Hamlin Wins - Vickers In - Busch Out at Richmond
Posted by Morgan Ferguson on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 @ 09:36
Denny Hamlin won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season at Richmond, while
Brian Vickers got the last spot available in The Chase - at the expense of
Kyle Busch. Hamlin led 298 out of the 400 laps and flat "beat" the competition. The win gave him enough bonus points to start The Chase in the fourth position. The race was all Hamlin, but he had to constantly fend off challenges from
Jeff Gordon and
Safety-Kleen's Kurt Busch, who both are in The Chase. The "race within the race" was for the last transfer spots into The Chase between
Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. Kenseth had a bad qualifying run and had to start 28th and was horrible in the race. He missed his pit stall and he never seemed to have the car right. For Kyle Busch, he did all he could but Vickers did everything he had to do and with the 7th place finish, it was Vickers in and Busch out. The other favorite of the night was
Juan Pablo Montoya. Everyone on the planet was rooting for him to have a good run and make The Chase. Montoya finished in 19th place and will be the first non-American driver to ever compete for The Sprint Cup Championship.
Safety-Kleen was well represented in the top 10 with
Clint Bowyer finishing in 6th, Sam Hornish in 8th,
Kevin Harvick in 9th and
Ryan Newman in 10th.
