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Written by:
Tom Jensen
05/05/2008 - 10:16 AM
Richmond, Va.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.races side by side with Kyle Busch during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 at RIR. (Doug Benc/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos
Well, if the e-mails I’ve gotten in the last 48 hours are any indication, the hate-fest is on following Saturday night’s short-track brawl at Richmond International Raceway.
Just to recap briefly, Denny Hamlin led 381 of the first 382 laps before a front tire started going down in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. That allowed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to pass Hamlin, apparently headed for victory. But instead of pitting to have his tire changed, Hamlin stopped on the track, bringing out a yellow flag and earning Hamlin a 2-lap penalty for NASCAR for deliberately causing a caution.
That bunched up the field, and on Lap 398, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch had contact going into Turn 3, with Busch escaping unscathed but Earnhardt getting knocked out of contention. Before the yellow came out, third-place Clint Bowyer passed both of them and hung on to win a green-white-checkered restart over Busch, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr.
Afterwards, emotions erupted, with the Earnhardt Nation outraged that their driver was robbed of a victory, a triumph that would have ended a two-year winless streak. Busch, hardly the most popular driver in the sport to begin with, is now officially Public Enemy No. 1 among the Earnhardt faithful for hitting Junior with three laps to go.
But
And it’s hardly the first time it’s happened at a short-track, which is why we love short-track racing so much. Remember when Jeff Gordon nerfed Rusty Wallace out of the way on the last lap to win the spring race at Bristol? Or when Earnhardt the elder wrecked Terry Labonte on the last lap to win the Bristol night race?
I don’t fault Busch for what happened at the end of the race or Junior, either, for that matter. They were racing hard, they made contact and Earnhardt Jr. got the worst of it. Besides, these things have a way of coming back around and I wonder if Busch will be on the receiving end from a Hendrick car later in the season. For sure, it will be something to keep an eye on.
If you’re an Earnhardt fan, I can understand being hugely disappointed, frustrated and mad, but this wasn’t a case of someone being at fault. This was good, hard racing — and a damn sight better than the first 382 laps when Hamlin made a mockery of the competition.
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