by Darrell Waltrip

With the research and development Hendrick Motorsports has done, they are way ahead of the curve on the Car of Tomorrow, winning all four COT races so far.

Rick Hendrick is a visionary in a lot of ways. He was one of the first guys to make multi-car teams work because he has a theory. You don't go out and get sponsors and cars. You get the people first, and then you build around the people. That's the way he's built his car dealerships and everything else. He's a people person.

With six Cup championships and over 200 wins in the Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, Hendrick makes it look so easy. You want to go out and do it yourself. I did it. Ricky Rudd did it. Ray Evernham has done it. And it's not really easy.

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Battle between teammates

The race followed the pattern for Richmond races. It started and ended with a lot of cautions, but in the middle section, we ran green for 127 laps. As Mike Joy noted, that was the longest stretch of green-flag racing this season. The drivers were up on the wheel when it starts, and they got really anxious close to the end. I don't know any driver that can step it up that extra little bit right at the end of a race like Jimmie Johnson.

During the last several restarts, the No. 48 didn't get off to the greatest of starts. Kyle Busch pinned him down. Johnson liked to let the car go all the way out to wall on the corner exit, but he couldn't do it with the No. 5 out there. Eventually, they ran side-by-side and pulled away.

On the final restart, Johnson wanted the lead and made it happen on the bottom, where he ran so well. Busch didn't get quite the restart he had gotten the last couple of times. He fought back on the outside, but he couldn't hold off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Busch tried the outside. It didn't work so he looked underneath to see if he could make something happen.

Johnson's spotter, Stevie Reeves, said, "You look good. (Busch) is starting to overdrive the corner, trying to keep up with you." Somebody needed to tell Busch to slow down to go fast. We saw him do it at Bristol, but he was able to get away with it for the win.

Top 10 rundown

2) Kyle Busch Running out of time in the end, it was amazing he didn't drive the right rear off of his car. He came off the corner sideways with his tires smoking every lap. Johnson was just sitting there out front, watching his teammate in the mirror.

3) Denny Hamlin: When the last caution came out, Krista Voda reported that Hamlin said he was better than the No. 24 car. Hamlin was only better by fractions of a second. It was hard to pass Gordon without getting into him, but Hamlin was able to do it. Once you get alongside another driver, you've got eight tires, which helped him complete the pass.

4) Jeff Gordon: Struggling through finishes of 30th or worse in his last four races at Richmond — where he has six DNF's — Gordon had a really good finish. So smooth behind the wheel, his car couldn't have been handling well, but you really couldn't tell it. His crew chief, Steve Letarte, swept floors at Hendrick Motorsports when he started work there. It's like one of the stories that you used to hear back in the old days. Before winning 84 races, Cale Yarborough swept floors at Holman-Moody. People used to work in shops, just hoping to get a chance.

5) Kurt Busch and 6) Ryan Newman: For the second week in a row, the Penske Racing cars finished in the top 10. After being affected by the first caution of the day, Busch got the free pass under the competition caution, came back to lead the race and settled into a top-five finish. It was a great run for both Busch and Newman.

7) Kevin Harvick: Battling back for a 7th-place finish after colliding with David Ragan on pit road was pretty impressive. Harvick must have been sick with what happened to his car. It was easily capable of winning the race, but it ended up damaged in the pits.

8) Tony Stewart: It could have gotten ugly at the end of the race, but the No. 20 team got to its driver before he could pay back the pushing and shoving that cost him positions. Stewart ran into the back of Newman, and it didn't hurt either car a bit. The Cars of Tomorrow don't get jacked up off the ground like the current car.

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9) Clint Bowyer: With two cars in the top 10, it was a good day for Richard Childress Racing. It was Bowyer's fourth top 10 of the season and first since Bristol in March. When in doubt, I would have pulled Jeff Burton's engine out of the third RCR car on Friday when something dropped into it. They took off the oil pan but didn't change power plants, and it blew up. Burton finishing 43rd and fell from 2nd to 5th in the standings.

10) Matt Kenseth: The former champion makes no noise early in races, but he's always there at the end. I had my watch on the No. 17 crew late in the race, and they always rise to the occasion when it counts.

Wild night ahead

These Cars of Tomorrow will be interesting at Darlington. Jeff Gordon did the tire test at the track, and he said his hands were full. Stay tuned.