Denny Hamlin wins Homecoming: The Bubba Burger 250 Review

Disappointed. That’s the only word I have to Friday night’s race. Richmond, which is supposed to be a slug-fest, turned into The Denny Hamlin show, and a fuel mileage race.

It was bizarro land as Richmond was a calm and boring affair. Hamlin dominated by leading 199 laps out of the 251 that were run. But the worst part of the race was that only five drivers finished on the lead lap. Five.

Of those five, three were Cup drivers. Only Points leader Justin Allgaier and former Cup driver Elliott Sadler cracked the top five.

In a race where Carl Edwards ran out of gas and Kyle Busch wasn’t entered, it looked like we would finally get a Nationwide winner. Instead we got the worst Nationwide event of the year. If only because of the buildup to this race, and the disappointment that followed.

I’ve exhausted myself complaining about Nascar turning a blind eye to thier failing series. I’m not alone in the opinion that most of us headed into 2011 thinking we would see the old Busch Series resurected. Where Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr were battling for a Championship against other drivers who had never raced in a Cup race. Where Martin Truex had to beat Reed Sorenson and Clint Bowyer for the Championship and Carl Edwards was running both series as a Cup rookie. Where guys like Johnny Sauter and Jeff Green were winners. Instead it’s hello New Series, same as the Old Series. I don’t know what else to say about it.
Results after the Jump!

(Editor’s note: Some unofficial results have Almirola moved into fifth because of a re-evaluation of his late race penalty - although NASCAR’s media site has him in fourteenth at the time of this posting)

What you see is what you get. It’s more of the same. While it’s great to see Sadler, Sam Hornish and Ryan Truex up in the top ten, it’s the fact that we had six drivers not running for the Championship, and four of them scored top tens. Here’s the battle for the Nationwide Championship:

Trevor Bayne’s heath problems seems to have killed his chances of a Championship, but with the new points, all he needs is a few wins and top fives and he should be right back in it. Turner Motorsports still looks to be the best of the Nationwide only teams. Speaking of teams, here’s the battle for Owner’s Championship:

Gibbs has this locked up after only 9 races. It would take a lot for him not to have one of his three teams win it. Everyone who was locked in last week managed to hang on this week. Here’s the battle for the top 30 in Owner’s points:

That’s all for this edition. Join us later in the week when we bring you a preview of the Nationwide Race from Darlington, SC! Enjoy!