April 3, 2016
- Kyle Busch wins at Martinsville: #18-Kyle Busch won the STP 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway for his 1st win of the season, 1st win at Martinsville Speedway and 35th career win. He led the most laps – 352 of 500 laps.
#47-Allmendinger finished 2nd, followed by #42-Larson, #3-Dillon, #2-Keselowski, #19-Edwards, #14-Vickers, #27-Menard, #49-Johnson, and #31-Newman.
Pole winner, #22-Logano, lost a lap early but got back on the lead lap and finished 11th.
There were 11 lead changes among 5 drivers and 8 cautions for 51 yellow flag laps.
The average speed was 80.088mph.
See unofficial race results, awards, laps led, cautions and more [NOTE: money/winnings are no longer reported] at:
Unofficial Race Results page (pdf)
Lap Summary Report (pdf)
Penalty Report (pdf)
Pit Stop Times (pdf)
(4-3-2016)
- Race Fast Facts – Martinsville:
Kyle Busch won the 67th Annual STP 500, his 35th victory in 396 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2016. With the win, Busch is virtually guaranteed a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
This is his first victory and 11th top-10 finish in 22 races at Martinsville Speedway. His previous best finish was second, in 2012.
Busch, who won Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, completed the first NASCAR national series weekend sweep at Martinsville.
Busch led 352 laps, the most at Martinsville since Bobby Hamilton led 378 on April 20, 1998.
AJ Allmendinger (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish and second runner-up finish in 16 races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his second top-10 finish in 2016.
Kyle Larson (third) posted his first top-10 finish in five races at Martinsville Speedway.
Kevin Harvick leads the point standings by 4 points over Jimmie Johnson.
(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(4-3-2016)
- 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Points (not CHASE) Standings:
[after Martinsville, race 6 of 36]
1) #4-Harvick [1 win], 220
2) #48-Johnson [2 wins], 216, -4
3) #18-Busch, [1 win], 215, -5
4) #19-Edwards, 206, -14
5) #22-Logano, 196, -24
6) #2-Keselowski [1 win], 178, -42
7) #3-Dillon, 176, -44
8) #41-Busch, 176, -44
9) #11-Hamlin [1 win], 172, -48
10) #88-Earnhardt Jr., 172, -48
See the Unofficial Drivers Points Standings page (pdf) and
Unofficial Owners Points Standings page (pdf)
- 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup CHASE Standings:
[after Martinsville, race 6 of 36, 16 drivers for the Chase]
Set by most wins, then by points standing
1) #48-Johnson [2 wins], 2nd in drivers pts
2) #4-Harvick [1 win], 1st
3) #18-Busch [1 win], 3rd
4) #2-Keselowski [1 win], 6th
5) #11-Hamlin [1 win], 9th
no wins, in by drivers points standings
6) #19-Edwards, 206 points
7) #22-Logano, 196
8) #3-Dillon, 176
9) #41-Busch, 176
10) #88-Earnhardt Jr., 172
11) #78-Truex, Jr., 150
12) #47-Allmendinger, 147
13) #1-McMurray, 143
14) #20-Kenseth, 140
15) #21-Blaney, 132
16) #24-Elliott, 131
(4-3-2016)
- Vickers unsure of plans after Texas; looking at Indy 500: Brian Vickers doesn’t know how much he will race in 2016 beyond next week. He could have more races as a substitute for Tony Stewart. Or he could find himself competing in the Indianapolis 500. That could be unsettling for some drivers. For a driver who has been sidelined four times by the effects of blood clots, Vickers can handle fluid situations. “I don’t know what the future holds,” Vickers said Friday at Martinsville Speedway. “I’ve stopped trying to guess what the future holds. I’ve stopped trying to plan what the future holds. It’s always fluid. It’s always challenging. I just live in the present. I want a good run because I want a good run. Maybe I’ve got another 500 starts. Maybe I’ve got two. But I really approach it like this is going to be my last one.”
Vickers has competed in three races this year as a substitute for the injured Stewart with a best finish of 13th at Auto Club Speedway two weeks ago. He gets his fourth start Sunday and will get one next week at Texas. He’s unsure on the schedule after that as Ty Dillon has shared the substitute role and Stewart continues to recover from a broken back.
Vickers isn’t just looking at future stock-car rides. He is working to put together a deal to run in the Indianapolis 500. “It’s still a possibility,” Vickers said. “We’ll see. Nothing is done yet. … I’d love to do it. It would be awesome.”(ESPN.com)(4-3-2016)
- Hamlin says drivers would like to see race winnings published: The introduction of the new charter system – and the subsequent restructuring and distribution of purse money and other revenue streams – caused some feverish preseason reworking of driver contracts. It also caused some hand-wringing among stars who were accustomed to being paid by a percentage of a purse that was posted publicly in every race box score, along with the winnings for each finishing position. Citing the complicated revenue streams, NASCAR discontinued publishing winnings and races purses as part of the new charter system. Five races into the season, Denny Hamlin said concerns have settled about the latter as drivers are being paid as they’d expected, though the contracts vary much more widely than before when virtually every driver drew a defined percentage of the purse as a slice of the overall salary.
Hamlin, though, said drivers would like NASCAR to return to including race winnings in box scores, if only in appealing to fans who grew accustomed to the format. “I think some fans like to see that and us drivers I think we like to see purses posted personally,” Hamlin said.
A NASCAR spokesman said the policy of whether to publish purses currently isn’t being reviewed, but Hamlin believes officials are “considering it. I think if everyone knows what they’re getting, I don’t know what the benefit is from keeping it from the public. I don’t know but there’s probably some sort of reason that I don’t know about.”(NBC Sports)(4-3-2016)
- Martinsville Race Notes & Facts:
� There have been 134 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway, one in the inaugural year and two races per year since 1950.
� 609 drivers have competed in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville; 387 in more than one.
� Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in wins at Martinsville Speedway with 23 – Jeff Gordon (nine), Jimmie Johnson (eight), Darrell Waltrip (four), Geoffrey Bodine (one) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one).
� The deepest in the field that a race winner has started is 36th, by Kurt Busch in the fall of 2002.
� Chevrolet leads series in wins at Martinsville Speedway with 55 victories – including the nine of the last 10 races.
� There have been five NSCS green-white-checkered finishes at Martinsville Speedway: fall 2007 (500/506), fall 2008 (500/504), fall 2009 (500/501), spring 2010 (500/508), and spring 2012 (500/515).
� Since the advent of electronic scoring the closest margin of victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway is the April 1, 2007 race won by Jimmie Johnson with a MOV of 0.065 second.
(NASCAR)
- Derek White Targeted in Tobacco-Smuggling Operation UPDATES: NASCAR driver Derek White was among almost 60 people targeted by Quebec and Ontario police in the biggest tobacco-smuggling bust in North American history, according to law enforcement officials. Authorities said some of the suspects arrested early Wednesday have links to biker gangs and organized crime, buying tobacco in the U.S. and illegally importing it into Canada through three border crossings. The tobacco was ultimately sold on the Kahnawake and Six Nations reserves, according to police. Ingrid Asselin, a spokeswoman for Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force, declined to confirm that the Derek White they arrested is the NASCAR driver. Law enforcement officials, who requested anonymity because of restrictions about commenting beyond the scope of the warrants, said it was the same man. White is listed as one of the top ranking members of the smuggling operation, according to a chart provided by police. Dwayne Zacharie, Kahnawake’s chief peacekeeper, said investigators from Quebec contacted his police force early Wednesday and said they had arrest warrants for three members of the tribe, including NASCAR driver Derek White. Zacharie said his office informed the three suspects of the warrants and told them to contact Quebec police. Lieutenant Jason Allard, spokesman for the Quebec provincial police, said the tobacco operation was tightly organized. It bought shipments of tobacco leaf in North Carolina, trucking them north and reselling them in Canada. Profits from tobacco were used to purchase cocaine, and some of the money was laundered abroad, in Europe, he said. The tobacco shipments were not declared at the border and disclosed to government officials, thereby avoiding taxes and allowing the cigarettes to be manufactured and sold for less money.(Bloomberg)(3-30-2016
UPDATE: NASCAR driver/owner Derek White turned himself into authorities Wednesday and faces seven charges in connection to the biggest tobacco-smuggling bust in North American history, NBC Sports has learned. Sgt. Daniel Thibaudeau of the Quebec Provincial Police told NBC Sports that White was being interrogated Wednesday. White, who turned himself in after learning of an arrest warrant in his name, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday night. Thibaudeau said that the seven charges White faces are: Three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud against the government; Three counts of fraud toward the government; One count of profiteering as a criminal organization.(NBC Sports)(4-1-2016)
UPDATE 2: While the [police] tried to highlight the so-called “Aboriginal organized crime” angle of the operation, the agency provided little information to support the claim beyond evidence of tobacco smuggling. Many Mohawks see the tobacco trade as a sovereignty issue and consider the movement and sale of tobacco as a right. The Harper government made the sale and manufacturing of unlicensed tobacco products a Criminal Code offence. It had previously been a tax enforcement issue. Only four individuals ensnared in the operation have so far been linked to a First Nation community. Besides Hill, the SQ named Hunter Montour 45, Todd Beauchamp, 48, and Derek White, 45, who are all from Kahnawake, among the dozens arrested Wednesday. White has been under police surveillance since 2006, according to a previously obtained file from the RCMP’s Aboriginal Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. White was identified by police, but never charged, during the lead-up to Operation Cancun in 2008 which targeted a Mohawk-based marijuana smuggling operation in Kahnawake and Akwesasne, a Mohawk community which straddles the Canada-U.S. border and sits about 120 kilometres west of Montreal. White told Kahnawake’s Eastern Door newspaper in an article published Thursday evening that his charges were all tobacco-related and that he turned himself in. He denied any links to the drug trade. “All it has to do with is with tobacco, it has nothing to do with any of the other stuff they’re making up,” White told the Eastern Door. “I have nothing to do with drugs, or ISIS or terrorism…I have nothing to do with that [stuff], absolutely zero. They want their tax money, that’s all.” (APTN)(4-3-2016)
- Sad News – Ryan Shea: Ryan Shea, car chief for Chip Ganassi Racing’s Xfinity Series team, died overnight, NBC Sports has confirmed. He was 34 years old, according to his Facebook page. According to his LinkedIn page, Shea joined Chip Ganassi Racing in Jan. 2015. He was a car chief/mechanic at Michael Waltrip Racing from 2007-15. Shea began working in NASCAR in Feb. 2001 when he was hired by BAM Racing. He later worked for FitzBradshaw Racing, Carver Racing, ppc Racing and Braun Racing. Kyle Larson and Justin Marks have split time driving the #42 car this season.(NBC Sports)(3-31-2016)
UPDATE: Chip Ganassi Racing is sad to report that Ryan Shea, car chief on the #42 NASCAR XFINITY Series team, passed away last night at his home in Troutman, N.C. “It is a sad day for our team as we mourn the untimely loss of Ryan,” said Chip Ganassi, team owner. “Ryan was a dedicated worker and a great friend to those on our team, as well as others in the garage. Our hearts go out to Ryan’s family and friends during this difficult time.” “Ryan was a tremendous asset to Chip Ganassi Racing and the No. 42 team and will be sorely missed,” said crew chief Mike Shiplett. “My thoughts go out to his wife, children, family and friends in this time of mourning.” Chip Ganassi Racing will communicate further details regarding funeral arrangements and memorials as they become available.(Chip Ganassi Racing)(3-31-2016)
Service / Memorial info at legacy.com.(4-3-2016)
- Terry Labonte to Appear at Kentucky Speedway’s Ford Fan Day: Kentucky Speedway’s Ford Fan Day returns Saturday, April 30 from 11:00am-4:00pm. The free event gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the venue, view the track renovation project while enjoying family oriented activities and a chance to chat with this year’s special guest, 2016 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Terry Labonte. The Texas native and two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will be available for two question-and-answer sessions starting at 12:30pm, with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes, and again at 2:15pm. Both sessions will take place on the stage near the Indiana Tower. Guests will have the opportunity for an autograph at approximately 1:30pm. Limit two items per person and time is subject to change. Guests will be able to tour the spotters stand, flag stand, owner’s suite, press box, and campgrounds. Visitors are able to have their photo taken with the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts trophy when you visit the owner’s suite. Fans can learn more about the track renovations from Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger during the “Ask the GM” question-and-answer session at noon on the stage near the Indiana Tower. Attendees will also have the opportunity to test drive the all-new 2016 Ford F-150.(Kentucky Speedway)(4-3-2016)
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