Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]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.
Surprising: After appearing that Rick Hendrick would surely get his 200th win with Jeff Gordon dominating the race and his HMS teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. nipping at his heels, it was surprising that a Hendrick-powered race car, instead of a Hendrick driver, tooled to Victory Lane.
Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet, survived a green, white, checkered melee to score his first victory of the season. This was also Newman’s first victory and 11th top-10 finish in 21 races at Martinsville Speedway.
“The first green, white, checkered, I told the guys on the radio that I wasn’t sure I could win it,” Newman said. “It was an awesome finish. Circumstances put us in the right position.”
“I really need to thank Hendrick for their support of the engines this year.”
Not Surprising: Although the race featured the fewest caution periods, just seven, since September 1996, the race was the longest in Martinsville history, with 515 laps and 270.89 miles run because of the green, white checkered finish.
Surprising: It was a bit surprising to hear a nurse credited for a second place race finish. Yet in spite of spending time in the infield care center before the race, the driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge A.J. Allmendinger scored his career best finish at Martinsville.
When asked how he managed to finish second, ‘Dinger said, “The medical nurses to begin with, because I felt horrible this morning, just been sick.”
“I just kept fighting,” Allmendinger said. “I don’t know if I had a second-place Charger, but you’ve got to put yourself in position to do that.”
“I’d like to have got the win, but it was a good day.”
Not Surprising: Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. pulled off another solid race day, finishing third in his No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, as well as taking over the second spot in points, just six behind leader Greg Biffle.
And much to the delight of the crowd, Junior even led a few laps as he posted his 14th top-10 finish in 25 races at Martinsville.
“Yeah, I’m real happy with our finish,” Junior said. “We worked really hard all day to get the best finish we could.”
“This is our first race with AMP on the hood and we’re proud to have a good finish for those guys.”
Surprising: Fords, a manufacturer that traditionally struggles in comparison to Chevrolets at Martinsville Speedway, had a surprisingly good day. The highest finishing Ford was the No. 17 Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation/Gary Sinise Foundation Ford piloted by Matt Kenseth.
“We were pretty good,” Kenseth said. “We weren’t as good as those Hendrick Chevrolets cars but for us at Martinsville, it was pretty good.”
“We came home in the top-10 at Martinsville and to not have anybody mad and not be mad at anybody is probably a pretty good day.”
Not Surprising: While Kenseth got away without anger issues, tempers flared for a few other drivers, notably Jeff Gordon, who was upset with Clint Bowyer, and most of the field who were furious at David Reutimann.
The driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, was pretty peeved at Clint Bowyer, behind the wheel of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, for dive bombing and wrecking him in the last laps of the race.
“Clint and I are friends and I have a lot of respect for him, but I was pretty mad at him,” Gordon said. “I didn’t get the best restart and he said he got hit from behind.”
“I had nowhere to go,” Gordon said. “That’s just the way our year has been going.”
But the driver who scored highest for the number of drivers made angry was none other than David Reutimann, behind the wheel of the No. 10 Accell Construction Chevrolet. Rooty raised the ire of many drivers for not pitting after being black-flagged for mechanical problems and stopping dead on the race track.
“I was trying to limp around to stay in the top 35,” Reutimann said. “The motor just quit.”
“I didn’t stop there intentionally,” Reutimann continued. “I know it sucks and I hate it for everyone affected.”
“I hate that I was involved with anything that changed the complexion of the race.”
Surprising: After scoring the pole position, it was surprising that the curse on Kasey Kahne continued. The driver of the No. 5 Hedrickcars.com Chevrolet again had engine woes and finished a miserable 38th.
Not Surprising: While Kahne continues to struggle with his seemingly cursed season, it was not surprising to see the Busch brothers struggle at Martinsville. Both Kurt, driving the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services, and brother Kyle, behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, had mechanical issues that plagued their day.
Kyle Busch finished 36th while his brother Kurt soldiered on to a 33rd place finish.
“We got a little behind because the car was just too loose,” Dave Rogers, Kyle Busch’s crew chief said. “Kyle was doing a great job at hanging onto it and it wheel-hopped a little bit and we got into the fence.”
Surprising: Martin Truex, Jr. continued to surprise, this time with a good run at Martinsville. The driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota scored another top-5 finish.
“This feels great,” Truex said. “We backed into that one a little bit with those guys getting tangled up front.”
“This is probably my worst race track and to come out of here with a fifth place finish – I’m pretty proud of that.”
Not Surprising: The driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion not surprisingly planned to celebrate his maintenance of the points lead by heading out for Easter vacation.
“It feels good to go on vacation being the points leader,” Greg Biffle said. “Leaving here on top feels good because this is a tough place for us and we came here and ran respectable.”
Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Review: How It All Changes In An Instant
When the green flag dropped at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Kevin Harvick stole the lead from Kasey Kahne and looked to continue his domination. Harvick, who won the Camping World Truck Series race the day before, held the lead for 22 laps before Jeff Gordon passed him for the lead – much to the fans delight. From that point forward, it was a Hendrick battle between teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Jr who ran in the Top-10 for most of the race. It looked as if Hendrick Motorsports would finally get the 200th win they have been searching for. But when at Martinsville, everything can change in an instant.
Kahne’s Disappointing Season Continues
Kahne’s weekend at Martinsville started on a positive note, with qualifying on the pole position in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. When I asked him on Friday what he was looking to improve on for Martinsville, he said “Every time you go to Martinsville you try to improve on the last time you were here. We were pretty good here last year in both races. We didn’t have good finishes because we got caught in other people’s wrecks, but we actually had really fast cars”. This round of Martinsville wasn’t a factor of other driver’s wrecks, but engine issues.
On Lap 231 Kahne came over the radio saying “We may be broke”, referring to the engine. When he left pit road smoke began to sputter from the back of the car. On Lap 234, he took his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to the garage area and the No. 5 team began to work viciously to try and revive the engine. 84 laps after Kahne made the team aware of the engine issues, Kahne’s motor expired after attempting to return to the race.
Although Kahne’s finish was yet again a difficult thing to digest, he tried to look on the upside after the race. “I mean, it is and it isn’t(an upsetting finish). I am upset that we haven’t run great this year, but we are great on Friday and Saturday. We were fast again today and we have the speed so when it’s our time we will be ready to take advantage of it.” This finish dropped Kahne four positions in Cup standings to 31st position. He is now hovering in the bottom of the Top-35 in owner’s point’s, in 32nd position. Kahne is hoping to change his 2012 statistics at a track where he has one win at and four top-10 finishes: Texas Motor Speedway.
Kahne tried a new spotter for this race and will continue to have Shannon McGlamery spot for him at TMS on a two week basis. After Texas, he will decide if he would like to keep McGlamery as his spotter or allow his cousin Kole Kahne to remain his spotter. “I was a little unpleased after California. We are just looking at something for a couple of weeks. We are going to see after Texas. We are going to sit down and decide if that is the direction I want to go or if I feel comfortable with Kole doing it again or what”.
Earnhardt Top Finishing Hendrick Car After Late Race Crash
Dale Earnhardt Jr started the race in 14th position, at a track where he has yet to take home a grandfather clock at. By Lap 8, Earnhardt moved himself into the Top 10 and was eyeing the Top 5. He gained three positions to move to seventh position by Lap 50, giving Junior Nation something to be excited about. When at Martinsville, rubbing is racing, and Earnhardt couldn’t have gone through this race without being shoved around a little. On Lap 106 Aric Almirola was on Earnhard’ts inside attempting to pass him. His race car then became loose, shoving Earnhardt up the track. Earnhardt wasn’t too happy about this move and retaliated two laps later, getting the position back.
[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”300″]
[/media-credit]After flying through the field for the entire race, Dale Jr finally took the lead from his teammate Gordon on Lap 229 and stayed in the lead until caution was thrown two laps later. With 20 laps to go the Hendrick teammates of Gordon, Johnson, and Earnhardt were running 1-2-3 and it looked as if HMS would finally get that 200th win they have been searching for.
On the last restart of the day it was Gordon and Johnson on the front with Earnhardt and Clint Bowyer following in the second row. In Turn 1 Bowyer threw his car below Gordon and Johnson and spun both himself and Johnson out, and removing Gordon from the lead. Earnhardt was untouched and was able to finish the race in third position behind race winner Ryan Newman and AJ Allmendinger. Earnhardt is now second in Cup standings, six points behind leader Greg Biffle.
Newman Wins After Controversial Caution
Ryan Newman, who has been running under the radar for quite some time, picked up his first win for 2012 at Martinsville on Sunday. Newman was able to get into the Top 5 after a caution was thrown with seven laps to go after David Reutiman stopped on track in Turn 1. Reutiman had a left front tire that was loose and was limping around the track for 3 laps in an attempt to maintain top 35 in owner points. The No. 10 car is normally driven by Danica Patrick and the team wanted Danica’s car to remain in the top 35 in owner point’s so Danica doesn’t have to qualify on time in the future.
“Whether – no matter what happened, it’s not eh first time somebody stopped on ta straightaway with a few laps to go and forced us into a green-white-checkered restart at the end of the race. We’ll take what we can get. Like I said, we’re lost them that way hands down several times here and it’s nice to be able to win one”, Newman said when asked about Reutiman stopping on the track.
Newman is eighth in points standings, gaining two positions with his win at Martinsville.
The Final Word – Newman gets handed a win, Reutimann gets tossed under the bus at Martinsville
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]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, while Dale Earnhardt Jr was sitting third. Rick Hendrick was about to celebrate his 200th Cup victory as an owner when David Reutimann happened.
With his car laps down and running about as fast as one of those motorized wheelchairs, Reutimann ignored the pit entrance not once but twice before getting black flagged. That is when he parked the car on the track, brought out the caution, and forced a green-white-checker finish. Everybody pitted, except for Gordon and Johnson, the two leaders could not get going with their old tires, and they got spun out of the way to bring out a final yellow flag. This time, Ryan Newman duelled A.J. Allmendinger for the win, Junior retained third, Gordon 14th, and Johnson finished 12th.
So, what in hell was going on in the head of Reutimann? Well, when the car all but died, he tried to pad an extra lap or two to try for the points needed to keep the car in the Top 35 in points, to ensure its participation in the next race. Remember, this is the car Danica Patrick is scheduled to drive for ten events this season, and they want her in the races without having to be a go or go home entry. It was laps down and had been ailing for some time, including the development of some engine issues. When Reutimann got black flagged, the car died, refused to refire, which brought out the caution that changed everything.
The official line was that Reutimann limped around to try to gain an extra lap or two so they might stay in the Top 35. The trouble is they had no chance of making up the one point they currently trail the #83 driven by Landon Cassill, which wound up more than 70 laps up on them. The same goes for the #33 Hermie Sadler was driving, which wound up 69 laps ahead and five points better in 34th place in owner’s points. So, they not only stayed out for no reason at all, they want us to believe Reutimann did the calculation in his own head, and on his own decided to stay out there. Really?
Usually when the driver does something that appears so stupid it means one of two things. First, the guy is either a total idiot or just a jerk who wanted to screw somebody real bad. Personally, I have never heard of anyone accusing Reutimann of being such a driver or a man. Second, the one I would be betting on, is that the driver got orders to stay out from someone who simply has the math skills of a three year old. When it came time to face the music before the FOX and SPEED cameras, there by his lonesome was David Reutimann. He did not say he was ordered to do anything, he did not throw anyone under the bus, he just took the responsibility that I doubt was really his. He took it like a man, but I am wondering just where in hell owner and crew chief Tommy Baldwin was when it came time to man up?
We all know somebody did something mighty stupid last Sunday. What we don’t know for sure is exactly who that person was. If nothing else, it will give us something to talk about before they head to Texas. Enjoy the next couple of weeks.
Lap by Lap: Goody’s Fast Relief 500 won by Ryan Newman
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”100″]
[/media-credit]Ryan Newman survived the pair of Green-White-Checkered finishes at Martinsville Speedway to score the 16th victory of his career.
Green flag
Lap 1 Kevin Harvick leads lap over Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman.
Lap 5 Jeff Gordon passes Brad Keselowski for sixth
Lap 7 Gordon passes Newman for fifth
Lap 11 Bowyer and Gordon pass Hamlin for third
Lap 16 Harvick leads Kahne, Bowyer, Gordon, Hamlin, Keselowski, Newman, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Lap 16 Gordon passes Bowyer for third
Lap 17 Keselowski passes Hamlin for fifth
Lap 18 Newman passes Hamlin for sixth as Earnhardt Jr. passes Menard for ninth
Lap 20 Harvick leads Kahne, Gordon, Bowyer, Keselowski, Newman, Hamlin, Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Menard
Lap 23 Gordon takes the lead from Harvick
Lap 28 Gordon leads Harvick, Bowyer, Keselowski, Kahne, Newman, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
Lap 60 Kurt Busch to pit road with a flat tire
Lap 68 Hamln passes Harvick
Lap 69 Gordon leads Keselowski, Bowyer, Kahne, Hamlin, Harvick, Newman, Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton
Lap 88 Gordon leads Keselowski, Kahne, Bowyer, Hamlin, Newman, Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Burton, Harvick
Lap 95 Hamlin passes Bowyer for fourth
Lap 98 Caution Kyle Busch into the wall due to a broken rear track bar. Pit stops…..Gordon leads Hamlin off pit road. Gordon chooses to start on the inside….Two penalties: Newman too fast entering, Johnson too fast exiting
Lap 105 Restart as Gordon keeps the lead over Hamlin though turn one.
Lap 111 Gordon leads Hamlin, Kahne, Bowyer, Keselowski, Truex, Burton, Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.
Lap 114 Kahne passes Hamlin for second
Lap 121 Gordon leads Kahne, Hamlin, Bowyer, Burton, Truex, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Kenseth and Stewart
Lap 159 Gordon leads Hamlin, Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, Burton, Truex, Keselowski, Stewart, Kenseth
Lap 169 Keselowski passes Truex for seventh
Lap 173 Earnhardt Jr. passes Bowyer for third
Lap 177 Kenseth passes Stewart for ninth
Lap 179 Kahne passes Bowyer
Lap 180 Gordon leads Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, Bowyer, Burton, Keselowski, Truex, Kenseth, Stewart
Lap 189 Keselowski passes Burton for sixth
Lap 220 Gordon leads Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Kahne, Bowyer, Kenseth, Keselowski, Almirola, Stewart, Johnson
Lap 221 Bobby Labonte hits pit road
Lap 223 Kahne passes Hamlin for third
Lap 225 Harvick and Truex pit
Lap 229 Earnhardt Jr. passes Gordon for the lead
Lap 230 Kahne. A.J. Allmendinger and Joey Logano pit
Lap 233 Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, Greg Biffle, Regan Smith and Gordon pit, handing the lead to Hamlin
Lap 235 Marco Ambrose, Hamlin, Johnson and Edwards pit, handing the lead to Bowyer
Lap 237 Bowyer, Rains, Keselowski, Hermie Sadler and Kenseth pit, handing the lead to Almirola.
Lap 239 Almirola pits, handing the lead to Gordon.
Caution Lap 245 Dave Blaney goes for a spin. Kahne goes behind the wall due to a motor issue. Some lead lap cars pit, others decide to stay out.
Restart Lap 255 as Gordon pulls the lead early over Earnhardt Jr.
Lap 260 Gordon leads Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Kenseth, Keselowski, Hamlin, Johnson, Truex, Almirola, Stewart
Lap 262 Bowyer passes Earnhardt Jr. for second
Caution Lap 264 Juan Pablo Montoya hits the inside wall after contact from Ken Schrader. Newman gets the lucky dog.
Restart Lap 272
Lap 275 Gordon leads Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Kenseth, Hamlin, Johnson, Truex, Stewart and Allmendinger
Lap 280 Hamlin and Johnson both pass Kenseth
Lap 281 Stewart passes Truex for eighth
Lap 287 Johnson passes Hamlin
Lap 289 Johnson passes Keselowski
Lap 290 Gordon leads Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Keselowski, Hamlin, Kenseth, Stewart, Truex and Allmendinger
Lap 300 Allmendinger and Almirola pass Truex
Lap 310 Gordon leads Bowyer, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Hamlin, Kenseth, Stewart, Allmendinger and Almirola.
Lap 314 Johnson passes Bowyer for second
Caution Lap 316 Kahne blows up…..Gordon leads Johnson, Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Hamlin, Kenseth, Stewart, Allmendinger and Almirola….Keselowski too fast in the pits
Restart Lap 328
Lap 333 Gordon leads Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Bowyer, Kenseth, Stewart, Almirola, Allmendinger and Truex
Lap 340 Hamlin passes Earnhardt Jr. for third
Lap 348 Bowyer passes Earnhardt Jr. for fourth
Lap 355 Earnhardt Jr. passes Bowyer for fourth
Lap 356 Johnson passes Gordon for the lead
Lap 357 Johnson leads Gordon, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Kenseth, Stewart, Almirola, Newman and Allmendinger
Caution Lap 361 Travis Kvapil spins. Edwards gets the lucky dog…..All of the leaders pit……Hamlin leads Gordon, Johnson and Stewart off pit road
Restart Lap 368 and Hamlin leads Gordon off of turn two
128 to go Hamlin leads Johnson, Gordon, Kenseth, Bowyer, Newman, Stewart, Truex, Earnhardt Jr., Allmendinger
122 to go Bowyer passes Kenseth for fourth
112 to go Hamlin leads Johnson, Gordon, Bowyer, Newman, Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Truex and Stewart
107 to go Johnson passes Hamlin for the lead, Gordon also passes Hamlin.
103 to go Johnson leads Gordon, Hamlin, Bowyer, Newman, Keselowski, Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Truex, Biffle
101 to go Bowyer passes Hamlin for third
99 to go Earnhardt Jr. passes Kenseth
89 to go Truex passes Kenseth; Allmendinger passes Biffle; Keselowski passes Newman
88 to go Johnson leads Gordon, Bowyer, Hamlin, Keselowski, Newman, Earnhardt Jr., Truex, Kenseth, Allmendinger
81 to go Earnhardt Jr. passes Newman
75 to go Keselowski passes Hamlin
72 to go Earnhardt Jr. passes Hamlin
68 to go Newman passes Hamlin
67 to go Johnson leads Gordon, Bowyer, Keselowski, Earnhardt Jr., Newman, Hamlin, Truex, Kenseth, Allmendinger
63 to go Kenseth passes Truex for eighth
52 to go Earnhardt Jr. passes Keselowski for fourth
50 to go Johnson leads Gordon, Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Newman, Hamlin, Kenseth, Truex, Allmendinger
44 to go Earnhardt Jr. passes Bowyer for third
40 to go Allmendinger passes Truex for ninth
36 to go Johnson leads Gordon, Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Keselowski, Newman, Hamlin, Kenseth, Allmendinger and Almirola
20 to go Kenseth passes Hamlin for seventh
15 to go Allmendinger passes Hamlin for eighth
3 to go Gordon and Johnson side-by-side for the lead as the caution comes up for Reuitmann being stalled. Stewart gest the lucky dog.
Green-White-Checkered…..Gordon and Johnson stay out as everybody else pits.
Restart……..Bowyer took Gordon and Johnson three-wide, sending all three for a spin……Keselowski just ran out of fuel while running third
Restart…….Newman and Allmendinger are side-by-side for the lead.
Ryan Newman wins over Allmendinger and Earnhardt Jr.
