The one guarantee when any form of auto racing visits a short track is that there will be some beating on bumpers and banging of sheet metal. It is what is expected when you have fast vehicles competing on a short course. For the second straight week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series got to have this sort of racing as they made their way to the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. This 0.526-mile race track is one of the original tracks on the NASCAR circuit since it’s inception in 1948. On this day, 43 drivers were set to do battle for victory.
Unfortunately for all the drivers, the first battle of the weekend was just trying to get onto the race track. Rain on both Friday and Saturday pelted the speedway preventing teams to get much practice. Qualifying was cancelled, which put points-leader Jeff Gordon on the pole and Kurt Busch on his outside. Due to activities at the track being cancelled on Saturday, including postponing the Camping World Truck Series event, NASCAR officials told drivers that a competition caution would be thrown on lap 40 for teams to check tires and make changes.
Skies on Sunday were partly sunny, but rain was no where near the race track, which was a perfect setting for NASCAR’s finest to do battle. Gordon immediately got the lead from the green flag, and was looking very good in the early going of the race. The caution came out early on lap 21 as Michael Waltrip spun out and barely touched the outside wall. Following the restart on lap 27, Gordon once again pulled away from the field until the competition yellow flew 20 laps later.
This would be the first real opportunity to have the crews work on the cars as no lead cars elected to come to pit road during the first caution. Gordon won the race out of the pits, however both Scott Speed and Robby Gordon decided to stay out having pitted on the lap 21 caution. The green flag flew on lap 48 with Speed in the lead, but in less than ten laps Gordon ran him down and retook the top spot.
Gordon continued to lead until the yellow flag flew again on lap 70 as both Speed and Kyle Busch spun in turn 3. Busch took the blame for the incident as he tried to pass and lost the rear of the car. A few cars elected to pit, but the loser on pit road was Matt Kenseth as a tire got loose from his pit. The penalty for this violation is going to the rear of the field for the restart.
The green flag came back out on lap 76 with Gordon leading, however Kenseth had not served the penalty, so NASCAR then issued a “pass through” penalty, but the crew continued to argue with the officials claiming it didn’t get loose. Finally, on lap 79, NASCAR issued the black flag and Kenseth finally yielded to pit road.
The fourth caution flag of the afternoon came out on lap 91 as Robby Gordon spun his car out following a flat tire. Gordon continued to lead through this caution flag, and at this point had led 97 of the first 100 laps of the race. He went on to lead up through lap 140 as the race was slowed yet again by the yellow flag as Robby Gordon once again got a flat tire but this time had contact with David Ragan, sending Ragan into the wall with slight damage. Jeff Gordon gave up the lead during pit stops, but took the point once again on lap 144 for the restart.
Gordon’s first challenge of the afternoon came about this time as Virginia-native Denny Hamlin ran down the 24 car and officially took the lead on lap 156 in his FedEx Freight Toyota Camry. Hamlin, who won this race last year over Gordon, would soon be the driver that everyone was chasing. Hamlin would go on to lead the following 190 laps, including those during the race’s sixth caution flag for flat tires on both Speed and Eric Almirola’s cars. It wouldn’t be until lap 346 that Gordon caught up to Hamlin to take the lead, but one lap later Hamlin took the lead back after some bumping between the drivers.
Debris on the race track slowed the field on lap 352. Pit stops shook things up a little bit, but both Hamlin and Gordon stayed near the front of the field along with Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. The caution flag flew again as Robby Gordon spun his car again, his third of the day, on lap 367. It still seemed as though Hamlin would be the driver that everyone would have to beat on this day as he now had led over 250 laps of the event.
The ninth caution of the day came out after Jeremy Mayfield smacked the turn 4 wall and could not get the car back to pit road. On this round of pit stops, it was the defending Sprint Cup champion Johnson who won the race off pit road. He had been struggling with the car all race but now felt very happy with the car after the crew made many changes.
Johnson would lead through the race’s eighth caution flag, but on the ensuing restart Hamlin made a gutsy move below Johnson at the line and getting by him in turn 2. Hamlin held the lead through the race’s final two caution flags, holding the position for the final restart on lap 478.
However, Johnson was determined to run down the home-state favorite and quickly closed in. On lap 484, heading into the third turn, Johnson dove underneath Hamlin, putting his left-side tires on the berm of the race track, which pushed both he and Hamlin up the race track. Johnson held on and assumed the lead. Stewart almost got past Hamlin in the fourth turn, but Hamlin kept the position. Hamlin tried to catch Johnson, but on this day it was not to be. After 500 laps, Johnson took the checkered flag, his first of the season and the 41st of his career.
This win was symbolic as it was on this weekend that Rick Hendrick, his car owner celebrating his organization’s 25th anniversary, that he got his first win as a team owner. Geoff Bodine, the driver who got that first win, was in attendance for the race. It was as if it all came full circle on this weekend.
Next weekend, the series will be making a trip down south to Texas. This is a track that has been dominated by Roush Racing since the series began racing there in 1997. Any of the Roush drivers can take a victory at this track, but keep your eyes closely on Carl Edwards. He swept both races last year and runs very well at 1.5-mile tracks. Another driver to watch out for will be Jeff Burton. He won the first race at the track and was the first repeat winner. Look for the Caterpillar Chevrolet to be a contender.
My dark horse for this race is Mark Martin. Yes, Mark is a former winner at this track as a member of Roush Racing, but having run a partial schedule the last couple seasons he hasn’t seen as much track time. Now that he is back to a full-time schedule, he seems to be having more fun than he has in a while. He’s confident in the car, his team, and especially himself. The Kellogg’s/Car Quest Chevrolet may surprise a lot of people if he does well next Sunday.
FOX’s coverage of the Samsung 500 from the Texas Motor Speedway will start at 1:30 p.m.
TOP 10: 1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Tony Stewart, 4. Jeff Gordon, 5. Clint Bowyer, 6. Ryan Newman, 7. Mark Martin, 8. Dale Earnhardt Jr, 9. A.J. Allmendinger, 10. Jamie McMurray
NOTABLE FINISHES: 11. Kevin Harvick, 15. Jeff Burton, 18. Kurt Busch, 19. Kasey Kahne, 23. Matt Kenseth, 24. Kyle Busch, 26. Carl Edwards
CAUTIONS: Laps 21-26 (6), 41-47 (7), 70-75 (6), 91-96 (6), 139-143 (5), 254-264 (11), 352-358 (7), 367-371 (5), 428-433 (6), 447-455 (9), 467-471 (5), 473-477 (5). 12 cautions for 78 laps
LEADERS: Gordon 1-43, Blaney 44, Speed 45-56, Gordon 57-140, Mayfield 141, Gordon 142-155, Hamlin 156-345, Gordon 346, Hamlin 347-354, Labonte 355, Hamlin 356-429, Johnson 430-456, Hamlin 457-483, Johnson 484-500. 13 lead changes among 6 drivers
POINTS (Position change from last week): 1-Jeff Gordon, 959 points (no change); 2-Clint Bowyer, -89 (up 1); 3-Kurt Busch, -132 (down 1); 4. Jimmie Johnson, -142 (up 5); 5-Denny Hamlin, -148 (up 3); 6-Kyle Busch, -159 (down 2); 7-Tony Stewart, -161 (no change); 8-Carl Edwards, -209 (down 3), 9-Kasey Kahne, -213 (down 3); 10-Kevin Harvick, -245 (up 2); 11-David Reutimann, -249 (no change); 12-Matt Kenseth, -255 (down 2)