Never know until the last lap

I was tired Saturday night so I couldn't stay up to watch the last 55 laps of the Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond. I was at my brother's house in Atlanta where we were able to watch both the Atlanta Braves and the race at the same time. He has a picture in picture television. That's where you can see one event while keeping an eye on the other.
Once the Braves went off, we were able to switch the sound back to the NASCAR race. We would switch during commercial or if there were any wrecks.
Well it seemed like Denny Hamlin had such a control on things that I figured I would get up Sunday morning and see that either he or one of his other Joe Gibbs' Racing teammates had won the race.
Instead, my wife informed me that Clint Bowyer won. I was a little surprised in that Bowyer wasn't contending for the lead when I last saw the race. I wasn't surprised in another way because Bowyer does drive for one of the top teams (Richard Childress) in NASCAR.
All I had to do was wait to see the replay on ESPN. That's when I found out how close Dale Earnhardt Jr. was to winning his first race since the 2006 spring race at Richmond. One Hamlin cut a tire and was out of the race, it came down to Earnhardt and Kyle Busch to fight it out to see who would win.
We all know Earnhardt wants to win again and Busch has been one of the hottest drivers this season. Ironically, Earnhardt is one of the reasons Busch is in a JGR Toyota this year. While Busch has won some races in the Craftsman Truck Series, some races in the Nationwide Series and two in the Sprint Cup series, the only thing Earnhardt has won was a non-points race in the Bud Shootout.
He came close at Richmond last Saturday. But close isn't good enough. The way I saw it, Earnhardt came down and Busch met him, spinning the No. 88 out of the lead. When that happen, Bowyer went around to take the lead. I believe it was one of those accidents that happens at short tracks.
Bowyer, who now has two NASCAR career victories, is proving that his run at the Cup last year was not a fluke.
The series will begin getting ready to go to Darlington Raceway this week. Once again, the race will be on Saturday so that the drivers can go home and celebrate Mother's Day with their mom's.