I’m personally a huge fan of night racing. Especially short track night racing. I have got to say, they are some of the best, most exciting, and fun races of the season. Tonight’s race was stupid on a lot of accounts and yet fun to watch. There were a lot of nail biting moments and white knuckle near misses. First of all, the yellow came out inside of ten laps. Could this be blamed on the track not being totally dry? Possibly. The race did begin under caution, not something I was particularly happy with. Dave Blaney smacked the wall on lap 9 bringing out the second caution.

There were a lot of lead changes, I am not sure how many but it was enough to get annoying. Jeff Gordon led a few laps though, pulling away from the field early on. I have to admit that even though I am not a Jeff Gordon fan at all, it was nice that he led some laps in spite of his back pain. Sadly on lap 114, the caution flag came out again as Jeremy Mayfield slams into the wall. Lap 150, Kahne gets around but is otherwise unharmed.

Speaking of Kahne though, what happened to him?? In 2006 he was practically unbeatable and suddenly he has become nothing more than a field filler. When was the last time he really contended for a race win and wasn’t just another lapped car to pass?

A couple of surprising things happened tonight. Jimmie Johnson had a really really bad night. Seriously after 3 consecutive championships, you’d think the 48 time would have things figured out by now. He sits 6th in the standings but his performance has been less than consistent. At any rate, he spins out on lap 191 bringing out caution number 6. On the restart, he is two laps down and ends up being black flagged for restarting in the wrong position.

The second most surprising thing was Mark Martin’s performance tonight. On lap 312, Newman gets into Mark and spins him out, bringing out the 12th caution of the night, and yet Martin still manages to get a top 5 finish. That ought to show you there is still a lot of giddy up in the old man.

David Stremme, who’d been having a top 10 night, gets into the wall after being bumped by Bobby Labonte. That might have been the first time all evening anyone even mentioned Bobby’s name.

Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray both got spun out on lap 167 but somehow, both men manage to find their way back into the top 5. Jamie ends up with a solid 7th place finish but Edwards somehow gets shuffled back to 26th.

And how about those SHR boys? All evening, Tony Stewart had been little better than a mid-pack car, but he drove the wheels off that number 14 and landed himself his 7th top 10 and his 4th top 5 in only 10 races this season. Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman landed his second top 5 in a row and his 4th top 10 finish. Newman, who had a really rough beginning to the season with no finishes inside of the top 20 in the first four races, seems to have come into his own and is posting some solid finishes. The last two have been enough to take him from the outside looking in, to the top 12 in points. Although they are listed as unofficial, Newman currently stands at 10th and Tony Stewart picked up yet another place in points and sits in 3rd, just 39 points outside of 1st. Is 39 Tony’s lucky number?

Kyle Busch wins the race. Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Sam Hornish Jr., Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, and Juan Pablo Montoya round out the top 10 for the Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond.