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Tag: Goody’s 500

  • Gordon gets the clock, closes the points gap at Martinsville

    Gordon gets the clock, closes the points gap at Martinsville

    Four time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jeff Gordon, scores his first win of the season and eighth career win at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500. He is now tied with teammate, Jimmie Johnson, for the most wins at Martinsville among active drivers.

    Gordon led a total of 78 laps and passed Matt Kenseth in the closing laps en route to victory. As he pulled into victory lane, his No. 24 Drive to End hunger Chevrolet looked like a war torn relic, beaten and battered from another Martinsville battle. A battle that was slowed by 17 cautions, signifying how rough and tumble the racing was today.

    Gordon also managed to close the gap in the points standings. He now sits in third place, 27 points behind Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson who are tied for the lead. He has now secured a spot in the 2014 Sprint All-star race.

    Gordon talked about today’s win, ”Oh my gosh this meant so much, I mean I feel like we worked so hard, and many weekends we’ve left the racetrack looking at one another going what do we have to do? We’ve had racecars we’ve had pitstops, we’ve had strategy, I feel like I’ve had days where I’ve done my part, but just couldn’t get it all lined up. Today, we come to this race with a lot of confidence, you know this is a great rack for us the 24 team, for me personally, these guys, Alan especially, give me a great racecar all weekend long, I was a little disappointed in myself qualifying, I feel like we should have done better job than that, but it made up for t getting that number two pit stall. That was sort of turnaround for our weekend in many ways, or just that kind of added bonus, and that paid of for us today as well.”

    Kenseth came into today’s race trailing Johnson by four points. He led 202 laps today en route to a second place finish. Kenseth said, “I mean, I think we led the most laps and finished second. The only guy happier is Jeff. Again you’re always s a little disappointed when your crew puts you out front at the end and you can’t hold on.”

    Johnson was touted as the favorite to win all week. Many practically had has name engraved on the trophy. The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion ran strong all day, leading 123 laps. He ended the day in fifth place, a good day by many standards, mediocre for Johnson.

    Kenseth and Johnson now head to Texas Motor Speedway tied atop the championship standings. Gordon and Harvick 27 and 28 points back respectively.

    Kyle Busch who finished 15th, now sits 36 points back and sees his championship hopes slipping away. One glimmer of hope, however, is that the series now head to Texas Motor Speedway where he won earlier this season.

    Clint Bowyer had his best finish of the Chase with a solid sixth place effort. 55 points out of the lead, however, Bowyer will need a lot of things to go his way to have a shot at the title. Bowyer talked about how tough the outside lane was day, “Yeah, I mean, it was – it’s just the nature of the beast here. You know, we got jumbled up there going for the inside. The 48 was very, very aggressive for the point leader to be dive bombing to the inside. I was all over the brakes to keep from running him over a couple times. But that’s how important it is to get to the inside on these restarts.”

  • Ford’s Logano Leads Saturday’s First Cup Practice

    Ford’s Logano Leads Saturday’s First Cup Practice

    Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
    Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Advance (Martinsville Speedway)
    Saturday, October 26, 2013

    Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion, recorded the fastest single-lap speed in Saturday’s first practice session at Martinsville Speedway in preparation for tomorrow’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500.  Logano spoke about being at the top of the chart before heading out for happy hour.

    JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – YOU’RE FASTEST IN THE FIRST PRACTICE SO HOW IS YOUR CAR?  “Not too bad.  The car is pretty decent, but this second practice we want to work on getting a little bit more long-run speed and making some longer runs to make sure it’s there.  We just tested some parts and pieces because it’s just so cold out there today that it’s not really realistic yet.  The guys did a good job.  They built this car brand new and did a nice job because it’s really light.  So far it’s all paying off.  I feel like I’ve got a car that’s good, but I’ve just got to figure out how to beat the 48 still.”

    HOW BENEFICIAL WAS THE TEST YOU HAD HERE A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO?  “It helped us a ton.  I think it was probably the most successful test we had for sure.”

    YOU START SIXTH, BUT WOULD YOU RATHER BE ON THE INSIDE?  “I’d rather be on the inside.  When Kyle went out there at the end and beat me I was pretty mad about it.  I didn’t want to be sixth because I wanted to start on the inside, but we’ll just try to find a hole and get down as quick as we can.  That’s all you can do.”

    YOU MENTIONED THE 48.  DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR HIM TOMORROW?  “Yes.  I thought yesterday when we unloaded my car was really fast, so I was like, ‘We’ve got a good shot at winning this thing.’  If everything goes right and if there’s a late-race caution here, we’ve all seen what that brings with two tires, four tires and what people will do to try to get track position.  At that point it really just depends what lane you line up in, so you never know.”

  • Denny Hamlin sets track record and takes the pole at Martinsville

    Denny Hamlin sets track record and takes the pole at Martinsville

    Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin, turns in a lap of 99.595 mph to set a new track record and score the Coors Light pole for the Goody’s 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Today’s record was the 18th new track record this season.

    The pole was Hamlin’s fifth of the season and 17th of his career. Qualifying has been one of the few highlights for Hamlin this season. He missed four races earlier in the season with injuries sustained in a crash at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. His stats this season have been off tremendously scoring only five top-10’s in his 28 starts.

    Hamlin talked about his run, “I knew we were going to be pretty strong, I knew we had a shot at the pole, and beyond that I think our car was pretty good in race trim as well.”

    Hamlin is always strong at Martinsville and he seems to have a little more pep in his step in the last few weeks. This could be a sign that the team has turned things around, identified the problems, and are now looking to finish the season on a high note.

    Championship points leader, Jimmie Johnson, will start outside the front row. Johnson turned in a lap of 99.344 mph. His lap tied the lap posted by Hamlin’s teammate, Kyle Busch. Johnson took the higher position, however, due to the tiebreaker.

    Johnson and Busch joked in the media center after qualifying about the fact that Johnson thought he was starting third. Busch stated, “He wanted third because he wanted to be on the inside.”

    Johnson talked about his qualifying effort, “I felt like I had a good last lap, although it wasn’t the most efficient and smoothest lap, so I felt like I had a chance to slide down to fifth or sixth or something as the session went on.”

    Matt Kenseth, who currently sits second in the points, will start fourth giving Joe Gibbs Racing three of the top five spots. Kenseth is currently only four points behind Johnson, who is the favorite to win on Sunday.

    Rounding out the top five is Michael Waltrip Racing driver, Clint Bowyer. Bowyer, who currently sits ninth in the standings 57 points behind leader Johnson, turned in a lap of 99.162 mph.

    Toyota has four of the top five spots with Ford sitting sixth and eighth and Chevrolet seventh, ninth and tenth.

    The Goody’s 500 is set to go green at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.

  • Championship leaders talk about racing at Martinsville and each other

    Championship leaders talk about racing at Martinsville and each other

    Martinsville and Jimmie Johnson go together like bread and butter. Even championship contender Matt Kenseth said, “…you can almost pencil the 48 in here.” Johnson has been extremely impressive, with eight wins in 23 starts. He comes into the weekend with a slim four point lead over Kenseth.

    Kenseth, who started off the Chase with two wins and the points lead, was asked if he would prefer to be leading or in the underdog mode chasing the leader. Kenseth replied, “I can’t imagine for the life of me anybody that wouldn’t want to have the points lead or why you wouldn’t want to have it. Certainly, we started off strong. We still perform pretty well, we didn’t have the finish last week and that was really disappointing. A couple other ones we didn’t quite have the finish, but certainly I wish we were still leading and you would have want to have as big of a lead as you could and I think anybody would.”

    Kenseth’s record at the flat half-mile is less than stellar, especially compared to Johnson. In 27 starts, Matt has only three top-5 and eight top-10’s. Johnson has eight wins in only 23 starts. This past spring, however, Kenseth seemed to have Martinsville figured out. Even though he only finished 14th, he led 96 laps and ran strong most of the day. 96 laps is more than he led in all of his Martinsville starts combined up to that point.

    “I don’t know why it’s always been such a struggle, although I do feel like the last couple years on average has been much better.” Kenseth continued, “This spring at least the first half of the race we were really good and really competitive, and really, really helped me be better because we had the car good.”

    Before this season, Kenseth had started all of his Martinsville races with Roush-Fenway Racing. He made the change to Joe Gibbs Racing after 2012 and has improved in several areas. The most noticeable of which is qualifying.

    Johnson talked about how good Martinsville has been for him, “Without a doubt it’s been a good track for the No. 48 team. It doesn’t guarantee anything for this weekend’s race and we have to go out and get everything we can in this first practice session and then try to get our best two laps possible for qualifying. We all know how important that first pit stall is and it can make life so much easier come Sunday afternoon.”

    Johnson seemed confident and very laid back on Friday. Those traits could spell trouble for the rest of the field. When this team is this confident, they are almost unbeatable, but more importantly, they rarely beat themselves. That is a crucial factor at this track. Drivers who get antsy, over aggressive and/or angry, will use up their equipment pre-maturely and find themselves hanging on for dear life.

    Johnson was also asked about racing against Matt Kenseth now, compared to 2006 when the two went head-to-head. He replied, “We have had a good banter texting back and forth. For a guy that can come across dry, as we all know in here, he is awfully funny. He asked me to not pester him and ask him for too many tips this weekend and bunch of other things.” He continued, “I think his departure from Roush and then joining up with Gibbs it’s filled in some weak spots that you would normally think that Matt would have. This track is a perfect example.” Referring to the Roush-Fenway team’s historical poor performance at Martinsville.

  • Martinsville Tidbits

    Martinsville Tidbits

    The Goody’s 500 is the seventh race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase. A flat, tight half-mile oval nestled in Southern Virginia that most drivers either love or hate. One thing they almost all agree on, however, is that it is the toughest of all NASCAR tracks. One thing is for sure – the race will be exciting and the action non-stop. Here are a few tidbits and storylines to follow for this weekend’s event:

    • Points leader, Jimmie Johnson, has an unprecedented record at Martinsville. In 23 starts, he has compiled an amazing eight wins and 16 top-5 finishes. Johnson is definitely the favorite for this weekend
    • Jeff Gordon, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, has an exceptional record at Martinsville as well. Gordon has seven wins and 26 top-5 finishes in 41 starts at the paperclip. Don’t forget the Gordon-Johnson battle we had a few years ago. We could see another one Sunday!
    • Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Chase hopes got off to a rocky start at Chicago with a blown engine. He has been clawing his way back and Martinsville has been a good track for Earnhardt. He has ten top-5’s in 27 starts. Look for him to have a good day on Sunday.
    • Kyle Busch made his way back to third in the standings at Talladega. To gain any ground here at Martinsville, he has to on top of his game and maintain his composure at a track known to flare tempers.
    • Tied with Busch in the standings, Kevin Harvick said yesterday his team has to win some races to have a chance to beat Johnson. Harvick’s record at Martinsville is mediocre. To make any ground up in the standings at Martinsville, his Richard Childress Racing team will have to find some strategy to get him out front late in the race and let Harvick hold off the challengers. Harvick runs well here in the truck series, so he knows how to get around this track.
    • Danica Patrick has struggled a several track this season, ran extremely well here last spring. Patrick worked her way through the field to a solid 12th place finish in what many consider her best performance of the year. Can she repeat that success?
    • Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola will finish out the season with interim crew chief, Greg Ebert, after the team released veteran crew chief Todd Parrott for violating NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. Almirola has had a respectable season and looks as if his team is ready to take the next step, but will the shake-up atop the pitbox hinder their progress?
    • Kyle Larson will make his second Sprint Cup Series start this weekend in the No. 51 Target Chevrolet. Larson was impressive in his debut at Talladega until he lost an engine. Now we will see what he can do on a short track.
    • Elliott Sadler will begin his stint in the No. 55 entry for Michael Waltrip Racing this weekend. Sadler will be filling in for Brian Vickers, who is out for the season with blood clots in his leg, a similar condition that sidelined him in 2010.

    Martinsville always provides an excellent race and will create its own story lines as the weekend progresses. Guaranteed we will not see a single file freight train in the last ten laps!