Nothing like a little controversy to spice up a race, and Kyle Busch’s fourth consecutive victory at Richmond had its share. The one that stands out to me is how the race ended. A caution came out for a hazard on the track with 13 laps remaining- the hazard apparently being a water bottle.

At the time Tony Stewart was leading and he lead down pit road, but Busch beat him back on the track and hung on for the last laps for the victory. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also passed Stewart, this time on the track, to finish second and pushing Stewart to third. The other top placers were Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne,

The other issue from the race revolved around Carl Edwards, and his spotter. Apparently on the restart after a caution that occurred when Jeff Burton hit a wall with 81 laps remaining, Edwards lined up next to Stewart and was told by his spotter that he was the leader. The flag dropped and off he went, and down came a black flag. At first told that he had jumped the start and passing the leader it was later ruled that it he left too early as he was not the leader. He managed to finish 10th.

It should be mentioned that the victory snapped a 22 race losing streak for Busch. In other news the top of the leader board is getting pretty snug with the gap between the leader and others closing, as well as some shuffling among the top 5.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -5
3) Denny Hamlin -9
4) Matt Kenseth -10
5) Martin Truex Jr. -22

This Weekend
The Talladega Superspeedway will be the home for his weekend’s Aaron’s 499. The track is a 2.66 mile tri-oval with turns banked anywhere from 16.5 degrees to 33 degrees. It should be a very exciting race as last year the track witnessed 88 lead changes.

Broadcast
May 6, 12 pm ET on Fox

Twitter Feeds
@TalladegaSuperS- Track’s Official Feed
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

The Nationwide Series
Last weekend’s Nationwide race did not have as much controversy, but there was always the spectacle of heavily talked about rookie Travis Pastrana. The race winner, starting off a great weekend for the Busch clan, was Kurt Busch.

Busch won with a great finish as the last laps were contested by Denny Hamlin with a great deal of side by side racing that witnessed Busch winning by a nose. The fact that Hamlin was in a position to challenge was a tribute to his driving as he missed his spot on pit road and had to drive around.

Kevin Harvick looked like a winner for much of the race, leading 158 laps, but fell back late and finished third while Rickey Stenhouse Jr. and Sam Horish Jr. filling out the top five. Morgan Shepherd led 4 laps, which at 70 years of age is quite an accomplishment.

Two heavily watched drivers, Travis Pastrana and Danica Patrick finished mid-pack. Patrick started 16th but ended in 21st while Pastrana started 25th and managed to pull up to 22nd and might have done better but he was hit with a pass through penalty.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Rickey Stenhouse Jr. -2
3) Austin Dillon -23
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -53
5)Michael Annett -65

The cancellation of two practice sessions yesterday due to rain and changes to today’s practices at the track has lead to an already set lineup for tomorrows Aaron 312 race. In order the top 5 are Sadler, Stenhouse Jr., Harvick, Joey Logano and Dillon.

Broadcast
3 pm ET on ABC