Rating the Race: Martinsville - Goody’s Cool Orange 500
The Sprint Cup Series returned to action this Sunday with 500 gut-wrenching, heart-pounding laps of the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway, and after taking a long week off, NASCAR fans were treated to quite a show. We in the NASCAR media world have surrounded ourselves with many debatable and puzzling questions already in this young season, and many of those questions played right into the drama on Sunday afternoon. We wondered if Martinsville would be the site where Hendrick Motorsports finally broke out and won their first race of 2008. We debated whether or not the equipment malfunctions would halt the surging Joe Gibbs Racing yet again. How long would it take for Jamie McMurray to bounce back into the top-35 in car owner points? We asked, and Martinsville delivered.
Denny Hamlin answered the call for Joe Gibbs Racing by bringing home the organization’s second checkered flag this season, but it wasn’t an easy one. The no. 11 Fed-Ex Toyota Camry started on the outside pole and led the first lap of the race, but Jeff Gordon took over from there, and then it was looking to be pretty much an all-Hendrick day. Gordon set the pace for the next forty or so laps until he was caught up in an accident involving Robby Gordon and Mike Skinner on lap 44. The incident forced Jeff to make several pit stops, shuffling him deep into the field.
The caution allowed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to utilize his pit strategy from earlier in the race and get his car out in front for awhile before surrendering the lead to yet another HMS car when Jimmie Johnson took over on lap 103. The two Hendrick cars swapped the lead a few times, and it wasn’t until lap 208 that the race would again be led by a non-Hendrick car when Hamlin moved back to the front. The lead was short-lived, however, because the ninth caution of the day came out on lap 216 when Ken Schrader and Kurt Busch got into each other, and Hamlin came into pit. With rainy skies in the forecast, the only cars to join him on pit road were the Roush duo of Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle. Hamlin’s stop handed the lead back over to Johnson, the winner of the past three Martinsville races.
Johnson held onto the lead for several more laps, but on lap 270, polesitter Jeff Gordon finally made his way back to the front and passed his teammate for the lead. Then, what was looking to be a perfect day for team owner Rick Hendrick suddenly looked as though it might take a turn for the worse. On lap 296, the lapped cars of Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman made slight contact, but it sent Newman into Johnson and spun him around in Turn 2. The damage wasn’t serious to Johnson’s car, but it was enough to shuffle him back through the field with about 200 laps remaining.
The HMS cars of Earnhardt and Gordon kept the lead safe for Hendrick until lap 388 when the 17th caution of the day came out, and Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, and Carl Edwards stayed out on the track. Burton was able to maintain the lead on his older tires for about 45 laps until he was passed by Hamlin with 74 to go. Burton held on for awhile and appeared as though he might be able to hang with Hamlin, but he eventually faded. The three Hendrick cars of Gordon, Junior, and Johnson all battled their way back into the lead pack, but all of them seemed to have trouble getting close enough to contend for the win. Then, in the closing laps, Gordon was able to make a surge past Burton for second place and appeared to be gaining on the race leader, but in the end he just didn’t have enough to pass Hamlin. Denny went onto win the race, with Gordon in second, and Burton in third. Carl Edwards ran out of gas on the final lap and was passed by Johnson and Tony Stewart, and Earnhardt, who finished fourth through sixth.
Jamie McMurray entered Martinsville outside of the top-35 in car owner points for the first time in his career. After qualifying fifth, he hung around the top-five for the majority of the day, and eventually cruised in for an 8th place finish. Casey Mears also entered this weekend in danger of slipping outside of the top-35, but finished 7th, which was amazingly the worst finish of the four Hendrick cars.
Kyle Busch entered the day as the series points leader, but arrived at a very disappointing 38th place finish after losing his rear gear. Greg Biffle came into the race 2nd in points, but had some struggles of his own en route to a 20th place finish, opening the door for the RCR cars of Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick (finished 12th) to take over the top two spots in the points standings.
Elliott Sadler battled through his back injury to a solid 15th place finish. Regan Smith was the highest finishing rookie of the race in 14th. Aric Almirola followed his solid finish in Bristol by hitting nearly everything but the pace car as he went onto finish 42nd.
Grades:
the Race: 96%
the Drama: 97%
Coverage: 92%
Pre-Race: 88%
Overall Grade: 94.4%
Complete Results (from nascar.com):
| FIN |
ST |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 |
2 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
FedEx Freight |
190/5 |
500 |
Running |
| 2 |
1 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
DuPont |
175/5 |
500 |
Running |
| 3 |
24 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
AT&T Mobility |
170/5 |
500 |
Running |
| 4 |
10 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe’s |
165/5 |
500 |
Running |
| 5 |
9 |
20 |
Tony Stewart |
Toyota |
The Home Depot |
155/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 6 |
22 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
AMP Energy / National Guard |
160/10 |
500 |
Running |
| 7 |
39 |
5 |
Casey Mears |
Chevrolet |
Kellogg’s / CARQUEST |
146/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 8 |
5 |
26 |
Jamie McMurray |
Ford |
IRWIN Industrial Tools |
142/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 9 |
27 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Ford |
Claritin |
138/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 10 |
12 |
07 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
BB&T |
134/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 11 |
4 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
AAA Insurance |
130/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 12 |
11 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Shell / Pennzoil |
127/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 13 |
29 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Dodge |
Wrigley’s Big Red |
124/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 14 |
33 |
01 |
Regan Smith * |
Chevrolet |
DEI / Principal Financial Group |
121/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 15 |
25 |
19 |
Elliott Sadler |
Dodge |
McDonald’s |
118/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 16 |
35 |
15 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Pittsburgh Paints / Menards |
115/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 17 |
6 |
9 |
Kasey Kahne |
Dodge |
Budweiser |
112/0 |
500 |
Running |
| 18 |
14 |
28 |
Travis Kvapil |
Ford |
Yates Racing |
109/0 |
499 |
Running |
| 19 |
13 |
12 |
Ryan Newman |
Dodge |
ALLTEL |
106/0 |
499 |
Running |
| 20 |
19 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
Jackson Hewitt |
103/0 |
499 |
Running |
| 21 |
42 |
1 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Chevrolet |
Bass Pro Shops / Tracker |
100/0 |
499 |
Running |
| 22 |
43 |
40 |
Dario Franchitti * |
Dodge |
Kennametal |
97/0 |
499 |
Running |
| 23 |
40 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
94/0 |
497 |
Running |
| 24 |
21 |
38 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
FreeCreditRep ort.com |
91/0 |
497 |
Running |
| 25 |
32 |
43 |
Bobby Labonte |
Dodge |
Cheerios / Betty Crocker |
93/5 |
497 |
Running |
| 26 |
34 |
00 |
Michael McDowell |
Toyota |
Aaron’s Dream Machine |
85/0 |
497 |
Running |
| 27 |
23 |
96 |
J.J. Yeley |
Toyota |
DLP HDTV |
82/0 |
497 |
Running |
| 28 |
26 |
77 |
Sam Hornish Jr. * |
Dodge |
Mobil 1 |
79/0 |
497 |
Running |
| 29 |
37 |
10 |
Patrick Carpentier * |
Dodge |
Charter Comm. |
76/0 |
497 |
Running |
| 30 |
28 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
DEWALT |
73/0 |
496 |
Running |
| 31 |
30 |
84 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
70/0 |
496 |
Running |
| 32 |
31 |
70 |
Jeremy Mayfield |
Chevrolet |
Haas Automation |
72/5 |
495 |
Running |
| 33 |
20 |
2 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
64/0 |
493 |
Running |
| 34 |
17 |
21 |
Bill Elliott |
Ford |
Little Debbie Nutty Bars |
61/0 |
492 |
Running |
| 35 |
16 |
55 |
Michael Waltrip |
Toyota |
NAPA AUTO PARTS |
58/0 |
483 |
Running |
| 36 |
38 |
41 |
Reed Sorenson |
Dodge |
Target |
55/0 |
471 |
Running |
| 37 |
7 |
49 |
Ken Schrader |
Toyota |
Microsoft Small Business |
52/0 |
467 |
Running |
| 38 |
8 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
M&M’s |
49/0 |
443 |
Running |
| 39 |