Kyle Busch marks his birthday with a Richmond sweep

RICHMOND

Kyle Busch did what teammate Denny Hamlin couldn’t Saturday. Busch won.

A night after Busch won the Nationwide race at Richmond International Raceway, he captured Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race. And he did it on his 24th birthday.

Tony Stewart placed second. Jeff Burton, who spun after contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. just past halfway in the 400-lap race, recovered to finish third. Stewart’s teammate Ryan Newman was fourth. Mark Martin also overcame a spin to finish fifth.

Sam Hornish Jr., Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and Juan Pablo Montoya finished sixth through 10th.

As Busch celebrated his third Cup victory of the season with a smoky burnout, Hamlin had to wonder when he’ll win a Cup race at his home track. After leading a race-high 148 laps, Hamlin finished 14th.

A year ago, Hamlin led 381 of the first 382 laps before a flat tire just a few miles from the finish ruined his race.

Saturday night, lug-nut problems doomed the Chesterfield native, preventing him from winning at his home track yet again.

Lug nuts falling off have been common on pit road this year as a new requirement by NASCAR has caused problems for teams. Essentially, a longer stud is stretching the glue that holds the lug nut. In some cases, the glue snaps and the lug nut falls off or does not sit on the stud squarely.

Hamlin led when he entered the pits on lap 274 before trouble struck. One lug nut fell off and another had to be adjusted by the tire changer on the stop. Hamlin exited eighth.

He climbed to sixth before a caution on lap 307 when Marcos Ambrose spun into the turn 2 wall. Hamlin’s crew changed only two tires, getting him out first among those who pit. But that put him only seventh on the track – behind six others that didn’t pit, including Gordon, who took the lead then.

Several cautions the rest of the way – the race featured a record-tying 15 cautions – kept Hamlin from having a true chance of moving through the field to the front.

Gordon said he needed a good race to regain the momentum from his victory last month at Texas.

He got it, using a gamble by crew chief Steve Letarte, who kept Gordon out after Ambrose’s accident.

But there weren’t enough cautions to keep Gordon out front even with a pep talk from Letarte.

Gordon led when a multi-car crash brought out a caution. As Gordon circled the track 72 laps from the finish, Letarte and Gordon discussed strategy.

“Just felt really slow but you know better than I do,’’ Gordon radioed Letarte.

“Those are the fastest laps we’ve run all night by three tenths (of a second),’’ Letarte responded. “They get clean air, they’re probably going to have their way with us. That’s OK. It ain’t going to happen.’’

Moments later, Letarte gave Gordon more of a pep talk.

“We’re going to have a lot of this right here. Lot of wrecking, lot of oil, lot of this. It’s 72 to go. Ain’t going to be 35 green out of that, maybe 40.

“You just keep doing what you’re doing. Understand our goal is the best finish. If the 99 gets to us or somebody gets to us, that’s what it is. We know we have to have a better car. All we can do is what the car can give us. We’ve just got to want it, want it as bad as we can but it can’t take more. Physics are physics.’’

Physics or something else, Busch was better. He took the lead on lap 352 of the 400-lap race. Busch was not challenged after that. Busch had such a comfortable lead late that he discussed NASCAR’s restart rule with his spotter.

Others didn’t fare as well.

Jimmie Johnson, who had won three of the last four Richmond races, battled brake issues, had a speeding penalty on pit road, spun and was involved in a crash. He never was a factor and finished 36th.

Earnhardt Jr. bounced throughout the standings as he struggled with an ill-handling car.

A week ago, one of the first things he said after climbing out of his car after his second-place finish at Talladega was how much he was looking forward to Richmond. He typically runs well at this track but struggled all night, placing 27th.

Pole-sitter Brian Vickers, whose team has struggled in short track races, fell backward shortly after the start, eventually lost a lap and finished 15th

Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears ran their first race with their new crews. They swapped crews this week. Harvick was involved in a crash and finished 34th. Mears was ninth.