Everything changed... and then again

            RICHMOND, Va. - If the Dan Lowry 400 had been a movie, the title would've been "Oh, No."

            Here's a facet of a stock-car race that no one should ever forget. Anything can happen. Several times.

            Until the very end, Denny Hamlin, hometown hero, dominated as no one ever has at the .75-mile track in the Virginia state capital. He couldn't have been beaten by a relay team of all-time greats. He could be beaten, however, by a flat tire.

            Almost immediately, as the clock closed to within an hour of midnight, Hamlin was forgotten. The driver who had inherited the lead was the sport's most popular, and where else but in NASCAR could the most beloved driver be one who hadn't won in two years?

            A crowd grown drowsy from the native son's dominance perked up immediately with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s assumption of the lead. Joy proved momentary. Earnhardt and Kyle Busch both went for the same space in turn three. The cars screeched as they brushed. Earnhardt's car skidded into the wall. Busch corrected and continued on, no longer in the lead.

            Clint Bowyer won.

            A race in which, for more than three hours, one driver had mattered, turned into a conundrum won by neither bad guy nor good. A documentary became a whodunit. A melodrama became a thriller. The guy who won the Oscar had supposedly been playing only a cameo role.

            All told, everyone took it remarkably well. As best we know, Kyle Busch made it out of town with neither tar nor feathers.

"It's just a product of good, hard racing getting into turn three," said Busch. "I apologize to those guys that the whole incident happened. I didn't mean to do it on purpose."

            If it had been a crime movie, the investigating detective might have arched his eyebrows and said, "A likely story."

            Hamlin, who had led all but one lap until Earnhardt and Busch had both roared by at the same time, said, "You can't whine about it. It wasn't meant to be. God didn't want me to win today, and there's a better time for us to win, evidently."

            With apologies for further speculation on the mood of the Almighty, God probably didn't want anything to do with it. God is wise. He likely had more to do than punch holes in Goodyear rubber from on high.

            So there, in victory lane, was Bowyer. Just happy to be there.

"I thought we were a top-10 car," he said, "and then we became kind of a top-five car.

"You know, the fastest car does not always win, and that was the case."

            You can reach Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.