The skies are a glorious blue in Martinsville. The blue is deep with a clarity that’s only really seen during this time of year. Hermie Sadler is in this race. Congrats to Hermie on getting a ride. Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) will lead the field to green. Clint ‘Drunk Daddy’ Bowyer (14) has the outside pole. MRN says the temperature is in the 50s. Several teams failed pre-race inspection or had other infractions and will start at the back of the field including Martin Truex Jr (78), Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2), Landon Cassill (99), Jimmie Johnson (48), David ‘Thrilla from Unadilla’ Ragan (38), J.J. Yeley (23), Jeb Burton (51), Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (43), Paul Menard (21) and the Timmy Hill (66). The stages for the race are 130-130-240.
So many gimmick/dumb shots, I find myself looking at anything, but the television broadcast. The weird/useless shots are distracting from the MRN radio call of the race.
Caution on lap 44 of 500 for a crash by the 51 of Jeb Burton.
Restarting on 50 of 500 with KyBu and Joey Logano (22) up front.
Caution on lap 71 of 500 for an incident including Erik ‘Da Brat’ Jones (20) and the 48 of Jimmie Johnson who goes around. On MRN Rusty Wallace says he was wheel-hopping and it looks like his brake bias is adjusted to heavily toward the rear of the car.
Restarting on lap 76 of 500 with KyBu and Logano up front.
Denny Hamlin (11) wins the stage.
Drunk Daddy ran into William Byron (24) who was attempting to enter his pit stall and knocked him into a 180 spin and backward into his pit.
Restarting on lap 140 of 500 with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the front of the field.
Joey Logano wins stage two.
Restarting on lap 270 of 500 with Logano and Hamlin up front again.
The race has been tedious so far. Lots of driving, not much visual stimulation, and no emotional engagement. The problem with most NASCAR races this season.
The MRN guys are saying there’s weather in the area. Rusty says the rain band looks rather narrow on the radar, so he believes if it rains it will be a short shower and they will be able to get back to racing since there are lights at the track.
On lap 361 of 500 Bubba Wallace goes smoking into the pits with a blown right front tire. NASCAR did not throw a caution.
Caution on lap 365 of 500 for a spin by William Byron (24).
Restarting on lap 373 of 500 with Martin Truex Jr (78) and Logano in front.
Caution on lap 382 of 500 for Timmy Hill’s 66 car going up in flames.
Restarting on lap 393 of 500 with Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr up front.
TV showed a nice rainbow at the return from break. There are still clouds, but the sun is shining again on the track.
Caution on lap 397 of 500 for ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson (42) blowing up.
MRN’s Dave Moody says the sun went away about 25 minutes ago (around 1700) and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees and a few stray raindrops fell and now the clouds have parted and the sun’s returned along with some of the warmth.
Extended caution. For some reason they’re unable to just put the car on a wrecker and take it away. Instead they’re trying to get it on a ‘roll-back’ to drive it away and that’s taking quite a while as the field rolls around under caution eating up laps. As the race has lacked excitement so far it doesn’t seem like much of a loss. It took about 15 laps for them to get the car on the truck to go away.
Restarting on lap 413 of 500 with Logano and Truex out front.
‘It’ is moving his teammate up the track in a battle for the lead with a bump and run.
‘It’ gets the lead on lap 418 of 500.
Caution on lap 456 of 500 for a spin by Clint ‘Drunk Daddy’ Bowyer (14).
Restarting on lap 463 of 500. Logano (22) and KyBu (18) will be at the front of the field.
On lap 467 of 500 ‘It’ did a bump and run on KyBu for second.
Since Dave Moody of MRN can see more of the race than they’re broadcasting on television he’s losing his mind calling several battles. We’re stuck watching the front two and occasionally the front four. It’s a pretty boring race on television. Sounds like it’s much more interesting if you don’t have such a limited view.
So with 30 laps to go it appears the race has actually started now as the top five are battling hard for position. Two Penskes and Three JGR (counting Martin Truex Jr as one).
With 8 laps to go Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano are racing side-by-side.
Turex takes the white flag with Joey right beside him.
Logano wins. Truex goes sideways, Joey passes him and Denny passes him as he slides sideways across the finish line.
Thank you Kyle Busch. When Kelly Stavasz mentioned that there was a lot of racing Kyle said “he hoped it was covered well”. It appears he is aware of how awful the television broadcast coverage of the race has been and continues to be.
The 2 and 4 cars had one loose lug-nut each.
Motorsport News:
- Truex Jr.: Logano ‘ain’t winning the damn war’.
- Hendrick Motorsports announces Ally as full-season primary sponsor for Jimmie Johnson.
- IndyCar’s Vasser and Sullivan join AIM to run Lexus IMSA programme.
- Legge joined by de Silvestro and Beatriz in all-female IMSA team.
- Ex-F1 driver Felipe Massa defends his views on IndyCar safety.
- Robert Wickens gives more detail of ‘paraplegic’ status and prognosis.
- Loeb: Rally Spain win makes 2019 WRC programme more tempting.
- Brett Moffitt With ‘Good Points’ Finishing 2nd at Martinsville.
- Sauter Wins at Martinsville to Advance to Truck Series Championship Four.
- Expect mix of familiar, new on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48.
- Tense moments: Crew chiefs exchange words.
- President Trump sends well-wishes to NASCAR’s Brian France.
- Truex vows to stop Logano title win after Martinsville NASCAR clash.
- Earnhardt Jr: Truex was “too nice†in wild Martinsville finish.
- Jimmie Johnson signs two-year sponsorship deal with Ally Financial.
- Trump tells crowd he loves NASCAR rides. But ‘get me the hell out’ at 250 mph, he says.
- Robert Wickens reveals he’s a paraplegic after crash
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