Rating the race – Martinsville was all about Jimmie, a lady, and a jerk
Why I watched…
It sure was not to see Denny Hamlin behind the wheel, who is out with a back injury until Talladega a month from now. However, not only does he need to win a couple of races in the first 16 events after his return to have a chance to make the Chase, but Hamlin has to be back into the Top 20 to make those wins count. Hamlin leaves with 145 points, while the 20th place Ryan Newman had 121 going into Martinsville. While Newman probably will count more, a good rule of thumb would be to expect whomever is 20th to average 24 points per race over the next five, or 120 points. That theoretically could move the 20th place threshold to 241 points in Hamlin’s absence. That would require Hamlin to gain nearly a hundred points, or about six points per race, on whomever holds that spot each week. It can be done, but he will have a mountain of work ahead of him.
The race…
The lad hopes to get back earlier, but in the meantime Mark Martin took his place on Sunday. The car was not entirely to the veteran’s liking to start and then got clipped in a 10-car pileup 180 laps in. Later he came in for tires but rolled away too early as his front left side tire tried to do the same. Yet, when the checkered flag waved Mark had found a way to finish 10th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr started the day our points leader, but finished it sitting third. Things started well, but they totally lost the handling in the second half of the contest. Junior faded out of the Top Ten, the Top Twenty, then when Brian Vickers bumped Danica Patrick into Junior to spin him, he wound up 24th, a couple of laps down.
Brian Vickers is too good a driver to be sitting on the sidelines. However, I was reminded how he won his first ever Cup race and the talented fellow is right back on my jerk list. He is on Kevin Harvick’s, as well. While Vickers did rebound from a cut tire and a blown rear fender, he bounced Patrick into Junior then hit her again as they came to the finish line. The Southern Gentleman Award goes to the California-born Harvick who took exception to how Vickers was treating the lady. He spun him out just after they finished, he cut him off as Vickers was about to exit the track, then cut him off again to take point on the return to the garage. Harvick finished 13th, Patrick 12th, Vickers 11th. Brian sits in for Hamlin this Saturday night in Texas…the jerk.
Patrick went from two laps down and an after thought to coming back to be among the top dozen on the day. The boyfriend ended up 25th two laps down. As for Hamlin’s hold on a top twenty spot in the standings, he is ahead of the 21st place Martin by nine points, ten up on Stewart, and eleven up on Newman. Meanwhile, I have no word of anyone wanting to punch out Joey Logano (23rd on Sunday) immediately after the race.
Not even Tony Stewart, who had to settle for 17th. Not even Ryan Newman, who had a tire go flat, parked on the track to force the caution and got a three lap penalty for his actions. He ended the day 31st as both team mates are still outside the Top Twenty in the standings. Same for Martin Truex, Jr, who got the worst of it in the big fender bender early in the race and was left 40th.
Biggest blunder of the race was the official who called Brad Keselowski’s front tire being on the line when he pitted with about twenty laps remaining. The fat part of the tire might have looked like it from above, but the replays showed that the tread was most definitely not. It is not what hangs over the line that prompts a penalty, but what actually touches the line. The dumbass. Probably a fan of Vickers. Still, the mistake only moved Keselowski from 9th to 11th, as he finished 6th.
Rating the race – 7.5/10…
If only the outside grove had come in. Jimmie Johnson led most of the laps, he was always in the top three, and almost always on the inside. After the final restart we knew he was about to win his 8th race on this track, claim his 2nd victory of the season, and the 62nd of his career. Clint Bowyer might have restarted beside him, but as he was on the outside he did not have a hope in hell. It was that kind of race. Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.
A good race to watch if you were a fan who knew what was what, but for those who did not it might have seemed a whole lot like follow the leader. Hey, some folks watch NASCAR like I watch English Premier League soccer…at gun point. However, I am getting ahead of myself as the NRA 500 in Texas is not until this Saturday night. For those who follow the sport, Martinsville proved to be a nice pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and added another interesting chapter to the 2013 Cup season.
Two for Andretti: Ryan Hunter-Reay scores second straight win for Andretti Autosport
After taking the lead with 14 laps to go from Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay would hold off Scott Dixon in the final laps to score his first victory of the season in the Grand Prix of Alabama.
“I had a little contact there with Helio,” Hunter-Reay said. “I feel bad about it. Good thing nobody was affected by it. I drove my tail there trying to stay in front. Great for DHL, great for Chevrolet. Good to be back in victory lane.”
Hunter-Reay would get to Castroneves’ inside in turn nine, though slid up slightly making contact.
“I was still inside of Helio and he came turning down and I hadn’t slowed the car yet,” he said. “I hit him broadside. Didn’t really matter. His strategy is what bit him in the end.”
It marks the 10th career IndyCar victory for the defending series champion. It also put an end to Penske Racing’s reign at Barber Motorsports Park as they had won the previous three races held there.
For Hunter-Reay, it marks a solid comeback following an 18th place finish two weeks ago at St. Petersburg due to mechanical problems.
For Andretti Autosport, it marks their second straight victory after Hinchcliffe picked up his first career victory at St. Pete.
“It’s great to come back (and win),” Michael Andetti said. “The team did a great job all weekend and Ryan did a helluva job. This is awesome. So happy for DHL and the DHL car and Sundrop and everybody. Great to keep Chevy’s day going.”
Scott Dixon would make a pass late on Castroneves was second and chase down Hunter-Reay, however he would not be able to make the pass. It marks his fourth runner-up finish at Barber in four starts on the road course.
“It was a bit tough,” Dixon said. “The restart was Ryan went, and then slowed, and then went again. Will (Power) got flustered there and it jumbled up the line. We had the quickest car out there, but obviously will have go buy a bridesmaid’s dress cause we were second again.”
The race featured only one caution right at the beginning, though Dixon said it wasn’t too bad to handle.
“I think when you have a bad car it becomes a lot harder,” he added. “But we had a good car. Congrats to Hunter-Reay. He did a helluva job today.”
Castroneves would hold on to finish third for his second consecutive podium finish of the season. He has now finished in the top seven in each of his four starts at Barber. Castroneves’ day didn’t start out well after getting jumbled up on the initial start of the race.
“I was boxed in and obviously, I saw Dixon try to pass Will and then he got shoved into the side so everybody went wide and all of sudden I went ‘Come on Will! Come on’,” he said. “We got knocked to the back there and we had to change our strategy.”
Castroneves now has the points lead, nine points ahead of Dixon, 13 points ahead of Hunter-Reay.
“I thought we would have been able to hold on, but it was a little tough,” Castroneves continued. “At least we got a podium and we keep gaining points.”
Charlie Kimball would make a pass on Will Power late to finish fourth for his second career top five finish.
“I knew that if I got there in turn 13 that I could get by him,” Kimball said. “I could then get away from him if I got by him as he was saving fuel. I got to thank Will for giving me room there.”
It marks his first top five since finishing second in Toronto last year.
“We had a good weekend,” he added. “It was good all of the race. Those guys in the pit lane did me solid – good clean stops and I just had to drive it at the end.”
Power would round out the top five in fifth after starting off the race in the gravel.
“Just got in the dirt,” Power said. “Nothing more to say there. Definitely a bad start so we just went for a big fuel save.
“I was just trying to keep people behind me. Kimball made a great move. I just had it in my mind that I was going to get this number and make it tough for people to get by.”
On the start of the race, Kimball would make a three-wide move on Hunter-Reay and Power and with Power on the outside, he was into the dirt. The move bottle-necked the field up, causing Oriol Servia and Graham Rahal to play bumper cars, resulting in a spin for Servia. Power fell from second to eighth in that mess on the start. Power would then get off the pavement once again on the restart. That incident marked the only caution of the day.
Simon Pagenaud finished sixth, followed by Marco Andretti, Justin Wilson, Josef Newgarden and rookie Tristan Vautier.
AJ Allmendinger would finish 19th in his return to IndyCar racing after stalling on pit lane.
“All around, I thought that day went fairly well – up until that stop,” he commented. “I knew that going to two sets to those guys three would hurt us. Trying to learn how this is going. Fell like we’d finish 11th or 12th but stalled in the pits. Don’t know why. It wouldn’t rev up and as soon as I put the clutch in, it just stalled. At the end, we pitted so early that we had to save fuel that whole stint. Proud of Penske for all of their hard work. Thanks to Roger for this opportunity.”
Following his win last week, Hinchcliffe wouldn’t be lucky this week as he would stop in turn three as a result of a tire falling off. Without any cautions for the rest of the race, Hinchcliffe was left in the turn.
“We got hit on lap one and as we went there, the tire came off,” he said. “I thought we could get a toe there so that way we could get back out there cause that’s all that was wrong. You dig yourself in a hole. You qualify back there and these things happen. This is just a weekend to forget. Everything that could happen, happened.”
Hinchcliffe joked about being parked there, saying that he had a good view of the people and seeing the back of everybody’s car. He added that he would have taken a nap, but “these racecars were just going by making so much noise that I couldn’t sleep.”
Dario Franchitti would fail to finish the race due to an electrical problem.
