2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400
Race details[1][2][3][4] | |||
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Race 10 of 36 in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
Date | May 1, 2010 | ||
Official name | Crown Royal 400 | ||
Location |
Richmond International Raceway Richmond, Virginia | ||
Course |
Permanent racing facility 0.75 mi (1.20 km) | ||
Distance | 400 laps, 300 mi (483 km) | ||
Weather | Partly cloudy and mild | ||
Average speed | 111 miles per hour (179 km/h) | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
Time | 21.247 | ||
Most laps led | |||
Driver | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
Laps | 226 | ||
Winner | |||
No. 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
Television in the United States | |||
Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds |
The 2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 was a
Pole position driver Kyle Busch maintained the lead after the start of the race. Kyle Busch would eventually lead to the race high of 226 laps. Afterward, Gordon became the leader during the final laps. He remained the leader until Kyle Busch passed him with four laps remaining. Kyle Busch crossed the finish line first to clinch his first win of the season, and his third at Richmond International Raceway.
There were six caution flags and twelve lead changes among eight different drivers throughout the course of the race. The result moved Kyle Busch up two spots to third in the Drivers' Championship, 109 points behind of leader Kevin Harvick and ten ahead of Matt Kenseth. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, eighteen points ahead of Toyota and thirty ahead of Ford, with twenty-six races remaining in the season.
Race report
Background
Before the race,
Practices and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held on Friday before the Saturday race.[9] In the first session, the fastest drivers were Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kyle Busch.[10] During the second practice session, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Jeff Gordon had the quickest times.[11]
During qualifying, forty-six cars were entered, but Michael McDowell, Max Papis, and Dave Blaney did not qualify; NASCAR's qualifying procedure only allow forty-three cars to make the race.[12] Kyle Busch clinched the pole position with a fastest lap time of 21.247 seconds.[2] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Reutimann.[2] Johnson qualified third, Gordon took fourth, and Newman started fifth.[2]
Race summary
The race, the tenth out of a total of thirty-six in the
Kyle Busch held the lead going through the first corner with David Reutimann behind him. One lap later, Jeff Gordon moved into the third position. On lap 6, Gordon emerged in second, after passing Reutimann. Jimmie Johnson, who had started third, fell to fourth by lap 7. By lap 8, Kyle Busch had a lead of 1.5 seconds. One lap later, Kevin Harvick moved into fourth, after passing Johnson. On lap 18, Harvick moved into third, as Jamie McMurray moved to the sixth position. Six laps later, Reutimann had fallen to the fourth position, after starting second. By lap 35, Gordon had caught Kyle Busch for the first position, but after six laps he was two seconds behind Kyle Busch. On lap 42, the first caution came out because Joe Nemechek collided with the wall after suffering a blown tire. During this caution, drivers made there pit stops. On lap 49, Kyle Busch led on the restart.[13]
Afterward, Gordon moved into the third position, after passing Jamie McMurray. By lap 55, Juan Pablo Montoya had moved from nineteenth to eighth. On lap 59, Harvick moved into second, but four laps later, Gordon passed him for the second position. By lap 66, Kyle Busch had a 2.3 second lead over Gordon. After starting tenth, Clint Bowyer had moved to the fifth position by lap 68. Kyle Busch remained the leader until green flag pit stops began. On lap 143, Jeff Gordon received the lead, as Kyle Busch made a pit stop. Two laps later, Kyle Busch reclaimed the lead. On lap 153, the second caution came out because of debris. Kyle Busch, again, led the field to the restart. Ten laps later, on lap 170, the third caution came out because of debris. Ryan Newman, because of a two tire change, was in the lead on the restart. On lap 177, one lap after the restart, Kyle Busch took the lead away from Newman.
Kyle Busch kept the lead until Jeff Burton passed him on lap 230. Burton led only twenty laps before Jeff Gordon claimed the lead. Jeff Gordon made a pit stop on lap 266, allowing Kevin Harvick to pass him. Green flag pit stops continued, as Carl Edwards received the lead on lap 268. Three laps later Tony Stewart passed Edwards for the lead. On lap 272, Jeff Gordon reclaimed the lead. By this time, the race was under green flag conditions for 102 laps, but the green flag run only continued until lap 367, 265 laps after the last restart, when the fourth caution came out. The cause for the caution was that Elliott Sadler had a tire that blew. On lap 377, Jeff Gordon led the field toward the green flag. Two laps later, though, the fifth caution, caused by a spin from Sam Hornish Jr., came out.[13]
On lap 385, Jeff Gordon led the field to the green flag. Four laps later Hornish Jr. spun and collided with the inside wall, to bring out the sixth caution. Jeff Gordon, on lap 395, led toward the restart. With four laps remaining, Kyle Busch passed Gordon for the lead. Busch kept the lead to win his first race in 2010.[4][13]
Post-race
"It stinks to not win every single weekend or not every 21 weekends or 21 races. But it certainly feels nice to come out here with another good win and get another good finish."
Kyle Busch, speaking after the race.[14]
After finishing second,
"I figured I was going to get the outside [for the last restart]. 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."[15]
Dave Rogers, Kyle Busch's crew chief, stated, "It would have been great to keep that many cars a lap down, but it would have been selfish. Everybody behind us was going to pit. If we stay out, we keep all those guys down. Then the seven guys behind us are going to drive by us, we’re going to lose our track position just to keep cars a lap down. It’s not worth it."[14] The race result moved Kevin Harvick in the lead for the Driver's Championship with 1,467 points.[16] Jimmie Johnson, who finished tenth, was second on 1,457, ninety-nine points ahead of Kyle Busch and 149 ahead of Matt Kenseth.[16] Greg Biffle was fifth with 1,334 points.[16] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained their lead with 76 points.[8] Toyota maintained second with 58 points.[8] Ford followed with 46 points, six points ahead of Dodge in fourth.[8]
Results
Qualifying
Race Results
Standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ a b "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Qualifying Results". nascar.com. April 30, 2010. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ Fox Sports.com. May 1, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ a b Ryan, Nate (May 2, 2010). "Kyle Busch Earns Victory". USA Today: Rusty Jarrett. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- nascar.com. Archived from the originalon 15 August 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
- ^ a b c "NASCAR Tracks—The Richmond International Raceway". Richmond International Raceway. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ "Driver's Championship Classification". nascar.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Manufacturers' Championship Classification". Jayski.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ "Race Review". Jaski.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
- ^ "Practice 1 Results". nascar.com. April 30, 2010. Archived from the original on 2 May 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ^ "Practice 2 Results". nascar.com. April 30, 2010. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ^ "Qualifying Order". nascar.com. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Race Summary". nascar.com. May 1, 2010. Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Kyle Busch passes Gordon for Richmond win". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on July 10, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- ^ a b "Pole Sitter Kyle Busch Wins Nascar Sprint Cup Race at Richmond". Auto Racing Daily. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Point Standing". nascar.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- Sporting News. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ "Results (2)". nascar.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.