SM Staff

It has been a couple weeks since you have heard from me, and I am excited for my opportunity to spout off my thoughts before tomorrow's STP Gas Booster 500. Martinsville Speedway is one of my favorite stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series each year due to its storied history and true short-track persona.

After suffering through some bad luck last year, Johnny Sauter is off to a strong start in 2013, having now won the first two races of the season. Sauter would take the lead from young Jeb Burton on a late race restart with 17 laps to go and never look back to take the victory.

Johnny Sauter would grab the lead with 17 laps to go from Jeb Burton and not look back as he would pick up his second straight victory of 2013.

2012 IndyCar Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay found his way back to the top of the charts after winning the pole for the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama. Hunter-Reay laid down a lap of one minute, seven seconds for the third pole of his career, first pole of the season. His last pole came at Edmonton in 2012.

After coming close to victory last year, Clint Bowyer would lead the final practice at Martinsville Speedway with a lap of 19.518 seconds, 97.018 mph. Bowyer restarted last year's spring race late in the third position, though spun out after going three-wide underneath Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

Defending Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski knows that things could be worse. He really can’t complain about how his 2013 campaign has started:...

Following his second place finish two weeks ago at St. Petersburg, Helio Castroneves would top the charts with a lap of one minute and eight seconds, 120.781 mph.

At the end of Camping World Truck Series qualifying, it'd be Jeb Burton scoring his first career pole in his seventh career truck start. The 20-year-old lapped the track in 19.589 seconds, 96.666 mph.

It is not strange to see Jimmie Johnson at the front of the field at Martinsville Speedway so it should be no surprise that the driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet won the pole, breaking the track record. Johnson clocked in a lap of 19.244 seconds, 98.400 mph, for the 30th pole of his career, first of 2013.

Wild is just one word to describe the start to the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season. After five races last season, we sure didn’t have any rivalries and we were just complaining about the lack of action in the races.