30 Degrees of Banking

NASCAR Nuggets: Toyota Owners 400

By Ryan Frisco



The Victor: You could hear the timeless jingle from Jaws during the closing laps of Saturday night's race at Richmond.  Ba...da....ba....da...ba..da..ba..da.ba.da.ba.dabadabadabada....There's Kevin Harvick!!!  The Closer, nicknamed for his unique ability to show up out of nowhere at the end of the race and close the deal, closed another one in the same fashion.  Slowly working his way up all race long, he was in second place with under 10 laps to go, slowly reeling in Juan Pablo Montoya.  Brian Vickers hit the wall, bringing out the caution flag.  Overtime.  After pitting, Harvick lined up 7th in line for a two lap shootout.  After turn two, Happy Harvick had picked up 6 spots and cruised the rest of the way to his first victory of the season.  He led a total of 3 laps all race.  He definitely needed this win after a very slow start to the season.

Photo Cred www.detroitnews.com

The First Loser: Clint Bowyer was never really near the front of the field all night long, but the last restart worked well for him too, as he came home second.  I can't believe how much we're talking about Clint this year. He is definitely a name I expect to see in the hunt come the end of the year (and next week at Talladega as well).

Pat on the Back:  First, let me call out Aric Almirola.  This Young Gun has flown drastically under the radar for a while now.  At Richmond he picked up his third Top 10 finish in a row.  He keeps that up, it's going to be tough to not be talked about much longer.  He's 11th in points for crying out loud!

Next up is a shout out to Juan Pablo Montoya. He came home with a fouth place finish, and darn near won the race!  If Brian Vickers hadn't brought out a caution with 5 laps to go, Montoya would have had his first career victory on an oval track.  Oh well, fourth place ain't too shabby, especially for a team that hasn't run near the front too much this season.

I also want to congratulate Jeff Burton on his first Top 5 in forever!  The end of that race was crazy, and some guys took a shot at the end, Burton being one of them.  This team probably won't be anywhere near contending maybe ever again, but it's exciting to see them take a stab at a win like that.

Under the Lights, There Will be Fights: There were a lot of emotions running high Saturday night at Richmond, as drivers weren't too happy with each other on more than one occasion.  During the race, it appeared that Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin were a bit fed up with each other.  They both spun out after contact, with Martin's car being retired to the garage.  I can't really tell, why don't you take a look at the video and decide if you think Kahne came up into Martin, or if Martin came down into Kahne.

At the end of the race, Tony Stewart expressed his unhappiness with Kurt Busch.  Him and Busch made contact in the last two laps, and Stewart felt it cost him several positions, as he ended up 18th and Busch 9th.  That's his excuse for a bad car he can't drive.  Check out their post race altercation.

Well thats all for Richmond!  Next week is restrictor plate race #2, Talladega.  Lookin out for some big wrecks!