Author: Barry Albert

Tony Stewart won the Tums Fast Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway by getting past the leader, Jimmie Johnson on a late restart and leading the final 3 laps. At one point Stewart was about to go a lap down to the leader but fought him off and remained on the lead lap.  Johnson finished second and Jeff Gordon followed in third.

[media-credit name=” Ernie Masche/CIA Photo” align=”alignright” width=”232″][/media-credit]The race was slowed 18 times for caution for well over 100 laps as the Sprint Cup stars decided that they would have a “Boys Ha Have at it” race on the speedway. Gordon, who was involved in the first caution period and required multiple pit stops for repairs to damaged car, made a spectacular come  leading the race through its middle stages.  Gordon said, “That was absolutely crazy.  Great effort, they fixed the nose. I was worried about the brake duct. I beat it up, I drove it hard. The last two runs I didn’t have much for them.  Great effort by Tony Stewart, you got to give him credit I didn’t think he could get by him on the outside.”   Gordon led 114 of the 500 laps but the bonus points for the most laps led went to Kyle Busch who led 125 laps of the race early.

Stewart only led 14 laps and said in victory lane, “I don’t know, I didn’t think anyone could get by Jimmie Johnson on the outside.” He then mentioned that his car wasn’t all that great today, “ I was pretty bad all day. I think I was the only that didn’t get in a wreck with anybody today.  To be honest I wasn’t too happy to be starting second.  Not letting him run me up the race track like he did to the 31 (Jeff Burton on an earlier restart) was important too.”

Many of the chase participants saw trouble on the track. The first caution period saw Gordon with the most damage when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran into the curb sending Kurt Busch around as well the No. 88 car which saw the No 24 slam into it.

Brian Vickers was involved in no less than 4 cautions before retiring to the garage but the biggest losers of the day were clearly Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch both who were involved in separate incidents that saw them needing repairs for heavy damages.  Busch finished 27^th 7 laps down and Kenseth 31^st 13 laps down costing both championship points they may not be able to recover.

Carl Edwards remained in first in points by 8 over Tony Stewart despite the fact that he had a lug nut issue on pit road,  was lapped and the “lucky dog” twice so this “felt like a victory for me”.

The one thing that Tony Stewart did was put front runner Carl Edwards on notice, “He better be worried, he’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”

The series heads to Texas next weekend.

Brad Keselowski held off Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night to win the Sprint Cup Series Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”244″][/media-credit]“An awesome car, an awesome team! Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt won this race. It’s a race of champions. There are races that pay more, that are races that might have a little more prestige, but this is the coolest damn one of them all.” Keselowski said.

This was Keselowski’s third win of the season and now sits in the 11th position, the no. 1 wild card spot, in the series standings. His three wins should be enough to secure him a spot in the “Chase”.

Keselowski also closes out the list of qualified finalists who can earn a $3 million payout in the Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO™ 3D.   If Keselowski can also win the AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he will win $1 million for himself, $1 million for his designated charity and $1 million dollars for two lucky race fans.

Jeff Gordon finished third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Jamie McMurray finished fifth.

Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards now have clinched spots in the “Chase”.

Edwards finished ninth, but more importantly, he is in the chase.

“That was a lot of work. Lots of work for a ninth place. That is a tough race right there.” Edwards said. “We had good pit stops and good strategy and we locked into the Chase, which is huge. That’s the first mission of the season and we accomplished that and we are looking forward to Atlanta.”

Kenseth led 110 laps en route to a sixth-place finish and clinched his chase berth.

“That is great. My guys have been doing a great job this year and it feels good to clinch that spot. I wish we were running just a hair better but they did a great job.” Kenseth said.

Gordon dominated most of the race and led 206 laps but got behind during the final pit stop.  He had to battle back from the fifth spot. Gordon got back to third place but was unable to make the pass on Truex Jr. for second.

“Oh, it was an incredible battle. I know that there wasn’t much of a race up there for first when Brad (Keselowski) got out there with those four tires and got clear of us, but me and Martin and Matt Kenseth and Jimmie (Johnson); we were having a heck of a battle back there. But I’m really, really proud of this race team tonight. What an awesome race car this Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet was. I think we made some huge improvements from the last time we were here. It felt like we had the car to beat; but you know what, we just didn’t get the position that we needed to on that last pit stop.” Gordon said.

Mark Martin’s had a strong car early on, but his night went bad on lap 360. Martin got into Brian Vickers and spun into the wall. Heavy damage sent him to the pits for extended repairs. Martin finished 38th.

On lap 413, Kyle Busch tried to make it 3-wide and came out the looser. Busch and Terry Labonte get together, causing right side damage on Busch’s car. Busch also got into the outside wall. Busch finished 14th and was not a factor in the race.

Kyle Busch and Johnson are now tied for the lead in the standings by 32 over Kenseth.

Ryan Newman captured the pole for Saturday night’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway with a lap of 122.811MPH (15.624 secs).

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]This was Newman’s 48^th career pole in the Sprint Cup Series.

“I just was telling the guys, they did a good job. The car drove the same as it did in practice. When I ran in 95’ I did the exact same things but I guess I ran a little bit quicker. It’s a good run, gotta thank Bass Pro Shops, and Realtree. Hunting season is coming up so were raising more awareness about that. I don’t know if we will win the pole but it is a good team effort for us.” Newman said.

Carl Edwards qualified second, Matt Kenseth third, Jeff Gordon fourth and Mark Martin qualified fifth.

Edwards is glad to roll off second.

“At least I will be on the front row. I won’t get anything in my teeth up there on the Aflac Dental car on the first lap at least. Ryan did a good job and we did everything right today.” Edwards said.

“Not bad, but I thought it was a solid lap, we just missed the balance a little bit in the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet.  I think we still have a decent starting position which is always a good thing here in Bristol.” Gordon said.

“Car’s just feeling really good today. I am excited; this is two weeks in a row. Last weekend the car was good all weekend too. I think we will have a strong car tomorrow night. Looking forward to a good run, I am starting to feel blessed to have this ride.” Martin said.