Tag: Martinsville Speedway

The Final Word – Kurt Busch breaks Johnson’s heart and Keselowski’s car at Martinsville

Winning races gets your name, and that of your sponsor out there. You run where they can see you, or you do something that causes the cameras to wander your way. If that is the goal, it was mission accomplished for Kurt Busch.

At the start, Kurt was in there somewhere but not yet up front. So, with 45 laps gone in a 500 lap event, he managed to find a way into the headlines. When Kasey Kahne turned left to head toward his pit stall, he cut in front of Brad Keselowski. That caused a minor bump. However, Kurt Busch saw room on Keselowski’s right and went for it. Unfortunately, Brad turned ever so slightly to his right and into Busch. Kurt thought he had ruined his chances for good things at Martinsville while Keselowski went to the garage for extensive repairs and a place to stew.

Thirty-odd laps later, Kurt was still not in front, but Keselowski was back on the track in what looked like a stripped down hot rod roadster. Needless to say, Brad was not happy. He tried to keep Kurt behind him when they met again. Kurt nudged Brad’s rear in return. Keselowski tried to brake check Busch, then they banged fenders, or whatever passed for a fender on the 2 car. Keselowski got downright cuddly as a kitten with Busch, if the critter was on catnip and some Colorado herbals. They met; they banged like William Hung, and kept this up until Kurt finally got away. Still not at the front, but he sure got lots of screen time for owner/sponsor Gene Haas. Not bad for being out in the weeds. As for Keselowski, he was the guy driving the No. 2…that white car with no fenders or hood. He was sponsored, was he not?

To maximize his exposure, Kurt’s crew managed to work on the car, got it better and better, and in the final laps he managed to slip past the most dominant car of the day. Jimmie Johnson finished second as his winless streak is now extended to nine whole races, going back to Texas last November. Busch won his first since October 2, 2011 at Dover, the 25th of his Cup career, and this puts him in a likely Chase place. Most important of all, anyone watching the race knew that Kurt Busch and Haas Automation were there.

I also noticed that Busch climbed onto the roof of his car in celebration. Isn’t that now illegal? As for Brad, he is making like Michael Buffer, calling to Kurt to get ready to rumble. Yet, when I rewatched the video, it was Brad’s slight right hand turn after hitting Kahne that caused the contact with Busch on pit row. A wrecked car, a ruined race, and now it is his fault…not that Keselowski would agree.

Carl Edwards was 13th, which gave Dale Earnhardt Jr a ten position jump on him on the track and moves Junior that many points ahead of Edwards on top in the over-all standings. The winless Matt Kenseth, with finishes this year ranging between fourth and 13th, is in second place, nine points back.

Busch is 20th, based strictly on points, and Kevin Harvick sits in 25th after finishing seventh at Martinsville. A Top 30 in the standings is needed for their wins to count toward making the Chase, but they hold 45 and 34 point cushions respectively in that department. As wins count more than points, they sit fifth and sixth in the standings.

Each week the media seems intent on telling us how much better Danica Patrick is each and every race over last year’s performance. She was 32nd on Sunday, and 12th in the spring race at Martinsville a year ago. She finished no better than 24th over the next eight races last year, so between now and Michigan all she needs to do is finish 23rd or better for this improvement talk to be taken seriously. It should be interesting to see how she does compared to the likes of Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett, and Cole Whitt over that span.

They go from the short track in Martinsville, Virginia to the 1.5-mile circuit in Fort Worth, Texas. Kyle Busch won there last spring, though Jimmie Johnson has won the past two fall events. Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, and Kasey Kahne are all currently outside our sweet 16 qualifying positions for the Chase, but all three know where Victory Lane can be found in Texas.

	Driver	Races	Wins	Points
1	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	6	1	227
2	Carl Edwards	6	1	217
3	Kyle Busch	6	1	189
4	Brad Keselowski	6	1	188
5	Kurt Busch	6	1	146
6	Kevin Harvick	6	1	135
7	Matt Kenseth	6	0	218
8	Jeff Gordon	6	0	216
9	Jimmie Johnson	6	0	209
10	Joey Logano	6	0	187
11	Austin Dillon	6	0	179
12	Ryan Newman	6	0	174
13	Paul Menard	6	0	168
14	Denny Hamlin	5	0	165
15	Brian Vickers	6	0	165
16	Marcos Ambrose	6	0	162

30	Reed Sorenson	6	0	101

March 31, 2014

Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP 500

With no practice due to a rainy weekend, the Cup drivers unleashed their pent up aggression on the short track of Martinsville. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 65^th running of the STP 500.

Surprising: The closest that Hendrick Motorsports got to Victory Lane at Martinsville was the motor and chassis as Kurt Busch surprisingly took his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet to the checkered flag.

The win also marked significant milestones for driver and crew chief as this was Busch’s 25^th Cup win and his crew chief Daniel Knost’s first win as a crew chief.

Busch’s 83 start winless drought finally came to a close, with his last victory prior to this at the Monster Mile in the fall race of 2011.

“Every time you come to Martinsville you draw a line through it; like there’s no way I’ll be able to challenge those Hendrick guys,” Busch said. “The Stewart-Haas team gave me a team to do it.”

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to deliver.”

Not Surprising: While Brad Keselowski had some harsh words to say about the race winner, sarcastically ‘thanking Kurt’ after tangling with him early in the race and finishing 38^th, he kept his sense of humor when he took to Twitter after the race.

“I’m here,” Keselowski tweeted when a follower said that he would probably not be on social media for a while. “Laughing at all the hate tweets. #freeEntertainment.”

With that difficult finish, the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford dropped three spots to seventh in the point standings.

Surprising: Dale Earnhardt Jr. was surprisingly disappointed with not getting a clock, even though he finished third in his No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet and took the points lead away from Carl Edwards.

“Well, it was up and down,” Junior said of his race. “We ran out of tire there just trying to get by those lap guys that were giving me the top in the corner and I don’t need to be up there running.”

“That cost us a little bit.”

Junior and girlfriend Amy Reimann did, however, console themselves with a Martinsville hot dog as his “reward” for finishing third, tweeting a picture of the celebration from the plane.

This was Earnhardt Jr.’s 16th top-10 finish in 29 races at the track known as the ‘Paper Clip.’

Not Surprising: Martinsville made for some interesting milestones, including another new winner for the season and a record number of lead changes.

Kurt Busch became the sixth different winner in six races to date and there were a record 33 lead changes among 12 drivers, the most ever at Martinsville. The previous record for lead changes was 31, set in April of 2011.

Surprising: They may have been driving with heavy hearts due to the death of Miss Lynda Petty, the King’s late wife, but the two Richard Petty Motorsports drivers pulled off great finishes, with Marcos Ambrose in fifth and Aric Almirola in eighth.

In fact, this was only the fourth time that the two RPM teammates have finished in the top-10 together, but the second time in six races this season.

““We’ve had a really tough week. We lost Miss Lynda.” Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford said. “We really wanted to win for them bad out there, but we’ll take a top five.”

“I’m really proud of all the guys at Richard Petty Motorsports,” Almirola, driver of the No. 43 STP Ford, said. “If we keep running like this, we’ll get to Victory Lane.”

Not Surprising: The highest finishing Ford was Joey Logano, who deemed his drive in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford “a battle.”

“This race is really hard, but we finished where we deserved to finish,” Logano said after finishing fourth. “That’s where we ran and that’s about all we had.”

“I wish we had a little more.”

Surprising: “That’s all I had,” are words that are eerily similar to Logano’s but are not typically heard from six-time champion Jimmie Johnson. But that was his summary of the race as well at one of his strongest tracks.

“I’d been loose in the final third of the race and was hanging on there,” Johnson, who finished runner up in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, said. “When (Kurt Busch) got back by me, I was hopefully that he’d wear his stuff out and I could get back by him. He did but I couldn’t hold him off.”

“I started to get looser and looser,” Johnson continued. “I ran the rear tires off the car.”

“That’s all I had.”

This was Johnson’s 22^nd top-10 finish in 25 races at Martinsville Speedway and his fourth top-10 finish in the 2014 season.

Not Surprising: While most drivers are focused on the wins, Jamie McMurray was thinking about points and shaking his head.

McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet, was involved in an on-track incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Lap 199 that caused him to finish 42^nd and falling eleven spots in the point standings to 23^rd.

“I thought the No. 88 would be a little more patient with me. I had gotten by him in lap traffic. Then he got on my inside. When he got into me it was like it couldn’t get off and spun me around and just got into the wall there,” Jamie Mac said. “Really unfortunate had a good car, every race we’ve had good cars.”

“You just wish you weren’t racing for points because that is the hardest part to swallow is the point’s loss,” McMurray continued. “It’s fun to run well but that is what you will think about for the next five days.”

Surprising: After missing the previous race week due to metal in his eye and after vowing to make a comeback and win at a track where he has the third-best driver rating, it was most surprising to see Denny Hamlin finish a disappointing 19^th.

The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota had ignition issues and then was just plain slow during the race.

“Just a frustrating day, especially when you know that this is a race track that I feel like I can make up a difference here and there,” Hamlin said. “We were a football field and then some away from the right set up today.”

Not Surprising: Austin Dillon, behind the wheel of the No. 3 Dow Chevrolet was the highest finishing rookie, finishing 15^th at the very demanding short track.

“I had some good runs there in my truck but it was totally different in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car,” Dillon said. “It’s one of those races where you have to fight to stay in it.”

“Things were definitely wild there.”

The Cup Series will move from the short track of Martinsville to the track in Texas where everything is big for the Duck Commander 500.

March 30, 2014
Allmendinger’s solid performance continues at JTG-Daugherty

Just past halfway in the 2013 season, the JTG Daugherty team made a very un-popular decision. They decided to sit Bobby Labonte out of the car for a few races and place a different driver in the car to help assess why the team was struggling to finish in the top-20.

Many fans voiced their dis-pleasure at the removal of the former series champion. Social media lit up with complaints that the team was not being loyal to their driver. One major factor in that dis-pleasure, was that it would end Labonte’s start streak which stood at 704, only one behind the series record held by Jeff Gordon.

Team owner, Brad Daugherty, stood by his decision. He explained that the move was for only a handful of races and that other than those races, Labonte would still be in the car at least until the end of the year. He made it very clear that his goal was to finish in the top-20 on a consistent basis and they would make whatever changes were needed to accomplish that goal.

Allmendinger instantly improved the team’s stats. He finished 19^th in his first start with the team at Michigan. He followed that up with a 22^nd place finish two weeks later at Kentucky. His success with the team did not stop there. He ended the season scoring five top-20 finishes in nine starts. A results that impressed, not only the team, but the fans and media as well. During the off season, it came as no surprise that Allmendinger was named as the full time driver for the No. 47 in 2014.

Allmendinger has continued the solid runs with the team this season. In the first six races, Allmendinger has scored four top-20 starts and four top-20 finishes, including an impressive run in the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway this weekend where he finished eleventh, just shy of his season best eighth place finish last week in Fontana. Allmendinger commented about the team’s improvement after his run at Martinsville saying, “We’re getting there. You know, I feel like we’ve been decent all year, we’ve had fast cars. But overall, you know we’re getting there, I felt really good there were times today I thought we could go take the lead, we just had some struggles, it wasn’t on pit road so much but the bucking down pit road, I would lose a couple of spots each time, but we’re fighting hard, eleventh is actually a little disappointing, so if you can say that at Martinsville, that’s a good day.”

Brad Daugherty stood his ground against the outcry of fans because he knew he needed to make changes to improve his race team. It seems those changes have paid off.

March 30, 2014
Kligerman’s struggles continue at Martinsville

Parker Kligerman joined the Swan Racing team during the off-season to drive the No. 30 Toyota and compete for the rookie of the year honors in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Kligerman competed full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series last year driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, compiling 18 top-10 finishes in 33 races. That team was forced to end operations due to the lack of sponsorship for 2014.

Under new ownership, the team began to make several positive moves during the off-season signing several advertising partners to help fund the season. The team also signed, Cole Whitt, to drive a second car full time.

Though expectations were realistic, they were expecting to have better results than they have seen thus far this season. Kligerman opened the season with a respectable 29^th place finish. Kligerman’s teammate, Whitt, finished 28^th, giving the team high hopes for the season.

After Daytona, however, Kligerman has had little to be happy about. The team has struggled in every event since the season opener with a best finish of 34^th at Bristol. He also finished 42^nd twice at Phoenix and Fontana. At Bristol, Klgerman commented about his season saying they have the same equipment as his teammate, they have just had bad luck. Whitt’s results have been moderately better. He followed up his 28^th place finish at Daytona with a 27^th at Phoenix. He also scored the team’s first top-20 of the season at Fontana finishing 18^th.

Kligerman’s struggles continued at Martinsville on the third lap of the race when he got involved in a crash. The damage sent him to the garage area for more than 80 laps to make repairs. There seems to be an increase in tension among the team. While making repairs there was a heated exchange between Kligerman and a crew member.

Hopefully, the tension was due to the current situation and not based on the season as a whole. Kligerman is a very talented driver and once he can shake off the bout of bad luck, we will see him in the top-25 consistently.

March 30, 2014
RACEDAY: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Seeking First Martinsville Clock

@DaleJr scored the biggest win of his career at Daytona International Speedway in February, yet he’s still craving more wins. This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, he will be aiming to score his first victory at the exciting short track.

“This is a track I’ve been trying to get a win at for a long time.” Earnhardt Jr. explained in the media center on Friday. “I grew up in a house full of clocks so it’s been pretty elusive. We have had some good cars here that I’ve felt like could have won races and we just weren’t able to get the job done for whatever reason, somebody was faster or whatever.”

Currently sitting second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver standings, he has witnessed his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, @JeffGordonWeb and @JimmieJohnson, dominate ‘The Paperclip’ for the past decade.

“Obviously Jimmie (Johnson) has had a lot of success here, but he seems to be very consistent in how he drives and deliberate in how he drives this track. They (Jeff Gordon and Johnson) are definitely two guys that have had a lot of success here so you sort of tune in to what they are doing, how they are setting up their cars and what their comments are about their cars,” said Earnhardt.

Last season, the driver of the No. 88 finished eighth and 24th at Martinsville after starting outside the top 10 in both races. His career-best showing was second in 2006 and 2008, but he’s still determined to get his first grandfather clock.

This season, we’ve seen Earnhardt be more aggressive and crew chief Steve Letarte take more gambles. These gambles were taken due to NASCAR’s new Chase system that focuses on winning. This weekend, considering he’s almost guaranteed himself a Chase spot, driver and crew chief can be more aggressive with strategy to help get their first Martinsville victory.

“Yeah we (No. 88 team) have (been more aggressive) in the last couple of years regardless how the points system is stacked up, we have had guys pushing each other around here quite on a regular basis so I assume if there is anyone within reach on that last lap of the leader then the he is going to have his hands full.” Earnhardt expressed about being more aggressive. “I can tell you though as far as being offensive, defensive, you are only as offensive as your car will allow you to be.”

This weekend marks Earnhardt Jr.’s 29th trip to Martinsville. It seems with the confidence and swagger he has that NASCAR’s favorite driver could capture the checkered flag on Sunday.

March 30, 2014

Kroger 250 Suspended Due To Continuous Rain; Darrell Wallace Jr. On Pole

Track activity has been suspended at Martinsville Speedway. Rain showers have forced NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying to be cancelled. As of 2:30 PM EST the rain continues to fall which has the Kroger 250 under a rain delay currently.

Darrell Wallace Jr., defending winner at Martinsville, will start the race on pole after qualifying was washed out – the field was set by practice speeds yesterday.

NASCAR is unsure whether the race will be ran today, but with the new Air Titan 2.0 the track can be dried much quicker, it now depends on how long the rain remains.

If the Camping World Truck Series race isn’t ran today then the possibilities boil down to a doubleheader with the Sprint Cup Series tomorrow or running during the day on Monday.

Follow @MarshallGabell on Twitter to stay updated on the weather forecast.

Here’s the full Kroger 250 starting lineup –>

Entry	No.	Driver	Sponsor
1	54	Darrell Wallace Jr.	ToyotaNo1ForEveryoneSalesEvent Toyota
2	29	Ryan Blaney	Cooper Standard Ford
3	17	Timothy Peters	Parts Plus Toyota
4	51	Erik Jones	ToyotaCare Toyota
5	30	Ron Hornaday Jr.	Rheem Chevrolet
6	31	Ben Kennedy #	ALS Association Chevrolet
7	7	Brian Ickler	Bullet Liner Toyota
8	77	German Quiroga	NET10 Wireless Toyota
9	00	* Cole Custer	Haas Automation Chevrolet
10	88	Matt Crafton	Ideal Doors / Menards Toyota
11	20	Gray Gaulding #	Gemini Southern / Krispy Kreme Chevrolet
12	32	Ben Rhodes	Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet
13	92	* Ross Chastain	BTSTire&Wheel/NatlWtrmlnAssoc Ford
14	98	Johnny Sauter	SmokeyMntnHrblSnff/CrbRcrds Toyota
15	9	Chase Pistone #	nogginroundup.com/NTSMotorsports Chev
16	5	* John Wes Townley	Zaxby’s Real Chicken Toyota
17	19	Tyler Reddick #	Broken Bow Records Ford
18	21	Joey Coulter	Alamo Chevrolet
19	35	Mason Mingus #	811 Call Before You Dig Toyota
20	8	John H. Nemechek	pelletgrillusa.com / SWM Toyota
21	33	* Brandon Jones	EXIDE Chevrolet
22	13	* Jeb Burton	VAMP / VaporBrands International Toyota
23	02	* Tyler Young #	Randco / Young’s Building Systems Chevrolet
24	74	Alex Guenette	Motos Illimitees Chevrolet
25	23	* Spencer Gallagher	Allegiant Travel Chevrolet
26	75	* Caleb Holman	FdCntry/WiseSnckFds/MrningFrshFrms Chv
27	99	Bryan Silas	Bell Trucks America Chevrolet
28	68	* Clay Greenfield	ClutchDefense.com RAM
29	07	Ray Black Jr.	Scuba Life / NASE Worldwide Chevrolet
30	56	* Raymond Terczak Jr.	Chevrolet
31	63	* Justin Jennings	Mittler Brothers Machine & Tool Chevrolet
32	66	* Josh Williams	Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford
33	50	* Travis Kvapil(i)	UtilityFleetSales.com Chevrolet
34	08	Korbin Forrister	McNairMcLemoreMiddlebrookCPA Chev
35	57	Norm Benning	Grabiak Performance Center Chevrolet
36	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Sassy’s Towing / Wreaths Across America

March 29, 2014

Kyle Busch Wins the Pole for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway

It seems rain is going to play games with NASCAR this season. Luckily the rain moved out and by the time it was ready for NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, the track was good to go.

When qualifying was all done, Kyle Busch scored his 14th Coors Light Pole Award with a lap of 18.998 seconds, 99.674 mph. It also marks the third straight pole for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“It feels good to put the M&M’s Camry on the pole here at Martinsville is something that doesn’t happen very often — at least with me behind the wheel,” Busch commented. “It certainly is a great day for us and the whole team — Dave Rogers (crew chief) and everybody. They did a great job. We unloaded with a fast car and we tried to dial it in as best we could with race trim and then right there at the last second we did a qualifying run and that was about all we got.

Here is a round-by-round recap of qualifying.

ROUND #1

Prior to taking to the track for his qualifying run in round one, Carl Edwards commented on having the first garage stall, which he got due to being the points leader. Edwards stated that having the first garage stall is pretty nice, and is a testament to how hard his team has worked to get where they are. He also said regarding the qualifying, “Hopefully we will be good in qualifying. I wasn’t going to be mad if it rained all day, but it didn’t so we have to go earn it now.” Edwards qualified in the eighth position for Sunday’s running of the STP 500.

Based on round one, it looked at if Joey Logano would be on the pole as he posted the quickest time in round one with a speed of 100.201 mph (18.898 seconds) to set a new track record. Most drivers ran three laps, with a few opting to run four.

Phoenix race winner Kevin Harvick’s car did not show a lot of speed in practice and he wasn’t happy with the car as they weren’t able to tighten it up.

The 12 cars to advance to round two were: 1) Joey Logano, 2) Denny Hamlin, 3) Kyle Busch, 4) Jamie McMurray, 5) Matt Kenseth, 6) Jeff Gordon, 7) Jimmie Johnson, 8) Carl Edwards, 9) Clint Bowyer, 10) Greg Biffle, 11) Danica Patrick, and 12) Tony Stewart

.ROUND #2

In the second round Logano and Kyle Busch seemed like they were going to be the ones to beat for the pole position. For the first time all of the Joe Gibbs cars made it into Round Two. In the second round many drivers’ qualifying times did not change much due to the tire wear after the first round.

There seemed to be one driver that had something left for the final round and that driver was Kyle Busch. He would take his first ever pole at Martinsville Speedway, and his first pole in 23 races. One of Kyle’s comments was, “It’s Martinsville, we get to sit on the pole so that is pretty cool. There is a first for everything, I guess, so this is pretty neat.”

Here are your top 12 starters for Sunday’s STP 500

1) Kyle Busch, 2) Denny Hamlin 3) Joey Logano 4) Jimmie Johnson 5) Jeff Gordon 6) Matt Kenseth 7) Tony Stewart 8) Carl Edwards 9) Jamie McMurray 10) Danical Patrick 11) Greg Biffle 12) Clint Bowyer

Noteworthy: Danica Patrick’s 10th place starting position is her best non-restrictor plate starting spot.

March 28, 2014
Hamlin regarding health issues: “It’s my business”

On Friday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, Denny Hamlin addressed the media regarding his health issues this past week. Hamlin was obviously aggravated by the questions that have been raised regarding the reasons he was not allowed to race last week at Auto Club Speedway.

Everything started last Friday at Auto Club Speedway when Hamlin began experiencing eye irritation. His initial thought was that he was beginning to get a sty. He assumed it would go away. After shopping with his wife on Saturday night, the irritation began to worsen. Late Saturday evening, Hamlin checked to see if medical staff was left at the infield care center. Upon visiting the care center, the initial thought was that Hamlin was experiencing complications form a sinus infection.

On Sunday, however, the condition was yet again worse than the day before. The decision was eventually made to not permit Hamlin to race due to his blurred vision. That situation seemed to set off some concern within the NASCAR community.

The series’ most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented about Hamlin’s situation, “I’m worried the perception is bad for NASCAR and the perception is bad for Denny.” He continued, “If Denny didn’t race because his vision is blurred and he had a sinus infection, NASCAR should put out a release and say, this is the timeline of the events and this is why we made this choice and this is protocol for going forward.” He also commented, “That answers everybody’s questions. Don’t you have questions? I have questions. We shouldn’t have questions. We should all feel pretty comfortable with what happened.” Earnhardt even went so far as to say a statement would clear Hamlin, “…of any wrongdoing or pressure or rumors.”

The issue with statements similar to Earnhardt’s is that Hamlin, as well as anyone else, have rights that prevent anyone else releasing medical information about them without their permission. Granted Earnhardt’s comment didn’t directly ask for that, but it did seem somewhat implied.

NASCAR’s statement about the incident may well have also been used to fuel the fire. NASCAR spokesman, Kerry Tharp, told USA Today Sports, “Information regarding Denny Hamlin’s health and medical condition should come from Denny and/or Joe Gibbs Racing. As our policy, Denny will be allowed to return to on track competition after NASCAR receives notification that he has been medically cleared by his physicians to race.”

That statement is really all NASCAR can do. Just as in the Jeremy Mayfield case a few years ago, as well AJ Allmendinger’s situation, NASCAR itself cannot publicly reveal medical information about anyone without their permission, though many feel they should.

Competitors, fans, media or any other entity, only has the right to know what a given person wants them to know in regards to said person’s health or medical situation. No one was put in danger in this situation, the system worked as it was designed to.

Hamlin, openly frustrated by the comments from the week, became agitated when asked about the situation on Friday and if it had impacted his reputation. Hamlin replied in a stern, direct voice, “I’m going to try to not get mad. Like I just said, my health is my business, but what if it was cancer or tumor – I don’t have to tell anyone. It’s my business. People who think negatively of me or think that we side-stepped some sort of drug test or something is ridiculous. I’m in one of the top-three cars in NASCAR, I would have to be an absolute moron—moron to risk that. I have a daughter that I have to provide for for a really long time. For people to question who I am inside and outside the race car, I’ve never done anything to even put that in question.” He continued, “It bothers me because there’s people out there that like to make rumors and of course within our NASCAR community rumors become truth when enough people say it. I’m done.”

Earnhardt was also asked about the situation on Friday. When asked if the statement released by Hamlin on Wednesday answered his concerns, he replied, “Well I feel real comfortable with the process and I just was worried. I thought that the lack of a statement from Denny’s point of view left him vulnerable and unprotected. I just felt like it was important for him to have a very simple statement that sort of cleared up any kind of assumptions or whatever you have for him personally.”

This situation has definitely riled up Denny Hamlin. Rumors sometimes cause more harm than the actual problem the rumor is about. It is hard to blame a driver, or anyone, for being frustrated and upset when people begin speaking out of turn and assuming facts that are not in evidence. NASCAR drivers are, for the most part, very private people. When it is regarding health or medical issues, they have the right to be. We should never make assumptions or veiled accusations about drivers, teams or series representatives. We should always wait until the facts are available and the parties involved are ready to announce or not announce anything about themselves.

NASCAR has a fantastic reputation in regards to the competitors, teams and officials. A much better track record than other major sports such as football, basketball or baseball. It seems there are constantly news stories where a football player has killed someone, or baseball players have used illegal drugs. Obviously, NASCAR is not immune from those things, and to be fair, not all “stick and ball” sports stars are involved with anything illegal. The percentages, however, are in our favor. We do not need to sabotage that reputation with false or uninformed accusations.

Just this past week, we have seen how rumors can get out of hand and take on a life of their own, when someone reported that Jeff Gordon was involved in a homosexual relationship. Whether it was true or not (this writer does not believe that report in any way) it should not have been reported. The story took on a life of its own. That should be unacceptable.

This writer commends Denny Hamlin on his stance against rumors. It is a practice that should be widely used across the sport of NASCAR.

Denny did have one last comment as he walked out of the media center on Friday. “I’m going to win this weekend, I promise.”

March 28, 2014
Earnhardt Jr. seeking his first clock

Martinsville Speedway is known as one of the toughest places to win. The .526 mile, paperclip shaped track with long straightaways coupled with tight, almost flat corners create a recipe for hard-nosed, fender-banging action.

It is rare for a racecar to leave Martinsville without some damage. More often than not, the damage is significant. Fortunately, for drivers, aerodynamics are not nearly as important here as it is at larger tracks. That fact allows drivers to beat and bang, knock competition out of the way, and still maintain a high possibility of winning.

For Dale Earnhardt Jr., he has yet to find victory lane at the Southern Virginia track, though he has long desired to. Earnhardt Jr., son of the legendary seven time series champion, Dale Earnhardt, talked about his desire to win at Martinsville on Friday saying, “Yeah, this is a track I have been trying to get a win at for a long time. I grew up in a house full of clocks (referring to his father’s six win at the track) so it’s been pretty elusive.” The Grandfather Clock trophy the track is famous for, has become a symbol of accomplishment for drivers.

Earnhardt Jr. has performed well at Martinsville, but has never had every ingredient at the right time to score the victory. Earnhardt commented, “We have had some good cars in the past here that I‘ve felt like could have won races and we just weren’t able to get the job done for whatever reason, somebody was faster or whatever.”

Earnhardt Jr. has 28 starts at Martinsville, and coming into this weekend, has accumulated 15 top-10 finishes, ten top-five finishes and has led 868 laps.

Earnhardt Jr.’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, have been very successful at Martinsville. Gordon has eight wins and 34 top-10’s in 42 starts. Johnson also has eight wins and has scored 21 top-10’s in just 24 starts, including a win in the spring race last year. When asked what he takes from them to apply to his set-up at Martinsville, Earnhardt Jr. responded, “We use a program called dart fish where basically it overlaps my lap with another car. Maybe we look at the guys who sat on the pole or qualified in the top three and then look at my qualifying lap. I can do that for last year, the year before, we can go as far back pretty much as we want and see what the guys are doing differently.” He continued, “As far as my teammates go I’m out on the track with them. I know their tendencies and it depends on how their car is driving and how their car is handling as to how they are going to run, drive the corner and approach each corner.”

Earnhardt has come close to winning several times at Martinsville. He talked about the one that “got away,” saying, “I think you look at all of them and see how close you came. We flat got out ran by Kevin (Harvick) that one year in ’11. I thought we had it. I thought we were going to be fine once we got out front , but he was just so fast. I tried to get under him in three and four but he didn’t have a bumper left to move. I went in there to shove him a little bit and everything on that corner of his car was gone.”

Shoving and moving are many times a necessity at the famed half-mile. Given the new rules implemented for this season, aggression may be more prevalent than ever. Earnhardt has always been a smooth and consistent driver. He is not known for being aggressive. He has already visited victory lane this season and almost found it a second time with an aggressive strategy call. The renewed vigor that Earnhardt is showing, coupled with NASCAR’s new rules that reward winning, may be the final pieces of the puzzle that he needs to begin filling his home with clocks… just like his dad.

March 28, 2014
Three drivers set to make debut in Kroger 250

Each year Martinsville Speedway is the first event on the schedule in which a young (under age 18) rookie driver, looking to make their first start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, can hit the track. NASCAR rules states that drivers under age of 18 cannot make a start in a national touring series race on tracks longer than 1.25 miles. Due to that fact, the .526 mile nestled in Southern Virginia plays host to many debut races for many of NASCAR’s up and coming stars.

Saturday’s Kroger 250 is no exception. This weekend, three drivers will make their Camping World Truck Series debut – Gray Gaulding, Ben Rhodes, and Cole Custer.

Rhodes announced this week that he has signed with Turner-Scott Motorsports to compete in five races this season driving the No. 32 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet. He is fresh off two dominating performances in the K&N Pro Series East, where he also drives for Turner-Scott. The first, at Bristol, where he led every lap with the exception of the last two, and then a win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway this past weekend.

Rhodes has a dynamic personality and will be a great fit for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He will also be competing at Dover, Bristol, the fall race at Martinsville, and Phoenix.

Gaulding, who also competes full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, recently he announced he has signed with NTS Motorsports for eight races during the 2014 season driving the No. 20, Gemini Southern/Krispy Kreme Chevrolet.

Gaulding has also been competing full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, where this season he has scored three top-10’s in four starts driving the Krispy Kreme Chevrolet. He is currently sitting third in series points. Similar to Rhodes, Gaulding also has a dynamic personality. His experience on tracks similar to Martinsville should allow him to adapt quickly. He will be driving the No. 20, Gemini Southern/Krispy Kreme Chevrolet.

Custer will be driving the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet this weekend. Custer competed full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2013, where he scored two wins,and became the youngest winner in series history. He also made one start this season at Bristol where he finished 14^th. Custer is the son of Joe Custer, an Executive at Stewart-Hass Racing.

Martinsville Speedway, already home to arguably some of the best Camping World Truck Series racing, should be even more exciting this weekend with the addition of these three very talented drivers.

The green will fall on the Kroger 250 at 2:30pm local time on Saturday.

March 28, 2014