Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hanson 400

Hello Angels,

Saturday night’s Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hanson 400 race at Richmond International Raceway was a pivotal race for many drivers – specifically one driver; Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin, who was a contender to win the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, was expected by Joe Gibbs Racing to repeat that type of performance season – reality being after seven races to be mired down in 20th place and nearly 100 points out of first place after an abysmal start to the season with at least two engine failures, a couple of crashes and bad set-ups on the car. Obviously Hamlin needed a good run at his favorite (and home) track on the Sprint Cup circuit. Luckily for Hamlin, he had two practice runs, if you will, at the track this weekend winning the Denny Hamlin charity race on Thursday night and the repeating the win for the Nationwide Series on Friday night. Going for the trifecta, Hamlin fell just short of winning Saturday night when his Joe Gibbs teammate, Kyle Busch, earned his second win of the season. All is not lost though on Hamlin as the race was a huge confidence booster for the driver and going into next week’s night race at Darlington, he brings with him momentum from a strong, second-place finish this week.

The race was pivotal for many other drivers as well. Jeff Gordon had a strong car Saturday night and was poised to challenge the JGR duo of drivers at the front late in the race, until he was spun when Matt Kenseth caught the driver’s side rear quarter panel sending the four-time Cup champion spinning in front of the field. A huge pile-up ensued with Gordon taking the brunt of the crash when his car went spinning hard into the inside concrete retaining wall. Gordon’s was the only car eliminated from competition, but drivers’ cars like Paul Menard, Mark Martin, David Reutimann and Clint Bowyer were all affected after many of them received damage in the melee.

Saturday night short-track racing is known for tempers flaring and with the exception of Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya, that was not the case. Unfortunately for Newman, who got into Montoya twice early in the race, during what I would term, racing incidents, Montoya didn’t see it that way and while at least two-laps down, purposely spun Newman, who was running in the top-10 at the time, causing him to get hit by another car and receiving heavy rear-end damage. Both drivers were warned by NASCAR officials to behave themselves.

With the win Saturday night, Busch becomes the second driver this season to win multiple times and in doing so, earned his third spring race win in a row at Richmond International Raceway. He also led 235 of 400 laps and now has led 719 laps in 2011 – more than twice that of any other driver this season.

Besides Busch and Hamlin, Kasey Kahne finished third, David Ragan finished fourth and Carl Edwards finished fifth to round out the top-five. This is Kahne’s highest finish since becoming a driver for Red Bull Racing and Ragan’s highest career Sprint Cup finish.

In all, there were only nine cars left on the lead lap with Bowyer finishing sixth, A.J. Allmendinger finishing seventh, Jimmie Johnson eighth and Tony Stewart finishing ninth. Brian Vickers finished one-lap down in 10th.

So, Angels, how did your drivers do in Saturday night’s race?

For Alex, they couldn’t have done any better in terms of against the other Angels as their 8 even average finish earned you this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL AWARD. Kahne and Ragan finished third and fourth respectively for you as Johnson somehow managed an eighth place finish after being down a lap for most of the race. Joey Logano, who was sent spinning mid-way through the race by Johnson, recovered for an 11th place finish. Martin received significant damage when he got caught up in the big crash of the night, but was able to continue for a 14th place finish. Congratulations on your TAA this week!

On the flip side of the charts are my drivers who combined to earn me this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD with their 26 even average finish. The only driver on my team to earn a top-10 finish is Johnson and his eighth place finish. Other than that, Kurt Busch was a wrecking machine for the second-race in-a-row, crashing at least two times. He finished 22nd, two laps down. Bobby Labonte received damage early on from Johnson and finished two laps down in 24th. Paul Menard continued to race after he was caught up in the big crash, but he was only able to garner a 37th place finish after repairs were made. Gordon crashed out of the race and finished 39th.

Gibbons, you earned this week’s RUNNER-UP ANGEL AWARD when your drivers combined to earn you an 11.4 average finish. Ragan, Bowyer and Johnson finished in the top-10 with their fourth, sixth and eighth place finishes respectively. Regan Smith started in the top-10, but finished 17th, one-lap down. Kurt Busch finished 22nd.

Evelyn, picking Hamlin for your team this week was a gamble considering how horribly he was running going into Saturday’s race. The gamble paid off as Hamlin led 37 laps and finished solidly in second. Bowyer finished sixth, while Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished 14th and 19th respectively. Earnhardt snuck up into the top-10 late in the race because of pit strategy, but with three or four laps remaining had to pit for fuel. Marcos Ambrose rounds out your team with his 23rd place finish. Your drivers’ average finish is 12.8.

Mr. Munday, Ragan was your top driver with his fourth place finish Saturday night. Johnson was an unlikely eighth-place driver, while Logano just missed the top-10 with an 11th place finish. Martin finished 14th, while Gordon crashed out to a 39th place finish. Your drivers’ average finish is 15.2.

Kelly, you played it safe this week by not having Hamlin on your team and unfortunately you lost that gamble. Your top driver of the team is Bowyer and his sixth place finish. Martin and Earnhardt finished 14th and 19th respectively, both one-lap down, while Newman finished 20th after his run-ins with Montoya. Kurt Busch rounds out your team with his 22nd place finish. Your average finish of 16.2 is still good enough this week to earn you the No. 5 Angel’s spot though!

Vivian and CorWin, you are the only Angels’ to tie average finishes this week with your 17 even average finishes for the No. 6 Angels’ spot.

CorWin, for you, Edwards was your only driver to finish inside the top-10 with his fifth place finish. Kevin Harvick lost the handling on this car late in the race and finished 12th, one-lap down. Martin finished 14th, while Smith finished three-spots behind in 17th place. Menard rounds out your team with his 37th place finish.

Vivian, you didn’t have any drivers finish in the top-10 and only one driver – Harvick – finish in the top-15. Harvick finished 12th. Jeff Burton had an up and down race, mostly down where he finished – 16th; one-lap down. Jamie McMurray, Earnhardt and Newman round out your team with their 18th, 19th and 20th place finishes respectively.

Candy Man, you only had one driver finish in the top-10 – Edwards; and his fifth place finish. Martin finished 14th, Greg Biffle finished 15th and Burton finished 16th. Brad Keselowski is flat-out off this season as he had another abysmal race with his 36th place finish spinning mid-way through the race after contact with another car. He cut his two rear tires down in the process and caused heavy damage to the rear-end of the car. Your average finish this week is 17.2.

Kris, while you had three drivers finish in the top-10, it is Gordon and Keselowski and their 39th and 36th place finishes respectively who brought your average finish down to earn you an average finish of 18.4. It’s a good thing you had Kyle Busch win the race or your average finish would’ve been much worse. That said, Allmendinger finished seventh, while Stewart rounds out your team with his ninth place finish.

Mr. X, you had two drivers – Edwards and Johnson – finish in the top-10. Edwards finished fifth, while Johnson stole his eighth place finish, in my opinion, with pit strategy and just plain dumb luck, as his car was just junk most of the race. Earnhardt lost his chance at a top-10 finish when he had to pit for fuel with two or three laps left in the race. He finished 19th. David Gilliland finished 25th as Keselowski rounds out your team with his 36th place finish. Your average finish is 18.6.

Madison, David Ragan was the only driver on your team with a top-10 finish. He finished fourth to earn his best career finish so far. Harvick finished one-lap down in 12th, while Earnhardt earned a 19th place finish after having to pit late in the race for fuel. Montoya finished several laps down in 29th place after his three run-ins with Newman. Menard rounds out your team with his 37th place finish. Your average finish is 20.2.

Pete, for you, Bowyer is your only driver to finish inside the top-10. He finished sixth. Martin finished 14th after his crash, while Smith finished three spots behind him in 17th place. Montoya finished 29th, while Gordon rounds out your team with his 39th place finish. Your average finish is 21 even.

Julie, you had two drivers – Edwards and Stewart – finish inside the top-10. Edwards finished fifth, while Stewart finished ninth. Earnhardt finished 19th, while Keselowski and Menard both had heavy damage to their cars after two separate crashes ensued. Keselowski finished 36th, while Menard finished 37th. Your average finish is 21.4.

All combined, our combined teams’ average finish this week is 17.16.

Next week’s race is another Saturday Night special with the Showtime Southern 500 race at Darlington Raceway.

Don’t forget to check the ESPN Stock Car Challenge website to see where you stack up against the other Angels after the Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hanson 400 race at Richmond International Raceway.

Good luck next week Angels,

Charlie