April 2, 2017
- Race Recap: Brad Keselowski ends Ford drought with Martinsville victory: In Sunday’s STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, everything worked – but nothing more than Brad Keselowski’s race-winning No. 2 Ford. Yes, that’s right, a Ford. The car maker found Victory Lane at the .526-mile short track for the first time since Oct. 20, 2002, when Kurt Busch won at NASCAR’s oldest and smallest premier series track in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Keselowski and runner-up Kyle Busch swapped the lead during the final 64-lap green-flag run, with Busch taking the point on Lap 444 of 500, and Keselowski powering back past Busch’s No. 18 Toyota on Lap 458. From that point, Keselowski pulled away to win by 1.806 seconds, as Busch lost the long-run speed he had demonstrated for most of the afternoon.[More](4-2-2017)
- Keselowski wins at Martinsville: #2-Brad Keselowski won the STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway for his 2nd win of the season, 1st win at Martinsville, and 23rd career win.
Keselowski led 120 of the 500 laps. He and #18-Busch swapped the lead back and for throughout the final 100 laps, but Keselowski pulled away at the end to win by 1.8 seconds.
#18-Busch held on for second, followed by #24-Elliott, #22-Logano, #2-Dillon, #47-Allmendinger, #14-Bowyer, #31-Newman, #20-Kenseth, and #17-Stenhouse, Jr.
Pole sitter #42-Larson led the first 23 laps, but fell back into the pack, lost a lap, got the free pass and settled for a 17th place finish.
#24-Elliott led at the end of stage 2 and held on for 3rd place.
#78-Truex, Jr. led at the end of the first stage, but finished 16th after a spin.
There were 19 lead changes among 6 drivers and 14 cautions for 95 yellow flag laps.
The average speed was 70.139mph.
Scheduled Race Re-Airs: Monday, April 3 at 9:30am/et on FS2; Tuesday, April 4 at 6:00 am/et on FS1
See unofficial race results, awards, laps led, cautions and more at:
Unofficial Race Results page (pdf)
Penalty Report (pdf)
Cumulative Report (pdf).
(4-2-2017) - Race Fast Facts – Martinsville:
Brad Keselowski won the 68th Annual STP 500, his 23rd victory in 275 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2017.
This is his first victory and ninth top-10 finish in 15 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Kyle Busch (second) posted his 13th top-10 finish in 24 races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2017.
Chase Elliott (third) posted his first top-10 finish in four races at Martinsville Speedway.
Erik Jones (12th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 4 points over Chase Elliott.
(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(4-2-2017) - Top-Ten Stage 2 Results (lap 260) of the STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway (lap 260/500):
#24-Elliott, 10pts
#18-Busch, 9pts
#2-Keselowski, 8pts
#48-Johnson, 7pts
#21-Blaney, 6pts
#88-Earnhardt, Jr., 5pts
#20-Kenseth, 4pts
#77-Jones, 3pts
#6-Bayne, 2pts
#5-Kahne, 1pt - Top-Ten Stage 1 Results (lap 130) of the STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway (lap 130/500):
#78-Truex, Jr, 10pts
#11-Hamlin, 9pts
#18-Busch, 8pts
#2-Keselowski, 7pts
#24-Elliott, 6pts
#42-Larson, 5pts
#21-Blaney, 4pts
#48-Johnson, 3pts
#3-Dillon, 2pts
#14-Bowyer, 1pt - 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Driver Chase Standings:
[after Martinsville, race 6 of 36]
1) #42-Kyle Larson [1 win], 268
2) #24-Chase Elliott, 264, -4
3) #78-Martin Truex Jr [1 win], 236, -32
4) #2-Brad Keselowski [2 wins], 234, -34
5) #22-Joey Logano, 207, -61
6) #18-Kyle Busch, 199, -80
7) #21-Ryan Blaney, 179, -89
8) #14-Clint Bowyer, 174, -94
9) #1-Jamie McMurray, 163, -105
10) #4-Kevin Harvick, 154, -114
11) #31-Ryan Newman [1 win], 152, -116
12) #5-Kasey Kahne, 146, -122
13) #77-Erik Jones, 144, -124
14) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 141, -127
15) #6-Trevor Bayne,140, -128
16) #11-Denny Hamlin, 139, 129
19) #41-Kurt Busch [1 win], 119, -149
See the Unofficial Drivers Points Standings page (pdf) and
Unofficial Owners Points Standings page (pdf) - First NASCAR race ever in 4K at Martinsville: AT&T’s DirecTV announced it will deliver the first NASCAR race ever in 4K on Apri 2, 2017, when it teams with Fox Sports to produce and televise the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from Martinsville Speedway. The race, which is scheduled for 2:00pm/et, will be available in 4K on DirecTV’s live 4K channel, channel 106. [More](4-2-2017)
- Sad News – Sam Ard: Two-time NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Sam Ard passed away Sunday, April 2. The Asheboro, North Carolina, native was 78. Ard had compiled an impressive record in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Series before that circuit was retooled and renamed in 1982. In the series that today is known as the XFINITY Series, Ard scored 22 victories and won titles in 1983 and ’84. [More](4-2-2017)
- XFINITY, Truck banquet moving to Charlotte: NASCAR’s lower-tier national series will be feting their champions at a slightly later date in a new location this season. NBC Sports has learned the awards ceremony for the Xfinity and Camping World Truck series will be moved to Charlotte in December this year after a run of several years in South Florida on the day after the Cup Series season finale. [More](4-2-2017)
- Goldberg serving as the pace car driver at Bristol: Goldberg will drive the official Chevy pace car prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, April 23. The wrestling legend served as host of Bristol’s fan favorite driver intros during the last two April race weekends.[More](4-2-2017)
- Advance priced ticket sales for Talladega end soon: Only a week remains for NASCAR fans to save up to $10 with Advanced Pricing for Talladega Superspeedway’s May 5-7 race weekend, featuring the three exciting races – the GEICO 500, Sparks Energy 300, and General Tire 200.[More](4-2-2017)
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