Kenseth led 202 laps at Martinsville and finished second, unable to keep eventual winner Jeff Gordon at bay over the closing laps. Kenseth’s runner-up finish forged a tie in the points standings with Jimmie Johnson.
With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Junior Johnson giving the command to get the action started and a grandfather clock trophy on the line, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 65th annual Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger at Martinsville Speedway.
We were wrong about Martinsville, which should be renamed Johnsonville the way Jimmie lays it down there. While Jeff Gordon tied Five Time in wins at the paper clip, claiming his 8th at the track and the 88th of his Cup career.
Four time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jeff Gordon, scores his first win of the season and eighth career win at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500. He is now tied with teammate, Jimmie Johnson, for the most wins at Martinsville among active drivers.
Kenseth survived to finish 20th at Talladega, seven spots behind Jimmie Johnson. Kenseth’s four point lead became a four point deficit to Jimmie Johnson in the standings.
We waited with anticipation for the action, and Talladega once again delivered. Once again, we watched the cars (and trucks for those watching on Saturday) go flying around inches apart in aircraft formation, in wonder that they could pull this off lap after lap without it all going up in smoke and torn sheet metal. In the end, they could not avoid the unavoidable.
A Top Ten finish for ten straight races, and a driver would accumulate a minimum of 340 points. That is hot. Kevin Harvick, and the Busch boys are that hot, but Matt Kenseth has been nearly 40 points hotter, so a bad day at Talladega on Sunday would mean he would make his championship dreams more of a challenge. The others go down and so do their hopes.
Kenseth finished third in the Bank Of America 500, one spot ahead of Jimmie Johnson, and extended his lead from three to four in the Sprint Cup point standings.
