MARTINSVILLE, Va.– Joey Logano will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday at the Virginia paperclip.
The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford scored the pole for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway with a time of 19.513 and a speed of 97.043 mph.
“Todd does a great job with this Shell/Pennzoil Ford,” Logano said. “I get to drive this thing and it’s so much fun every time we come here to Martinsville, especially in qualifying. We’ve got to figure out the race part. We haven’t got that grandfather clock yet, but qualifying is something that Todd and I have wrapped our heads around and really understand what we have to do inside the race car and outside the race car. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. I say all the time that Martinsville is the most important track to start up front and that’s when you’ve got to come here and really show what you’ve got. Everyone back at the shop, the way they build these cars, they did a great job for us today.”
This is his 15th career pole in the Sprint Cup Series and third-consecutive at Martinsville. He joins Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to accomplish this feat.
Kasey Kahne will start second in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 19.515 and a speed of 97.033 mph.
“It feels good,” Kahne said. “The car was really fast, this Great Clips Chevrolet. The guys did a nice job in practice and in qualifying. I just kept getting better with my laps…The car is fine. Just let me get my laps a little better.
“I feel good about it (the car). We had a top-10 here the last race, last year; with the backup car because I crashed it in qualifying and this car is better than our primary car was last time.”
Brian Vickers will start third in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 19.549 and a speed of 96.864 mph. Paul Menard will start fourth in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 19.551 and a speed of 96.854 mph as Ryan Newman rounds out the top-five in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 19.575 and a speed of 96.736 mph.
AJ Allmendinger will start sixth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Busch will start seventh in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“We were okay, we’ve just been lacking a little bit overall all day and that’s just kind of what we missed it by there,” Busch said. “Overall, we have decent speed, we just need some more.”
Denny Hamlin will start eighth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Matt Kenseth will start ninth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Chase Elliott will round out the top-10 in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet.
Brad Keselowski will start 11th in his No. 2 Penske Ford as Ryan Blaney rounds out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.
“It’s nice to get to the third round, but it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Blaney said. “We didn’t really have good speed that last round, but it’s nice to get a decent starting spot. It’s on the outside, though, so that kind of stinks, but we’ll see how our car is tomorrow.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who just missed the cut into the final round after getting bumped from the transfer spot in the closing seconds of round 2, will start 13th.
“We just got a little bit tight on the lap that I thought was our best lap and I thought it could have been a little bit better,” Stenhouse said. “We didn’t need much, but I was happy with the Fastenal Ford. This is our best qualifying effort at Martinsville. It will give us a good starting spot for Sunday’s race.”
Carl Edwards will start 25th after not making it out of round 1.
“It’s frustrating for me because these JGR Toyota’s are so fast and for me to run 25th is pretty frustrating,” Edwards said. “I think we’ll race well and I ran enough laps that I got a pretty good view of what race true will be like.”
MARTINSVILLE, Va.– Brian Vickers posted the fastest time in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.
The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.485 and a speed of 97.182 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 19.500 and a speed of 97.108 mph. Joey Logano was third in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 19.504 and a speed of 97.088 mph. Ryan Newman was fourth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.511 and a speed of 97.053 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.517 and a speed of 97.023 mph.
Kasey Kahne was sixth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney was seventh in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Matt Kenseth was eighth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Paul Menard was ninth in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet.
Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 94.369 mph.
Trevor Bayne crashed his car after locking up the brakes going into turn 1.
“We had a really good car in race true and the long run,” Bayne said. “It was lacking short-run speed and I felt like I was really being held up on my brakes. I was having a lot of rear wheel hop getting into the corner. We were giving up two to three-tenths into both corners and I tried to just push the braking zone a little bit more and it started wheel-hopping really bad. There was nothing I could do about it. Once it started bouncing, I tried to save it and once it got backwards stood in the gas and it just backed in. You never want to tear one up, especially not in practice, but maybe that rear wheel-hop won’t be in our backup car and we can go qualify OK.”
The team opted to roll out the backup car. Because this took place prior to qualifying, the driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford won’t be required to drop to the rear of the field.
The Sprint Cup Series will be back on track later this evening for qualifying at 4:15.
NSCS Complete Practice 1 Results – Martinsville Speedway
MARTINSVILLE, Va.– Ben Rhodes topped the chart in the second Camping World Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway Friday.
The driver of the No. 41 ThorSport Racing Toyota was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 19.839 and a speed of 95.448 mph. William Byron was second in his No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 19.856 and a speed of 95.367 mph followed by Cole Custer in third in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 19.901 and a speed of 95.151 mph. Tyler Reddick was fourth in his No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford with a time of 19.905 and a speed of 95.132 mph as Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.915 and a speed of 95.084 mph.
Kaz Grala was sixth in his No. 33 GMSR Chevrolet, Matt Crafton was seventh in his No. 88 TSR Toyota and Timothy Peters was eighth in his No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Daniel Hemric was ninth in his No. 19 BKR Ford while Daniel Suárez rounded out the top-10 in his No. 51 KBM Toyota.
Custer posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 93.570 mph. Ben Kennedy, who was 11th in his No. 11 RHR Toyota, posted the second best average at a speed of 93.286 mph.
The Truck Series is back on track for final practice at 3:00 p.m.
NCWTS Complete Practice 2 Results – Martinsville Speedway
MARTINSVILLE, Va.– William Byron headed the field in first Camping World Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.
The driver of the No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.868 and a speed of 95.309 mph. Timothy Peters was second in his No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota with a time of 19.995 and a speed of 94.704 mph followed by Kyle Busch who was third in his No. 18 KBM Toyota with a time of 20.104 and a speed of 94.190 mph. Johnny Sauter was fourth in his No. 31 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 20.106 and a speed of 94.181 mph as Cole Custer rounded out the top-five in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 20.107 and a speed of 94.176 mph.
Tyler Young was sixth in his No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet. Matt Crafton was seventh in his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota. Daniel Hemric was eighth in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford. Ben Rhodes was ninth in his No. 41 TSR Toyota and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 in the No. 24 GMSR Chevrolet.
Christopher Bell, who was 17th in his No. 4 KBM Toyota, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 92.676 mph.
The next Truck practice will start at 12:30 p.m.
NCWTS Complete Practice 1 Results – Martinsville Speedway
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series travel to Martinsville Speedway this weekend while the XFINITY Series is off. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, April 1:
On Track:
10-10:55 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice – FS1
11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
12:30-1:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice – FS1
3-3:50 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice – FS1
4:15 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
Garage Cam: (Watch live)
10:30 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
9 a.m.: Parker Kligerman
9:15 a.m.: John Hunter Nemechek
9:30 a.m.: Ryan Blaney
1 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
1:15 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5:45 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Series Qualifying (time approx.)
Saturday, April 2:
On Track:
10-10:55 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
11:15 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
1-1:50 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – FS1
2:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (250 laps, 131.5 miles) – FS1
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
12:15 p.m.: Jamie McMurray
4:45 p.m.: Post-Camping World Truck Series Race (time approx.)
Sunday, April 3:
On Track:
1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series STP 500 (500 laps, 263 miles) – FS1
MARTINSVILLE, Va.– NASCAR is back from the left coast and ready to go bumping and banging at the Virginia paperclip.
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series comes off the Easter holiday and rolls into Ridgeway, Virginia to run the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The 500 lap race on the .526 mile (.847 km) short track will be the sixth race of the 2016 season.
After spending the previous month on the western end of the United States, Martinsville is the first stop of what I like to call the short track gauntlet. Over the course of April, the Sprint Cup Series will also visit Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway with Texas Motor Speedway sandwiched between Martinsville and Bristol.
Opened in 1947, Martinsville Speedway is the last remaining track from the NASCAR’s first season in 1948. It’s a throwback to a bygone era when race tracks were located in the middle of nowhere in the most remote parts of America. During that stretch of 68 years, many tracks have come and many more have gone. The only two constants in NASCAR are change and Martinsville. In a way, Martinsville serves as a bridge that connects the past to the present.
When people say Martinsville never changes, they’re right to a very large degree. Nine-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon once said that of all the tracks he’s raced at in his entire 23-year Sprint Cup Series career, Martinsville was the one track that changed the least. He said the way you drove the track in 1993 was virtually the same as the way he drove the track in his last start at the Virginia paperclip in 2015.
At Martinsville, the outside line is the kiss of death. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/NASCAR via Getty Images
Martinsville is a rhythm-heavy race track. Once you figure out the rhythm, you can conquer all who race on it. You run against the wall on the straights and hug the yellow curb in the turns. Protecting the inside line is vital at Martinsville. You pass someone by diving underneath them going into turn 1 or turn 3 or you use your chrome bumper to gently nudge them out of the way. If you’re caught on the outside line, you’d better fall behind another car and get to the bottom or you’ll drift towards the back.
While you could run a 500 lap event on just three or four pit stops with a fuel window of 130 laps, you’ll be stopping for tires at least double-digit times. If you’re the race leader when the caution flies and forces overtime, you’re pretty much a sitting duck. If you pit, everybody behind you stays out. If you stay out, everybody behind you pits. To put it shortly, you have to pick your poison.
Carnage lurks around every turn at Martinsville. Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images
Like most short tracks, the tight confines and low banking means passing is at a premium at Martinsville. As I mentioned earlier, there are two primary ways to pass someone at Martinsville; dive underneath someone going into turn 1 and/or turn 3 or use the chrome bumper to nudge someone out of the way.
Many times in a race, one driver will nudge another out of the way, collect another driver and cause a multi-car pileup. Other times, one car will dive too deep into turns 1 or 3, hop the curb, slam into another car and cause a chain-reaction crash that way. This type of accordion-effect wrecking will happen multiple times in a 500 lap race at Martinsville.
Controlling your temper is vital at Martinsville. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/2015 Getty Images
With all the bumping and banging, it’s very easy to lose your composure. Keeping your temper in check is important to success at Martinsville.
Most of the time, it leads to a lead lap car forcibly nudging a lapped car out of his or her way. Sometimes, it can give us classic Martinsville moments like Brad Keselowski rubbing up against Kurt Busch for about five laps.
Other times, though, it can lead one driver who’s running nine laps down losing focus of reality, intentionally taking the race leader and getting that driver parked for two races.
I believe we’re going to see our first real test of the updated NASCAR behavioral policy this weekend in Martinsville. While I doubt we’ll see a repeat of what happened last November, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of drivers taking out one another at Martinsville.
Now let’s talk about drivers to watch this weekend.
Few drivers have mastered the Virginia paperclip like Jimmie Johnson. Photo: Sal Sigala Jr.
The odds-on favorite at 9/2 is Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (Vegas Insider).
In his 28 career starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has eight wins, 18 top fives (64.29 percent) and 22 top-10s (78.57 percent). He’s led nearly 3,000 laps (2746) and has a 7.5 average finish.
However, he hasn’t led a single lap at the Virginia paperclip since 2014 and has finished second, 32nd, 35th and 12th. That’s a 20.3 finishing average in the last four races.
I don’t see this trend continuing for a few reasons. First, the 48 team is on a roll right now having won 40 percent of the races so far this season. Second, Johnson is historically no slouch when it comes to Martinsville. Finally, his mentor was Jeff Gordon who made Martinsville his playground through his 23-year career.
I expect Johnson to be up front and contending for the win on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin has also found success at Martinsville. Photo: Nick Laham/NASCAR via Getty Images
Next, at 6/1 is James Dennis Alan “Denny” Hamlin.
In 20 career starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has five wins, 11 top fives (55 percent) and 16 top-10s (80 percent). He’s led over 1,000 laps (1315) and has an average finish of eighth.
Unlike Johnson, the last four races have been kind to the Virginia native with finishes of 19th, eighth, first and third. That’s a 7.8 finishing average.
He’s also the defending race winner having led 91 laps on his way to scoring his first checkered flag of the 2015 season. He enters Martinsville with a win in the Daytona 500 and three top-10s. He’s finished on the podium in the last two races and looks to continue that run this weekend.
I expect Hamlin to contend for the win on Sunday.
Joey Logano looks to continue his strong runs this weekend at Martinsville. Photo: Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images
Next, at 6/1 is one Joseph Thomas Logano.
Since 2014, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has been arguably the best at the Virginia paperclip with finishes of fourth, fifth, third and 37th. In those four races, he led 39, 60, 108 and 207 laps.
In the last visit to Martinsville, he and teammate Brad Keselowski had the field in check the entire afternoon before Keselowski suffered a suspension failure and crashed out of the race. Logano was in total control with 47 laps remaining, but then he was eliminated from the race after being intentionally wrecked by Matt Kenseth.
Both drivers are smart enough to know that it wouldn’t be in the best interest of either of them to re-light that fire and force NASCAR to step in again, so I don’t expect anything to come about from it this time around.
I see no reason as to why he won’t be a force on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick should be a threat to win at Martinsville. Photo: Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images
The final driver to keep your eye on this weekend at 7/1 is Kevin Michael Harvick.
In 29 career starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet has amassed one win, three top fives (10.35 percent) and 14 top-10s (48.28 percent).
That might not seem like much, especially compared to the success of Johnson, but in his last four starts, he’s finished seventh, 33rd, eighth and eighth. That’s an average finish of 14th. In the last two trips to the Virginia paperclip, he’s led 154 and 38 laps.
At any other track, Harvick would be my outright pick to win. I’m not as willing to go out on that limb at Martinsville. He’s only finished in the top-five three times and those were during his time at Richard Childress Racing. While I do expect him to be leading at some point Sunday, I wouldn’t pick him over someone like Johnson to win.
Tune into the STP 500 on Sunday to see who takes home the grandfather clock. You can watch the race beginning at 12:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1 or at noon on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM (subscription required for the latter). If you’re within a few hours of Ridgeway, Virginia, hop in your car, drive to the track and watch the action in person. I’m on assignment at Martinsville this weekend, so I’ll be bringing you all the happenings from the media center.
What I saw at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday made me sick to my stomach. It ruined what otherwise was a good weekend at the track, the marvelous speedway that should be a blueprint for what racing should be. Everyone knows the story by now. Matt Kenseth decided to retaliate and knock the leader out of the race—on purpose. You may say I can’t prove that, but actions speak louder than words.
I’ve been following this sport longer than many people have been alive. I’ve seen retaliation, but nothing on this scale. I can’t remember an action that changed the entire championship situation just to get even. Before you say Dale Earnhardt did it or Carl Edwards did it, that is not the case. Earnhardt’s actions were usually going for a win. This was blatant and uncalled for.
It all started last year. The altercations started when the usually mild-mannered Kenseth chased Brad Keselowski and put him in a headlock over relatively minor rubbing. Several drivers applauded that action and others against the opposition drivers. It started to boil when Kenseth was spun by Joey Logano at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago. Kenseth never got over it, said he wouldn’t talk to Logano, and continued with some pointed radio transmissions at Talladega. It was eating him alive.
During Sunday’s race on a restart, Keselowski was tagged from behind trying to let teammate Logano get back to the lead and Kenseth got tagged. These were basically racing accidents, but Kenseth could not let it go and planned his revenge. In the later stages of the race, with Logano leading and pulling away, Kenseth took his disabled car back into the fray. Going slow, he waited until Logano passed on the outside and turned directly into him, shoving him up to the wall and destroying his Ford Fusion and probably taking him out of the championship picture. He used the excuse that a tire went down and he couldn’t turn his car. Sitting in the press box looking down on the track and the accident just below me, that wasn’t the case. It was revenge and something that should not be a part of the sport I’ve loved for a half century.
NASCAR needs to act swiftly and put an end to this. Part of the problem is the elimination feature of The Chase. Drivers will do things that they probably wouldn’t otherwise, but this crossed a very narrow line. Kenseth should be parked this weekend at Texas, levied a hefty fine and docked championship points. This cannot continue if the sport wants to remain professional and draw fans. Larry McReynolds, who was crew chief for Dale Earnhardt simply said it best today on Dave Moody’s Speedway show on SiriusXM radio.
“If they only give him (Kenseth) probation, which means absolutely nothing, I’m going to the nearest trash can and throw up,” McReynolds said.
We’re less than 24 hours removed from the race at Martinsville and there is once again a commotion in the media and in fan circles. Is it about Jeff Gordon punching his ticket to the chase playoffs in dramatic fashion? Nope. Is it about the risk versus reward of tires versus track position? Nope.
All the social media and news outlets are abuzz about the Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano incident. The vast majority of which are already calling for penalties and suspensions to be levied against the driver of the No. 20 car.
Give me a break.
These are the same reporters that jump at a single quote taken out of context just to get views on their stories. The same people that cite “anonymous sources” from conversations with drivers to get “breaking news.” The same outlets that run drama-filled stories about minuscule things that have nothing to do with the competition of the sport they cover.
You know what happened on Sunday? Competition and self-policing happened. You don’t believe me? Re-watch any of the videos from the race and watch the crowd reaction. What we saw was two men racing as hard as they could at Kansas, with one of them feeling wronged about the outcome. End result? That wronged man put things right again. The fans loved it.
Why? Because this isn’t an isolated incident. This isn’t about a single spin at Kansas a few weeks ago. No, this was frustration and escalation of aggression on the race track that’s been spearheaded and created by none other than the Penske driver himself. Don’t believe me? Let me refresh your memory.
It was the end of the Auto Club 400 in 2013 and the now famous incident between Tony Stewart and Logano on pit road. Stewart was upset by being blocked and run down onto the apron, effectively ruining his race and costing him a good finish. Result? Stewart has a physical confrontation with Logano on pit road. Why? Because Stewart hates being blocked. That’s not his code of racing ethics and how he wants to be raced. Logano, on the other hand, said, “It was the end of the race, and I felt like it’s what I had to do.”
In Logano’s eyes, he felt that he had to block. It was his job to secure his position. However, it’s not simply limited to one incident there. As of now, the Penske driver has had no less than 5 well-documented incidents on track with different drivers in the last few years.
Starting all the way back in 2010 at Michigan, Logano had an on-track incident with Ryan Newman. Racing for 15th place on the track, Logano gets loose under the No. 39 car of Newman and slides up the track, wrecking both drivers. After the race, there was a very animated and heated discussion about the incident.
At the spring race in Bristol, 2013, Logano and Denny Hamlin get into an incident after the 22 of Logano makes a slide-job pass and block on the No. 11 car of Hamlin. Hamlin gives the 22 a bump and spins him off the corner. After the race, Logano goes over to the No. 11 car and proceeds to get into a shoving match with the 11 crew while expressing his displeasure at the still buckled in Hamlin.
The next week at Auto Club Speedway, while racing for the win late, the 22 and the 11 make contact down the backstretch before entering Turn 3. Logano over-drives Turn 3, sliding up into the side of the 11 car of Hamlin, wrecking both drivers. This wreck resulted in Hamlin being injured after hard contact with the inside retaining wall. After the race, Logano infamously said of the accident, “That’s what he gets.” See 5:52 in the video.
Even as recently as this year, Logano has found the ire of other drivers as well after an incident that I covered previously in this article here: (http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=91811). Questions were raised throughout the garage about the style of racing that’s being utilized on track by certain drivers.
Flash forward to Kansas a few weeks ago and the roles are reversed. This time, Kenseth is doing exactly what Logano did years ago. He’s racing Logano the same way that he races everyone else on the track. That’s driver code, that’s how it’s always been; “I’ll race you the way you race me.” Logano spun Kenseth and went on to win, effectively ending Kenseth’s chances at a championship.
Even last weekend, Logano, under green flag pit stops, threw a block on Kenseth which aggravated the Champion driver on the radio.
So what happens this weekend? Kenseth raced Logano with the precedent that he himself had set years earlier. Simple as that.
Even race winner Jeff Gordon had something to say about this whole entire series of events, “Had Joey handled that situation at Kansas slightly better … I mean, he was gloating about it. He was like, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s exactly the way I should’ve raced and he blocked me.’ That’s fine if you feel that way, but guess what? That’s not helping the situation and how (Kenseth’s) going to think about you and not even think twice if he gets in that scenario and in that situation. That’s what I learned in my situation with Bowyer. Yeah, I had regrets. I wish I’d handled it differently, but I also know my raw emotions came out and I reacted. But it’s how you handle it from that point moving forward as to what is going to help you get through it. That goes from both sides; from Joey’s side as well as from Matt’s side.”
So, does that warrant a suspension and being parked until the end of the year? That’s not up for me to decide, but it’d be rather inconsistent if NASCAR did. I could give you a list five pages long of incidents where a driver wrecked another driver because he or she felt they had been raced outside of their code. It’s something we’ve seen for 60 years now. Drivers race each other the way they wish to be raced. For all the saber-rattling and media outlet crying foul and demanding action and penalties, they seem to have forgotten who started all this in the first place back in 2010.
What short memories everyone seems to have. Everyone except Matt Kenseth.
As the Chase for the Championship heats up, sparks continue to fly on the race track with aggressive driving and questionable tactics.
Events began to escalate two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway Joey Logano bumped race leader Matt Kenseth spinning him out of the way to claim the win, an incident that directly contributed to Kenseth’s elimination from the Chase. Logano deemed it “good, hard racing,” and insisted that he didn’t intentionally wreck Kenseth.
Kenseth had a different point of view and said that he was “really disappointed,” in Logano’s actions on the track, adding “That’s not the way I race people no matter what the stakes are.”
NASCAR chairman Brian France discussed the contact between the two drivers on SiriusXM Radio’s NASCAR channel the following Monday.
“That’s quintessential NASCAR,” France said. He went on to explain his position stating, “Late in the race, I think that’s a great example of everybody doing probably exactly what they should be doing. You had Matt Kenseth trying to block and hold his position. He had a faster car behind him, and when you block, you risk that somebody is going to be in that position and there was contact.”
France went on to say that Logano “made a very smart decision in what he did because not only did he try to win the race, which he said he wanted to do and obviously he did, but the idea to, late in that race, to have an opportunity to put one of the top teams on the outside looking into the next round in Matt Kenseth, (who) has run so well, that’s a smart thing to do.”
“You have to give them a lot of credit,” Franc continued. “This is the strategy that we all thought was going to be different when you have this kind of format. But it does reward aggressive racing at the end of the day.”
The message seems clear; aggressive driving is not only expected but encouraged in the Chase format. It also begs the question of where is the line drawn?
Last week at Talladega Superspeedway, controversy arose again when it appeared that Kevin Harvick intentionally caused a wreck at the end of the race to freeze the field and lock in his points, ensuring his inclusion into the next round of the Chase.
Harvick denied the allegations and after a review of the race, NASCAR stated that they had “completed the review of any other potential penalties from the track (Talladega) this past weekend and there will be no further actions.”
NASCAR’s decision and Harvick’s assertion of innocence were met with skepticism by many after viewing video footage from his in-car camera that show him turn his steering wheel to the right as he clips driver Trevor Bayne’s car, causing the accident. Harvick, who had a failing engine, maintains that he did not see Bayne and was attempting to get out of the way.
Again, the message seems clear as drivers do what they must, to compete for wins and the championship with no repercussions from NASCAR. But Kenseth may have crossed the line Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Kenseth was competitive at the short track Sunday, but his day turned sour after he sustained significant damage to his car after contact with Brad Keselowski on Lap 434. Twenty laps later, Logano’s day effectively ended when Kenseth hit Logano, turning him into the wall. Logano ended the race in 37th place and is now in eighth place in the Chase, 28 points behind the leader. NASCAR parked Kenseth for the remainder of the race.
While he didn’t admit to purposely wrecking Logano, Kenseth’s comments imply that he felt it was important for him to respond to the events of the last few races.
“You never like to be in these situations,” Kenseth said. “They really stink, to be honest with you, but sometimes you get put in these spots, and you’ve got to try to keep respect in the garage area. You can’t get yourself ran over.
“You can’t get in the Chase next year and get ran over for the same reason. Like I said, hate the way it ended. Wish we were out there celebrating or having a shot for the win like we did before we got wrecked, so a disappointing day.”
Did Logano intend to wreck Kenseth at Kansas or simply move him out of the way? Logano is the only one who can answer that question. Harvick’s actions at Talladega may seem questionable, but it is difficult to ascertain his motives with any certainty. If you consider the first two instances, should Kenseth also get the benefit of the doubt for the contact with Logano at Martinsville?
After listening to executive vice president Steve O’Donnell’s comments after the race, it is likely that Kenseth may face penalties from NASCAR.
“I think in the case with Matt,“ O’Donnell said, “we were certainly disappointed with what took place tonight on the racetrack. We had a conversation with both Matt, crew chief, Joe Gibbs. Like we always do, there’s still a lot to digest from what happened tonight. We’ll do that. We’ll have some additional conversations and probably come out with something, if there is anything to discuss, on Tuesday”.
Whether you believe the wreck was intentional or not, there is no definitive proof to back up either claim or to establish intent. But Kenseth, who is no longer in contention for the Chase, may have committed the one mistake that NASCAR won’t ignore; taking out someone contending for the championship. If NASCAR penalizes Kenseth, are they establishing two sets of rules – one for Chasers and one for non-Chasers? Or were Kenseth’s actions simply too blatant to ignore?
Given the atmosphere of aggressiveness that NASCAR has fostered, Kenseth may have felt he had no choice but to respond in kind.
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.
As hard as Jamie McMurray tried, he could only finish runner-up to Jeff Gordon at Martinsville. Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images
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.
Kyle Busch battled back from early contact with Austin Dillon to finish fifth. Jeff Zelevansky/NASCAR via Getty Images
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.
