Race Recap: Richmond

Let's get this off the table, quick: Denny ran up front until he was fucked over by his own tire, and then his own bad judgment. Too bad, so sad.

[Explanation for non-fans: Denny Hamlin won the pole for the Richmond race, and then led the majority of laps, and incidentally led the most laps ever in a Richmond race. Then he thought maybe, kinda, he had a tire going down. He dropped back several spots, then the tire finally blew and he came to a complete stop at the top of a turn, until the officials called a caution. They don't call a caution for incidents unless a car is a danger to other cars. As soon as the caution was called, he calmly drove to the pits, which indicated he stopped on purpose. He was penalized by being made to sit in the pits for two laps, effectively erasing any advantage he hoped to gain by forcing a caution. So if he had just gone to the pits as soon as he knew his tire was bad, he would have had a good finish, even if he wouldn't have won.]

Then Junebug took the lead! It was spectacular! Fantabulous!

[Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hasn't won a race in two years. Two years ago at Richmond. He's the most popular driver, and people REALLY want him to win a race...soon.]

All along, Kyle Bush (who I used to refer to as The Perve, and not like I don't think that's still accurate--he's The Perve Who Can Drive Three-Wide By Himself) was in the top five. Solidly there, foiling the plans of other drivers. He was in second place, racing Junebug hard, when Junebug pulled a classic Earnhardt move and tried to force Kyle into second. Kyle got loose and wrecked Junebug, which, to quote the TV commentators, had all the fans "shaking their fists" at Kyle.

Meanwhile as that was unfolding, before the caution was called, Bowyer took the lead...and held it.

I like Bowyer.

At the checkered flag, it was Bowyer, Kyle Bush, Martin, Stewart.

STEWART! You know I love the man. He had sort of a crappy day racing, and then during the red flag (I don't remember who to blame for that...) he reported problems with his alternator. Hmmm.

He had to shut down all "non-essential" electrical functions. Like fans. The fans for the air conditioning to his helmet, and the rotors and brakes and, well, everything.

For the last 100 laps.

And he worked his way up to 4th place.

Which makes him once again, my hero.