Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Wrap-Up

Whenever the Sprint Cup series hits a short track, it seems that tempers become short as well. This weekends race at Martinsville is a perfect example of this short temper rule.

With just two laps to go and a great race brewing for first between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann in the #10 car decided stop on the front stretch because of a broken tie rod. He was determined to finish to maintain a top 35 position for the #10 which he shares with Danica Patrick. So with the caution out and Jeff Gordon declared the leader, the field behind Gordon and Johnson decided to pit and get some fresh rubber and a splash of fuel. This left Gordon and Johnson as sitting ducks in the front of the pack trying to save fuel and running on old tires with over 100 laps on them.

Come time for the restart, the 24 and 48 both had trouble getting the power to the ground and were slow to the line. The cars behind them, however, were faster and a bottleneck effect began to show. Entering turn one, Newman had a lot of speed and ended up bumping the 15 of Clint Bowyer who slowed to avoid hitting the two Hendrick cars up front. This shot propelled bowyer into Gordon and Johnson who both sustained heavy damage. Boywer and Earnhardt Jr were also involved. Now out of the three cars for Hendrick in the front, all that remained was Earnhardt Jr (after Kasey Kahne blew his motor earlier after starting on the pole).

The damage on Johnson, Bowyer, and Gordon relegated them back to 10th for Bowyer, 12th for Johnson, and 14th for Gordon. In addition, Reutimann, who was trying to stay in the top 35, lost that battle and is not out of the top 35 by just 1 point.

On brighter notes, the late rate caution allowed Ryan Newman to rack up his first win of the year making it three total for Stewart Haas racing this season. Dale Earnhardt also managed to finish third with his damaged race car continuing an impressive run this season.

The top 5:
1. Ryan Newman 39 Outback Chevrolet
2. A. J. Allmendinger #22 Shell Dodge
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 Amp Energy Chevrolet
4. Matt Kenseth #17 Tunnel to Towers Foundation Ford
5. Martin Truex Jr. #56 Napa Toyota.

Notable:
7. Tony Stewart #14 Office Depot Chevrolet
10. Clint Bowyer #15 5-Hour Energy Toyota
12. Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe's Chevrolet
14. Jeff Gordon #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet
33. Kurt Busch #51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet
36. Kyle Busch #18 M&M's Toyota
38. Kasey Kahne #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet

Next week we are at Texas for the Samsung Mobile 500.