Richmond had its share of wild Cup finishes recently

Sunday's wild finish at Talladega has been the talk all week. That buzz will end Saturday at Richmond International Raceway, which was the site of another controversial finish last spring.

It occurred with two laps to go when Kyle Busch made contact with leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., sending him on a slow spin into the wall. Clint Bowyer, running third, drove underneath both cars and went on to victory.

When the resident bad boy knocks out the sport's biggest name, you know there is going to be fallout -- and plenty of video replays before the running of Saturday night's Cup Series race at Richmond.

"When he wrecked Junior, there were a lot of number one's from the fans, and it wasn't with their index fingers," Bowyer recalled this week.

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"That was probably the most fun I've ever had winning a race," Bowyer said. "I've never had one of those surprise, shocker, hand-it-to-you wins. I thought to myself, 'Wow, this is awesome.' I thought we were going to have a third-place finish and then bam -- that happened and we won."

Bowyer hasn't returned to Victory Lane since, and he enters Saturday's race on a string of poor finishes that have dropped him from second in the standings to eighth. Last week, Bowyer was caught up in the "Big One" early and finished 39th. His previous two races produced finishes of 26th at Phoenix and 22nd at Texas.

Kurt Busch, however, emerged from Talladega with the points lead for the first time since early 2005. He is five points ahead of Jeff Gordon.

"Being in the points lead is great and is something to be proud of, but we know we have to keep all that pride and emotion in check," Busch said. "There is just so much more racing to be done. We can't let any of the early success we've enjoyed so far go to our heads."

Of Busch's 19 career Cup wins, seven have come at short tracks, including one at three-quarter-mile Richmond. He'll be driving the same car that finished sixth at New Hampshire last September, second at Phoenix in November and a third at Phoenix last month.

"Kurt really likes the car, and we all are confident that we can get the job done with it and reach our goal at Richmond on Saturday night," said Busch's crew chief, Pat Tryson.

Kenseth

Denny Hamlin, No. 11: Winning at Richmond would mean a lot to Hamlin, a native of nearby Chesterfield, Va. If not for a cut tire in the Cup race last spring, he likely would have swept the weekend. Instead, he finished 24th after leading 381 of the first 382 laps.

Tony Stewart, No. 14: Can Stewart become the first owner/driver to win a race since Ricky Rudd in 1998? Richmond is a good track for him. He has three wins at Richmond and has finished second twice in the two of the past three races there.

Matt Kenseth, No. 17: Kenseth has a win at Richmond, but he also has five finishes in the 30s, including finishes of 38th and 39th last year. He is 12th in the standings, 30 points in front of 13th-place Ryan Newman.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29: Harvick has the top driver rating and has finished in the top 10 eight consecutive races at RIR, including his lone Cup win at Richmond in 2006. He is 20th in the standings, his lowest position in three years and needs a strong run Saturday to turn around his season.

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48: Johnson has won three of the past four races at Richmond and is a force on short tracks with nine wins and 25 top-10s in 44 races.

Johnson

Roy McCauley, David Stremme's crew chief: "Richmond is a great place. It is a wide track so you can pass, unlike some of the other short tracks we go to. It is crucial to not use up the brakes early in the race as they are paramount. You carry a lot of speed into the corners and need to be able to get the car slowed, pointed and be able to get back on the gas early to have a competitive car."

Paul Menard: "Richmond is a tough track and one that changes as the race goes on. It used to be there was only one groove on the bottom of the track, but over the last few races, the groove has moved up the track and allowed for some good racing. It's important at Richmond, like most of the tracks we visit, to qualify up front. It really helps you throughout the race. It's also important to make sure your car handles well; otherwise, it's a long night of racing."

Jimmie Johnson: "To me, you just have to go like hell and try as hard as you can every single lap because track position is so important there. You can get alongside someone, but you can't pull the pass off. To me, it's like Saturday night racing. I just run every lap as hard as I can."