Posts Tagged ‘Martinsville Speedway’

Denny Hamlin won the rain delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Fast Pain Relief at Martinsville Speedway.

Denny Hamlin, whose team made a questionable late-race pit decision, turned in some of the best driving of the season over the final two laps and won Monday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.

The race ended with a green-white-checkered finish thanks to tight three-wide racing and contact that sent Kyle Busch into the outside wall with a lap to go in regulation.

Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman led the dash to the race’s final green flag. Hamlin, who had given up the lead to pit for four tires with nine laps remaining, stormed from fourth place to challenge for the lead almost immediately.

When Gordon got a bump from Matt Kenseth getting him loose into turn one on the restart, Kenseth slipped inside to push to the lead down the backstretch. But Kenseth’s momentum and a tap from Gordon carried him high in turn three and into the wall, and Hamlin was there to inherit the lead.

He stayed out front over the final lap to win for the first time since last season’s closing race at Homestead, Fla.

Hamlin and Kyle Busch were the only leaders to pit for tires with nine to go, leaving Gordon in the lead. When the green flag fell with four to go, Hamlin was ninth. He moved up to fourth quickly and then to first on the green-white-checkered.

“I can’t believe it,” Hamlin said. “I thought it was the end. That’s for all the people who doubt us. We’re still going to get this done before the year is over with.

  

“I had to bully my way through there near the end, but everybody was running like that. I somehow made it work.”

Hamlin was supposed to be undergoing surgery Monday.

Hamlin injured his left knee while playing basketball in January, and he had been scheduled to have reconstructive surgery Monday in Charlotte, N.C. When rain postponed Sunday’s race to Monday, the surgery was rescheduled for Wednesday.

Gordon, who finished third behind Hamlin teammate Joey Logano, was searching for his first win since April of last year at Texas Motor Speedway.

Gordon was pushing toward the win when Kyle Busch, racing three wide with Marcos Ambrose and Paul Menard, made contact with Menard and hit the outside wall, sparking caution as the leaders eyed the white flag.

“The real unfortunate part was that the yellow came out then,” Gordon said. “We had the thing wrapped up. On the last restart, I didn’t get a great start, but it was pretty decent. I drove into one trying to not overcook it. He (Kenseth) drove into the back of me so hard, but I made sure he wasn’t going to win the race after that.”

Hamlin survived a parade of caution flags, tire failures and typical short-track bump-and-thump racing.

Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton and Gordon had significant runs at the front, but Hamlin was the day’s top gun.

Hamlin and Burton battled over the final hundred laps as rain threatened to end the race early.

Burton lost his shot at a win with 18 laps to go when the right-front tire on his Chevrolet started losing pressure.
Burton eventually tapped the outside wall, causing the caution with nine laps to go.

Hamlin, then leading, surprised virtually everyone by giving up first place and pitting for four tires. In the end, the gamble worked.

Harvick had brake problems early in the race and gave up the seasonal point lead to Jimmie Johnson. Harvick fell to fourth.

Mike Hembree:
From Speed TV contributed to this report

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500- MARTINSVILLE

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For the second straight time Kevin Harvick won in the Truck series Saturday, dominating the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. He led 187 of the 250 laps.

Ron Hornaday Jr. survived a late-race altercation – and a post-race altercation – with Johnny Sauter to finish second and give Kevin Harvick Inc. a sweep of the first two spots. Brian Ickler, driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, took third.

Hornaday sent Sauter into a spin as they battled for position 27 laps from the finish, and Sauter marched with intensity to confront Hornaday on pit road after the race, shoving a couple of crewmen who attempted to intervene.

Sauter yelled at Hornaday for about a minute as NASCAR officials and crewmen watched.

Also upset with Hornaday was Mike Skinner, whose truck was damaged when he slammed into the sliding Sauter. Skinner blamed Hornaday for the crash.

“I hate to see that,” Hornaday said of Sauter’s slide. “Johnny’s all mad, but that’s what short track racing is all about. He came down on me and I got into him.”

  

Asked if he planned to talk to Sauter later, Hornaday said, “There’s no talking to Johnny.”

Sauter would not discuss the incident after the race.

Timothy Peters, who finished fourth, led 39 laps in the middle of the race but couldn’t hold off Harvick.

“I pushed him as hard as I could to make him run hard,” Harvick said. “His truck would fall off after 15 to 20 laps. He started to get loose, and I got underneath him.”

It was a typical hard-knuckles afternoon of racing at Martinsville, with numerous trucks spinning out and the caution flag flying 11 times for 66 laps.

Narain Karthikeyan, a driver from India who formerly raced in Formula One, had an impressive debut in his first NASCAR major-series race, finishing 13th on the lead lap.

Mike Hembree at Speed Tv contributed to this report

RESULTS: KROGER 250- MARTINSVILLE

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