Race 10 - Crown Royal 400

Out of context-there won't be any screenshots for this race because I half-simmed it. I had an ice storm last night and all morning my power has been flickering and I didn't want to lose the race, so I wrote down some notes to do a summary and accelerated through it, meaning there's no replay file. And it was also the 7th attempt to run the race. I tried in vain 5 times on Monday and once last night, but each time, the game crashed when I tried to go back into it. So this is the real race right here:

Crown Royal 400
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series hit the deceivingly speedy Richmond International Raceway last night for a little bit of good ol' Saturday Night Short Track racing. The race lived up to its billing, as a number of crashes took out contenders and jumbled up the running order.

Taking the pole was "Rocket Man" Ryan Newman, who edged Carl Edwards by just 7 thousandths of a second to earn the award. He dominated the race early on, until Kurt Busch was able to take over on lap 61. Lapped traffic soon became a factor, and Greg Biffle assumed command just 8 laps later. Newman, however, had the car to beat in the race, and it wasn't long before he retook the lead on lap 76. 35 laps later, a big crash brought out the first caution of the race when a number of drivers wrecked. Eliminated from contention were Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick, who looked like the car to beat after leading the happy hour practice session. Jimmie Johnson got the lead through pit stops, but another big crash on lap 120 stopped action once again.

A pileup exiting turn 4 blocked the track, and damaged many drivers. The wreck started when Jeff Burton and Robby Gordon bumped fenders in turn 3, and Burton got loose when he hit the apron. All told, 13 cars received some kind of damage, and 5 cars were knocked out. Joe Nemechek was the leader after another round of pit stops, but didn't hold it for long when he pitted under the third caution just 8 laps later for a crash involving Robby Gordon and Matt Kenseth. Newman was back in front for the lap 140 restart, and the race settled into a long green flag stretch. The #12 car would hold the lead until a round of green flag pit stops on lap 245. Johnson emerged as the leader, but Newman wouldn't be denied and was back in front on lap 251. Biffle, however, maintained pace with the leaders and put himself in the top spot with a gutsy divebomb pass in turn 1 of lap 255. The next caution came out 13 laps later when Elliott Sadler spun in turn 3.

Biffle remained in the lead for the lap 274 restart, and he settled into the same groove that Newman was in. He continued to dominate the race until lap 353, when he made the dive down to pit road for his final stop of the day under green flag conditions. Just 3 laps later, however, Biffle's day, along with many other top 5 contenders, came crashing to a halt - literally.

As cars cycled on and off pit road, the difference between new and old tires was very noticeable. Dave Blaney, on old tires, was practically run over by Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he tried to get to pit road in turn 3, and the track soon became blocked. Biffle and Jeff Burton made minor contact, although the damage to the #16 Ford was enough to eliminate him from contention for the win. Along with those 4, other drivers involved in the melee included J.J. Yeley, Clint Bowyer, Kenseth, Ken Schrader, and Johnny Sauter. However, the biggest names came from the top 4, as the first place, second, fourth, and fifth place cars were all knocked out of the race. Newman, Johnson, Travis Kvapil, and Bobby Hamilton Jr. all suffered substantial damage and were left with no time to repair their vehicles.

Because the caution came out during green flag pit stops, Joe Nemechek inherited the lead of a very thin lead lap contingent. It was so thin, in fact, that he was the only car on the main lead lap, as Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart lined up just in front of him on the tail end. With just 38 laps to go when he took the green flag, it was all about saving equipment and avoiding catastrophe for the driver of the #01 Chevy, which he successfully did, putting the Army team in victory lane for the first time in 2007.

Results:


Driver Standings:



Owner Standings:

"Twenty-third isn't the best finish in the world, but, I think that's our second best finish of the year, so we'll take it. Aric did his best to keep the car out of trouble... Of course, there's 42 cars going back to their shops that are torn up, the one not damaged being Joe Nemechek. We're still in the top 35 in owner points, so we're still locked into the show for next week. If we can keep piecing together decent finishes like this, we'll get away from that top 35 line and start taking greater risks to finish even better."

DEI Statement:

"Well, it wasn't a good day, for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. that were involved in crashes, and for Paul Menard that didn't qualified the race......"