it might cost me a race here or there because he outruns me, but I think, in the grand scheme of things, it makes me an overall better driver."

After surging to the front of the field during a 107-lap green-flag run to start the race, Busch and Hamlin owned the action -- save for a four-lap foray by Jeff Gordon -- until Martin Truex Jr. took Busch and Hamlin three-wide to the inside after a restart on Lap 245 and surged to the front on Lap 246.

A bump from Jimmie Johnson sent Joey Logano spinning off Turn 2 on Lap 256. That started a spate of cautions that scrambled the field by virtue of divergent pit strategies. All told, Laps 256-301 brought five cautions, the last of which flew because of a wreck on the backstretch involving Bowyer, Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Paul Menard and David Reutimann.

Gordon retired from the race after his Chevrolet slammed hard into the inside wall.

Busch was fourth and Hamlin fifth for a restart on Lap 315, but Busch charged into the lead around the outside and passed Jeff Burton for the top spot on Lap 317, with Hamlin quickly following into the second position. At that point, both drivers were conserving fuel, but they had enough of a lead over Kahne that they could maintain an even pace without fear of losing their positions on the track.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman were involved in a succession of incidents, with Montoya retaliating against Newman on Lap 237. NASCAR warned both drivers.

A late pit stop for fuel cost Dale Earnhardt Jr. a lead-lap finish. He came home 19th, two laps down and fell one position to fourth in points, 34 behind Edwards.

Richmond Crown Royal 400 Results

Richmond Race Notes
• Kyle Busch's 21 wins before turning 26 rank third behind Jeff Gordon (26) and Richard Petty (22).
• Kyle Busch joins Kevin Harvick as only the second repeat winner of 2011.
• Kyle Busch's three wins at Richmond are tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart for the most among active drivers.
• Kyle Busch's three consecutive Richmond spring wins ties Richard Petty for the most consecutive.
• Kyle Busch scored his eighth short-track win; he has won seven of the past 15 short-track races.
• Kyle Busch led 235 of 400 laps, including the final 85; it's only the eighth time he led over 200 laps in a race (he won four of the eight).
• Kyle Busch has led 719 laps in 2011, more than twice as many than any other driver.
• JGR posted its 90th win; it has eight at Richmond, including the past five.
• JGR has Won 12 of the past 15 short-track races.
• JGR has finished 1-2 in the past two Richmond races; it's the 10th time JGR drivers have finish 1-2 in a Cup race.
• Denny Hamlin (second) posted his best finish of the season; it's his first top-five since his win at Texas in Nov. 2010.
• Kasey Kahne (third) scored his first top-five finish of 2011; it's his fourth top-10 finish.
• David Regan (fourth) posted his career-best finish in his 104th start.
• Carl Edwards (fifth) scored his fifth top-five of 2011; he maintains the points lead.
• Clint Bowyer (sixth) posted his fifth consecutive top-10 of 2011; he has gained 17 spots in points in the past five races (currently seventh)
• Jimmie Johnson (eighth) received the free pass on Lap 299 en route to his sixth top-10 of the season; it kept him second in points, nine behind Carl Edwards.