NASCAR Cup Series

Early in the season, all eyes are on Tony Stewart and his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team following the late domination last year and so far this year. At Martinsville this past weekend, Newman added to the win column to give SHR their third win in the first six races.

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing. Newman picked up his first victory of the 2012 season at Martinsville Speedway, moving him to 8th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. Stewart-Haas Racing has won three of the first six race this is season, and eight of the last 16 overall.

At a track where short-track tempers mix with history and old time racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 63rd running of the Goody’s Fast relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

When the green flag dropped at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Kevin Harvick stole the lead from Kasey Kahne and looked to continue his domination.

Martinsville might have started a wee bit boring, got real interesting in the second half, then went plain nuts at the end. Jeff Gordon, the star on this day, was leading, trying to fend off team-mate Jimmie Johnson for the win with three laps remaining.

Richard Childress Racing teammates finished 19th (Kevin Harvick), 22nd (Jeff Burton) and 26th (Paul Menard). Harvick made 53 green-flag passes during the 500-mile event ranking him 13th in NASCAR Loop Data Statistics.

Ryan Newman survived the pair of Green-White-Checkered finishes at Martinsville Speedway to score the 16th victory of his career.

Back when he was driving for his late father’s team, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Hendrick Motorsports was the biggest reason he couldn’t break though for a win at Martinsville.

The shortest track on the circuit, the oldest track on the circuit, but Martinsville delivered a short track shot in the arm for NASCAR’s faithful. It was a shot that the power house of Hendrick Motorsports had a bad reaction to.