Richmond quick takeaways: Was that the best race of the season?
RICHMOND, Virginia – Throughout 2016 we may have way too many quick thoughts for our post-race posts. So consider our Takeaways feature to be the home of our random and sometimes intelligent musings. Sometimes the post may have a theme. Sometimes it may just be a mess of unrelated thoughts. Make sure you tweet us your thoughts after the race or email your post-race rants via the link in the signature line below.
• Was Sunday's race at Richmond the best of the season? We're thinking, at least in the hours after the race, that it was.
The track opened up and had multiple grooves in the corners. Tire fall off was substantial and drivers who were conservative with their tires at the beginning could make up time at the end. Oh, and there was that bump and run finish that Carl Edwards pulled off at the end to get the win. That certainly didn't hurt how we rank the race.
Though we did wonder what the race would have been like if there was more separation between teams. While drivers were scrambling to find as much speed as they could with the different lines in the corners, teams were generally racing the same drivers throughout the race. If you look at the box score, there wasn't much movement up and down the field.
The biggest gainer of the race was Martin Truex Jr., who finished ninth after starting 22nd. The biggest dropper of the race was Brian Scott; he finished 35th after starting 2th. And that was because he crashed. All of the race's top 10 qualifiers (via practice on Friday) finished in the top 11 and nine of the 10 drivers that started between 31st and 40th finished in those positions.
• And while the racing was great, don't let it overshadow NASCAR's ham-handed decision to fine Tony Stewart. For as much as people will want to pay attention to what we saw at the 3/4-mile track over Stewart's fine, the sanctioning body shouldn't suddenly get less scrutiny because the racing product was exceptional.
If NASCAR wanted the racing to be the focal point, it shouldn't have fined Stewart in the first place.
• We asked if people thought Edwards' pass on Busch for the win was dirty. Y'all thankfully said no.
@NickBromberg Nope. Kyle tried to park it in the corner. Edwards was faster and bumped him out of the way. Did exactly what he needed to.
— DOmedicine (@DOmedicine) April 24, 2016
@NickBromberg not at all. Some Xfinity Series regulars should take note of it and do it to him as well.
— Nate Vandermeer (@vandernate) April 24, 2016
@NickBromberg No problem at all on the final lap, to paraphrase Herm Edwards "You drive to win the race!"
— Brian Cullather (@Briancullather) April 24, 2016
@NickBromberg 18 fans
— Blake Atchley (@batchley3) April 24, 2016
@NickBromberg I have a problem with Kyle Busch magically slowing in turn 1 last lap. Team orders? NASCAR orders?
— Rich Tucker (@iamrich83) April 24, 2016
If there were team orders, Edwards wouldn't have spun Busch.
• The Mountain Dew cars Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne ran on Sunday need to go away forever. Not good looking cars. Hell, Elliott's car is too ugly for Junior's car graveyard, though the four-wide move he made on a restart in the first half of the race (one Stewart called "sexy" on his radio) was certainly not ugly. Damn, that was an incredible pass.
• The California race (on March 20) is the last race that was not led by Joe Gibbs Racing equipped cars for the majority. That's just crazy.
Sunday was our first trip to Richmond. It was a thoroughly enjoyable one. Next year's race is worth attending if you're considering it.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
