Hendrick Motorsports Achieves Legendary Victory At Martinsville

RACE INFORMATION

Total Laps: 400
Total Miles: 210
Top speed: 121 mph
Average lap time: 20 seconds
Fuel window: 150 Laps
Tire window: 170 Laps
Pit Speed: 30mph
Pace car: 25 Camry XSE
Stages: 80, 100, 220
Weather: mid-60s and sunny

PRACTICE & QUALIFYING

Shortest track on the NASCAR Circuit
HMS only team to lead over 10,000 laps at Martinsville
The two ends may look the same, but they drive differently as far as timing
Rubber will wear off the bottom of the corners and add more and more grip
Qualifying Top 5 Group A: Wallace, Briscoe, Bowman, Truex Jr., Blaney
Qualifying Top 5 Group B: Larson, Elliot, Hamlin, Berry, Lagano
Pole: Kyle Larson, HMS
Top 5: Larson, Wallace, Elliot, Truex, Briscoe
Paint: All the Hendrick cars were featuring Ruby Red as the 40th Anniversary color and really looked fantastic. The “B”s have it this week with Berry’s beautiful gold car in first, and the ruby red of Byron and Bowman in 2nd and 3rd

Hendrick Motorsports Achieves Legendary Victory at Martinsville 2

RACE NOTES

There were a ton of red cars on track this week. All the HMS and Stuart-Haas cars were wrapped in red & white, plus a number of other vehicles chose red schemes this week
The big story this week is the 40th Anniversary of Hendrick Motor Sports which had its start at Martinsville
Byron started in 18th, Reddick started in 19th, Buescher started in 30th
The first 5 cars were all predominantly red
Pit stall 1 hasn’t won a race since Jimmie Johnson in 2013
Fox had a brief broadcasting error on lap 3
By lap 10, Larson had a .5 seconds lead
By lap 15, Byron was up 3 spots
On lap 32, 6 cars were a lap down with Larson still in first by 1.5 seconds
On lap 37, Byron caught Bowman and they ran 11th and 12th until Byron passed on lap 42
On lap 40, Blaney got a bit loose, but not enough to matter
Lap 43 Larson bumped Lajoie as Lajoie battled to stay on the lead lap. He got blue flagged
Lap 46 Brisco hard rubbed the side of Truex in the corner
Lap 60 Byron was up to 8th, and 26 cars were on the lead lap
With 10 to go in Stage 1, the first 5 positions hadn’t changed
Lap 69 Hamlin moved the rookie Starr out of the way with a hard shove
Lap 74 Buescher went a lap down in 26th, Reddick was up to 17th
By the end of Stage 1, Wallace had closed the gap to .21 seconds
Stage 1, Larson wins his 4th stage of the season
Lap 86, pits open under stage caution
Stenhouse got turned around in the pits, and got slapped with a speeding penalty
Gilliland’s team left the wedge adjustment wrench on the vehicle
Blaney hit a crew member briefly. He was not injured, but Blaney had to return to get an adjustment and left rear lug tightened
Lagano only got 2 tires and came out of the pits in 1st
Buescher got the free pass in 26th
We restarted on Lap 93 with Byron in 7th and Reddick in 14th
Larson spun the tires and was passed by Lagano and Wallace
Lap 97, Larson passed by Hamlin
Lap 105 Suarez reports a throttle-sticking problem
Lap 110 Bell breaks a tie rod in 21st position
Lap 113 caution comes out for debris due to Bell
A few cars chose to pit but the majority stayed out
We restarted on lap 120
Cars 2-9, and 22-25 were all predominantly red
The 4 HMS cars were running 4, 5, 6, and 7 (Larson, Elliot, Bowman, Byron)
Lap 133 the top 3 were Lagano, Wallace and Hamlin followed by the 4 HMS cars
Lap 140 Burton got bounced between Nemechek, Gragson, Grala, and Haley
Lap 156th Reddick was up to 12th
Lap 161 Hamlin got into Wallace to attempt a pass. 2 laps later he was successful in passing
With 10 to go in Stage 2, Hamlin overtakes Lagano for 1st
With Lagano on only 2 fresh tires, Wallace and Larson pass with 6 to go
Bowman went for the Lagano pass with 2 to go, but didn’t make it
Hamlin wins Stage 2
Almost all the cars pit over this Stage caution
Blaney gets 2 tires and picks up 12 spots in this pit cycle
Gibbs makes contact getting out of his pit box
Smith made a return to the pits to tighten a loose wheel
Elliott overtakes first on the restart
On Lap 200, Byron is 8th, Reddick is 10th, and Buescher was 22nd
Lap 202 was 3 wide between Gilliland, Jones, and Gibbs for 15th
Lap 203 caution for Bell spinning without contact
Truex, Gibbs, Busch, and Keselowski are the only ones who pit
Lap 213 Byron passes Lagano for 6th, Gilliland passes Briscoe for 8th
Lap 216 Elliott is leading by 1 second
Lap 239 Elliott is leading by 1.6 seconds
Lap 248 Hamlin is closing the gap on Elliot who is dealing with lapped traffic
Lap 255 Hamlin and Elliott battle for the lead
Lap 259 Hamlin overtakes for 1st
La 271 Hamlin now leads by 1.6 seconds
Larson gets aggressive with Nemecheck (lapped) for not getting out of his way. Nemecheck gets blue flagged
With 110 to go, teams are debating when to pit under green for fuel
With 103 to go, Wallace leads the start of pits under green
Hamlin and Elliott join on the next lap
Briscoe stays out and now leads followed by Cindric and Suarez
With 93 to go, Briscoe pits giving the lead to Cindric
85 to go and Cindric pits to give the lead to Suarez
74 to go and Byron passes Suarez for 1st
Elliott and Larson quickly pass Suarez as well. Worth noting Suarez has gone 131 laps without a pit stop
HMS now runs 1, 2, and 3
66 to go and Briscoe gets hard into the bumper of Gibbs and almost suns him sideways. No spin or caution
58 to go and Suarez finally pits
Despite prior mishaps, Blaney is now running 5th
38 to go and Byron leads by 3.25 seconds
33 to go and Hamlin, who’s in 4th starts getting very aggressive trying to pass Cindric who is already a lap down. This continued for 8 laps
15 to go and Fox is grasping at straws to keep viewers interested
13 to go and Byron starts battling Chastain who’s 14th and trying to stay on the lead lap
9 laps to go and Byron moves Chastain out of the way
Fan or not, if HMS won 1, 2, 3 on their 40th anniversary at the track where they started, it would be a monumental achievement in NASCAR history
3 to go and a caution comes out for Nemecheck getting a flat tire and brake fire. The fire was mostly put out, but re-lit on the tow truck
Most of the cars stayed out of the pit, but Hamlin, Reddick, Preece, and a few at the rear chose to pit
Restart is chaotic, blaney moves into 3rd
Crash in turn four as the white flag comes out
NASCAR doesn’t throw the yellow and the crashed cars clear the track as the leaders come around to the finish line
Hendrick Motor Sports finishes 1, 2, 3 with Byron taking first followed by Larson and Elliott