The Latest: Hamlin wins first stage Monday at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) The Latest on the NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway (all times local):
5:20 p.m.
Clint Bowyer has earned his first Cup victory in over five years as Stewart-Haas Racing continued its strong start to the NASCAR season.
Bowyer snapped a 190-race winless streak with his victory Monday at Martinsville Speedway. It was his first win driving for SHR, the team he joined as Tony Stewart's replacement last year.
The move to SHR was supposed to turn Bowyer's fortunes around, but his struggles continued through his first year in the No. 14 Ford. But he finally figured it out on the short track in Virginia and won for the first time since his victory at Charlotte in October 2012.
Bowyer had led just 145 combined laps the last four years and bettered that Monday with 215 laps led and his first career Martinsville victory.
Stewart-Haas Racing has now won four of the first six races this season.
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3:50 p.m.
Ryan Blaney has won the second stage of Monday's Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Clint Bowyer finished second in the stage and nearly caught Blaney on the final lap. But Blaney darted to the outside around the lapped car of Kasey Kahne and Bowyer had to go low around Kahne. It ended Bowyer's momentum, and Blaney drove away for his sixth career stage victory.
Kyle Busch was third in the stage and followed by Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.
The fastest cars so far at Martinsville are Fords and Toyotas. The highest-finishing Chevrolet driver in the second stage was AJ Allmendinger at eighth.
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3 p.m.
Denny Hamlin has won the first stage of Monday's race at Martinsville Speedway.
It is the first stage victory for Hamlin on a short track even though those venues suit the Virginia native's style. Hamlin is a five-time winner at Martinsville and has finished outside the top-10 just six times in 24 career starts.
Brad Keselowski was second in the stage followed by his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.
Kyle Busch was fourth to join Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, in the top four.
Clint Bowyer was fifth in the stage, one spot ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick.
Bubba Wallace cut a tire early in the stage. The heavy damage will prevent him from winning. Wallace has won two Truck Series races at Martinsville.
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2 p.m.
The snow has been cleared from Martinsville Speedway and NASCAR's postponed Cup Series race is about to begin.
A wintry mix forced NASCAR to cancel almost two days of activities and turn its first stop at a short track this season into a Monday afternoon race.
Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to green when the race begins. Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers with nine wins at Martinsville, but he's mired in a career-worst 28-race winless streak.
NASCAR completed the Truck Series race Monday morning before the main event. John Hunter Nemechek won that race, and the track was cleared for Cup Series driver introductions.
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