April 22, 2007 – Erik Jones came back from an early race penalty to win the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jones outraced Ryan Blaney in a race to the checkered flag after a late restart to score his second straight series win after his Texas triumph two weeks prior. He was the first driver to score a repeat win that season and Jones made it two straight spring race wins at Bristol.
April 22, 2012 – Denny Hamlin held off Martin Truex Jr. to win the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway for his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. Hamlin passed Truex Jr. on Lap 237 and held off a furious charge by the Michael Waltrip Racing driver in the closing laps to score his second victory of the season. It was the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s 19th career Cup Series victory and his first at Kansas. The victory was also the 199th in Cup Series history for the No. 11, breaking a tie for most all-time wins with the No. 43.
April 22, 2011 – Kyle Busch got around Ron Hornaday Jr. with two laps to go and went on to win the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Bully Hill Vineyards 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Busch had dominated most of the race around the 1.33-mile concrete oval but had to get by four-time series champion Hornaday after the night’s final restart to claim his 26th career series win in 89 starts.
April 22, 2006 – Kevin Harvick took advantage of several front-runners fuel problems late in the race to win the NASCAR Cup Series Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The victory gave Harvick a sweep of the weekend’s racing at Phoenix after his victory the night before in the Xfinity (Busch) Series Basha’s Supermarkets 200. Harvick’s triumph ended a 39 race NASCAR Cup drought, dating back to his win at Bristol in March of 2005. Fittingly, Harvick swept both the Xfinity and Cup races that weekend as well. Greg Biffle dominated the race only to come up short at the end. Biffle needed to conserve fuel during the last green flag run and watched Harvick race by for the lead with 10 laps to go. Eight laps later, Biffle’s Ford completely ran out of fuel two laps from the finish dooming him to a 16th-place finish.
April 22, 2005 – Greg Biffle brought out the first caution of the race with a spin but rallied back to win the NASCAR Xfinity (Busch) Series Basha’s Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix Raceway. After the early race altercation, Biffle worked his way back into contention during the caution-plagued event which saw 14 caution flags for 67 laps. The race was also red flagged twice to clean up debris on the track. Biffle easily drove to his 17th career series win.
April 22, 2001 – Bobby Hamilton took the lead from Tony Stewart as they came to the final lap and went on score his first victory in over three years in a caution-free Talladega 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It was the first career victory for Hamilton’s team owner Andy Petree, with the duo going to Victory Lane in only their ninth race together. It was the fourth and final career win for Hamilton, and his first at the 2.66-mile track.
April 22, 2000 – Andy Houston got by Dennis Setzer on the final lap to win the Line-X 225 at Portland International Raceway. The final lap was the only Houston led all day. It marked his second (of three) career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series win.
April 22, 1990 – Brett Bodine captured his only NASCAR Cup Series win in the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway with some controversy. Driving the No. 26 Buick for Kenny Bernstein, Bodine led 146 laps and held off Darrell Waltrip for the victory. During the race after green flag pit stops, a caution was brought out and the pace car picked up Dale Earnhardt as the leader but after 18 laps of caution Bodine was determined the leader. Waltrip protested the win but it was denied.
Other winners on this date: 1979 – Richard Petty (Martinsville Speedway); 1962 – Richard Petty (Martinsville Speedway); 1961 – Junior Johnson (Hickory Speedway); 1956 – Buck Baker (Langhorne Speedway); 1956 – Bob Welborn (Hickory Speedway); 1951 – Marshall Teague (Arizona State Fairgrounds)
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