2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400
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The 2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 was a
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on May 1, 2010 at Richmond International Raceway in
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
. Contested over 400 laps, it was the tenth race of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season. The race was won by
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
for the Joe Gibbs Racing team.
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
finished second, and Kevin Harvick, who started seventh, clinched third.
Pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
driver Kyle Busch maintained the lead after the
start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...
of the race. Kyle Busch would eventually lead to the race high of 226 laps. Afterward, Gordon became the leader during the final laps. He remained the leader until Kyle Busch passed him with four laps remaining. Kyle Busch crossed the finish line first to clinch his first win of the season, and his third at Richmond International Raceway. There were six caution flags and twelve lead changes among eight different drivers throughout the course of the race. The result moved Kyle Busch up two spots to third in the Drivers' Championship, 109 points behind of leader Kevin Harvick and ten ahead of Matt Kenseth.
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, eighteen points ahead of
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
and thirty ahead of Ford, with twenty-six races remaining in the season.


Race report


Background

Richmond International Raceway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races, the others being Bristol Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and
Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...
. The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval that is long. The track's turns are banked at fourteen degrees. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at eight degrees while the back stretch has two degrees of banking. The racetrack has seats for 97,912 spectators. Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship with 1,323 points, while Kevin Harvick stood in second with 1,297 points.
Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...
was third in the Drivers' Championship with 1,237 points, Matt Kenseth was fourth with 1,224 points, and
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
was in fifth with 1,163 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with seventy points, twenty-one points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with forty-two points, was four points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.


Practices and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held on Friday before the Saturday race. In the first session, the fastest drivers were Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
. During the second practice session, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, and
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
had the quickest times. During qualifying, forty-six cars were entered, but Michael McDowell, Max Papis, and Dave Blaney did not qualify; NASCAR's qualifying procedure only allow forty-three cars to make the race. Kyle Busch clinched the
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
with a fastest lap time of 21.247 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Reutimann. Johnson qualified third, Gordon took fourth, and Newman started fifth.


Race summary

The race, the tenth out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 7:30 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
. Conditions were clear with a high of . Joe Ellison, from Essex Village Community Church, began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Next, the Commandants own United States Marine Drum and Bugle performed the national anthem, and Heath Calhoun gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
held the lead going through the first corner with David Reutimann behind him. One lap later,
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
moved into the third position. On lap 6, Gordon emerged in second, after passing Reutimann. Jimmie Johnson, who had started third, fell to fourth by lap 7. By lap 8, Kyle Busch had a lead of 1.5 seconds. One lap later, Kevin Harvick moved into fourth, after passing Johnson. On lap 18, Harvick moved into third, as Jamie McMurray moved to the sixth position. Six laps later, Reutimann had fallen to the fourth position, after starting second. By lap 35, Gordon had caught Kyle Busch for the first position, but after six laps he was two seconds behind Kyle Busch. On lap 42, the first caution came out because Joe Nemechek collided with the wall after suffering a blown tire. During this caution, drivers made there pit stops. On lap 49, Kyle Busch led on the restart. Afterward, Gordon moved into the third position, after passing Jamie McMurray. By lap 55, Juan Pablo Montoya had moved from nineteenth to eighth. On lap 59, Harvick moved into second, but four laps later, Gordon passed him for the second position. By lap 66, Kyle Busch had a 2.3 second lead over Gordon. After starting tenth, Clint Bowyer had moved to the fifth position by lap 68. Kyle Busch remained the leader until green flag pit stops began. On lap 143,
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
received the lead, as Kyle Busch made a pit stop. Two laps later, Kyle Busch reclaimed the lead. On lap 153, the second caution came out because of debris. Kyle Busch, again, led the field to the restart. Ten laps later, on lap 170, the third caution came out because of debris. Ryan Newman, because of a two tire change, was in the lead on the restart. On lap 177, one lap after the restart, Kyle Busch took the lead away from Newman. Kyle Busch kept the lead until Jeff Burton passed him on lap 230. Burton led only twenty laps before Jeff Gordon claimed the lead. Jeff Gordon made a pit stop on lap 266, allowing Kevin Harvick to pass him. Green flag pit stops continued, as Carl Edwards received the lead on lap 268. Three laps later Tony Stewart passed Edwards for the lead. On lap 272, Jeff Gordon reclaimed the lead. By this time, the race was under green flag conditions for 102 laps, but the green flag run only continued until lap 367, 265 laps after the last restart, when the fourth caution came out. The cause for the caution was that Elliott Sadler had a tire that blew. On lap 377, Jeff Gordon led the field toward the green flag. Two laps later, though, the fifth caution, caused by a spin from
Sam Hornish Jr. Samuel Jon Hornish Jr. (born July 2, 1979) is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske in 2017. He began his top-tier raci ...
, came out. On lap 385, Jeff Gordon led the field to the green flag. Four laps later Hornish Jr. spun and collided with the inside wall, to bring out the sixth caution. Jeff Gordon, on lap 395, led toward the restart. With four laps remaining, Kyle Busch passed Gordon for the lead. Busch kept the lead to win his first race in 2010.


Post-race

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
appeared in victory lane after his
victory lap A victory lap (also lap of honor) is a term used in motorsports to describe an extra lap of the race track after the conclusion of a race. This lap, driven at reduced speed, allows the winning driver to celebrate their victory and gives the sp ...
to start celebrating his first win of the season, and his third at Richmond International Raceway. Following his win, he added, "I don’t even remember what just happened. I drove it down into Turn 1 and hoped it stuck. I knew I had to baby it into Turn 3 and finally got to clear Jeff. We set sail there from there." After finishing second,
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
stated, "A little disappointed again that we are coming up short, but we are getting plenty of practice. It’s a little disappointing we haven’t won some races yet. If we keep doing this, those will come. We’ve got to keep putting ourselves in position." Gordon followed the race by saying, "I’ve been doing this long enough to know that they don’t give out trophies for leading any lap other than the last one." In the subsequent press conference, Kyle Busch said, "I can’t thank
Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
enough, it’s unbelievable to be back in victory lane. A lot of people doubted what we were doing, but I never did." Gordon stated: Dave Rogers, Kyle Busch's crew chief, stated, "It would have been great to keep that many cars a lap down, but it would have been selfish. Everybody behind us was going to pit. If we stay out, we keep all those guys down. Then the seven guys behind us are going to drive by us, we’re going to lose our track position just to keep cars a lap down. It’s not worth it." The race result moved Kevin Harvick in the lead for the Driver's Championship with 1,467 points. Jimmie Johnson, who finished tenth, was second on 1,457, ninety-nine points ahead of Kyle Busch and 149 ahead of Matt Kenseth.
Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...
was fifth with 1,334 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained their lead with 76 points. Toyota maintained second with 58 points. Ford followed with 46 points, six points ahead of Dodge in fourth.


Results


Qualifying


Race Results


Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400, 2010 2010 in sports in Virginia 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series May 2010 sports events in the United States 2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400