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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • Bowyer Fastest in Final Martinsville Practice

    Bowyer Fastest in Final Martinsville Practice

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Clint Bowyer topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 20.174 and a speed of 93.863 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 20.238 and a speed of 93.567 mph. Jamie McMurray was third in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 20.246 and a speed of 93.530 mph. Brad Keselowski was fourth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 20.247 and a speed of 93.525 mph. Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 20.250 and a speed of 93.511 mph.

    Nobody drove a run of 10 or more consecutive laps.

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  • Keselowski Fastest in Second Martinsville Practice

    Keselowski Fastest in Second Martinsville Practice

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Brad Keselowski topped the chart in second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 20.058 and a speed of 94.406 mph. Ryan Newman was second in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 20.144 and a speed of 94.002 mph. Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano finished tied for third with a time of 20.180 and a speed of 93.835 mph.

    AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-five in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota with a time of 20.203 and a speed of 93.729 mph.

    Ryan Blaney, who ran the 13th-fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 92.533 mph.

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  • Why some drivers take longer to discover Martinsville rhythm

    Why some drivers take longer to discover Martinsville rhythm

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martinsville Speedway best suits drivers who figure out the rhythm to racing around the .526 mile paperclip short track. Unsurprisingly, this heavily favors experienced drivers over rookies at Martinsville.

    The textbook example is Jeff Gordon. He once said that of all the tracks he raced at in his 23-year career, Martinsville was the one that changed the least. And the stats back that up. While he didn’t have the most all-time wins at Martinsville when he retired, he finished outside the top-10 only nine times in 47 career starts.

    Teammate Jimmie Johnson has also found similar success at Martinsville with nine wins, a better top-five finishing average and only a slightly smaller top-10 finishing average than Gordon.

    But Johnson admits it wasn’t smooth from the start.

    “For me it took being lapped by Tony Stewart to figure it out and then I followed him and got myself back on the lead lap and had a decent finish,” he said.

    Martinsville is no stranger to periods of dominance by one or more drivers. Richard Petty won 15 races at the tiny paperclip in his career, Darrell Waltrip won 11, Gordon won nine — including his final career victory in 2015 — and Johnson with nine. But the last six trips to Martinsville have produced six different winners: Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Gordon, Kyle Busch and Johnson.

    So at a track that rewards drivers who best understand its rhythm and is known for dominance by select drivers, what’s produced such parity? Hamlin says it’s data sharing.

    “Data sharing has changed the game in which drivers learn how to be fast and how to be good at certain racetracks,” Hamlin said. “That really was kind of a turning point, I think, for myself, and really circumstances ‑‑ every time the field ‑‑ if the field gets closer to you, you have room for error to get a race win….So when the field gets close like that, that just makes you have to be on your game every single time, where before I feel like I could have kind of overcome anything that kind of threw our way at any point in the race. There’s just ‑‑ you can’t do that now.”

    However, some drivers, even top level drivers, in NASCAR go their entire careers without deciphering it. NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bobby Allison, who won 31 of his 84 career races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on short tracks, went his entire career without winning a single race at Martinsville.

    Even when a driver knows the method of racing around Martinsville, it’s not simply something that can be duplicated and passed down to another driver. As Johnson explains, it’s something a driver must figure out on his/her own.

    “I came here and tested with the No. 24 and had Jeff working diligently with me to figure it out and it didn’t click, looking at the data he would hop in my car and go faster and it was just frustrating and then it finally clicked,” Johnson said. “It’s one thing to create short run speed, but there are some little things here in the rhythm that could just chew up tires and wear the tires out and make you drop back way too fast. It’s been great because I feel like once you understand how to get around here it’s something that you can keep for a long time, regardless of tire, generation of car, the test of time it really stands up here on this small track more than anywhere.”

  • Martinsville Cup Qualifying Canceled Due to Rain

    Martinsville Cup Qualifying Canceled Due to Rain

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying for the STP 500 was canceled due to persistent rain showers through the day and more showers expected to pass through the area prior to the start of the session.

    Kyle Larson will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday by virtue of being first in owners points.

    “It definitely helps to start up front.  I think this will be my most difficult track probably to earn stage points each of the stages, just because it’s not a track that suits me that well.  This is the toughest track for me, so it’s cool to be the only guy that has made points every stage.  I think the stage points are a big deal to gain points and help point your way to the playoffs if need be.  So, yeah, it’s been nice to run so strong early in the year, especially all throughout the race because, like I said, those stage points have turned out to be really big and important.” Larson said.

    Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano will round out the top-five starters.

    “Anytime I can do anything good at Martinsville is great for me. It’s been a bit of a struggle here and we’ll definitely take it. I think more than anything, have a nice pit pick and hopefully we can get our car dialed in tomorrow to try to stay there. We definitely got a big help with that today.” Elliott said.

    Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch will round out the top-10 starters.

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  • Bell Fastest in First Martinsville Truck Practice

    Bell Fastest in First Martinsville Truck Practice

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Christopher Bell topped the chart in the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota was the fastest with a time of 20.204 and a speed of 93.724 mph. Brett Moffitt was second in his No. 7 Red Horse Racing Toyota with a time of 20.264 and a speed of 93.447 mph. Noah Gragson was third in his No. 18 KBM Toyota with a time of 20.274 and a speed of 93.400 mph. Kaz Grala was fourth in his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 20.279 and a speed of 93.377 mph. Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five in his No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford with a time of 20.283 and a speed of 93.359 mph.

    Bell also posted the fastest 10 consecutive average at a speed of 93.724 mph.

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  • Larson Talks About Car Wreck after Fontana Race

    Larson Talks About Car Wreck after Fontana Race

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For most drivers, the post-race routine — if it doesn’t include talking to the media — is getting into a vehicle and heading back to Charlotte via land vehicle or airplane and nothing more. For race winner Kyle Larson, however, his post-race departure involved a collision.

    He was heading to the airport when a driver ran a red light and hit him. He believes the person who hit him was one of the traffic coordinators.

    “I don’t think he realized that they picked the cones up from the side where we were coming from,” Larson said. “I don’t think he expected anybody to be coming from where we were and he just darted out in the intersection.”

    Larson made contact with him in his right-front, but was able to veer slightly before contact. So, as he put it, “it honestly didn’t even hurt that bad, or at all, really.”

    “Our Chevy Suburban was good. The hood was buckled and the left front was messed up. The tow was out of it quite a bit,” Larson added. “But, that guys truck, the right front was not a part of it anymore. So, it is a funny story. Just the irony of it, I guess, having a near perfect weekend and a quarter-mile from the track to get in a car accident.”

    Asked if the person who hit him knew who he was, Larson said he didn’t “think he did. But, once the cops showed up, I think he realized who I was. And it was pretty funny.” He was asked if the cops realized who he was, he said “Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that was cool. They were quick about it, too.”

  • Hamlin Fastest in First Cup Practice at Martinsville

    Hamlin Fastest in First Cup Practice at Martinsville

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 19.879 and a speed of 95.256 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Gibbs Toyota with a time of 19.920 and a speed of 95.060 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.939 and a speed of 94.970 mph. Ryan Newman was fourth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.952 and a speed of 94.908 mph. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five in his No. 1 Ganassi Chevrolet with a time of 19.956 and a speed of 94.889 mph.

    Joey Logano, who ran the eighth-fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 94.749 mph.

    Daniel Suarez locked his brakes entering Turn 3 and backed his car into the wall, forcing his team to roll out their backup car.

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  • 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.