Sunday's race was indicative of the adage that "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Previous winners were the frontrunners for much of race, while a former winner (Tony Stewart) captured another Martinsville grandfather clock trophy. The top three finishers (Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson) were all former victors at the half-mile paper clip track. A few newer names made their mark in the Nextel Cup race today as well, most notably the fifth-place finisher Kyle Busch (his first top 5 at Martinsville) and Brian Vickers (in eighth place, who notched his second top 10 of the season and best career finish at the track). Martinsville was clearly a Hendrick-dominated track, with all four team drivers finishing inside the top 10 (Gordon, Johnson, Busch, and Vickers in second, third, fifth, and eighth, respectively).
There were three distinct parts to the story at Martinsville: the beginning, the middle, and the end. The beginning was marked with a number of drivers getting into traffic and doing some damage. The first accident involved high-ranking rookie Clint Bowyer getting tangled in a logjam on the race’s second lap that also caused significant damage to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Robby Gordon. Gordon's car would be the first to retire from the race only a handful of laps later, yet another disappointing finish for him. While Jimmie Johnson led from the opening (and was the race’s polesitter), Jamie McMurray took over the lead on the 28th lap. Shortly thereafter, Tony Stewart took over the lead from McMurray on lap 34 and stayed there for a long time (nearly 200 laps). One of the race favorites – Jeff Gordon – looked to have his race hopes hurt after blowing a tire on lap 89, but, thankfully for him, he was able to avoid hitting the wall and made it to his pit without losing a lap (thanks to pitting while the pits were closed and taking the end-of-lead lap penalty).
The middle of the race was defined by Stewart, who led the most laps in the race (288 laps in total). During this racing mid-section, the cautions were fewer between, although a few notables (such as Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, and Kyle Petty, among others) experienced a combination of problems to hurt their finishes for the day. Despite gains from last week in Bristol, the Petty drivers (Labonte and Petty) were hurt by mechanical failures to have disappointing results once again. Today was also a markedly bad day for Roush Racing, with the only Top 10 finish by Jamie McMurray (9th). Both Biffle and Matt Kenseth were banged up in crashes to finish with poor 31st and 24th place finishes, respectively. Mark Martin and Carl Edwards overcame some racing problems to crack the top 20 but not the top 10 (13th for Martin, to move into second place in the points standings beyond Johnson, and 16th for Edwards, who moved back into the top 20 in the points after the race).
From the mid-point of the race until near the finish, it appeared that Jimmie Johnson was in control of his destiny. He led an impressive 195 laps in total but relinquished the lead for good on lap 475 to Stewart. Jeff Gordon was able to get past his teammate into second place only 10 laps later and appeared to be in position to challenge Stewart for his eighth career win at Martinsville. However, two late cautions -- one for Joe Nemechek on lap 486 and the second for Matt Kenseth on lap 493 (and the red flag to hold the field until three laps were left on the restart) -- seemed to seal the fate of Gordon. On the final restart, the top 5 was holding closely together until Gordon wiggled a bit out of Turn 4 heading towards the white flag. It was Stewart's race to lose at that point, which did not happen for the strong closer.
Tony Stewart collected career win number 25, fourth among active drivers (behind only Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, and Dale Jarrett) and into a tie for 22nd on the all-time wins list (tied with legends Joe Weatherly and Jim Paschal). This is Stewart's second career Martinsville win, with his previous victory in the fall 2000 race.
The points battle had a few shake-ups around the top, with Matt Kenseth slipping out of the top spot (after his late race crash) into third and Jimmie Johnson recapturing the points lead. Kasey Kahne lost two spots as well with his mechanical failure late in the Martinsville race as well. The fifth through seventh spots remained the same (Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon) while Tony Stewart jumped up one spot into eighth. Elliott Sadler found himself back in the top 10 with a top 10 Martinsville finish, while Casey Mears may soon find himself out of the top 10, now in the 10th spot but sliding back five spots over the past few weeks.
Jamie McMurray was the day's biggest points standings gainer, moving seven place higher into 17th ahead of teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards (in 18th and 19th, respectively). Kurt Busch, who found himself much further down in the standings only three races ago, is now in the 14th spot and climbing. Robby Gordon, with his last place finish, was the day's biggest loser, now in 27th place after dropping seven spots. The Petty team suffered casualties on the track and in the standings, with Kyle now in the 26th spot (one spot lower) and Bobby Labonte three spots lower into the dangerous 35th spot (the last guaranteed qualifier into upcoming races). David Stremme, who is having a difficult rookie season, will probably not like the fact that he remains outside the top 35, despite moving up one spot on the day into 37th.
All in all, Martinsville probably lived up to it's typical short-track expectation, although the middle of the race wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the rough-and-tumble beginning and the bumping-and-banging finish. Generally, the driving was much cleaner than at Bristol from last week, while the circuit moves to one of the intermediates (Texas Motor Speedway) next week. Look for the Roush camp to rebound at TMS based on their historical success at the mile and half tracks (including Greg Biffle's win there last year in the spring and Carl Edwards finding victory lane in the fall).
The pieces for the Chase are starting to fall into place, but this race is far from over. Stay tuned.
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