Entering the weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Denny Hamlin's main focus in his preseason media session was on the struggles that Joe Gibbs Racing has fought through to start the season. In the first five races of the season, Hamlin had only two top-10s. Despite those struggles, Hamlin still believed his team had a shot at the victory as the driver can make up a lot at Martinsville, simply by requiring a certain style and rhythm behind the wheel.
Called upon at 3:30 a.m. EST, Regan Smith agreed to drive the No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS and sub for Kyle Larson, who was sat out of the race due to fainting during an autograph session on Saturday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered Martinsville Speedway with high hopes after scoring his first Grandfather Clock last fall. However, he wouldn't have anything close to the day that he wanted, finishing 36th.
From the first short track of the season with the grandfather clock as the trophy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from Martinsville Speedway’s STP 500.
Will Power dominated the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but Juan Pablo Montoya would get the advantage following the final set of pit stops. He then held off his Team Penske teammate throughout the final laps, scoring the victory.
Team Penske has dominated so far this weekend in St. Petersburg, and that continued during qualifying as the organization would sweep the top four spots.
The box score shows that Cole Custer finished 16th, but that doesn't represent the speed that the 17-year-old showed at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday.
It will be the 133rd time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the .526 mile paper clip in southern Virginia, and the winner of the STP 500 will go home with one of the most unique and coveted pieces of hardware in the sport - a grandfather clock from the Ridgeway Clock Company.
On Friday, Team Penske swept the top three spots with Will Power, Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves. On Saturday, they swept the top three spots once again, just with a new face mixed in the middle.
When Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his first trip to Martinsville Speedway, it didn't go well as he hit everything, even the pacecar. In his eyes, "it looked like that it was going to be quite a challenge to sort it out and understand what I needed to do." However, a test in the early 2000s paid dividends as Earnhardt was able to hit on something during that time and has since done well at Martinsville, scoring the victory last year.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 3 B'laster Work It Like A Pro Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY? “I think coming in to this weekend we sat on the pole in the spring race early in the season and felt that pressure to come back here and have another shot at it, so we executed our plan well today."
Michael McDowell continued his pole-winning ways at Atlanta Motor Speedway by taking the top qualifying spot in Bennett Transportation and Logistics Qualifying on Saturday afternoon.
23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Decisely Insurance Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, stopped by the infield media center at Atlanta Motor Speedway before qualifying to answer questions from the media.
At the start of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, drivers in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series know only 24 rounds of racing remain in the season.
