April 3, 2011
- Harvick wins at Martinsville: #29-Kevin Harvick won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway for his 2nd win of 2011 [and in a row] and 16th win of his career. It is Richard Childress Racing’s first win at Martinsville since Dale Earnhardt won there in 1995.
#88-Earnhardt Jr. finished second followed by #18-Busch, #42-Montoya, #24-Gordon, #17-Kenseth, #1-McMurray [the pole sitter], #6-Ragan, #33-Bowyer and #5-Martin.
There were a record 31 lead changes among 12 drivers; 11 cautions for 72 yellow flag laps. The attendance is listed as 60,000 up a tad from last years 58,000 which was rain delayed until Monday when 40,000 came back to watch the race
Scheduled Race Re-Air: SPEED, Wednesday, April 6 at 12:00pm/et
See race results, awards, laps led and more on Jayski’s Martinsville Race Results/Awards page.(4-3-2011)
- Race Fast Facts – Martinsville:
#29-Kevin Harvick won the 62nd Annual Goody’s Fast Relief 500, his 16th victory in 364 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his second victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2011. This is the second time in his career that Harvick has won consecutive races. The last was September, 2006.
This is his first victory and ninth top-10 finish in 20 races at Martinsville Speedway.
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. (second) posted his 12th top-10 finish in 23 races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2011.
#18-Kyle Busch (third) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 13 races at Martinsville Speedway.
There were 31 lead changes, a new track record. The previous record was 25, set Sept. 28, 1980.(NASCAR Statistics)(4-3-2011)
- 2011 Sprint Cup Driver Championship Points Standings:
[after Martinsville, race 6 of 36]:
rank, car#, driver, points, behind
1) #18-Kyle Busch [1 win], 219
2) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win], 214, -5
3) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 207, -12
4) #22-Kurt Busch, 205, -14
5) #29-Kevin Harvick [2 wins], 204, -15
6) #39-Ryan Newman, 203, -16
7) #42-Juan Montoya, 201, -18
8) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., 199, -20
9) #17-Matt Kenseth, 195, -24
10) #5-Mark Martin, 181, -38
11) #14-Tony Stewart, 180, -39
12) #24-Jeff Gordon [1 win], 170, -49
See drivers championship points standings on Jayski’s Drivers Points Standings page.(4-3-2011)
- Top-35 in Owner Points: going to Texas (after 6 races):
31) #21-Bayne/Wood Bros, 108, +31
32) #78-Smith/FRR, 105, +28
33) #32-Schrader/FAS Lane, 99, +22
34) #7-RGordon/RGM, 91, +14
35) #37-Raines/Front Row, 77, 0 points ahead of 36th
these teams / drivers will need to qualify by speed:
(#71 has best finish of 28th in 2011; #37 has best finish of 25th])
36) #71-Lally/TRG, 77, -0 out of top 35
37) #13-Mears/Germain, 75, -2
38) #36-Blaney/TBR, 72, -5
39) #38-Kvapil/Front Row, 62, -15
For the owner points standings, see my Owners Points Standings page.(4-3-2011)
- Penalty Report – Martinsville:
Car#, Lap, Reason, Penalty
#17, 1, Passing on a start or restart, Pass Thru
#34, 53, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#83, 54, Speed-Exiting pits, Tail of Field
#7, 56, Commitment Line Violation, Tail of Field
#36, 108, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#36, 108, Intentionally causing a caution, Held 2 laps
#9, 176, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#5, 181, Passing on a start or restart, Pass Thru
#71, 205, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#9, 205, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#71, 225, Pitting out of order, Tail of Field
#36, 231, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#9, 233, Pitting out of order, Tail of Field
#47, 236, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#34, 236, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#47, 242, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#47, 242, Removing equipment from assigned pit area, Tail of Field
#14, 247, Passing on a start or restart, Pass Thru
#13, 352, Pitting out of order, Tail of Field
#21, 353, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#1, 353, Lug nut(s) not installed, Must Come In
#39, 372, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#48, 467, Speed-Entering pits, Tail of Filed
(NASCAR Statistics)(4-3-2011)
- Lucky Dogs – Who got a lap back on each caution at Martinsville: (and their finish)
Caution 1: #66-McDowell, 32nd
Caution 2: #none as #36 caused the caution was 1st a lap down
Caution 3: #56-Truex Jr., 40th
Caution 4: #27-Menard, 38th
Caution 5: #22-Busch, 16th
Caution 6: #17-Kenseth, 6th
Caution 7: #32-Schrader, 22nd
Caution 8: #32-Schrader(2), 22nd
Caution 9: #17-Kenseth (2), 6th
Caution 10: #6-Ragan, 8th
Caution 11: none awarded
(4-3-2011)
- Pit Road Times
Martinsville Speedway
Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics
Sun, April 03, 2011 @ 05:34 PM EasternCar# Pit Stops Driver Laps Time Total Seconds Avg Seconds 48 7 Jimmie Johnson 500 05:22.0 322.044 46.006 42 7 Juan Pablo Montoya 500 05:23.2 323.222 46.175 18 7 Kyle Busch 500 05:23.3 323.307 46.187 33 7 Clint Bowyer 500 05:23.4 323.35 46.193 11 7 Denny Hamlin 500 05:29.0 329.015 47.002 24 8 Jeff Gordon 500 05:59.0 359.043 44.88 5 8 Mark Martin 500 06:01.5 361.521 45.19 88 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 500 06:13.4 373.35 46.669 6 8 David Ragan 500 06:22.9 382.867 47.858 1 9 Jamie McMurray 500 06:50.4 410.355 45.595 29 9 Kevin Harvick 500 07:06.3 426.321 47.369 17 13 Matt Kenseth 500 09:55.9 595.95 45.842 00 7 David Reutimann 499 05:30.4 330.373 47.196 99 7 Carl Edwards 499 05:32.7 332.709 47.53 83 8 Brian Vickers 499 06:18.3 378.3 47.288 43 9 A J Allmendinger 499 06:53.8 413.759 45.973 20 10 Joey Logano 499 07:56.8 476.846 47.685 22 11 Kurt Busch 499 09:04.0 544.035 49.458 16 9 Greg Biffle 498 07:00.9 420.894 46.766 2 9 Brad Keselowski 498 07:01.4 421.363 46.818 39 10 Ryan Newman 498 07:56.9 476.924 47.692 32 10 Ken Schrader 497 08:36.4 516.393 51.639 7 11 Robby Gordon 497 09:31.0 571.049 51.914 31 10 Jeff Burton 495 08:21.7 501.725 50.173 09 13 Landon Cassill(i) 493 10:51.7 651.669 50.128 37 13 Tony Raines 493 11:16.5 676.508 52.039 47 14* Bobby Labonte 489 12:51.5 771.5 55.107 71 8* Hermie Sadler(i) 488 08:21.2 501.182 62.648 9 15* Marcos Ambrose 487 17:19.9 1,039.93 69.329 36 11* Dave Blaney 486 10:12.7 612.67 55.697 78 10* Regan Smith 476 08:14.4 494.372 49.437 66 13* Michael McDowell 470 12:14.9 734.923 56.533 34 13* David Gilliland 468 11:11.9 671.868 51.682 14 13 Tony Stewart 462 08:36.6 516.641 39.742 21 11* Trevor Bayne(i) 460 09:46.1 586.072 53.279 13 10* Casey Mears 457 08:16.9 496.912 49.691 38 7 Travis Kvapil(i) 443 05:56.6 356.555 50.936 27 9* Paul Menard 261 09:49.2 589.23 65.47 56 5 Martin Truex Jr. 219 03:55.4 235.445 47.089 4 5 Kasey Kahne 219 03:57.1 237.124 47.425 46 1 JJ Yeley 33 00:47.0 46.95 46.95 * Includes time spent in the garage
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
- added some Martinsville PAINT schemes: #00 Aaron’s Outdoor, #1-WIDIA, #5 Quaker State, #7-Speed Energy / Fast Five, #9-DeWalt, #11-FedEx Ground, #18-Pedigree, #32-VA Mortgage, #36-All Sport, #39-Haas Automation, #46-Whitney Motorsports and #47-Lance Snacks to the PAINT Scheme Gallery
- Brian Keselowski parked, scaling back a bit: #92-Brian Keselowski parked his car for the race in California last week because of a lack of funding but had hoped to make a solid return this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. For a guy trying to get over the March 17 removal of his gallbladder, he had another sick feeling Friday as Dennis Setzer crashed the team’s car and he had to withdraw from the Cup race at Martinsville. He had only four cars before the crash, and now is down to three for the time being. Even before the accident he was unsure whether he would race the next two weeks. As of Friday, he didn’t have a car ready for next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway and he didn’t have an engine for the following week’s race at Talladega. He could end up at both of those races or end up staying home. “I don’t want to go just to go,” Keselowski said Friday prior to practice. “I want to go and make the race, try to be as competitive as we can. … I want to go prepared. Really, there’s no race on the schedule earmarked over another one. It’s pretty much, am I prepared? If I’m prepared, then I’ll go. If I’m not, then I’ll stay home until I am. I don’t have enough money to [just] show up every week.”(SceneDaily)(4-3-2011)
- Tire issues again…this time at Martinsville: For the second time in three weeks, there are tire issues at a half-mile track hosting a Sprint Cup race. Unlike three weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway, where tires wore out in 25 laps or less, Goodyear does not plan to bring in a different compound for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. But there are concerns among the drivers and teams because the surface is not rubbering in and the tires are showing extreme wear after 25 to 35 laps, some sooner. Goodyear officials said they switched compounds for Martinsville because the left-side on the old tire was “graining.” To offset the tougher new left side, they made the right side softer to provide more grip. What they didn’t count on was cooler than normal temperatures — in the mid-40s Friday — that made it tough for heat to build up. They are confident, with warmer conditions expected Sunday, that there will be no issues. Sprint Cup series director John Darby said there is no tire problem. “Here’s what we know: The tire is different than what it was last year. The tire’s not failing,” Darby said. “The tire has some different driveability characteristics that everybody is dealing with. But it’s a combination of a tougher left side and softer ride side, so the cars feel different. It’s hard to make a judgment either way right now. We’ll see what 500 laps of racing does.”(ESPN)(4-3-2011)
- McDowell’s looking to adopt: #66-Michael McDowell and his wife Jami hope that within the next 18 months their family will expand with a child (or more) from Honduras. The couple has a son, 2-year-old Trace. They were seeking to adopt a child from Ethiopia but changes in that country have slowed the process and an opportunity to adopt a child from Honduras arose and they are pursuing that. “Adoption really wasn’t on our minds maybe two years ago, (but) once we saw the need, we almost felt like it would almost be wrong of us to have our own child – that’s how convicted we were, not to say that anybody shouldn’t have a child,” McDowell said. “We just felt so strongly about it, it was what we were supposed to do and we’ve been working on it ever since.” McDowell, who is 26 years old, said he hopes to “help bring awareness, even maybe to our community, of how a great a need there is. See full story, quotes and more at the Virginian Pilot.(4-3-2011)
- Bayne’s Beginning to Feel at Home in Southern Virginia: So far, Trevor Bayne’s first racing adventure on the home turf of his Wood Brothers racing team is going just fine. He and the crew of his #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion are adapting to the tricky Martinsville Speedway, where they’ll start 25th in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500. And he and crew chief Donnie Wingo got a warm welcome from an overflow crowd at the Wood Brothers’ home shop in nearby Stuart on Friday night. “This is really, really cool,” Bayne said of his weekend in southern Virginia. He especially liked the gathering in Stuart, which also featured three generations of the Wood Brothers family, including three original racing brothers Ray Lee, Leonard and Glen, along with their sister Crystal. “We thought we would do a couple hours from 7-9 (p.m.), and we ended up signing autographs until midnight last night for 4,000 fans,” he said. “So it was a really good turnout. It’s awesome to see the hometown support here.”(Wood Brothers Racing)(4-3-2011)
- Ward Burton’s son racing: Jeb Burton’s rise from the Limited Sportsman division to the Late Model Series at South Boston Speedway has come with the guidance of father, Ward Burton [former Cup driver and Daytona 500 champ], and national championship crew chief Neil Perkins. For those around the younger Burton, there isn’t a better group of local short track racing figures to help develop the 18-year-old Halifax County High School senior as he continues to set his sights on advancing in the racing field. Though, the phone conversations he has with his uncle, Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton, are what he enjoy the most as he finally gets a chance to hear from the driver who is still one of the best in the sport. “I talk to him and I ask his advice, I store it in my brain,” Jeb Burton said. “He’ll have time one day to come watch me race and I’m pretty sure he will. … It’s helping me, but I’ve got to help myself. I got to start giving a little bit better information. I’m just trying to get better. I know I can win races and I just want to win races every weekend.” Jeb Burton said he has committed to racing in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown in late April at Richmond International Raceway. That event, which runs on a Thursday, kicks off the racing weekend at RIR and concludes with the Cup Series race Saturday night.(News & Advance)(4-3-2011)
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