All Kyle Busch wanted for his 24th birthday was a victory at the Richmond International Raceway. Luckily for the driver of the No. 18 Combos Toyota, Steve Addington and the Joe Gibbs Racings crew got the job done on pit road while he was able to get it done on the track.

Going to the outside of Jeff Gordon on Lap 352, Busch was able to take the lead and never looked back. Leading the final forty-nine laps, Busch went on to score his third NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the year, his third win of the weekend and became only the second driver in NASCAR history to win on his birthday.

“Man this is a phenomenal team right here. They never give up,” Busch said. “We had four bad weeks and we knew we had to get back on track somehow.

“Thank the fans for coming out tonight – It’s my birthday,” Busch said with a smile. “I know they were all supporting me on May 2nd for my birthday tonight and we pulled out a win for them.”

Busch hit pit road for the final time of the day under the eleventh caution of the evening, when Sam Hornish Jr. got into the left rear of Marcos Ambrose, spinning him into the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2. The leaders hit pit road for service on Lap 308, but a miscommunication between Jeff Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte left the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet out on the track with the lead.

Along with Gordon, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Sam Hornish Jr. and David Stremme stayed out on the track while the leaders pit. Denny Hamlin – who was strong for much of the early going – was the first car off pit road and lined up sixth on the restart with 82 laps to go, while Busch restarted eighth.

With a lot of good cars mired mid-pack and a number of lapped cars to the inside, the field stacked up as they went into Turn 1 after the restart. Tony Stewart was forced to get off the gas to avoid hitting Busch ahead of him, when he did that Mark Martin checked up and Ryan Newman made contact with the left rear of the No. 5 Chevrolet. Martin was sent spinning in Turn 2 and Martin Truex Jr. had nowhere to go but into the door of Martin.
On old tires, Gordon and the four cars behind him fought hard to keep those with fresher tires behind them. As the No. 24 battled with lapped cars on each restart, Busch was able to make his way closer to the front.

Restarting the race with fifty laps to go, Busch jumped to the outside of Carl Edwards for second and set his sights on the lead. Racing hard with Gordon for the top-spot, Busch again took to the top side and moved past Gordon exiting Turn 2 on Lap 352.

Running the final thirty-nine laps under green, Busch was able to drive away as Gordon fell back and Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton battled for the second-spot. When spotter Jeff Dickerson told Busch he was coming to the white flag lap, the birthday boy came over the radio saying, “I never thought I’d hear you say such a sweet thing.”

Taking the win, Busch earned his third Cup Series victory of the season and third of the weekend. The newly 24-year-old won Thursday night at the Southside Speedway in Denny Hamlin’s Short Track Showdown and Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Richmond. Saturday night’s win was Busch’s fiftieth career NASCAR victory and made him the driver with the most wins under the age of twenty-five.

“This is an awesome win for us,” Busch continued. “It’s really exciting to come out here tonight and not only win on my birthday but to have the team guys enjoy it as much as I do. We struggled for four weeks. It’s been a struggle for us and we didn’t finish the way we wanted to but we made it happen here tonight and I’m real proud of these guys. It was a whole team effort.”

Stewart was able to hold off Burton to take the runner-up spot, while Ryan Newman and Mark Martin raced hard to the line for the fourth-spot with Newman getting the advantage.

Next week it’s another night of action under the lights at the Darlington Raceway. Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com all week long for all the news coming out of Richmond and heading into The Lady In Black.

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