2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400


The 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 is the tenth race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule for the 2008 season, and was held Saturday, May 3 at Richmond International Raceway in Henrico County, Virginia, outside the state capital of Virginia.

Summary

The race was telecast on Fox starting at 7:45 pm US EDT, with radio coverage on Sirius Satellite Radio and MRN beginning at 7:30 pm US EDT. The race is named for Columbiana, Ohio resident Dan Lowry, who was the winner of an essay contest sponsored by race sponsor Crown Royal whisky. Clint Bowyer won the race.

Pre-race news

The action came with 48 laps left. While Denny Hamlin who dominated the race, led on a fuel crisis, the caution flew for Casey Mears' crash. The crash involved Michael Waltrip in his self-owned #55 Toyota. The replays showed that Mears accidentally forced Waltrip into scraping across the wall. Then instantly afterwards Michael Waltrip pushed Mears around. These hits on Mears' rear caused him to eventually hit the wall nearly head-on. For the shove Waltrip was parked by NASCAR.
Denny Hamlin led 381 laps until a cut tire and a pit road penalty ended his day. On lap 398, Kyle Busch,
spun Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the wall, triggering an enormous amount of controversy over the matter and intense boos from the crowd, as Earnhardt was extremely popular due to his family relations with his famous father Dale Sr.. Even though it was obvious that Busch was not at fault for the accident, and that Earnhardt Jr. absolved Busch of any responsibility; the fans nonetheless began jeering at Kyle for the rest of the race.
However, Clint Bowyer surged in front of Busch before the caution flag was thrown. Bowyer was able to hold off Busch and Mark Martin to score his second career cup win, despite leading only two laps. His win was the last one when numbered 07, and his win brought Chevrolet to having the most NASCAR wins in history.