Compliments of NASCAR, Inc.

RICHMOND, VA -May 4, 2008- In a heartbreaking race for Virginia native Denny Hamlin and victory-starved Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer stole a win in Saturday night's Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

In fact, Bowyer's victory was merely a footnote during an evening that produced high drama in NASCAR's top series.

Earnhardt Jr. smacked the outside wall in Turn 3 after Kyle Busch slid up the track into Junior's No. 88 Chevrolet as the two drivers battled for the lead on Lap 398.

Busch held off Mark Martin to finish second, after angry fans threw beer cans over the catch fence onto the track as the cars circled under the caution period leading up to a green-white-checkered finish. Tony Stewart posted a solid fourth-place finish, followed by Martin Truex Jr.

Bowyer, who won for the first time this year and the second time in his career, pulled away on the two-lap dash that extended the race 10 laps beyond its scheduled distance.

Hamlin had the race's dominant car, but the No. 11 Toyota wasn't a factor at the end. Hamlin led a track-record 381 laps before surrendering the top spot to Earnhardt on Lap 383 after developing a slow leak in his right-front tire. Hamlin finished 24th, three laps down. Earnhardt salvaged a 15th-place result and remained third in the championship standings.

"We took advantage of a misfortune," Bowyer said, "but our Chevrolet was fast all day. ... It was pretty wild up there -- it was bound to happen. They were racing hard. That's what racing at Richmond is all about, in my opinion. It just didn't work out [for either]."

But the story was the near-win for Earnhardt, who came tantalizingly close to his first points victory as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports.


"I've seen the replay, and Tony [Eury] Jr. [Earnhardt's crew chief] said it looked like Kyle got loose underneath me," Earnhardt said. "We'd been racing each other before, and we had no problem. I've been priding myself on running good all year, and [Saturday night] we got wrecked. It's disappointing."

Busch had his own version of events.

"Junior and I were just racing hard into Turn 3," said Busch, who took over the championship lead by 18 points over Jeff Burton. "It was just a product of good, hard racing. If I had wanted to do it deliberately, I would have waited till the last lap, when I probably still could have won the race."

Hamlin led 229 of the first 230 laps in a race that produced little carnage until contact between Carl Edwards' Ford and J.J. Yeley's Toyota on Lap 230 triggered a massive pile-up in Turn 3 that necessitated a stoppage to remove debris from the track.

Sustaining severe damage in the 14-car melee were the Dodges of Kurt Busch and Patrick Carpentier, the Fords of Matt Kenseth and David Gilliland and the Chevrolet of two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Burton also caught a piece of the crash but sustained only minor damage; he remained on the lead lap and finished 11th.

Jeff Gordon went a lap down to Hamlin on Lap 43 of the opening green-flag run, but Gordon got the lap back on a free pass for a restart on Lap 145 and rallied for a ninth-place finish.

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 31 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 190/5 410 Running
2 7 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Pedigree 170/0 410 Running
3 2 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 165/0 410 Running
4 15 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 160/0 410 Running
5 3 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 155/0 410 Running
6 10 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Alltel 150/0 410 Running
7 19 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 146/0 410 Running
8 11 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 142/0 410 Running
9 28 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 138/0 410 Running
10 9 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 134/0 410 Running
11 33 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 130/0 410 Running
12 5 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 127/0 410 Running
13 39 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Speed Racer / Cheerios 124/0 410 Running
14 23 16 Greg Biffle Ford DISH Network / DishDVRs 121/0 410 Running
15 22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 123/5 410 Running
16 34 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Discount Tire 115/0 410 Running
17 13 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 112/0 409 Running
18 17 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 109/0 408 Running
19 30 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Haas Automation 106/0 408 Running
20 8 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 103/0 408 Running
21 26 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet Steak-umm Burgers 100/0 408 Running
22 14 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 97/0 407 Running
23 35 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 94/0 407 Running
24 1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 101/10 407 Running
25 41 109 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 88/0 407 Running
26 38 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Charter Comm. 85/0 406 Running
27 42 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 82/0 406 Running
28 32 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 79/0 406 Running
29 36 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row
/ DenverMattress.com 76/0 406 Running
30 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 73/0 400 Running
31 25 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Moen / Menards 70/0 397 Running
32 6 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 67/0 389 Running
33 37 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Haas Automation 64/0 374 Running
34 43 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 61/0 365 Running
35 20 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 58/0 364 Accident
36 16 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg's / CARQUEST 55/0 354 Accident
37 27 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 52/0 352 Parked
38 24 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT NANO Technology 49/0 345 Running
39 18 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 51/5 259 Accident
40 29 00 Michael McDowell * Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 43/0 258 Accident
41 40 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditRep
ort.com 40/0 229 Accident
42 21 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 37/0 229 Accident
43 4 10 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge LifeLock 34/0 228 Accident

* Denotes Rookie




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