FanHouse LiptonTea250

Sure, Denny Hamlin may have led gobs and gobs of laps during Saturday night's Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400. And sure, the race title was ridiculous to say (and from here on out, will be referred to as the Dan Lowry 400).

But boy did NASCAR need a race like the one race fans were treated to at Richmond. Throw together the entire weekend and its not looking too shabby all the way around.

First, NASCAR's newest bad boy in town Kyle Busch started things off nicely Friday night during the Lipton Tea 250 when dude got into with Rusty Wallace's probably-never-going-to-make-the-Sprint-Cup son Steven Wallace. The two did the post-race tango after beating and banging on each other during the final laps with Kyle Busch getting offended after his helmet was grabbed and Wallace calling Busch a "girl".

Priceless.

Then, Saturday night, Denny Hamlin was on his way to securing one of the most dominating Sprint Cup wins in a long, long time at his home track, until a tire started to go late in the event. Apparently, karma catches up to you after leading some 381 of 410 total laps.

Prior to Hamlin losing the race that was his to be won, those fans who watch just to see smashed up fenders and bent roll cages were treated to a massive pileup in Turn 3 that took Matt Kenseth from his Richmond misery and drop kicked Jimmie Johnson from a good finish. Those fans can check out the video here.

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon had one of those nights for the first half of the race that his haters love to see.

The No. 24 was a lap down early and struggling -- raising the haters' hopes for further Gordon bad luck. However, Jeff played the storyline well and brought his big core of fans right back into the race when he got a lap back and battled through the field to a ninth-place finish.

And then, there was Michael Waltrip showing his now-annual display of over-aggression after Casey Mears lost the No. 55 in his blind spot and sent them both into the wall. Waltrip then gunned the accelerator and pushed Mears into the turn one wall, drawing a "you're done for the race" penalty from race control. Remember, Waltrip slugged Lake Speed in 1995, had this YouTube gem in 2004 (1:35), and got into it with Jeff Green a few years ago at Darlington.

Once that all sorted out, it looked like Hamlin was cruising to a victory in front of the home crowd until the tire faded his chances. When Hamlin caused a caution and subsequently penalized, the race was between that Dale Earnhardt Jr. fellow and Busch.

The two made a little bit of contact going for the win, which kicked the most popular driver from the win and allowed Clint Bowyer to sneak in from nowhere past Busch for his second-career win.

While it wasn't the 2007 Daytona 500 finish, Richmond brought out storyline after storyline late in the event -- which is exactly what a race fan wants. By no means was Saturday night's finish predictable.

Carnage and controversy on a short track? Now that is.

Kyle Busch may be the hottest driver in all of NASCAR right now, but Denny Hamlin isn't letting his teammate show the familiar prowess at Hamlin's home track.

Indeed, Friday was very, very good for the driver of the No. 11 Toyota as he found himself in victory lane twice already -- first for winning the pole for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series event at Richmond International Raceway and then for winning the Nationwide Lipton Tea 250.

Hamlin scored the pole for the Sprint Cup Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 126.198mph -- enough to fend off Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammates Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. Patrick Carpentier qualified an impressive fourth while Reed Sorenson rounded out the Top-5.

On the Nationwide Series side of things, it was pretty much business as usual for Joe Gibbs Racing as Hamlin continued a 5-race winning streak for the team. Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick with just over 10 laps to go to secure the victory at the track roughly 20 miles from his home.

Teammate Busch, though, had the most fun of the night after getting in to a near-fight with Steven Wallace after the race. The two had banged back and forth for the closing laps and then had to be separated on pit road.

He'll put you in the wall, wreck your cart at the supermarket, and wreck your motorized boat. And he's easily one of the most-recognized drivers on NASCAR TV right now.

Yes, I'm talking about GEICO's newest pitch man who doesn't pitch the product at all, Lauren Wallace. First, for a video refresher:



I know that Lauren Wallace has made his way into my Top-5 driver list (who couldn't resist cheering for a driver that says "Lauren Wallace is made of lightning!") but unfortunately the Richmond Times-Dispatch has revealed that Lauren is just an actor. Sigh.

From the Times-Dispatch:

The toughest, coolest, most ruthlessly ambitious driver in motorsports was born in Richmond, resides in Chicago, doesn't have a driver's license and is more familiar with the nuances of Hamlet than those of Denny Hamlin.

If nothing else, at least they let us know ahead of time.

ESPN announced today that Friday night's Nationwide Series Lipton Tea 250 will get the shaft end of the deal and will get moved to ESPN Classic, instead of its originally scheduled ESPN2 home in favor of an NBA Playoff game. From the release:

Friday night's ESPN production of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race from Richmond International Raceway has been moved to ESPN Classic and also will be simulcast on ESPN360.com and SPEED. The telecast begins at 7 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. The change was made to accommodate NBA playoff game six between Washington and Cleveland.

Additionally, for fans without ESPN Classic, a special encore presentation of the race from start to finish will air that evening following the NBA game beginning at approximately 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

If nothing else, I suppose, ESPN has at least worked out a deal for the race to be on SPEED for those without ESPN Classic.

Friday night's Richmond race will mark the second race in-a-row that the Nationwide Series wasn't on ESPN2, as last week's event at Talladega was on ABC. That seems quite confusing to me after NASCAR and ESPN2 tried to make a big point that ESPN2 would be the "home" of the Nationwide Series back when the current television package began.

I understand that the NBA Playoffs is a big deal, but it can't be in ESPN2's best brand interest to be shipping NASCAR to ESPN Classic and to another network entirely.