Martinsville… Pretty Much What Everyone Expected

The STP Gas Booster 500 played out how everyone thought it would. The race was dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. In the last 10 years these two teams have owned Martinsville. Today they led all but two laps. Not only did they lead all the laps, they also dominated the top five for most of the race.  Johnson, Kenseth, and Busch traded the lead throughout the race as their crew chiefs tried to keep up with the changing track.  Early in the race, Johnson had the strongest and most consistent car. After lap 90 or so the Gibbs gang looked the best. It seemed like Chaf Knaus made a slight mis-adjustment on the 48 allowing Busch and Kenseth to swap the lead through the middle part of the race.  Chad came over the radio saying he would go back on the adjustment for the end of the race. This seemed to be what Jimmie needed to take control of the race back. For the last 100 laps nobody could get by him. I was hoping Clint would have enough to challenge for the win, but his car was not good enough on the short run. Jimmie easily took the checker flag and won his second race this year.

The win puts Johnson in the points lead. What started as a strong day for Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended with a disappointing  24th place finish. Midway though the race they seem to lose the handle on their race car. He drops to third while a 6th place finish for our 2012 champion keeps Brad in second. After a controversial call (bad call IMO) on a late race pit stop, Brad was able to use some fresher tires to his advantage and almost beat Kyle Busch to the line for 5th. Brad was the best Ford finisher for what is usually a tough track for the Fords.

Clint Boywer finished a strong 2nd after battling back from being involved in a 11 car melee on lap 181. The fireworks  between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon everyone was hoping for never transpired. Clint gave Jeff a shot in the back to get around him late in the race, but there was no retaliation. It seems both had getting the best finish possible in mind rather than payback. There was also some talk about Tony Steward going after Joey Logano, but they raced each other clean all day. There was even a point where Tony let Joey go by since he had the faster car. While Tony had some threatening words for Joey after California, it looks like the week off gave him enough time to cool off. While he still defends his views on blocking, I believe his strong words for Joey were just out of passion and he knows it’s not worth getting a bad finish.

Jeff Gordon finally finished well and was rewarded with a nice bump in the points (6 positions). He might be starting to prove me wrong, choosing Stewart over Gordon in my Top 12 article. He fell back in the middle of the race, but while everyone else was tearing up their cars, he surged to the front. Before Johnson’s last pit stop for fresh tires, Gordon was hunting him down. This looked like the Jeff Gordon we are used to. Also a headline, this was the first race that Denny sat out after being injured. He tried his best to remain focused on helping his substitute driver Mark Martin. I could tell by the expressions on his face that it was hard to watch someone else drive his car. Mark showed glimpses of speed and was able to salvage a top 10 finish, but it was not pretty. He was involved in a couple of accidents and a pit stop miscue led to a wheel falling off as he pulled away. To make matters worse he was hit with a penalty for putting that wheel back on outside his box.

In keeping with my foot in my mouth theme, Danica Patrick had a very good race. 12th for a rookie at a track as tough as Martinsville is impressive. I thought for sure she would be multiple laps down, but by mid-race she had figured out the paperclip and was passing cars. She looked much fast than her rookie of the year competitor…. and boyfriend Rick Stenhouse.

Next week we go to Texas where we should see very high speeds with the new G6 car. I like Texas and I look for a lot of the drivers to break the track record in qualifying. Look for Roush Fenway to rebound as they are very good at the 1.5 mile tracks. I will also look for Dale Jr. to be up front again since he ran well at this type of track earlier in the season. Eddie Gossage is known for putting on a spectacle off the track, but I expect the racing on the track to be just as good. With multiple lanes and a track that will change throughout the night, we should have a bunch of comers and go’ers. Combined with tire wear, this should make for a great race.

Who do you think will be a threat to win in Texas?

image from foter.com BiggerPictureImages