The heartbreak continues for Jeff Gordon.
With the checkered flag just five laps away, pole-sitter Kyle Busch passed Gordon on the backstretch Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.
And Busch, the event’s defending champion, roared on in the night’s most dominant car to win the Crown Royal 400 and hand team owner Joe Gibbs his sixth career victory at the Richmond track before a near-capacity crowd of roughly 90,000.
Busch was gracious in Victory Lane after taking a customary bow. He thanked his sponsors, race team and particularly his crew chief, Dave Rogers, who took over in October after Busch failed to qualify for NASCAR’s postseason. Washington Post
“I can’t thank Dave enough,” said Busch, who will turn 25 years old Sunday. “It’s unbelievable to be back in victory lane. A lot of people doubted what we were doing, but I never did.
“I just drove it down into turn one and hoped it stuck. I drove it too far, and I got it pointed just in time. I knew I had to get a good launch off turn four. I finally got to clear Jeff and got to the bottom and set sail from there.”
The finish marked the fourth time this season that Gordon has failed to win a race when he held the upper hand in the twilight laps.
“We’re going to have to figure out how to win these on late cautions,” Gordon said. “It’s just not where we are right now.”
Gordon has not won since April 2009 at Texas, a stretch of 39 races – longer than a full Cup season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s night was ruined halfway through the race after on-track contact sent him to the pits with a flat tire. Earnhardt Jr. lost three laps during the tire change and finished 32nd. FOXNews
The victory was Busch’s 17th in the Cup Series. Kevin Harvick ran third behind Gordon, followed by Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards. Juan Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose and Johnson completed the top 10. Harvick took over the lead in the series standings from Johnson, who trails by 10 points through 10 events.
All told, Busch led 226 of 400 laps to Gordon’s 144.
“I figured I was going to get the outside [for the last restart],” said Busch, who won the spring race at Richmond for the second straight year. “All I wanted to do was just get into Turn 1 smooth and get a good launch up off Turn 2 down the backstretch—and then make sure I got into [Turn] 3 without over-driving it. ...”
“I knew if I could just get through Turn 3 OK and hammer down off Turn 4 and get him cleared that it would be pretty good—and it worked. That’s what I did. Did I have a plan? Was that exactly my plan? No. I was just going to drive it as hard as I could, and make whatever happened happen. It worked, just off the cuff.” NASCAR.com
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