Dalton Racing Dominates, with Patriarch Taking the Victory

RICHMOND, VA – The NASCAR Beano Cup Series took to the Richmond International Raceway for the third race of the short track season.  The stresses and frustrations of Talladega were left behind in Alabama as numerous drivers look to rebound after last week’s rough race.  Perhaps the biggest story line heading into today’s race was the fact that Talladega winner, and points leader, Bryan Kosh barely missed racing his way into the field. In fact, the top four in points all failed to qualify for the Richmond event.  Tempers flared as second place driver in the points, Derrike Fox, found himself in several compromising positions on track. Heat one featured the closest margin of victory of the season and the winner of the second heat quite literally carved her way through wrecks all night long. Tonight’s race continued the excitement that the heats began.

Jordan Toles would start on point for the 400 lap race giving Dodge its series high fifth pole of the year. Toles would lead the first 94 laps of the event virtually uncontested, although more action was found in the back of the field. Caution one would not occur until the 21st circuit when Lance Bridwell, Margarita Irizarry and Kyle Buszkiewicz attempted to run three wide coming off of turn two.  All three cars would go spinning with Buszkiewicz obtaining the most damage. For Irizarry, the driver who dodged so many wrecks during her heat, this would be only the first incident she would be involved in during the race.

Green flag racing would persist for the next fifty laps, with Toles lead growing to several  seconds over second place Kurt Goshen.  The caution would come out on lap 77 as Jared Meade would give Ryan Bridwell a tap sending the #58 Chevy sliding into the turn four wall. Behind him Scott Kenny, Brent Sweet and Jason Scheck would all spin to miss him. Yet another caution would arise on Lap 93 as Quiles Racing teammates, Irizarry and Victor Quiles, would get together midway down the backstretch, collecting Tyler Dalton and many others. Turn three would become blocked and many other drivers would become involved with ultimately four parking their mangled vehicles in the garage for the night.

Yellow flag pit stops would produce the first lead change, of 26 all together, with Reese Usher taking the point. Lap 104 would see the yellow fly again, this time of Julian Madore, Ritch Garcia and Kenny going for a brief dance on the backstretch. All drivers would continue on with minor damage to their cars.

Another lead change under yellow, this time with outside pole sitter Daniel Grzeszkiewicz, gave the race its third leader of the night. Grzeszkiewicz elected to not pit during this caution, a decision which was soon regretted as Sebastian Scholl passed him for the lead shortly after green. Scholl’s lead existed for barely a lap until heat winner Anthony Crane surged past. Once the field sorted out, Matt Schumm began to work his way to the front, passing Crane for the lead on Lap 120. His lead would quickly extend to several seconds over the rest of the field until a caution at Lap 149 erased it. Brad Packard did his impression of a rotisserie on the backstretch and continued on without sustaining anymore damage to his KFC Chevy. Radio problems prevented Schumm from communicating with his team as he mistakenly stayed out initially while the rest of the field pitted. By the time he did pit, Kurt Goshen inherited the lead, albeit very briefly. Two time BCS winner this season, Lance Bridwell, would put his #0 Chevy out front for two laps, until Tyler Dalton would shove his Havoline Dodge Charger below him while heading into turn one. For Dalton, the eventual race winner, this was a remarkable comeback after sustaining damage in a wreck not even seventy laps prior. Almost immediately after taking the lead, a girlish scream was heard as the Tampax Dodge smacked the outside wall. Collecting two other drives, Cash would limp back to the pits bloodied and bruised.

Once the green came back out, Dalton would enjoy Crane on his back bumper for the next twenty laps. The two drivers would exchange the lead several times, with only two officially recorded lead changes, while Kurt Goshen slowly crept up upon them.  Goshen, Crane and Dalton would all scramble for the lead for another twenty laps until another accident involving the Kickin’ Fickin’ Chicken Chevy brought out the caution. Pole sitter Jordan Toles was also involved and Brian Fletcher decided to make a stylish enterence into the wreck, spinning by himself and sliding into the side of Toles. The bigger story was at the front of the field as race leader Anthony Crane took the caution the field suddenly stopped in front of him and he slammed into the back of Derek Cash’s Dodge. With no place to go, second place driver Kurt Goshen locked up the brakes but ended up barreling into the Post-It Dodge. Both Crane and Goshen would see their great runs ended by a wreck under caution.

Tyler Dalton would inherit the lead after the accident and would keep it after pit stops. Green flag racing would be short lived as just a handful of laps later teammates Chris Wetz and Dennis Faircloth would collide in turn three to bring out another caution. Several other cars would become jealous of the attention and would spin themselves while heading to the caution, creating another multicar incident. This time pole sitter Toles would find himself with heavy damage, and he retired from the event.

Dalton would lose the lead to teammate Edward Millard as he pitted for a flat right rear tire. Just past the midway point, Steven Lewis would enjoy his only brief lead of the day, before settling back and watching Millard and Grzeszkiewicz swap the lead for much of the next one hundred laps. After a long green flag stretch, caution would come out on Lap 279 for Matt Schumm, running second at the time, being spun by the lap car of Jared Meade. Yellow flag pit stops would give the lead back to Grzeszkiewicz whom would then lose the lead to Millard shortly after green flag racing resumed.

Lap 288 would find the Red Bull Toyota of Dennis Faircloth smashed up against the turn three wall again, this time bring Irizarry and Scholl with him. The leaders would stay out and when the race resumed, Millard again took command. A few laps later former front runner Steven Lewis would break loose coming off of turn four, clipping the DHL Toyota of Tim McDonnell and bring out another caution. The field would enjoy barely a lap of green flag racing next before another caution would come out. This time drivers Scholl and Madore would get together on the apron of turn four and would then spin in front of the field. Scott Kenny would clip Scholl’s Ford sending him up into the wall as well.

Brian Fletch would refrain from pitting and take the lead with just under one hundred laps remaining.  His lead would last until caution 13 came out for Lance Bridwell being spun by Lewis on the backstretch. Fletcher would pit during this stop and a few laps after the green came out, Millard would find himself back out front. Caution 14 was enjoyed by all on lap 332 with Brian Wallace losing his car off of turn four and collecting front runners Ron Gephart and Grzeszkiewicz.  Then, perhaps looking at an attractive fan, Meade neglected to brake and slammed into the back of Gephart, further collecting Wildman in the process. Meade and Wildman would take the cars to the garage and enjoy some chicken and pizza together in their motorhomes.

The green would come back out with just over sixty laps remaining and Millard immediately took off from the field. Opening up a nearly two second advantage in just four laps, the Energizer Charger looked to be the car to beat. Irizarry’s solo spin on Lap 343 would bring out caution 15 and it is then that the complexion of the race would alter. As the field would come to the green, a cloud of smoke erupted from under the hood of Millard’s Dodge. Dalton would lead the field to the green as Millard limped his car to the pits, eventually retiring due to a burnt piston. A sure win for Millard quite literally went up in a cloud of smoke.

Caution 16 would involve the lead lap car of Grzeszkiewicz completing a solo spin, allowing cars to make their final stops of the day. All of the leaders would stay out and Dalton would restart the race with Lewis on his back bumper. Lewis would never mount a serious charge however, and Dalton would cruise to his first BCS win of his career.

Jason Scheck came home third, a remarkable feat considering at one point he was two laps down.  Ryan Bridwell and Darrell Watts would round out the top five. The top two in points would remain the same, but Lance Bridwell and Timmy Johnston would move their way up to third and fourth respectively in the points. Tyler Wildman, ace of the heat races, would move into the top ten sitting at seventh.

Next week we head to the famed Darlington race way for the Dodge Challenger 500, but already rumors are swirling the many teams will not be making the trek from Richmond to South Carolina. With its strong performance tonight, Dalton Racing will for sure be one of the teams attempting to knock off the juggernaut that is FU Motorsports.