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.
Kyle Larson, the 2014 Sprint Rookie of the Year, fainted during an autograph session at Martinsville Speedway Saturday afternoon and was taken to Martinsville Memorial Hospital for an initial evaluation.
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.
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.
Following only a pair of top-fives to start the season, Denny Hamlin feels that Joe Gibbs Racing's program could be improved to match the likes of Stewart-Haas Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Penske Racing. He also feels last week "showed signs of progress" as he ran inside the top-10 all day, before a pit road penalty for an "uncontrolled tire" took him out of contention, resulting in a 28th place finish.
Bobby Gossett (No. 44 BSI Racing) might have thought lady luck was not on his side at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Saturday when his provisional pole time was disallowed, but she made herself known in the race.
Daniel Hemric continued his consistent road course handiwork with a sixth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park and substantially increased his cushion on the provisional Chase cutline.
Christian Eckes notched a gritty fifth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park to advance to fourth in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) standings.
