Jimmie Johnson started on the pole and it was obvious he was going to be a contender to start. Marcos Ambrose was able to lead the first lap, but Johnson quickly grabbed the lead back. The race stopped quickly for the first caution of the day on lap 15. Danica Patrick went into turn 3 under Ken Schrader and Patrick spun to avoid running into Schrader. Danica was able to keep it out of the wall and keep it going. No drivers received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued on until the second caution on lap 68. Scott Speed pulled a David Reutimann and stopped on the frontstretch. Mike Joy jumped all over that reference and proved how much he actually cares about the little guy. Anyway, the caution came out and Juan Pablo Montoya received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued on until the third caution on lap 171. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lost a grill, leaving debris on the track. This was one of those weird debris cautions where we saw the debris and what happened. Not that it really matters, but credit to FOX for catching that. Tony Stewart received the lucky dog. The race went back green and the biggest stack up of the race occurred.
In turn 2 on lap 180, Dale Earnhardt Jr. slowed down. Drivers behind him like Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stacked up and received a good bit of damage. The caution waved and Jimmie Johnson immediately slowed down. Clint Bowyer spun out trying to avoid him and drivers like Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., and Travis Kvapil received a lot of damage. This caused the fourth caution of the day to come out. Carl Edwards received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued on until the fifth caution on lap 240. Regan Smith spun out David Reutimann in turn 4. Reutimann was able to keep the car out of the wall and continue on. Greg Biffle received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued for a short time until the sixth caution on lap 253. Carl Edwards cut down a tire and went for a spin in turn 4. He did not receive any damage and continued on. Paul Menard received the lucky dog. This brought the race to the halfway point and the tempers were sure to start flaring.
The race went back green and it was a short time before the seventh caution on lap 279. Martin Truex Jr. went for a simple spin in turn 3 and was able to keep going. Casey Mears received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued on until the eighth caution of the race on lap 293. David Gilliland got into Kurt Busch coming into turn 3 and Busch went for a spin. He did not receive any damage and was able to continue on. Bobby Labonte received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued on until the ninth caution on lap 360. Ryan Newman blew a tire and stopped on the track. He would receive a penalty from NASCAR because they determined that he had an opportunity to make it to pit road and did not. This cost him a few laps and ended his chance to repeat with a win. Regan Smith received the lucky dog. The race went back green and continued on until the tenth caution of the race on lap 447. Brian Vickers blew a tire in turn 2 and went for a spin. Paul Menard received the lucky dog. Now, the race had moved into the last fifty laps and tempers were sure to start flaring.
The race went back green and continued on until the eleventh caution of the race on lap 464. Brian Vickers bumped Danica Patrick in turn 3 and sent her up into Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt went for a spin, but he did not receive any damage. Brian Vickers, the actual cause of the caution, received the lucky dog. The race went back green for the final time and continued on until the twelfth caution of the race on lap 485. Kurt Busch lost his brakes in turn 1 and the car burst into flames. Kurt had the presence of mind to make an immediate left because the lack of brakes would have led to a harder impact further in the corner. After he reached a stop, he began to exit and used the fire extinguisher and was able to put the fire out. Kurt handled the situation well and was able to get out unharmed. NASCAR waved the red flag so the safety crews could clean up the accident area. Aric Almirola received the lucky dog. After the crew cleaned up the area, the drivers got ready for what was going to be a great restart.
The green flag waved and Jimmie Johnson immediately jumped out to a lead. He would not surrender the lead and would go on to win the race. It was his eighth career win at Martinsville, which move him up to third all time. Before he could celebrate, though, a little spinning occurred after the race. On the white flag lap, Brian Vickers was racing Danica Patrick extremely hard. He was bouncing off of her and the bumping allowed Kevin Harvick to make it three wide coming to the line. Vickers was able to finish ahead of the two, but coming into turn 1 of the cool down lap Harvick took an immediate right and sent Vickers spinning. Vickers spun out and got it straightened out. Coming into the garage, Vickers bumped Harvick and let him know he was not pleased. An altercation did not occur and Johnson was able to celebrate without fists flying.
It was a quite a first Martinsville race for the new gen-6 car. Not only was Johnson able to secure his eighth win at the track, but Danica Patrick finished in twelfth position. Well, granted if you haven't heard that yet you probably live under a rock. Nonetheless, it was an impressive performance for her and many of the other drivers. I expected nothing less and next week's race at Texas should be one for the books. I hope you can tune in and see an all out shout-out in “The Lone Star State”.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 15- Danica Patrick went for a spin in turn 3.
2nd Caution: Lap 68- Scott Speed stopped on the frontstretch.
3rd Caution: Lap 171- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lost a grill, leaving debris on the track.
4th Caution: Lap 180- Dale Earnhardt Jr. slowed down coming out of turn 2 and drivers like Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, and Joey Logano piled in. Jimmie Johnson slowed down on the frontstretch and drivers like Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Travis Kvapil, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. piled in.
5th Caution: Lap 240- David Reutimann went for a spin in turn 3.
6th Caution: Lap 253- Carl Edwards cut down a tire and went for a spin in turn 4.
7th Caution: Lap 279- Martin Truex Jr. went for a spin in turn 3.
8th Caution: Lap 293- Kurt Busch went for a spin in turn 3.
9th Caution: Lap 360- Ryan Newman blew a tire and stopped on the track.
10th Caution: Lap 447- Brian Vickers blew a tire and went for a spin in turn 2.
11th Caution: Lap 464- Dale Earnhardt Jr. went for a spin in turn 3 after contact with Danica Patrick and Brian Vickers.
12th Caution: Lap 485- Kurt Busch lost his brakes in turn 1 and went up into the wall and burst into flames.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: None
2nd Caution: Juan Pablo Montoya
3rd Caution: Tony Stewart
4th Caution: Carl Edwards
5th Caution: Greg Biffle
6th Caution: Paul Menard
7th Caution: Casey Mears
8th Caution: Bobby Labonte
9th Caution: Regan Smith
10th Caution: Paul Menard
11th Caution: Brian Vickers
12th Caution: Aric Almirola
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Jimmie Johnson
2nd: Clint Bowyer
3rd: Jeff Gordon
4th: Kasey Kahne
5th: Kyle Busch
Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Brad Keselowski
10th: Mark Martin
12th: Danica Patrick
13th: Kevin Harvick
17th: Tony Stewart
24th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://racing-reference.info/race/2013_STP_Gas_Booster_500/W
-Image:
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5161f716/turbine/la-sp-sn-nascar-jimmie-johnson-wins-at-martins-001/600
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