NASCAR NATION – 5-5

As the Crown Royal 400 neared its halfway point, many might have been wondering whether there would be any cars other than Kyle Busch on the lead lap when the checkered flag fell upon Richmond International Raceway. At the high point of his blistering pace, all but Busch and seven other cars were at east one lap behind the leader.
But as the halfway point came and went, a new leader emerged, and it appeared as though Jeff Gordon and the No. 2 DuPont team would finally end this winless streak and find a way into victory lane. But when the race ended, Gordon found himself in a recently familiar position – second.
Busch passed Gordon on the race’s final restart, with four laps remaining, and pulled away to almost a second led before crossing the finish line to capture his first win of 2010. Busch snapped a 21-race winless streak with the victory. It was also the first Sprint Cup Series victory for Busch’s crew chief Dave Rodgers since replacing Steve Addington last year.
“I can’t thank Dave enough,” Busch said. “It’s just unbelievable to be back in Victory Lane. A lot of people doubted what we were doing, but I never did.”
Gordon, meanwhile, has now gone 38 races without a victory, dating back to his win at Texas Motor Speedway last April. It was Gordon’s eighth second-place finish in that time span. Gordon commented on his unusually high number of seconds after the race.
“A little disappointed again that we are coming up short, but we are getting plenty of practice,” Gordon said. “It’s a little disappointing we haven’t won some races yet, But if we keep doing this, those will come. We’ve got to keep putting ourselves in position.”
And Gordon’s team certainly has done that. He moved up four spots in the series standings to sixth, some 162 points out of first place.
Kevin Harvick finished third, overtaking Jimmie Johnson to become the series points leader. Harvick’s teammate, Jeff Burton, finished fourth, while Carl Edwards posted his first top-five finish of 2010 in fifth.
Martin Truex Jr., of Ocean County, started 26th, but worked his way through the field to post a seventh-place finish. Truex moved up one spot in the points standings to 14th, just seventeen points outside of a Chase for the Sprint Cup spot.
With 10 races complete, there are now only 16 races remaining before the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.
Nationwide Series:
Brad Keselowski led 189 of 252 laps to win his second straight Nationwide Series race. After failing post race inspection following his win at Talladega one week ago, Keselowski dominated in route to his victory in the BUBBA burger 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
Greg Biffle was second, followed by Jamie McMurray in third, Kyle Busch in fourth, and Carl Edwards in fifth.
Camping World Truck Series:
Johnny Sauter kept his truck from crashing after hard contact with Ron Hornaday to pull away with the led and win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. Sauter led a race-high 101 of 167 laps en route to his first victory of 2010.
Hornaday was second, followed by Todd Bodine in third, Brian Ickler in fourth, and Johnny Benson in fifth. The race was completed after a rain delay of over an hour, following a brief but violent storm at the speedway which produced numerous cloud-to-ground lightning strikes and marble sized hail.
Coming Up:
The Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams head to Darlington Raceway for a weekend of racing at “The Lady in Black.”
Bruce Knoll, 18, of Eldora, can be contacted by email at bknoll jr4cmcherald@yahoo.com