STP 500 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Some season firsts took place for Chase Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, including his best track finish after coming up 0.594 seconds short of dethroning the dominant Brad Keselowski, who led 446 of 500 laps. The 23-year-old’s strong result marked Chevrolet’s third top-five of the season, and not only Elliott’s best finish of the season thus far, but Hendrick Motorsports first top-five all season in a track that’s been their yard for well over aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Brad Keselowski led 446 of 500 laps in winning Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. An easy victory, right? Well, not exactly. After Keselowski’s pit crew put him in the lead for a restart on Lap 380, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford spent the rest of the race fending off a determined charge from Chase Elliott. Ultimately, Keselowski got to the finish line .594 seconds ahead of Elliott and 1.335 seconds in front of Kyle Busch, who wasRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent It was a ‘there and back again’ kind of day for Clint Bowyer as he overcame two pit road speeding penalties to finish the STP 500 inside the top-10. Following his second speeding penalty of the day, Bowyer tore through the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field at Martinsville Speedway. In the closing laps, his No. 14 Mobil 1 / Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang was the center of a heated battle with Martin Truex, Jr. The duo battled for the better part of 20Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – With surgical efficiency, Joey Logano continued his domination of knockout qualifying at Martinsville Speedway. Saving his car and his tires for the final round of Saturday’s time trials at the .526-mile short track, Logano won the pole for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap at 97.830 mph (19.356 seconds). Driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Logano edged Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Aric Almirola (97.643 mph) for the top starting spot byRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer “There is no coffee strong enough that will wake you up like losing brakes into turn one at Martinsville,” Corey LaJoie after crashing during Saturday morning practice. Heading into Turn 1, LaJoie’s No. 32 CorvetteParts.com Ford Mustang lost his brakes and careened into the wall at full force, leaving heavy right front damage as he brought his car to the garage. He and the entire GoFAS Racing team rolled out and began working on the backup car before qualifying commences later this afternoon. #RESPECT Driver workingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After weeks of aero package this and aero package that, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to some normalcy this weekend as they head to Martinsville Speedway for the first short track race of the season and Sunday’s running of the STP 500. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. The track has basically one groove, meaning the only way to pass will beRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Clint Bowyer was so excited he started his celebratory burnout at the entrance to Turn 3 at Martinsville Speedway, flirting perilously with the outside wall. Bowyer had ample reason to start the party early, before he got to the frontstretch for a traditional smoke show. With his victory in Monday’s snow-delayed STP 500, he had just ended a winless streak in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that had reached 190 races, dating to the fall race at Charlotte in 2012. The victory didRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Ryan Blaney came up short of capturing his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in Monday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, finishing a season-high third place after a stage two victory and led 145 of 500 laps. The No. 12 Menards/Libman Ford Fusion started fifth and would stay inside the top-five for much of the afternoon. Blaney wouldn’t take the lead for the first time until Lap 137, when he gained two spots on pit road and took the lead from stage oneRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor When it comes to certain tracks in AJ Allmendinger’s wheelhouse, everyone knows he is a force to be reckoned with at the road courses, but there are also some other tracks that the JTG-Daugherty Racing driver has shown speed at. One of those is Martinsville Speedway and Allmendinger displayed exactly why, driving from deep in the pack to score an eighth-place finish in Monday’s STP 500, marking top-10 finishes in four of his last five starts at the track. With qualifying snowed out, Allmendinger wouldRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer The driver nicknamed ‘The Showman,’ Alex Bowman scored his first top-10 finish of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. The last time Bowman competed at Martinsville Speedway was 2015. Bowman’s No. 88 Nationwide Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to life late in the STP 500. He hovered just outside the top-10 for most of the first 400 laps. With about 40 laps to go, Bowman, and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, were the only two drivers as fast as eventual race-winner ClintRead More