Kyle Busch NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Richmond

By Stone Martindale Sep 9, 2008, 2:51 GMT

US driver Kyle Busch steers his racing car during the qualifiying race of the Nascar Nationwide Series Corona Mexico EPA/Alex Cruz

Kyle Busch and his No. 18 M&M’S Toyota Team scored their ninth win of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Within a split second the potential win evaporated after getting tapped by Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the halfway point in the race. Busch was sent spinning from the lead and the M&M’S Team was eliminated from win contention.

Busch gathered it up to secure a 15th-place finish in the regular season finale for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The race details from NASCAR:

Busch started from the pole and led the first 28 laps despite battling a race car that was teetering between a tight handling condition in the corners and a loose-handling condition at the exit of the corners. The team made major adjustments during the competition caution on lap 35 that greatly improved the handling on the M&M’S Toyota and allowed Busch to muscle his way back to the lead.

All was going well with the Toyota out in front when on lap 212 Earnhardt got under Busch going into turn one. The incident sent Busch spinning and making contact with the outside retaining wall. Busch would make a handful of pit stops during the caution period for repairs to the rear bumper and deck lid. The extensive repair work cost Busch one lap to the leaders.

Busch's Team was down but not out - still among the fastest cars on the track despite having to race a battered race car. The team caught its first lucky break of the day when Busch earned the free pass during the 12th caution by being the first car one lap down. Busch quickly went to work when green flag racing resumed, climbing back into the top 20 and then the top 15. Busch climbed as high as 13th in the running order before finally settling for the 15th-place finish.

“We got tore up a little bit there, but nothing we could do to help with that,” Busch said about the incident. “We had to continue on and soldier on. The M&M’s guys dug in deep there and got this thing repaired to where we could somewhat drive it. It was hard to drive there those last 200 laps or so, but we were able to prevail there with a top 15 and we’ll take that and go on.  It was just unfortunate.”

Jimmie Johnson made it back-to-back wins, following his win in California last week up with a win at Richmond on Sunday. Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Earnhardt and Mark Martin completed the top-five finishers at Richmond.

The field for the Chase for the Championship is set and Busch owns the point lead as the series prepares for the 10-race championship battle. The eight wins he scored during the previous 26 races give the M&M’S Team a 30-point lead over Carl Edwards who is second. Johnson is third and then Earnhardt, Clint Bowyer, Hamlin and Jeff Burton each share third place in the point standings.

The rest of the Chase drivers – Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth – each have the same point total and complete the rest of the 12-driver field for the Chase.

“It's a lot better to be at the top than it is down at the bottom,” Busch said in regards to being the point leader as the Chase begins. “That makes it look a lot prettier from our seat. Just to go out there and run consistently in the final 10 races and race these other 42 guys that are in the race track with us and yet still keep track or try to out-race the other 11 that we are trying to beat out for the championship here. We know it's going to be a tough race and it's not going to be easy, and we have the 48 (Johnson) and 99 (Edwards) most to worry about and anybody that could hit on stride. The 88 (Earnhardt) was really good at the beginning and you never know what (Jeff) Gordon will do and (Matt) Kenseth -- all of these guys are capable of something.”

The first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship takes place next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The Sylvania 300 is scheduled for a 2 p.m. EDT start.

ABC will provide live television coverage of next weekend’s Sprint Cup race and all of the races in the Chase for the Championship. The ABC broadcast goes live at 1 p.m. EDT. Live radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).