* #18-Kyle Busch’s victory snapped a 21-race drought that dated back to Michigan last August. The win was his fourth Cup victory at Richmond, all of them scored consecutively in the Cup Series ‘ last four visits to Henrico County in the spring.
* For those keeping count, Stewart-Haas Racing has three victories, two with #14-Stewart and one with #39-Ryan Newman. Joe Gibbs Racing now has three victories, two with #11-Denny Hamlin and one with Kyle Busch. Roush Fenway Racing has two wins, one with #17-Matt Kenseth and one with #16-Biffle. Penske Racing has one win with #2-Brad Keselowski. That’s your totals, overall in just nine events. Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports are still posting goose eggs in the win column in 2012.
* Kyle Busch’s win Saturday was the 24th Cup victory of his career, moving him into a tie with brother Kurt in that category.
* The top-10 finishers at Richmond piloted four Chevys, four Toyotas, a Ford and a Dodge.
* #88-Earnhardt and #48-Johnson now lead all drivers with seven top-10 finishes in this season’s nine races. Kenseth and Biffle lead the pack with five top-5 results in those nine events.
* Earnhardt’s fourth top-5 finish of the season matches his total number of top 5s scored in all of 2011. The last time he managed more such results in a year was in 2008.
* #14-Stewart led a lap (118 of them, actually) for the first time since Fontana.
* #5-Kasey Kahne’s fifth-place finish was his best of the season.
* #99-Edwards now has five consecutive finishes of 11th or better.
* #42-Juan Pablo Montoya has finished 12th for the second straight week. In both instances, his team used a carefully orchestrated strategy of not having JPM run into a jet dryer.
* #16-Biffle’s 18th-place result was his worst of the season.
* #29-Harvick’s 19th-place run matches his worst of the season. He also finished 19th at Martinsville.
* #15-Clint Bowyer’s seventh-place finish was his best since Bristol.
(Frontstretch)(4-30-2012)
