March 28, 2014
- Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the STP 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway have been made.
Pole sitter #18-Busch chose pit stall 1 [as do most pole sitters].
Outside pole sitter #11-Hamlin took pit stall 10, with an opening behind it.
#22-Logano, who starts 3rd took the 2nd pitstall.
The 43rd and final pit stall was taken by #55-Vickers, who starts 13th.
To see where the drivers/teams pit stall is, see the pit selection chart on the Pit Stall Selection chart.(3-28-2014)
- Kyle Busch wins Martinsville pole: ##18-Kyle Busch won the pole for the STP 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway with speed of 99.674mph for his 1st pole of 2014, 1st at Martinsville and 14th of his career.
#11-Hamlin is on the outside pole, followed by #22-Logano, #48-Johnson, #24-Gordon, #20-Kenseth, #14-Stewart, #99-Edwards, #1-McMurray, #10-Patrick, #16-Biffle, and #15-Bowyer.
So far this season, #48-Johnson and #22-Logano are the only drivers to make it to the final round in all races featuring knockout qualifying.
The fastest driver in the first qualifying session was #22-Logano with a speed of 100.201mph which is a new track record.
Missing the race was: #35-Reutimann.
See the full starting lineup, qualifying results & order on the Martinsville Starting Lineup / Qualifying Page.(3-28-2014)
- Qualifying Fast Facts – Martinsville:
Kyle Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 65th Annual STP 500 with a lap of 18.998 seconds, 99.674 mph. With a first-round speed of 100.201 mph (18.898 seconds), Joey Logano set the track qualifying record. The previous record was set by Denny Hamlin on Oct. 25, 2013 (99.595 mph/19.013 seconds).
This is his 14th pole in 335 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and third top-10 start in 2014. Busch now has scored one Coors Light Pole in seven consecutive seasons.
This is his first pole in 19 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Denny Hamlin (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2014 and his 11th in 17 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Joey Logano (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway. It is his fifth in six races this season.
Alex Bowman (19th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(3-28-2014)
- Hamlin discusses issue with eye at Fontana: Friday at Martinsville Speedway, #11-Denny Hamlin talked about the series of events that caused him to set out the race at Auto Club Speedway:
“I literally thought on Friday that I was starting to get a sty. It happened sometime during practice whether it came in through the car or through the air conditioning unit through the helmet — something, it came in through somewhere, but I don’t remember the exact time when it happened. Friday evening I definitely felt an agitation right in the corner to my upper eyelid so I thought I was getting a sty because it just felt like one. Then Saturday, I woke up and it was a little worse. I ran through practice and vision was fine, but just a lot of watering and I didn’t see any swelling of the eyelid so I knew it wasn’t a sty at that point. I didn’t go to the infield care center until late on Saturday. Me and my girlfriend went to the mall — we were shopping around and it was bothering me so much that I contacted one of the NASCAR liaisons and asked if anyone was still at the infield care center. They said they would wait on me so they waited on me. They looked at it, they dyed it, they put it under a black light — didn’t see any scratches, didn’t see anything in the eye.
Immediately we started trying to figure out what would be causing it if there’s nothing in it. The only thing I could think of is I was starting to actually get a little stuffy on my left hand side of my face and my nose was running a little bit. I mentioned to them in trying to cover all the possibilities that I showed them a CT scan from January where I had a really, really bad sinus infection — it was the worst the doctor has ever seen and Dr. Petty has been around a really, really long time.
So the only other option, I went to bed Saturday night, woke up Sunday and felt twice as worse — pain was twice as worse and vision was slightly impaired over where it was Saturday. So I stayed in the infield care center for a couple hours and we tried to go over all the possibilities of what it could be and really since they didn’t see anything in it, the only thing we could do was get an optometrist to come to the race track, which it was too late into the day for that, it was too late for me to go to one and come back in time so everyone came to an agreement that the best thing for me was to go to the hospital and get scanned in case.
There’s tons of different possibilities, whether it be a blood clot — anything that affects because there’s more to it, but any time wind would hit my eye it would shoot a pain right to my temple so they thought that there was something really bad going on behind the eye that they didn’t have the equipment in the infield care center — you need some pretty — you need to get a CT scan. By the time I got to the hospital and the optometrist came in with her microscope, saw the metal, got it out — a portion of it, she couldn’t get the rust out she said — it would need a couple more days for that to harden to get out. Once the metal came out, I felt a lot better. We went home, the CT scan showed that I was perfectly clear on the sinus part of it.
Long story short, it won’t keep me from going to the infield care center at any point. I wanted to race of course, no matter what. I felt like if I was going to be a liability I would have pulled myself during the race, but there’s protocols that we have to go through and it’s not just my safety that has got to be taken into account. We’re racing around other guys and that’s one of the fastest tracks we go to. What if I caused a wreck early on? I don’t need to be a liability out there and obviously with this new format we hardly lost anything in points.”(Toyota Racing PR)(3-29-2014)
- Teams honor Lynda Petty at Martinsville: As the Petty family remembers the life of Lynda Petty on Friday, the NASCAR community is paying respect to the long-time wife of Richard Petty, who lost her life on Tuesday. For this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway, Richard Petty Motorsports handed out commemorative stickers honoring Lynda to all the teams in the garage to place on their cars if they choose. Along with the commemorative stickers, the team has developed the hashtag #WinForMissLynda and hope to get it trending on Twitter. RPM also has Petty blue ribbons available in the garage for those that would like to remember the ‘First Lady of NASCAR.’ While Richard Petty will not be at the track this weekend, Martinsville Speedway is will honor the Petty family with NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Inman serving as grand marshal for Sunday’s race. ‘The King’ was scheduled to fill that role before Lynda’s passing earlier this week. Aric Almirola’s crew chief Trent Owens, nephew of Richard and Lynda Petty, will not be at the track on Friday, but is scheduled to return for Sunday’s race. In an almost fitting course of events, Sunday’s race at Martinsville is the STP 500, and the #43 team is running a throwback paint scheme similar to the one run by Richard Petty in his final years in the sport.(FoxSports)(3-28-2014)
- Friday practice: for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway is over after 90 scheduled minutes. The top 5, slowest, and notes:
#11-Hamlin 100.021
#22-Logano 99.313
#20-Kenseth 99.173
#15-Bowyer 99.147
#14-Stewart 99.126
slowest: #66-Nemechek 95.961 & #7-Annett 94.784.
All 44 drivers practiced.
Notes:
Qualifying is scheduled for 4:40pm/et and will be shown on FoxSports 1
See the speeds, laps run, 10-lap averages on the Martinsville Practice 1 speeds page.(3-28-2014)
- Qualifying Order for the STP 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway is posted. 44 cars/drivers are listed. This is the order drivers can go through inspection.
The first of the drivers listed is #14-Stewart.
The final driver scheduled to is #17-Stenhouse, Jr..
Qualifying order is set by a random draw about an hour before the first practice.
See the full qualifying order on the Martinsville Qualifying Page.(3-28-2014)
- NASCAR Unveils Air Titan 2.0: NASCAR introduced an evolution in innovation – the results of which will continue to elevate a fan’s race-viewing experience to an even greater level. The Toyota-hauled next generation of Air Titan, the cutting-edge track-drying technology, made its race weekend debut at Martinsville Speedway today. Air Titan 2.0 is a more compact, more nimble and more environmentally friendly version of its innovative predecessor – one that since its introduction in February 2013 has rescued multiple races, including this year’s Daytona 500. Air Titan 2.0 signals a major step forward in NASCAR’s innovation cycle. It replaces the bulky support vehicles required by Air Titan 1.0 with a single, self-contained unit that’s perched on the bed of a Toyota Tundra. By addressing the size of the power source, NASCAR now has the ability to deploy up to 21 units in Toyota Tundras at larger venues and operate more efficiently on smaller tracks. The Air Titan 2.0 more than triples the blade capacity of the original version and deliver 2.6 times more air volume at a speed of 568 mph, while raising the air temperature by 70 degrees over ambient. With the combination of water removal and accelerated evaporation, the ultimate goal is to reduce track-drying time by 80 percent. Air Titan 2.0 will consume nearly 80 percent less fuel and emit 80 percent less carbon dioxides. Air Titan 2.0 works in conjunction with the Eco-Infused Elgin Track Vacuum/Sweeper and existing jet dryers. In coordination with the roll out of the Air Titan 2.0, Elgin has now become the Official Sweeper of NASCAR Green.(NASCAR)(3-29-2014)
- Another wet NASCAR weekend? The National Weather Service calls for the possibility of wet weather at Martinsville Speedway Friday and Saturday, although Sunday’s forecast looks good. The current forecast as of Friday morning:
Friday: Showers likely, mainly between 11am and 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 61.Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday Night: Rain likely, mainly after 1:00am. Cloudy, with a low around 51. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Saturday: Occasional rain, with thunderstorms also possible after 3:00pm. High near 60. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Sunday: A slight chance of showers before noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 58. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
See more weather links on the Martinsville Race Page – weather section.(3-28-2014)
- New sponsor on the #95: The #95 Ford Fusion team will sport the red, white and blue colors this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where the Triangle Office Equipment logo will adorn the hood and quarter panels of the car. Triangle Office Equipment is a family owned company based in Chapel Hill, NC, that offers a full line of office furniture and architectural products. Triangle Office Equipment furniture is in the Leavine Family Racing front office and throughout the team facilities.(Leavine Family Racing)(3-28-2014)
- 30th anniversary of Hendrick’s first win: 30TH ANNIVERSARY: In 2014, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 30th anniversary in NASCAR. The organization began in 1984 with five employees and 5,000 square feet of work space. It has grown to more than 500 employees with a 430,000-square-foot facility that sits on 140 acres. Driver Geoff Bodine won the Martinsville Speedway spring race on April 29, 1984, marking Hendrick Motorsports’ first victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.(Hendrick Motorsports)(3-28-2014)
- Steve Waid Joins PopularSpeed.com: Nine months ago, PopularSpeed.com was launched and in that time has successfully found a niche that balances NASCAR news, exclusive content and pointed editorials. Growing rapidly over this time, their success lies within the staff. Now, Popular Speed has announced the latest addition to their growing executive staff. SteveWaid has joined the team and will immediately assume the role of Features and Opinions Editor. Waid, a former President of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), has covered NASCAR for more than four decades. He is a past winner of the organization’s George Cunningham Writer of the Year award, and in 1989 was presented the Henry T. McLemore Award for distinguished service in the field of motorsports journalism.(Popular Speed)(3-28-2014)
- Hornaday fastest in final practice: #30- Ron Hornaday, Jr. was fastest in final practice for the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway with a speed of 96.171 mph. He was followed by #00-Cole Custer, #32-Ben Rhodes, #20-Gray Gaulding, #98-Johnny Sauter, #21-Joey Coulter, #29-Ryan Blaney, #54-Darrell Wallace, Jr., #7-Brian Ickler, and #8-John Hunter Nemechek. 34 drivers practiced during the session. See complete results on the Martinsville practice 2 speeds page (pdf).(3-28-2014)
- Wallace fastest in first practice: #54-Darrell Wallace, Jr. was fastest during opening practice at Martinsville Speedway with a speed of 96.662 mph. #29-Ryan Blaney was second, followed by #17-Timothy Peters, #51-Erik Jones, #31-Ben Kennedy, #7-Brian Ickler, #77-German Quiroga, #30-Ron Hornaday, Jr., #00-Cole Custer, and #88-Matt Crafton. 37 drivers practiced during the session. See complete results on the Martinsville practice 1 speeds page (pdf).(3-28-2014)
- Sieg scales back schedule: The #39 RSS Racing team has turned its focus to the Nationwide Series where the team currently sits 15th in owner points. RSS Racing is still planning a part time truck schedule with Ryan Sieg going forward.(RSS Racing)(3-28-2014)
- Night race for New Hampshire? In response to a question on Twitter, New Hampshire Motor Speedway General Manager Jerry Gappens tweeted Thursday evening, Hey @DaleJr @Greenie9374, @nhms is working w/ @NASCAR & @NASCARonNBC on possibility of night racing for 2015. #NewEngland fans would love it.(3-28-2014)
- April 6-13 is “Darlington Race Week” in South Carolina: The week of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500, April 6-13, 2014, has been named “Darlington Raceway Week, a Week Too Tough To Tame” after the South Carolina Senate and House of Representatives passed a concurrent Resolution. The famed track’s 65-year history is a major reason that the South Carolina Senate and House of Representatives passed the concurrent Resolution, led by state Senator Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville. The Resolution outlines the historical significance of Darlington Raceway and addresses the role the track played in building the foundation of what has become one of the largest spectator sports in the country. Bojangles’ Southern 500 race week will shift into high-gear on Wednesday, April 9, with the 10th annual Darlington Car Hauler Parade making its way from the Florence Civic Center through the Darlington Square and finishing at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”(Darlington Raceway)(3-28-2014)
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