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RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond International Raceway has always been known as "The Action Track."
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| Denny Hamlin's impressive run comes to a halt with eight laps remaining in the race. (AP) |
Both drivers had what looked to be sure victories dramatically snatched away.
Hamlin dominated the race in record fashion, leading a historic 381 laps after starting from the pole.
However, a flat tire with only twenty laps to go ended the Virginia driver's dream of winning his first career Sprint Cup race at his home track.
"It's tough to say," answered Hamlin when asked just how disappointing the sudden turn of events was for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. "I mean, you can't whine about it. It wasn't meant to be. God didn't want me to win today, and there's a better time for us to win, evidently. Today is just not our day."
It was a bitter ending to what was a wonderful weekend for Hamlin that included his Cup pole and a win in Friday night's Nationwide Series race.
And it was yet another late race mishap that kept Hamlin from visiting victory lane, a trend that has plagued the young driver during his three-year Sprint Cup tenure.
Time and again, Hamlin has had dominant cars only to be thwarted by pit road mistakes, mechanical issues or just plain bad luck with Saturday's issue the latest in what must seem like a never-ending string.
"You don't have days like this," Hamlin said. "Dominating days like this just don't happen. Usually, when it does, you have an issue at the end. To me, it almost wasn't that surprising. I've had these issues before at Bristol and some other race tracks. Figure out what's going on."
Gremlins and bad luck at Bristol or Phoenix is one thing, but when they come at a driver's own personal temple, it has to hurt even more.
"It means more here, for sure," Hamlin said. "I would have the same reaction at another race track, maybe not as much as what I feel right now. It's still just another win that slipped away from us."
Earnhardt's chance to end his now more than two year winless drought also slipped away, thanks to the controversial tangle with Kyle Busch with three laps to go.
Hamlin's exit opened the door for Earnhardt to finally erase the losing streak which had reached 71 races Saturday night, with his last trip to victory lane ironically coming at Richmond in 2006.
Locked in a side-by-side battle with Busch for the top spot, the two made contact racing through turn three with Earnhardt getting the worst of it with a hard impact into the outside wall.
The crash sent Junior Nation into a tizzy and made Busch Public Enemy Number One with the legions of Earnhardt fans in the stands and across the country.
But it also sent a stake right through the heart of Earnhardt, who could not hide his disappointment and disgust as he leaned next to his battered race car.
"Whether it is fair or not, he is going to need some security," Earnhardt said of his combatant. "I wouldn't say it was intentional because if he wanted to he could have thrown me in the fence off 2. We had been racing each other earlier and had no problems."
"I am pretty disappointed to say the least. I had a good race all night. I had a good top-three car most of the night. I just don't like it, well, to me it is just disappointing to not get what you can get out of the race car. Me and Kyle got together down there, not sure why it happened or how it happened. But, it is definitely unfortunate for us."
The incident not only ended Earnhardt's hopes of ending his dry spell but also stopped his streak of solid finishes since he moved over to Hendrick Motorsports at the start of the year.
"The worst part about it, is that I have been priding myself on running good all year and I was in position for a win," he said." I ran hard and got wrecked. I had a top-three car and should have finished in the top-three. So, I was going for the win. Just ended up on the hook today. Just disappointed."
And what looked to be a dream night for a couple of drivers turned into nothing more than another nightmare.