No shortage of storylines from the short track in Martinsville
I really enjoy all the tracks we visit in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but I'll be the first to tell you that I think it's a shame we don't have more short track races during the year. Sunday at Martinsville Speedway once again reinforced that belief to me.
The good news is after this off weekend, we go to Texas Motor Speedway, but then have two short tracks -- Bristol and Richmond -- back-to-back.
Probably the biggest surprise of the weekend to me was Hendrick Motorsports. Now, I know Jeff Gordon was in position to win the race until he got caught speeding on pit road, but as a whole that organization really wasn't a factor on Sunday. That's really surprising because of all places, Martinsville Speedway is normally where we tell you that if you are going to win there, then you are going to have to beat a Hendrick car. That ended up not being the case on Sunday.
We had a lot of what we call "comers and goers" in Sunday's race. We all knew it was going to be a pretty tall order for Kevin Harvick to keep this first- and second-place finish streak alive, and while he did lead 154 laps, the most of any driver, he was only able to finish eighth.
You have to be impressed with David Ragan, who continues to fill in for an injured Kyle Busch. David started 20th but brought the No. 18 car home with a great fifth-place finish.
We all thought Kurt Busch was going to be the guy to beat but then he had handling issues.
If you just look at the top-10 finishers Sunday you can find all types of storylines. Our winner, Denny Hamlin, was able to overcome a tire penalty and win the race. Joey Logano, who finished third, had to recover from a spin midway through the race. Martin Truex Jr. had power steering issues, but was able to bring his Chevrolet home in sixth and also keep his string of consecutive top-10 finishes alive.
I think we'd be remiss not to also give a tip of the hat to Danica Patrick, who finished seventh, which is her best finish of the season by a long shot. Martinsville Speedway is a track she has really seemed to get her arms around. Chase Elliott made his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut amidst a lot of hype, but it really turned out to be "trial by fire" for that young man. Don't worry, he's future in the No. 24 car replacing Jeff Gordon next year is really bright, plus Martinsville is a track he'll obviously visit twice next year so Sunday was a good learning experience for him.
To see no Chevrolet finish in the top five on Sunday was somewhat surprising when you factor in Martinsville is historically a Hendrick track, plus the roll Chevrolet has been on so far this year.
Conversely, Toyota has to be very happy to finally put a win up on the board. Are they back where they need to be yet? While I don't think they are quite there yet, they have to be encouraged, obviously, by how they ran two weeks ago at Auto Club Speedway in California and then Sunday they not only got the win, but three of the first five places in the race. So it seems they have things definitely pointed in the right direction.
I don't care what time of year it is. I don't care how cold or how hot it might be, you simply can't beat this short track racing. I love it.
