by RacingNews | Mar 30, 2015 | NASCAR, Sprint Cup
Ryan Newman and the No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS team started the 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway with high hopes and aspirations after starting on the outside pole for Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race but ultimately secured a 27th-place finish. Early in the race, Newman raced in the top five and led two of the first 20 laps. After pitting under the second caution flag for tires, fuel and minor chassis adjustments, he restarted second on lap 60. However, through the next long run under green, Newman was caught in the outside line and freight trained by other cars causing him to fall in the running order. Then, the rear tires were not responding to track conditions and caused an even farther fall, placing him in 37th-place by lap 120.
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by RacingNews | Mar 30, 2015 | NASCAR, Sprint Cup
Paul Menard drove to a hard-fought 23rd-place finish in Sunday’s 500-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway. Menard started from the 13th position and maintained a spot in the top 20 for 52 laps of competition. When the caution flag was displayed on lap 53, Menard reported the Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet was loose through the center of turns. Crew chief Justin Alexander made the call for four tires, fuel and removed a spring rubber from the right rear. Through the next 164 laps, Menard fought a loose-handling condition and chatter in the right rear which brought him to pit road four times for fresh tires, fuel and wedge adjustments. The Wisconsin native was caught up in a multi-car incident on lap 227, forcing him to pit road for damage repair to the nose of his Chevy.
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by RacingNews | Mar 30, 2015 | NASCAR, Sprint Cup
Sporting the yellow and black colors of Cheerios on Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet for the first time this season, sophomore NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor Austin Dillon raced as high as 13th in the Martinsville 500 before developing a mechanical issue and finishing 41st. Dillon started the 500-lap race from the 22nd position and raced inside the top 20 for the first 100 laps before developing a loose-handling condition and dropping to 31st in the running order. As Dillon struggled with a lack of forward drive, he fell one lap down to the race leader, but found relief to the handling issues following a pit stop on lap 166 for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. Restarting 30th on lap 170, Dillon spent the next 50 circuits battling for the “Lucky Dog” position and earned his lap back when the caution flag was displayed on lap 218. Once back on the lead lap, Dillon quickly raced his way into the top 15 driving up to 13th in the running order. As the laps progressed, Dillon started to report a loose-handling condition and the No. 3 Chevrolet began smoking shortly after lap 300.
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by RacingNews | Mar 25, 2015 | NASCAR, Sprint Cup
146 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Richard Childress Racing has earned four pole awards and posted seven victories with drivers Dale Earnhardt (five times), Ricky Rudd (1983) and Kevin Harvick (2011). RCR Chevrolet teams have earned 28 top-five and 56 top-10 finishes at Martinsville dating back to the team’s first start there on April 10, 1972. RCR teams boast a 16.7 average starting position, an average finishing position of 15.8 and have completed 68,486 of the 73,183 contested laps (93.6 percent) at the paperclip-shaped race track. Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, contributed four of those top-10 finishes from 1976-1978.
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by Jay | Apr 1, 2012 | NASCAR, Sprint Cup, Touring Series News
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — In the wake of a controversial late-race caution, Ryan Newman spoiled an afternoon of Hendrick hegemony with an opportunistic victory in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Martinsville Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup photos
After Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominated the action for 497 laps, an untimely caution flag flew on Lap 497 and sent the race to overtime, after David Reutimann stalled on the frontstretch.
Gordon and Johnson stayed out on old tires as the lead-lap cars behind them came to the pits for tires and fuel. On the restart on lap 504, Clint Bowyer took Johnson and Gordon three-wide into the first corner, and all three cars spun, ruining a potential 200th victory party for Hendrick Motorsports.
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