Paperclips, hot dogs, and close racing. These are all the ingredients of another exciting Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, the oldest track in NASCAR. The 67th annual STP 500, the second oldest race in all of NASCAR, is in the books. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from Sunday's event.
A full field. I may be a traditionalist in many ways, but a 40 car field seems about right to me now. It costs money to put a car on the track, to fit the templates, to run fast enough over a lap or two to qualify. That is even so when that auto is destined to simply start and park.
Best damn finishes ever. Well, for two of the four events to date, that has been the headline for NASCAR in 2016. Daytona and Phoenix were decided by gaps measurable with a ruler, and that has to be a good thing. Hell, a great thing.
Busch finished fourth at Phoenix to post his fourth top-five finish of the season. He is tied with Kevin Harvick for the lead in the Sprint Cup points standings.
A phoenix rises from the ashes to be reborn. In Phoenix, Kevin Harvick rose from the tears of Carl Edwards to once again become the Cactus King, the driver to beat at Phoenix.
A year ago, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won at Phoenix. Five of the six before that, Kevin Harvick claimed the prize. Now, if anyone could use a win this weekend, Danica Patrick, Chase Elliott, and Clint Bowyer would be among them. They sure are not among the Hot 20 going into Sunday’s action.
Busch led late at Las Vegas but was passed with five laps to go by Brad Keselowski, who went on to win the Kobalt 400. Busch leads the Sprint Cup points standings by six points over Jimmie Johnson.
It was a rainy, blowy kind of Sunday, and that was just in these parts where I live. With a few errands to run, we had Sirius Channel 90 on the car radio so we did not miss the action. Due to the rainy, blowy kind of Sunday at Las Vegas, we did not.
