RICHMOND – MY POST-RACE ANALYSIS

The Richmond race was marked by a suspicious episode. Jeff Gordon would make the top 10 in points with an 8th position, and Ryan Newman, who was leading, would be a wild card with a win. Martin Truex Jr., who was in 7th, was falling out of contention with Newman's win. It's also worth mentioning that Joey Logano, who was 25th, 2 laps down, would lose his position in the top 10 and lose a Wild Card with Newman's win. Truex Jr. needed Logano to be in the top 10 in points and he needed Newman not to win in order to be a wild card. With 7 laps to go, Clint Bowyer, Truex Jr.'s teammate in MWR who was 16th, spun out in turn 4, bringing out the caution. The suspicion begins here.

Bowyer, two laps before spinning, was told on the radio: “39 [Newman] is going to win”, thus knocking his teammate out of the chase. Shortly after, he was asked “Is your arm starting to hurt?” This may be a code for Truex, whose arm is broken. He was also asked if it was hot inside the car, and was told to “itch it”. And then, he spins. And there's more, he actually looks to the lights to check if they turn yellow.

So, Bowyer goes to the pits without losing a lap. Then, the leaders pit.

The following picture is from pit road when the leaders pit.

We can see that race leader Paul Menard leaves pit road before Clint Bowyer does, putting the latter 1 lap down. Also, there was another MWR car 1 lap down, the 55 of Brian Vickers. After the leaders pit, we have the following situation:

On this point, Logano would have to gain two positions in order to be in the top-10 in points, knocking out Gordon. And Truex would need Newman not to win and Logano to be in the top-10. While the “Newman not winning”

condition could not be controlled by MWR, the “Logano in the top-10” condition could. And evidences point out that they did. On the next lap, Logano takes the wave around to be 1 lap down. And, 1 lap later, there's a car in the pits – only one car.

The thing is that, on lap 396 – 1 lap before the restart – Vickers was called to pit road. All cars that pitted had done it before that lap. So, Vickers was kept one lap down, along with Bowyer and Logano.

Here is the white car leaving pit road.

Because of this, on the restart, Logano lines up ahead of Vickers. And something seems strange... Clint Bowyer pits. AGAIN.

This isn't just a coincidence...

So, Bowyer pits, and that's one position Logano gains. Two laps to go, and there's Bowyer leaving the pits, two laps down...

Final lap, Vickers is ahead of Logano...

But at the start-finish line, Logano finishes 22nd, and there's NO SIGN of Brian Vickers crossing the line. Why? Because he pitted.

As Vickers isn't seen, Logano earns his position, finishes 22nd and stays in the top-10 in points, knocking Gordon out, giving Truex the second wild-card spot and knocking Newman out (because Carl Edwards

won). Even more intriguing is the post-race talk between Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. Waltrip: “You've got awesome teammates.” Truex: “Yes, I know”. And Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was behind Bowyer when he spun, said that it was the strangest spin he had ever seen. So, perhaps it wasn't just racing.