RICHMOND, Va. — After winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Friday night, Denny Hamlin had high hopes of making it a hometown double.
Unfortunately, that didn’t come to pass.
On top of losing the race and finishing 24th, Hamlin was hit with a two-lap penalty for “intentionally bringing out the caution.”
“It was just a kick in the face after a bad deal anyway,” Hamlin said afterward. “It is what it is.  What’s the difference? We didn’t win. It’s 25th or 10th — where- ever we would have been — or 15th one lap down, it doesn’t matter at this point.”
Hamlin was ecstatic on Friday and equally bummed on Saturday.
“We know we’re capable of winning,” he said. “We’ve been capable of winning the last six races we’ve been in. It’s just you have to have things go your way. We had things go our way last night — maybe we shouldn’t have won. And this one we should have won and didn’t. So, it balances itself in the end. 
“Of course, I would have loved to win this one instead of last night. You figure your luck comes in swings at times. I felt like I had some good fortune at Martinsville, good fortune here last night, but I’m trying to justify why we had 10 races we’ve had bad luck. Eventually, hopefully, it’s going to turn around one day. Once it does, we’re going to start ringing off a bunch of wins.” 
Winning at home means a lot to Hamlin.
“It means more here, for sure,” Hamlin said. “I would have the same reaction at another race track, maybe not as much as what I feel right now. It’s still just another win that slipped away from us. I’ve never led that many laps in one race before. Mike (Ford, crew chief) gave me an excellent car. We should have won it. He deserves it. The team deserves it. We just came up short.”

• Kyle Busch was a perfect two-for-two at Richmond. In two races, he was involved in two post-race altercations.
“Last year, we got wrecked twice by the 8 car [Dale Earnhardt, Jr.] in The Chase, and I feel like those were the situations that took us out of the running for the championship,” Busch said of Saturday’s deal. “That had nothing to do with tonight.
“The fact that he [Hendrick crewman Rick Pigeon] came down and confronted me, saying ‘why did you do that,’ thinking I did it deliberately, was beyond insane.”

• A broadcast report early in the weekend stated that Bobby Labonte either has signed or will sign an extension to remain with Petty Enterprises. The 2000 series champion was rumored to be following sponsor General Mills to the fourth Richard Childress Racing car for next season.
Petty is still seeking to replace General Mills as sponsor, and with Labonte, that task will be much easier. But Labonte said that he had not signed the “lifetime” contract the Pettys offered as of yet and that nothing has been set in stone.

• The Last American Hero meets the Last American Promoter?
Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage offered Dale Earnhardt, Jr. a cool $100,000 to race in the Indy Car Series’ Bombardier Lear Jet 550k event at his 1.5-mile oval June 7. Gossage said he’d pay Junior in cash or as a donation to his favorite charity.
Will he do it?
“He thinks I’m a cheap date, I guess,” Earnhardt cracked Friday. “I wouldn’t be able to do it, my conscience wouldn’t let me. If they offered me more money, my conscience wouldn’t let me feel comfortable with doing it. I know his intentions are good and we had that discussion with the billboard thing and I totally understand what his approach is to advertising now. If I had the opportunity, if I was there testing my car and somebody had their car there, I’d like to jump in it and run a couple of laps, but that would be the extent of the adventure.”

• During the Nationwide Series aftermath, Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace were standing eight feet apart on pit road saying unkind things about each other over the public-address system.
After Busch made his comments (see Nationwide story, page 26), Wallace said, “I wish he’d be a man about it and come over here and say that to my face.”
Kevin Harvick, known to have flown off the handle a time or two, listened to the exchange and chuckled. “We’ve got boys calling each other boys,” he said. “I’m just glad it’s not me.”
For the record, Busch is 23, Wallace is 20 and David Ragan, who also had words for Wallace after the race, is 22.

• Busch got off a good line in the post-race press conference. Asked if he would try to talk to Wallace during the week, Busch said, “Probably not. Since he’s Rusty Wallace’s kid, I don’t think he’s going to listen very much.”

• Ken Schrader couldn’t recapture the magic from one week earlier at Talladega, and as a result, the No. 40 Dodge missed the race. So too did the fourth RCR car driven by Scott Wimmer, John Andretti’s machine and the No. 21 Air Force Ford driven by Jon Wood.
The Wood Brothers missing a race at Richmond? Say it ain’t so.