NASCAR Cup Series

Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville: Takeaways and observations

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:48 p.m. ET

foxsports

Here are five things that stood out for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR’s smallest and oldest track.

5. Jimmie Johnson has become the favorite to win Sprint Cup title

Under the current elimination Chase format, Jimmie “Six Time” Johnson had never advanced into the Round of 8 before this year and now that he has, and won his way into the Final Four, no matter what happens in the next two races he is the man to beat in the championship crowning season finale in Homestead-Miami.

When he took his first and only lead on lap 409 at Martinsville on Sunday, he showed just how dominant the No. 48 Chevy SS can be the way he pulled away at the end.

“We really had great long run speed,” he said. “We lost track position through a couple of different means there at the first half of the race. Honestly, that caution with the No. 19 (Carl Edwards) car put us in the catbird seat. I wasn’t sure I could get by the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) or the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin), but we got going and I got by both of those guys. I thought ‘man I hope this stays green’ because that really suits what our racecar was doing all day long.”

Johnson got his wish because the last 91 laps at the 0.526 mile ‘Paperclip’ were run without incident.

4. JGR teammates not feeling the love

You would think that having three cars in the top five at Martinsville would be something to feel good about, but for Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch that is not what happened.

The trio was in a battle to catch race winner Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Chevy SS, who was pulling away with each passing lap, and when it was over there was some finger pointing at the lack of teamwork.

“I think we all agreed that we would work together on restarts and try to do everything we could to be sure we didn’t screw the other guy over on restarts and stuff like that, Hamlin said. “When it comes to racing, I didn’t think that any of us really had anything for the 48. Maybe the other guys thought I was holding up the line, which is very possible, I definitely was at one point. There at the end, I didn’t have anybody pressing on my rear bumper and we had a third place car.”

“We worked so good together that we gave the 48 car the win today,” Busch pointed out. “That’s how good JGR is. We had a great M&M’s Camry and we could have been a little farther up front, but we were held up there and we couldn’t pass and if I did try to make moves or try to make a pass, I got cutoff.”

“He (Hamlin) knows how to take your line away and put his car right where it made my car the worst,” Kenseth added. “I just burned off my front tires trying to pass him and just kind of got stuck behind him and couldn’t get around him.”

At least Carl Edwards didn’t have to answer any questions about teammates because he wrecked with fewer than 100 laps to go.

3. Clean and Green

Who could have thought that a race at Martinsville Speedway, with so much on the line for eight drivers, would be run with just five cautions? Add to that, the final 91 laps were caution free with four Chasers battling it out for the win.

Martinsville is a track that breeds cautions simply because of its size and tight racing surface. The least amount of yellow flags to come out at the 0.526 mile oval was one, done three times, but you have to go back to 1971 for the last time that happened. The most ever came in 2007 when there was a whopping 21.

The spring race at the ‘Paperclip’ had eight, however, in the seven events prior to that each had double-digits with 18 just a year ago. In that race, 109 of the 500 laps clicked off under caution. The unusual aspect of Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 was the number of laps under the yellow flag will show 54 although 28 came because of the confusion in resetting the field after the Edwards crash.

The unique situation created anger with some drivers and crews, but in the end NASCAR officials said they got it right even if it took longer than they would have liked.

2. No light at end of tunnel for Stewart-Haas Racing

Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 clearly put a nail in the coffin of SHR in 2016 although there are still two nails left for Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.

Danica Patrick has been running in the back of the field most of the season so she was never really a threat to make the Chase, but the other three entrants were all expected to make it and make noise once they got there. Sadly, Stewart-Haas Racing has pretty much taken a right turn since the Field of 16 was set.

Team co-owner Tony Stewart was the first to go after having a similar path into the Chase as Kyle Busch did a year ago. He missed a number of races due to injury, won at least one race and was in the top-30 in points. But unlike Busch who went on to win the title, Smoke got bumped in the first round.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch made it into the Round of 8 and now find themselves 23 and 25 points, respectively, below the cutoff and even a mediocre finish next week at Texas puts them both in must-win situations at Phoenix. Can you say pressure?

1. This time it is for real

It takes a long time for retired players to get over the fact that their careers are indeed over. There are a few who act on an impulse to get back in the game thinking they still have something left while others get into other fields in order to stay connected to the sport in which they spent a majority of their life playing.

For Jeff Gordon, he found a way to stay connected by moving into the broadcast booth and was very happy in his new life. That is, until a friend and former boss needed help.

His former teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., went on a disabled list of sorts because of concussion-like symptoms and Gordon was willing to step in for a few races. One became two and before it was all over it grew to eight. But whatever the future holds for Earnhardt, this time the retirement sticks for good.

Gordon’s final race was at the track where he last visited the winner’s circle. He was the defending champion of the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 and it would be a great place to put a stamp on his Hall of Fame career by giving team owner Rick Hendrick one last victory. Jimmie Johnson beat him to it, but Gordon did not embarrass himself and finished a solid sixth.

“Well, I had a lot of fun out there,” he said. “It is great to be here in front of all these awesome short track and Martinsville NASCAR fans. It’s just a special place to me and I had a lot of fun and had a great car. I don’t know where Jimmie (Johnson) came from, wow; he is just so good here. You get him out front like that and he is just unbelievable.

“Well I would rather have won. I felt like we had a fourth or fifth place car the run before that so I always wanted to get the most out of it. I was a little disappointed it didn’t take off there at the last yellow, but very proud of this team proud of my performance. Best finish I’ve had in this car. Good way to finish my run this year in the No. 88 Chevy.”

And with that, Gordon can ride into the sunset, head held high.