April 1, 2007
- No driver yet for #45 when Petty does TV: Kyle Petty comments about a driver during his TNT Sabbatical: “A couple of guys are really good choices, and guys are calling and wanting to know what we’re going to do and we really don’t know yet. That was kind of the way we planned it. Just like I said at Daytona, there might be guys out here in the garage area that are fired by the time we get there that would be great for two races or one race or five races. We’re really not any closer to that than we were.”(Clear!Blue/Dodge Motorsports PR)(4-1-2007)
- Johnson wins at Martinsville: #48-Jimmie Johnson won the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway for his 3rd [in 6 races] win of the 2007 season and 26th career win. Johnson and teammate #24-Jeff Gordon fought the last five laps, beating and banging the final lap, with Johnson winning by a few feet. Finishing third was #11-Hamlin, #5-Busch, #8-Earnhardt Jr., #31-Burton, #20-Stewart, #10-Riggs, #26-McMurray and #17-Kenseth. #24-Gordon maintains the points lead by 28 pts over #31-Burton. There were 13 cautions for 93 laps and 9 drivers lead the race with 14 lead changes.
Race Results on my Bristol Race Results/Awards Page.
Points Standings on my Drivers/Owners Points after Bristol page
Race Rundown: see my Bristol Race Info/Rundown Page for my race rundown page, laps led, top 10, race notes, lucky dogs and more.(4-1-2007) - Unofficial Driver Points Top-12 Standing after Martinsville [6 of 36 races]:
#24-Jeff Gordon 966
#31-Jeff Burton 938 -28
#48-Jimmie Johnson 906 -60
#17-Matt Kenseth 836 -130
#5-Kyle Busch 804 -162
#11-Denny Hamlin 776 -190
#07-Clint Bowyer 751 -215
#20-Tony Stewart 726 -240
#99-Carl Edwards 710 -256
#29-Kevin Harvick 687 -279
#8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 677 -289
#26-Jamie McMurray 650 -316
some noteables:
#9-Kasey Kahne is 34th
For drivers/owners points, see my Jayski’s Drivers/Owners Points Page.(4-1-2007) - Martinsville Penalty Report:
Car#, Penalty, Reason, Issued
1 #7 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 90
2 #7 TE Commitment Line Violation 90
3 #18 OL Car/truck pitting out of the assigned pit box 92
4 #36 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 217
5 #66 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 218
6 #66 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 245
7 #7 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 306
8 #16 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 337
9 #00 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 338
10 #7 TE Excessive speed – Exiting pits 339
11 #16 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 358
12 #1 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 359
13 #40 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 360
14 #43 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 360
15 #44 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 424
16 #00 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 425
17 #29 TE Pitting before Pit Road is Open 428
PT – Pass through
TE – Tail end of the longest line
SG – Stop and Go
OL – One lap
ND – NASCAR discretion
MCI – Must come into pits
(Provided by NASCAR Statistics)(4-1-2007) - Rumblings – Martinsville Race Notes:
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon had a ding-dong battle the final 18 laps today at Martinsville Speedway and Johnson prevailed by .065 seconds over his teammate/car owner in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. We witnessed a fine display of rubbing without wrecking the last 10 laps or so….and it was about as good as it gets on a short-track. This was the third win of the season for Johnson, the 26th of his Nextel Cup career (he’s now tied for 22nd all-time with the Golden Boy Fred Lorenzen), the 153rd for Hendrick Motorsports, and was worth $198,736. They’re now 4 for 6 on the season, btw. That Chevy Charge netted them the top seven spots! NASCAR and the Crew Chiefs are gonna have their work cut out for ’em with the C-O-T. Right front tire problems, brake heat problems, smoldering door foam problems, fuel pump cable problems…..it reads like a weekend to-do list. Tho the cable problems seem to be more of a Chevy deal, you can bet every crew chief is gonna run those thangs till they drop the next two weeks. Don’t ever forget race fans….it’s 14 years today we lost a Champion, Alan Kulwicki.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (5th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Atlanta last October.
Scott Riggs (8th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Homestead last November.
Ricky Rudd (13th) had his best finish since he was 13th at Texas in November of 2005.
Ken Schrader (19th) had his best finish since he was 13th at Kansas last October.
STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
Jeff Burton has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
Jimmie Johnson has 4 Top-5’s in the last 5 races.
Kyle Busch has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
Tony Stewart has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
Matt Kenseth has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Matt Kenseth (+23), followed by Kyle Petty (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Kevin Harvick (-35), followed by Jeremy Mayfield (-27), David Gilliland (-23), and Johnny Sauter (-21). Here we are six races into the season and we’ve only had 7 different drivers lead both ends of the “Shaft” this year.
Surprisingly there was no movement in the Top-35 in Owner Points this week, but we sure had a lot of shuffling underneath that line. Ken Schrader and the #21 team now hold down 36th just nine markers out of the high rent district with Scott Riggs and the #10 team just 28 points out of the exemption zone.
No change in the Top-4 in Driver Points….Jeff Gordon has stretched his lead to 28 over Jeff Burton. Dale Earnhardt Jr (17th to 11th) made the best move forward today while the absent Mark Martin (7th to 15th) and Bobby Labonte (14th to 22nd) fell the most spots.(see full report at stock car fans.com)(4-1-2007) - Martinsville Speedway – Fast Facts
.. Jimmie Johnson won the Goody’s Cool Orange 500, posting his 26th victory in 189 Nextel Cup Series races.
.. This is Johnson’s third victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2007.
.. This is Johnson’s third victory and 10th top-10 finish in 10 races at Martinsville.
.. Johnson has won at least three race in each of the six Nextel Cup Series seasons since he posted his career-first victory in 2002.
.. Jeff Gordon finished second giving Hendrick Motorsports its second 1-2 finish of the season. The most recent 1-2 finish for Hendrick was Las Vegas when Johnson also won and Gordon finished second.
.. Gordon has finished second in three of the six races this season and his only finish outside the top-10 was 12th at Atlanta.
.. This is the seventh victory for Hendrick Motorsports in the past nine Martinsville races.
.. David Ragan (15th) was the highest finishing rookie, followed closely by Juan Pablo Montoya in 16th.
.. Chevrolet finished in the top-seven positions, the best finish by a manufacturer since Ford captured the top-seven positions at Las Vegas in the inaugural race there in 1998. That 1-7 sweep also occurred on April 1st. It was the best finishing sweep for Chevrolet since they took the top-nine positions at Darlington on April 13, 1980.(NASCAR Statistics)(4-1-2007) - Kevin Hamlin Racing at Evergreen Speedway Saturday: For Snohomish [Washington] native and NASCAR Busch Series driver Kevin Hamlin, returning to Evergreen Speedway to compete in tonight’s season-opening Speedway Chevrolet 125 will be doubly sweet. First, there is the return to his racing roots on the track where he was named rookie of the year in 1997. Second – and perhaps more important from his perspective – he’ll be racing competitively for the first time this season. Hamlin, whose first Busch race is slated for April 7 in Nashville, is sharing driving duties in the #42 car with Juan Pablo Montoya.(The Daily Herald)(3-31-2007)
UPDATE: Hamlin started from the pole and won the Speedway Chevrolet 125.(KevinHamlin.com)(4-1-2007)
- No Plans for Car of Tomorrow For Busch: While the Nextel Cup Series made its switch to the Car of Tomorrow, the Busch Series continued to race with traditional stock cars. Busch Series cars will continue to have rear spoilers and front air dams, not wings and a scoop-like splitter. NASCAR plans to carry some of the safety issues with the Car of Tomorrow — side crush panels and a more-centered seat location — to Busch Series cars, but it doesn’t have any plans to switch to rear wings and the front splitter. “There’s a little separation between the two series and we like that,” said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston. “Right now, we’re not talking about taking the Car of Tomorrow, other than the safety things, to the Busch Series. We like the rear spoiler over there.” NASCAR is moving quickly to remove any advantage for teams to use the Busch Series as a testing ground for Nextel Cup.(Blue Springs Examiner)(4-1-2007)
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