Tag: Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

It’s time to put a nice little bow on everything that happened yesterday at the Virginia paperclip.

This week, I’m going to do my rear-view post a little different. I’m going to do a driver-by-driver recap rather than a full race rundown. If you prefer one over the other, feel free to tell me in the comment section below.

Let’s start with the race winner Jeff Gordon. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scored his 93rd career win after taking the lead from A. J. Allmendinger with 21 laps to go and also held off a final two-lap charge by Jamie McMurray to take the checkered flag.

“This is turning into one of those just incredible storybook finishes to this year, to this career,” Gordon said post-race. “Of all years, I mean, of all years, I cannot believe this. I’m so excited it’s happening in this year. That was clutch. That was huge. Yeah, we had a few things that fell in our favor. But you got to be there and be ready for that moment when it comes, and we were. Our car was pretty solid all day. Our restarts were pretty good. We fought through some things. Our car was good on the long runs. We were having to make some adjustments there.”

It was his ninth win at Martinsville Speedway, a track that’s been his playground since his rookie season in 1993. He finishes his career with 37 top-10s at Martinsville, tying Richard Petty for most top-10 finishes at Martinsville – and 29 top-five finishes. At the end of the day, it’s incredible what this man has done at NASCAR’s last charter track in 23 years of racing and it’s a shame yesterday was his last.

More importantly, Gordon now has a chance to ride off into the Florida sunset with his fifth championship in three weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway. You couldn’t write this fairytale ending any better regardless of how it ends. With his career stats at Homestead, it’s a good bet that he’ll be a threat to win the title.

Finishing runner-up to Big Daddy was Jamie McMurray. He put on his best performance of the season at a track that statistically has been his best. While he’s never won at Martinsville, it’s the only place he’s finished in the top-10 in over 50 percent of his starts (53.85 percent to be exact). If the outside line wasn’t the kiss of death at Martinsville, McMurray might have won the race. I base this on Gordon being notorious for bad restarts. Ironically, he said after the race that he wanted the outside line.

“When Jeff gave me the outside, I somewhat wanted that,” he said. “I struggled on the inside. Knowing it was just going to be a green-white-checkered, I thought I might be able to get around him. Honestly, it was really hard to see. I had like a light smoke visor on. It was hard to see with your visor up. When I shut it with one to go, it was really dark. I was a little bit nervous. I haven’t done a restart in the new restart zone. It was kind of hard to see where exactly the restart zone was. Had a lot on my mind there. I drove as hard as I could. Jeff was on the outside. His car stuck a little bit better than mine. I was hoping I could just get close enough to him down the backstretch that I could make some more drama for today versus what we already had. I spun the tires really bad off turn two and wasn’t able to get to his back.”

I’ve always believed that if the Ganassi cars could have a little more performance, he and Kyle Larson would win races on a more consistent basis. I also believe that next season will be the one where McMurray goes from being a journeyman to being a serious championship contender.

After being hit with two speeding penalties, Denny Hamlin rallied to a podium finish. Granted, frequent cautions and few lead lap cars allowed him to get back to the front more quickly, but to do that at Martinsville is commendable.

More and more, I’m continually amazed by the maturity that has taken over Kyle Busch. I remember last season at Bristol in August when Busch got busted for speeding and his night just fell apart. It climaxed with then crew chief Dave Rodgers telling him to “take your whiny little ass to the bus.” He then parked his car at the entrance to the garage area, got out of his car and got the hell out of Dodge.

Yesterday, he ran over a patch of water next to the curb, got loose, hit Austin Dillon and sent both of them spinning.

“We spun him out, spun myself out, had some damage to the car after that,” he said in his media availability. “Just didn’t quite feel right after. I’m not sure what bent, but something was definitely amiss on the front end.”

Instead of coming apart, he kept his eye on the prize and rallied to a fifth-place finish.

“Can’t say enough about our guys,” he added. “They did a great job. Come home with a top five. We’re thrilled with that and time to move on.”

Was there ever a time you could have seen Busch actually doing that or be glad that he got a good finish? This is the same Kyle Busch that not long ago would have responded to a runner-up finish with “yeah, but we didn’t win.” I don’t know if it was breaking his leg at Daytona in February or the birth of his son Brexton, but he’s truly become a more humble, likable driver.

There was also a career milestone for Anthony Wayne “Tony” Stewart. Just driving from last to a 10th-place finish at Martinsville is great no matter the driver. But this top-10 finish gave Smoke his 300th career top-10 finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That’s a career average of 51.11 percent of his finishes being in the top-10. Given how his season – and honestly, his last three seasons – has played out, this is great for a man who’s retiring after 2016.

I’m not going to touch on the incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano because for me to do so would be too hypocritical. But I will touch on the comments made by Hamlin.

“It’s a no-holds-barred, Wild, Wild West,” said Hamlin. “The structure…we have around us is not very strong as far as an authority figure saying, ‘No, you cannot do that anymore.’ I love Brian France, but when he says that drivers are ‘doing what they have to do,’ it seems like he’s promoting this type of racing. It’s tough to crown a true champion when things go like this.”

While Hamlin is entitled to that belief, I’m getting real sick and tired of these drivers saying they can’t police themselves and that NASCAR needs to do it for them. I think Dave Moody put it best with this statement. “Brian France and Mike Helton don’t drive race cars. Drivers do. These are grown men (and women) who can handle their own affairs, both on and off the race track. They do not need an ‘authority figure’ to teach them right from wrong.”

As much as I love Formula 1, I do get real tired of seeing the stewards like Charlie Whiting having to settle the disputes of grown adult men. I’ve always loved that NASCAR tends to let the drivers settle the matter among themselves and only step in when it goes a little too far.

That should just about do it for everything that happened at Martinsville. Next up, NASCAR heads to the Lone Star State to run the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. That begins Sunday at 2:00 p.m. on NBC.

*The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may not reflect the views of Speedway Media.

Here’s a recap of everything that happened Saturday at Martinsville Speedway in the second and final practice sessions for the Sprint Cup drivers.

Second practice

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 19.522 and a speed of 96.998 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second with a time of 19.546 and a speed of 96.879 mph. Ryan Newman was third with a time of 19.547 and a speed of 96.874 mph. Joey Logano was fourth with a time of 19.571 and a speed of 96.755 mph. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five with a time of 19.576 and a speed of 96.731 mph.

Kyle Busch finished sixth followed by Matt Kenseth in seventh and Tony Stewart in eighth. Jimmie Johnson finished ninth with Greg Biffle rounding out the top-10.

Of the remaining Chase-eligible drivers, Kevin Harvick finished 13th, Kurt Busch finished 15th, Jeff Gordon finished 16th and Brad Keselowski finished 18th.

Carl Edwards was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 20th.

Final practice

Johnson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.500 and a speed of 97.108 mph. Harvick was second with a time of 19.578 and a speed of 96.721 mph. Keselowski was third with a time of 19.578 and a speed of 96.721 mph. Paul Menard was fourth with a time of 19.580 and a speed of 96.711 mph. Earnhardt rounded out the top-five with a time of 19.615 and a speed of 96.538 mph.

Casey Mears finished sixth followed by Logano in seventh place. Truex, Hamlin and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10.

Jeff Gordon finished 12th, Kurt Busch finished 19th and Carl Edwards was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 21st.

One driver could grab the “Golden Ticket” to Homestead Sunday at NASCAR’s last original track.

This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Ridgeway, Va. for the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. It’ll be the 33rd race of the season, the seventh race of the Chase and the first of the Eliminator Round.

Martinsville is a .526 mile (.847 km) paperclip short track located in Southern Virginia. Opened in 1948, it’s the only remaining track that’s been on the NASCAR schedule since the first season in 1949. If Bristol were not my home track, Martinsville would be my favorite track. It’s a very close second to Thunder Valley.

In all my years of following NASCAR, tracks have come and gone and some have changed dramatically. While some argue that Bristol has changed for the worse, I’ll forever argue that the racing at Thunder Valley now is better because of the changes (please finish reading this piece before you jump to the comment section to argue Bristol with me). There was a time when Richmond was high on my favorite track list, but for reasons I don’t comprehend, the racing has gotten progressively worse there. But Martinsville is the one track that’s changed the least over my time. The way they raced at Martinsville when I came into this sport is virtually the same as the way they race at Martinsville now.

A lap of Martinsville begins coming off Turn 4. You moderately get back onto the throttle and accelerate down the frontstretch. Some drivers use a different reference point on the inside wall, but when your car reaches that point, you let off the gas and hit the brakes. You let off the gas and roll through Turn 1. When you reach the center, you get back onto the throttle and accelerate down the backstretch. Once you reach your reference point on the backstretch, you hit the brakes going into Turn 3. You let off the brakes when you reach the concrete and roll through it. You squeeze the throttle rolling through Turn 4 and accelerate down the front again. When you figure out the rhythm of Martinsville, you should be able to click off laps of roughly 19-seconds (close to 100 mph average).

Being a short track, passing is a premium at Martinsville. It often requires using the chrome bumper to move the competition out of the way. This often leads to cars in the wall and tempers boiling over.

Being the first race of the Eliminator Round, a win here guarantees a spot in the championship race in three weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway. At 6/1, Jeff Gordon is tied with five other drivers as the odds-on favorite to win this weekend (Vegas Insider). His 62.22 percent top-five average at Martinsville – 28 top-five finishes in 45 starts – is his best at any racetrack. His 80 percent top-10 average – 36 top-10 finishes in 45 starts – is second only to his 100 percent top-10 average at Kentucky Speedway. His eight wins at the Virginia paperclip is his best at any track. He’s led close to four-thousand laps – 3,744 to be exact – and run over 22-thousand – 22,269 exactly – in 45 starts. His 6.9 average finish is his best at any track. His career driver rating at Martinsville is 119.1 (second only to teammate Jimmie Johnson at 119.4). Finally, not only has Gordon never failed to finish a race at Martinsville, he’s only finished outside the top-10 nine times. It’s no joke when the pundits say that Martinsville is Gordon’s playground.

But the driver of the No. 24 car isn’t the only driver to watch this weekend. His teammate Jimmie Kenneth Johnson can lay claim to the Virginia paperclip being his playground as well. His top-five average of 66.67 percent – 18 top-five finishes in 27 starts – bests Big Daddy Gordon, as does his 81.48 percent top-10 average (22 top-10 finishes in 27 starts). However, he can’t say he’s finished every race at Martinsville and he’s amassed a lower average finish – 7.3 – than his car owner. His last two outings have also not been kind with finishes of 32nd and 35th. With that said, it would be wrong to count out the driver of the No. 48 car this weekend.

Another 6/1 driver is James Dennis Alan “Denny” Hamlin (yes, that’s his full name). He has five wins at Martinsville, including this past spring. He has a 52.63 percent top-five average – 10 top-five finishes in 19 starts – and a 78.95 percent top-10 average (15 to-10 finishes in 19 starts). He’s led over one-thousand laps (1,312 exactly) and has an 8.3 average finish. He’s only failed to finish one race at Martinsville. This past spring, he led 91 laps and held off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski to score the victory. While he was knocked out of the Chase last week at Talladega, expect to see the driver of the No. 11 car up front this Sunday.

Next is Kevin Michael Harvick. He only has one win in his career at Martinsville and his stats aren’t as stellar. He has a 10.71 percent top-five average – three top-five finishes in 28 starts – and a 46.43 percent top-10 average (13 top-10 finishes in 28 starts). While he’s failed to finish just one race at Martinsville, he’s  only averaged a 16.1 career average finish here. The one positive stat that leads me to somewhat understand why he’s at 6/1 is that he was the dominant car of the race in March leading 154 of the 500 laps and he finished eighth. However, I don’t expect the driver of the No. 4 car to really challenge for the win Sunday.

Finally, the fifth 6/1 driver is Joseph Thomas “Joey” Logano. He has zero wins at Martinsville and his stats are the worst of the five 6/1 drivers. He has a 30.77 percent top-five average – four top-five finishes in 13 starts – and a 38.46 percent top-10 average (five top-10 finishes in 13 starts). However, he can join Jeff Gordon in saying he’s never failed to finish a race at Martinsville. His 13.2 average finish is also better than that of Harvick. He’s finished the last three races here in the top-five and led a combined 207 laps. Logano is also riding a three-race win streak after sweeping the Contender Round – which is also the first time a Ford driver has done that since Mark Martin in 1994 – and has all the momentum in the world. Expect to see the driver of the No. 22 car up front this Sunday.

Tune in this Sunday to see who gets both the grandfather clock and golden ticket to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Coverage of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 begins at 12:30 p.m. on NBCSN. You can also hear the radio broadcast on MRN and Sirius XM (subscription required).

Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and seven-time Martinsville winner Rusty Wallace will be in the booth. Dave Moody will be in Turn 3 calling the action on the backstretch. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post will work pit road. Eli Gold will join the crew on Sunday to host the pre-race show at noon. As always, the lineup is subject to change.