Wild Weekend at Richmond

Tempers were flying all weekend long.
"Payback" was the word of the race Friday night when the Busch drivers
took to the track. Early on Greg Biffle got into Jay Sauter, causing him to lose
many laps behind the wall. After making repairs Sauter went back out on track,
and is believed to have intentionally spun out Biffle. Irate, Biffle walked over
to Sauter’s Quality Farm &Fleet sponsored car, and threw a punch at Sauter,
who was still wearing his helmet. Penalties are sure to be handed out early in
the week.

After receiving a $5,000.00 fine from
NASCAR last week for wrecking Kevin Grubb under caution at Darlington, Rich
Bickle had to be careful this week. On lap 123, Bickle and Grubb were racing for
position. As Grubb worked the high line looking to pass Bickle for the 8th spot,
they got together causing Kevin to go high and lose two spots. Fortunately, that
was the only time the 59 and 37 roughed it up. Speaking of Kevin, point leader
Harvick wasn’t much of a contender in the Friday night race. He ended up 4 laps
down after having problems with an oil line. He and Chad Little were both fined
and put on probation after a post race scuffle last week.

After nearly being involved in a wreck
while lapping Mike Wallace’s #4 car, Jimmy Spencer was victorious yet again in
the BGN division, capturing the Richmond sweep. Following behind in a close
second was fellow Cup driver Matt Kenseth.

Moving onto Winston Cup, Jeff Gordon
grabbed the pole with a lap time of 124.902. Rookie Casey Atwood had a strong
run, putting the #19 Dodge Intrepid R/T in the 7th starting spot for Saturday
night’s 400 lap dash under the lights. He qualified the car with a speed of
123.82 mph. Atwood’s second lap moved him from 33rd on the grid all the way up
to 4th. Taking the same car he finished 12th with in the spring race, Atwood was
looking for a good finish.

Trouble began early; spins by the Petty
owned numbers 43 and 44 brought out the first two cautions. But the biggest
incident of the night had to be on lap 35 when Sterling Marlin sent point leader
and pole sitter Jeff Gordon into the wall. Gordon came back out on track 117
laps down, finishing in the 36th spot. Lap 80 brought yet another yellow,
allowing the leaders to pit. Marlin came into the race sitting 3rd in points,
but couldn’t hold onto that spot after losing over 40 laps behind the wall after
losing his transmission during the pit stop. Leaving the pits in the 13th spot,
top rookie qualifier Casey Atwood quickly slipped out of the top 20. It was
obvious that once again Atwood’s car couldn’t make the long haul. The
21-year-old later found himself 3 laps down, finishing the race in the 27th
spot.

This turned the attention onto Rusty
Wallace who led most of the 400-lap race. The final caution of the night was
brought out with 33to go, when Bill Elliott lost debris off of his Dodge from an
earlier accident. Restarts were killing Wallace, who had added air pressure to
his right rear during his last pit stop hoping that his tires would come in
quicker than the 15 laps it had taken them all night. This wasn’t the right
decision. After the final restart it caused the Miller Lite Ford to get loose,
losing track position. Wallace ended up 4 positions lower than where he intended
to finish. Ricky Rudd now held the lead and with 17 to go. Kevin Harvick who is
on probation in the Busch Series, saw no problem in laying a fender to the
driver of the number 28. Rudd got sideways off of turn number 2. With to 5 go,
Rudd restaked his claim on the lead by giving Harvick a tap from behind. With
the win, Rudd gained 120 points on leader Jeff Gordon. This week was full of
bumps, spins, fists, and raging tempers. The week was also full of was warnings,
penalties, and fines; look for more to be handed out in the BGN division as they
prepare for a week off while the Winston Cup Series heads to New Hampshire.