What was Michael Waltrip Racing doing in those last 10 laps at Richmond?

Last night, NASCAR’s already flawed officiating took an even bigger hit with some questionable moves from Michael Waltrip Racing drivers Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers. The most reasonable answer to why they decided to go down that road would be to help their teammate Martin Truex Jr., but the facts say otherwise.

10 laps to go: Ryan Newman holds the lead over Carl Edwards. If Newman wins, he’s in the Chase. Joey Logano is in 22nd, 2 points behind Jeff Gordon. Logano wouldn't make the Chase if Newman wins. Both Brian Vickers and Clint Bowyer are ahead of Logano by more than a lap.

8 laps to go: Spin in turn 4, Clint Bowyer wrecks, caution flag comes out. Watch the in-car footage of Bowyer's wreck above. For some reason, Bowyer's in car camera cuts out before he starts wrecking.

During the caution (see graphic above): Before the restart, Joey Logano took a wave around to get one lap down, but for some reason, did not restart behind Brian Vickers. 

1 lap to go (see graphic above): White flag. As you can see all the cars driving past pit road, notice how slow Clint Bowyer is going in the pits. Now down 2 laps, he doesn't seem to be in any rush to get back on track.

1 lap to go: Brian Vickers (MWR driver) completes his final lap going 79.564 MPH (see graphic above). Race leader Carl Edwards’ speed was 123.859 MPH. David Gilliland, who was the first driver ahead of Vickers was going 113.569 MPH. Vickers finished 24th, Bowyer 25th, and Joey Logano finishes ahead of them both, in 22nd.

Post-race: According to Yahoo Sports’ Geoffrey Miller, Clint Boywer said it took 10 ft. for his right front tire to go flat. The diagram above shows you the actual distance he drove before you could hear his tire pop on the race replay.

So what's the problem here? It would seem as though Clint Bowyer intentionally wrecked his car (though he denies it adamantly), then parked his car to finish the race down 2 laps. Why?

That image above could be the reason. The November 2012 Phoenix race, where Jeff Gordon wrecked Clint Bowyer, starting a brawl between the 15 and 24 teams in the garage area. There hasn't been much on-track altercations between the two of them since that day, but Bowyer's move last night could be considered calculated revenge.

With Bowyer finishing behind Logano, the 22 car could beat Gordon. If Logano couldn't beat Gordon, it would have been a tie between the 22 and the 24, with the tie-breaker going to Gordon. But because he finished in front of Gordon, Logano's wins wouldn't count for the wild card spot, thus leaving the spot for Martin Truex Jr.

True fans of racing aren't happy with that went down last night. Bowyer's actions had a ripple effect: Ryan Newman's pit crew wasn't good last night, so he lost spots on pit road. The lead that Newman had before the caution flag waved disappeared, as did his Chase hopes.