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  • NXS Recap: Erik Jones dominates at Texas for NASCAR XFINITY Series win

    NXS Recap: Erik Jones dominates at Texas for NASCAR XFINITY Series win

    By Reid Spencer
    NASCAR Wire Service

    FORT WORTH, Tex. – What a difference a pit stop made.

    Erik Jones gained two seconds over Ryan Blaney on his final trip to pit road, and that was all the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota needed for a convincing victory in Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

    In winning for the second time at Texas, the first time this season and the seventh time in his career, Jones led 112 of the 200 laps and stretched his advantage to more than three seconds in the late going before driving conservatively over the last three laps and beating Blaney to the stripe by .512 seconds.

    “I tiptoed a lot there in the segments and ended up letting the 22 (Blaney) catch us and pass us, but then I was just super aggressive the whole time in traffic just trying to make passes as quick as I could and get as many cars as I could between myself and Ryan, and it paid off,” Jones said.

    “I think we were probably a little slower than him for the last few laps – he had so many lapped cars to get around that there was no way he was going to get to us.”

    Kevin Harvick ran third, 21.383 seconds behind Jones, as only nine drivers finished on the lead lap. Austin Dillon was fourth, followed by Sunoco rookie Cole Custer, who posted a career-best fifth, and Darrell Wallace Jr., who finished sixth for the fifth consecutive race.

    With the final stage of the race going green from a restart on lap 98 to the conclusion, Blaney ran down Jones and passed him for the lead on Lap 131. Jones came to pit road for fresh tires and fuel on Lap 147, and Blaney followed a lap later.

    In the exchange of stops, Jones went from a half-second behind to 2.178 seconds ahead of the runner-up, and from that point on it was game over.

    “I thought our car was pretty good all day,” Blaney said. “The 20 seemed to be a little better than us for 35 or 40 laps. Then I feel like we could start running him down. We passed him before the last pit stop, and I thought our car was pretty decent right there. I needed to turn a little better early in a run. I knew it wasn’t going to be that long for the next stint.

    “We didn’t come out with the lead, and that hurt us. I think if we would have come out with the lead, I don’t know if I could have held him off. He was pretty good right away, but we kind of over adjusted and got too free that last run. I felt like we were kind of even with them 10 laps into a run, but then he got so far out ahead that we couldn’t run him down. Just couldn’t get there.”

    Stage racing played a decisive role in strategies employed by NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars versus Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers moonlighting in Saturday’s race. When Garrett Smithley’s spin off Turn 2 brought out the fifth caution on Lap 84, most of the Cup drivers came to pit road. The XFINITY regulars, on the other hand, stayed on the track under the yellow to collect points at the end of the second stage, which concluded on Lap 90. William Byron won the stage and the accompanying playoff point, leading nine XFINITY regulars in the top 10 in that stage.

    In contrast, Jones won the first stage, which featured only three full-time XFINITY drivers in the top 10.

    Despite finishing 10th as the first driver one lap down, Elliott Sadler retained the series lead by six points over Byron in second place.

     

    NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – My Bariatric Solutions 300
    Texas Motor Speedway
    Fort Worth, Texas
    Saturday, April 8, 2017

    1. (2) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 200.
    2. (4) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 200.
    3. (14) Kevin Harvick(i), Ford, 200.
    4. (3) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
    5. (6) Cole Custer #, Ford, 200.
    6. (8) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 200.
    7. (5) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 200.
    8. (12) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
    9. (19) Matt Tifft #, Toyota, 200.
    10. (10) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 199.
    11. (9) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199.
    12. (15) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 199.
    13. (20) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 199.
    14. (16) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 199.
    15. (13) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 199.
    16. (18) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 198.
    17. (23) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 198.
    18. (17) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 198.
    19. (24) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 198.
    20. (34) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 197.
    21. (28) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197.
    22. (27) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 197.
    23. (22) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 197.
    24. (38) David Starr, Chevrolet, 196.
    25. (29) Ray Black Jr., Chevrolet, 195.
    26. (35) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 195.
    27. (30) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 194.
    28. (33) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 194.
    29. (21) Jeb Burton, Toyota, 192.
    30. (32) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 188.
    31. (37) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 179.
    32. (7) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 172.
    33. (11) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 148.
    34. (1) Joey Logano(i), Ford, Engine, 145.
    35. (36) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Clutch, 137.
    36. (40) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Suspension, 114.
    37. (25) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, Accident, 66.
    38. (26) Casey Mears, Ford, Rear Gear, 50.
    39. (39) Carl Long, Toyota, Steering, 24.
    40. (31) Jordan Anderson(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 17.

    Average Speed of Race Winner: 131.563 mph.
    Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 16 Mins, 49 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.512 Seconds.
    Caution Flags: 6 for 31 laps.
    Lead Changes: 11 among 7 drivers.
    Lap Leaders: J. Logano(i) 1-19; E. Jones(i) 20-48; W. Byron # 49-57; D. Suarez(i) 58-59; R. Blaney(i) 60-84; W. Byron # 85-92; E. Jones(i) 93-130; R. Blaney(i) 131-148; D. Wallace Jr. 149; B. Jones 150-154; D. Suarez(i) 155; E. Jones(i) 156-200.
    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): E. Jones(i) 3 times for 112 laps; R. Blaney(i) 2 times for 43 laps; J. Logano(i) 1 time for 19 laps; W. Byron # 2 times for 17 laps; B. Jones 1 time for 5 laps; D. Suarez(i) 2 times for 3 laps; D. Wallace Jr. 1 time for 1 lap.
    Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,22,12,9,16,18,6,42,2,41
    Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,1,16,7,33,20,39,11,62,6

  • Texas Motor Speedway – Did You Know?

    Texas Motor Speedway – Did You Know?

    This weekend the Monster Energy NASCAR Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. With his victory at Martinsville, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski became the first driver to grab multiple wins this season. But did you know that Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, the two most successful active teams in NASCAR, are winless after six races?

    Texas may be the perfect track for these teams to rebound. HMS driver Jimmie Johnson has the best overall driver rating (107.1) at the 1.5-mile track but so far this year his best finish was ninth place at Phoenix. However, with a track-record six wins, history may be on his side.

    Or maybe Chase Elliott will break through and capture his first win at Texas. He had two top-fives in his 2016 rookie season and is currently in second place in the standings, only four points behind leader, Kyle Larson.

    JGR’s Kyle Busch is also hungry for a win especially after last week’s race at Martinsville where he led a race-high 274 laps only to see victory elude him. He has scored two checkered flags at Texas and is the defending race winner with 11 top fives, 12 top 10s and one pole at Texas.

    But the bigger story may be the newly repaved track surface that was completed during the offseason. Did you know that the entire track was repaved and an extensive drainage system was added on the frontstretch and backstretch? Turns 1 and 2 were also reconfigured with the banking reduced from 24 to 20 degrees and the racing surface widened from 60 to 80 feet through Turns 1 and 2.

    Some of the drivers have expressed concerns about the unpredictability of heading to Texas to compete on the new surface, especially since there will be no opportunity for pre-race testing.

    “To head into Texas with no formal tire test, no official track mapping, let ’er rip, this is new territory for our sport,” Stewart-Hass Racing’s Kurt Busch said. “I think it shows how much we’re having to adapt on the fly. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? It doesn’t matter. It’s what it is, and it’s unique the way we’re headed in there to go 215 mph with no track time.”

    JGR driver Matt Kenseth, who has the second-best driver rating of 104.7 at Texas, calls it “unprecedented,” adding, “I don’t think that we’ve ever gone to a newly paved race track without some sort of a test day, a tire test, or something along those lines.”

    There’s no doubt that this weekend will likely test the skills of even the best driver but let’s look at some statistics to set the stage.

    Did you know that four active drivers have multiple wins at Texas Motor Speedway? Johnson leads the way with six followed by JGR’s Denny Hamlin, Kenseth and Kyle Busch with two each. Roush Fenway Racing leads the Cup Series in victories with nine while Hendrick Motorsports has eight and Joe Gibbs Racing has six.

    There have been 32 MENCS races at Texas, one each year from 1997-2004 and two per season since 2005, resulting in wins by 18 different drivers. But did you know that 78.1 percent (25 of 32) have been won from a top-10 starting position? And, to narrow it down more, starting in third place has produced more wins (six) than any other starting position.

    Don’t miss the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Sunday, April 8 at 1:30 p.m. on FOX as the 2017 season continues at Texas Motor Speedway. While you’re waiting, check out the gallery below for a preview of the paint schemes we’ll see this weekend.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

    Texas paint schemes

     

  • The Final Word – Who in their right mind would enter a brand new machine at Martinsville?

    The Final Word – Who in their right mind would enter a brand new machine at Martinsville?

    Back in 1949, Martinsville was a dirt track. Fifteen cars started the 100 lap event in the opening year of what was to become the Cup series. Red Byron won it in a 1949 Oldsmobile. A brand new car. In those days, there was little modifications done in the strictly stock division. Now tell me, after seeing what became of the car of Daniel Suarez, who in their right mind would put a brand new strictly stock car in a race at Martinsville?

    Kind of makes you wonder why you would put a brand new strictly “stock” car in a 500-lap contest on what is now a paved track in 2017? At least the boys back at the shop are guaranteed work. This time out it was a Ford driven by Brad Keselowski who came up with a victory and a grandfather clock. It was his second win of the season and a 55-point bonanza for the driver who was in the Top Five in each of the first two stages before pulling away for all the marbles.

    Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott also picked up at least 50 points on the day, finishing second and third. Both contenders were strong throughout but just did not have enough to challenge over the final few laps. While remaining winless, the pair is solidly among the best of the rest, along with Joey Logano.

    Logano had an interesting day. He got tagged for his crew leaping over the pit wall too early in the first stage. In the second stage, he had to pit under green when he cut a tire. On a short track usually not that forgiving, he still brought his car home in fourth.

    Jamie McMurray had a nice running car. A top-10 car at least. He tried to extend the life of a tire that had already shuffled off this mortal coil just prior to the end of the first stage. The track said no, and after pounding the wall, his day was done after 105 laps, finishing last and earning one lousy point.

    Same fate for Kurt Busch. At least he was still out there, extending a less than promising day until he got caught up in a little mishap. Just a handful of laps later, cutting a tire and finding the wall himself on lap 295 allowed him to go visit McMurray in the garage.

    Do not speed in the pits. Just a little advice to keep one ahead of the mess, but it comes too late for Dale Earnhardt Jr. After being sent to the rear of the field, a seven car jam up on turn three pushed in his Chevy McChevy face and punctured his radiator. There was no fixing that on pit road, so he joined Jamie and Kurt at the hot dog stand. At least he earned eight big points, but still no Top Tens and remains buried in 25th place in the standings, 40 points out of a playoff spot.

    Suarez saw his jalopy reduced to modified hot rod proportions, and Denny Hamlin hit Danica Patrick in the mess that collected Junior while putting his car face first where it should not go. After that, it did not go anywhere. Both drivers finished 30th and beyond.

    Chris Buescher, who is not among our “27 relevant drivers” was on Sunday. An 11th place run was just fine for the No. 37 Bush’s Beans boys. Though he remains a couple of spots behind Junior in the rankings, he is tied with Patrick for 27th place overall. That almost makes the lad relevant. If you remember, the 24-year-old was not exactly high on our list last season, yet he made the Chase by winning at Pocono in August. We might have to keep an eye on this gent in Texas and beyond.

    Thirty-eight cars were entered at Martinsville. Forty-three once was the maximum, but that was reduced to 40 for last season. They had a full field at Daytona, just 39 in each of the four races after that, and now 38 last Sunday. The last time they had such a short field was 1996, with entry lists of 37 at one race at Bristol as well as both races at North Wilkesboro. Just 36 ran each of two runs that season at Martinsville.

    It would seem fewer folks are willing to put their brand new strictly “stock” machines on that track, or any track, these days.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Speedway

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Speedway

    Brad Keselowski won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) STP 500 on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. This was Keselowski’s first win at the speedway, his second of the 2017 season and the 23rd of his career. This was Ford’s 82nd win but it was the first win at Martinsville Speedway since Kurt Busch in 2002.

    “This is awesome,” Keselowski said. “We’ve ran so good here with the Miller Lite Ford, but something always happens and we haven’t been able to bring it home. Martinsville is just one of those champion’s tracks. The guys that run well everywhere run well here and it’s really just an honor to win here and get to compete here. This track is 70 years old and a lot of legends have won here. It feels great to be able to join them and bring home a clock.”

    Not Surprising

    Chase Elliott started second, led twice for 20 laps and he won the second stage of the 500-mile event and finished third. Elliott also won Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville.

    He was upbeat after the race saying, “I was really proud of our improvements this weekend. I hope that it wasn’t just a fluke deal and we didn’t just get lucky today and run good. I really hope that we’ve found something or I have found something at this track that will lend some more consistent finishes that are further towards the front.”

    Surprising

    Last week’s winner and series points leader Kyle Larson started on the pole and finished 17th. Despite the bad finish, Larson retains the series points lead after Martinsville by four points over Elliott.

    Larson was understandably disappointed and posted on his Twitter account that he was “glad that one’s over. Fought all day and almost ended up with a top 10. Started blowing up the last 15 laps and lost 7 or 8 spots.”

    Not Surprising

    Clint Bowyer had his second straight top-10 finish and is currently eighth in the points standings.

    Bowyer was hoping fo a better finish and said, “I thought that I would have a shot at running up front and leading laps. It just wasn’t our day. We’re learning. The guys were so tight last year when that ran with Tony (Stewart) that it freed up a lot today. I was just holding on all day. All and all it was solid. Even on an off day, it was solid, single digits.”

    Surprising

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. had one win, 13 top fives and 18 top 10s coming into Martinsville but a speeding penalty during the race put him in the back and in the heart of a multi-car accident on lap 417. Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet began smoking immediately from radiator damage.

    “I must have sped on pit road. They said it was in the segment right after our pit stall, so I must have gotten a good launch out of there. And, uh, hanging around John Force too much, or something, I don’t know. I don’t know how you speed in (that) little segment just coming out of the pit box, but we must have. It got us in the back and we got bottled-up there in (Turn) 3 and they’re ain’t no bumpers on these cars. It knocked the radiator out of it. So, we’re out of the race. We went to the garage to try to fix it, but can’t with the new rules. So, we’re done.”

    Not Surprising

    Joey Logano’s No. 22 Duralast GT Ford Fusion team was assessed a pit road penalty for crew members jumping over the wall too soon on lap 70. Logano restarted in the 30th position but battled back to finish fourth.

    A frustrated Logano said, “Every time we got ourselves in position to get some stage points something happened and, I don’t know, we’d be about 30th.”

    Surprising

    Despite leading seven times for a race-high 274 of laps, Kyle Busch could not hold off Keselowski.

    “We’re not, just not quite getting the finishes we need. We just need to figure out how to finish what we are or where we’re running. So far, we’ve been finishing worse.” Busch blamed the tires after the race. “Just needed a normal set of tires. We put on a set of tires there at the end that weren’t the same as the ones that we took off and it just slowed the car down a minimum three-tenths that whole entire last run.”

    Not Surprising

    AJ Allmendinger was fifth fastest in the second MENCS practice and was able to carry that speed over to the race, finishing sixth to capture his second top-10 this season.

    “This car was frigging hooked up,” he said. “Once we got it right, long runs, it was just an awesome race car. I can’t thank everybody at Kroger, Clicklist, and all of our associates, everybody at the shop. Randall Burnett (crew chief) having him back after the suspension, just, God I wish we would have stayed green for about 120 laps because I think I could have ate these guys alive. All-in-all a solid day.”

    Surprising

    Austin Dillon finished fifth in his No. 3 Okuma Chevrolet SS, capturing his best finish this season. It was his first top-five finish this year.

    “Yeah, it’s really big for our team and for everybody at DOW and Okuma. Our pit crew did a really good job today. We had a fast car on restarts and could really take off. The middle of the run was shaky for us but that last run we held on, which was really nice.”

    The Monster Energy Series next heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on April 9 at 1:40 p.m. ET.

  • Keselowski out-duels Kyle Busch to win at Martinsville

    Keselowski out-duels Kyle Busch to win at Martinsville

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Busch for the race lead in the closing stages to win at Martinsville Speedway.

    Busch led the field to the final restart with 64 to go, but Keselowski took the lead the following lap. Busch regained it with 56 to go, and the battle was on. From that lap until 42 to go, Keselowski kept the pressure on the rear bumper of the 18 car, barely leaving room to breathe. He finally got under Busch going into Turn 1, took the lead with 42 to go and drove on to score the victory.

    “This is awesome,” Keselowski said in victory lane. “We’ve ran so good here with the Miller Lite Ford, but something always happens and we haven’t been able to bring it home. Martinsville is just one of those champion’s tracks. The guys that run well everywhere run well here, and it’s really just an honor to win here and get to compete here. This track is 70 years old and a lot of legends have won here. It feels great to be able to join them and bring home a clock.”

    It’s his 23rd career victory in 275 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.

    Busch finished second after leading 274 laps.

    “I was just grasping for straws,” Busch said in his post-race media availability. “(Keselowski) was way better than we were at that time. Just wasn’t the same. Our car definitely changed there for the last run of the race, and we just didn’t have what we needed in order to have the speed that we had all the rest of the day. We were able to drive away from the field. We led a lot of laps. We really had no contention there from a lot of people, just passed halfway the rest of the way to the end, and then you put a set of tires on and you lose three‑tenths. That was pretty shameful, but we come home P2. So that’s all we had.”

    Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Austin Dillon round out the top-five finishers.

    Kyle Larson led the first 24 laps before Keselowski passed him on the backstretch to take the lead on lap 25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun out in Turn 3 and brought out the first caution of the race on lap 69. Keselowski, and teammate Logano, restarted from the tail end of the field for speeding on pit road, giving the lead to Martin Truex Jr.

    He lost the lead to Denny Hamlin on lap 89, regained it on pit road — following a caution that stemmed from Jamie McMurray blowing a heavily-rubbing left-rear tire and spinning into the wall in Turn 3 — and won the first stage.

    Busch exited pit road the race leader.

    After the restart on lap 141, he lost the lead four laps later to Chase Elliott, then regained it seven laps later (lap 152) passing Elliott in Turn 2.

    Unlike the first stage, the second stage was mostly tame and orderly. It changed at the end of the stage when race leader Busch came up on the lapped car of Stenhouse. He made contact with the 17 with three to go in the stage and Stenhouse put his bumper to Busch’s rear in Turn 3. As a result of getting loose, Busch lost the lead to Elliott and Elliott won the second stage.

    During the third stage was when the race turned caution-heavy, with 10 of the 14 cautions coming in the final stage. One flew for debris and nine flew for cars spinning and/or wrecking.

    Eight of the race’s 18 lead changes took place in the final stage.

    The race lasted three hours, 44 minutes and 59 seconds at an average speed of 70.142 mph.

    Larson leaves Martinsville with a four-point lead over Elliott.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/C1706_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Chase Elliott Wins Intense Truck Race at Martinsville

    Chase Elliott Wins Intense Truck Race at Martinsville

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chase Elliott was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a late race spin and drive away from Johnny Sauter to score the victory at Martinsville Speedway.

    The final stage was largely controlled by Christopher Bell until he made contact with Austin Cindric with less than 20 laps to go. Elliott, who was running in second, drove under him to assume the lead. He powered away from Sauter on the final restart to notch the win.

    “It was fun today,” Elliott said after the race. “I had some help there with Christopher’s misfortune. I was trying all I could to get by him. He was doing a really good job of maintaining my bumper, a good job with me hitting him. His bumper was getting progressively more blue (the color of Elliott’s car) as the day went.

    “It was a hard-fought battle, for sure.”

    Bell, Noah Gragson and Matt Crafton rounded out the top-five. Gragson was the Sunoco Rookie of the Race.

    Elliott led from start to finish in the first stage. But it didn’t come easy as teammate Sauter caught him, thanks to lapped traffic around lap 45, and pressured him for the lead until the caution flew for the end of the stage.

    Bell exited pit road with the race lead, thanks to taking two tires, but lost it two laps after the restart to Sauter, who went on to win the stage.

    He lost the lead under the caution to Bell, who led from lap 144 to 17 to go when he made contact with Cindric, setting up the final restart.

    It was a typical caution-loaded race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

    Bryce Napier (lap 8) and John Hunter Nemechek (lap 118) blew engines during the race. Cody Coughlin made contact with Joe Nemechek in Turn 3 on lap 13 and both spun out. Ryan Truex turned Brandon Brown in Turn 4 on lap 91. Chase Briscoe and Gragson were involved in an incident that led to Gragson spinning out in Turn 2 on lap 101. Elliott sent Ross Chastain spinning in Turn 4 on lap 124. Kaz Grala made contact with Kyle Donahue, who clipped Briscoe and turned him in Turn 2 with 92 to go. Austin Hill made contact with Grala, who got into Harrison Burton and spun him in Turn 4 with 76 to go. Finally, Bell made contact with Cindric in Turn 1 with 17 to go.

    The race lasted two hours, one minute and 38 seconds at an average speed of 64.867 mph. There were 10 cautions for 63 laps and four lead changes among three different drivers.

    Sauter leaves Martinsville with a four-point lead over Bell.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Martinsville-NCWTS-race-report-T1703_UNOFFRES.pdf” title=”Martinsville NCWTS race report T1703_UNOFFRES”]

  • Martinsville Speedway – Did You Know?

    Martinsville Speedway – Did You Know?

    This weekend the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the sixth race of the season. It’s the shortest track on the circuit and a favorite of both fans and drivers. But did you know it’s the only track that has hosted Cup races every year since the beginning of the Cup series in 1949?

    Red Byron, driving for owner Raymond Parks with crew chief Red Vogt, won the first Strictly Stock race at Martinsville Speedway on September 25, 1949, in his No. 22 Oldsmobile. He took the lead on lap 104 of the 200 lap event, finishing three laps ahead of second-place driver, Lee Petty. Byron went on to become the premier series’ first Cup champion.

    But did you know that Martinsville Speedway had a dirt racing surface for the first 12 races held at the track? It was paved with asphalt in 1955 and the first 500-lap event was held the following year. There have been 136 Cup Series races hosted by the track, one in 1949 and two each subsequent year.

    The King, Richard Petty, ruled Martinsville during his career, capturing 15 checkered flags to lead the series in victories. On April 10, 1960, he also became the youngest (22 years, 9 months, 8 days) winner at the 0.526-mile track.

    Forty-nine different drivers have won at Martinsville but did you know that only seven active drivers have scored wins at the shortest track in the series? Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers with nine first-place finishes, Denny Hamlin has five of the coveted grandfather clock trophies and Kurt Busch has two. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman have visited victory lane at Martinsville once.

    Johnson’s ninth win came last October when he won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 and he’s eager to return to the track where he has experienced tremendous success.

    “The last race at Martinsville was an amazing finish,” he said, “a very emotional one for me, so meaningful, and it obviously paved the way to our seventh championship. It’s a special place for us. It suits my driving style and I wish we raced at Martinsville more than twice a year.”

    Johnson is not exaggerating when he says that the track fits his style. Did you know that he has the series-best driver rating (117.7) at Martinsville? It’s no surprise when you consider his career to date results; nine wins, 19 top fives, 24 top 10s and three poles. Hamlin is next with the second-best driver rating (108.2) at his home track with five wins, 12 top fives, 17 top 10s and three poles. Defending race winner Kyle Busch (99.9), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (98.7) and Kevin Harvick (94.6) round out the series’ top five drivers at ‘The Paperclip.’

    While overall driver ratings are a good indicator of a driver’s performance at a particular track, the advantages of qualifying well should not be underestimated. Did you know that 36 of the 136 (26.4 percent) Cup Series races at Martinsville have been won from a front row starting position? With that in mind, you may want to pay close attention to Hamlin, Johnson, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman. These drivers lead all active drivers for the most poles at Martinsville with three each.

    You can tune into FOX Sports 1 (FS1) for the STP 500 Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • Hot 20 – You know all the big names on this list heading to Fontana, and some not among them

    Hot 20 – You know all the big names on this list heading to Fontana, and some not among them

    Despite placing fourth on Sunday, no Ricky Stenhouse Jr. No Dale Earnhardt Jr. Neither Austin Dillon or Ty Dillon. No Danica Patrick. A.J. Allmendinger was third at Daytona, outside the Top Twenty ever since. One can have the name, the equipment, the marketing, but results are what matters and for some those results just have not been there just yet.

    However, each and every one managing to crack our Hot 20 not only are known but they have done well enough. I mean, just by averaging 18 points per race, an average of 19th place per contest without stage bonuses, is all it takes to be in Cup racing’s top tier. Not a high fence to get over, you would think.

    Just six points separate Stenhouse, Earnhardt, and the Dillons from leaping up, but it gets a little more serious for Patrick and Allmendinger. Patrick is 20 back, while Allmendinger is a head scratching 33 off the pace. If this was the NFL or MLB instead of NASCAR, somebody would start getting a little anxious. Maybe some are.

    California would be the apropos place to have a eureka moment. For some, in the words of U-2, they still haven’t found what they are looking for.

    1. BRAD KESELOWSKI – 1 WIN – 178 PTS
    After Daytona wreck, a win and a trio of Top Fives. He found it, and never had to look for it.

    2. MARTIN TRUEX JR. – 1 WIN – 153 PTS
    Six wins in three seasons. Barney Visser’s crew has come a long way since its 2005 debut.

    3. KURT BUSCH – 1 WIN – 105 PTS
    Does Energizer have a car battery, one that keeps going and going and going?

    4. RYAN NEWMAN – 1 WIN – 101 PTS
    Joins previous Childress drivers who have won at Phoenix; Dale Earnhardt and Kevin Harvick.

    5. KYLE LARSON – 184 PTS
    Runner-up in four of the past five races. Striving for Miss Congeniality next?

    6. CHASE ELLIOTT – 171 PTS
    21-year-old’s worst finish in his last nine races is 14th. Hard to miss him week in and week out.

    7. JOEY LOGANO – 135 PTS
    No one can claim he wrecked on purpose to ruin Kyle’s day….not this time.

    8. RYAN BLANEY – 127 PTS
    With only three wins over the past 25 years, the Wood Brothers expect their fortunes to change.

    9. KEVIN HARVICK – 123 PTS
    Happy Hours begins next Tuesday from 7 to 9 pm ET, on SiriusXM, Channel 90.

    10. JAMIE MCMURRAY – 119 PTS
    Reserves his wins for Charlotte (2), Daytona (2), Talladega (2), and Indianapolis (1).

    11. KASEY KAHNE – 105 PTS
    Still holding the fort, along with Chase, as they wait for those other two guys to gain traction.

    12. TREVOR BAYNE – 100 PTS
    Last Wood Brothers winner (2011) wants to be the first for Roush since Carl Edwards (2014).

    13T. KYLE BUSCH – 97 PTS
    Dear Joey: I hate you. Most sincerely, Kyle.

    13T. DENNY HAMLIN – 97 PTS
    Screw the racing. Auctioneering is where his future lies – Sandy Wexler.

    13T. CLINT BOWYER – 97 PTS
    Other than for Daytona, the results have been fine. Not great, but certainly not bad.

    16. JIMMIE JOHNSON – 93 PTS
    California should be his to win…but wasn’t that what I said about Harvick at Phoenix?

    17. ARIC ALMIROLA – 90 PTS
    Another Daytona win for the boss’s 80th birthday would be a nice gift idea.

    18. ERIK JONES – 82 PTS
    What were you doing at 20 years of age?

    19. PAUL MENARD – 78 PTS
    There are 30 Menards locations near Fontana. Hey, if I can shill for Harvick, I can for Paul’s dad.

    20T. MATT KENSETH – 72 PTS
    It might have been only one point at Phoenix, but what a lovely point it was.

    20T. DANIEL SUAREZ – 72 PTS
    Might this rookie be finding his legs…or maybe just finding his wheels?

    Update:

    Penalties announced by NASCAR soon after this column was published have little effect on the standings. If not successfully appealed, the loss of 35 points by Keselowski only drops him to second, behind Truex, as wins trump points. Harvick’s loss of 10 points only finds him swapping places with McMurray.

    Meanwhile, Allmendinger’s 35 point penalty at Atlanta was upheld on appeal. Still, even if it had not been, he would still have been sitting 20th, a couple of points ahead of Kenseth and Suarez. It is still early in the season, which only means this team has time to catch up…if they can catch up.

  • Bristol Short Tracking or Charlotte All-Star?

    Bristol Short Tracking or Charlotte All-Star?

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — For three days in mid-May, hundreds of race cars will take to the high banks of Thunder Valley.

    May 19 through May 21, Bristol Motor Speedway will host the first annual Short Track U.S. Nationals in which over 500 races cars of various short track racing classes will compete on the .533-mile short track that’s known as “The Last Great Coliseum.”

    But it’s also running on the same weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. To facilitate those who can’t make it to the event, Bristol and Speed51.com partnered together to announce that they’ll carry the Short Track Nationals on the latter’s website as a PPV event.

    “With the NASCAR All-Star weekend taking place at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we’ve looked for ways to give those who can’t attend the Short Track U.S. Nationals an opportunity to still enjoy the world’s largest short track race and glad we were able to partner with a leader like Speed51.com,” said Jerry Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Fans are also encouraged to attend both the All-Star Race and the Short Track Nationals since the All-Star Race is on May 20 and the main races for the Short Track Nationals don’t start until the next day.

  • Logano Fastest in Final Phoenix Practice

    Logano Fastest in Final Phoenix Practice

    Joey Logano topped the chart in the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Phoenix International Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 26.719 and a speed of 134.736 mph. Matt Kenseth was second in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 26.762 and a speed of 134.519 mph. Kyle Busch was third in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 26.786 and a speed of 134.399 mph. Brad Keselowski was fourth in his No. 2 Penske Ford with a time of 26.789 and a speed of 134.384 mph. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 26.792 and a speed of 134.368 mph.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 134.094 mph.

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