Goody`s Fast Relief 500 Race Review

Martinsville Speedway -- 03/29/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Monday Mar 30 2009 2:06am

Time again for a well-worn NASCAR adage: the fastest car doesn’t always win the race.

Though Denny Hamlin led 296 of 500 laps, was ticking off the fastest lap times late in the race, and was in the lead on the final restart, it was Jimmie Johnson who pulled into Victory Lane at Martinsville Sunday afternoon.

Johnson got a nose under Hamlin on lap 484 and both cars wiggled up the track.
But Johnson managed to get his car to stick on the bottom and pulled off the pass, pulling ahead to victory with a .774-second lead over Hamlin.

Fans were anticipating that Hamlin would be upset in his post-race comments after losing a race that he dominated and came so close to winning – especially after he had powered past Johnson so impressively on just the previous restart.

But the 28-year-old was charitable after the race despite having lost a hard-fought battle in front of his home-state fans: `I’m honored to be on the race track with guys like Jimmie and Jeff and Tony,` he said. `Those are the guys who are the best in the business. We came up short. That was short-track racing. I would’ve done the same thing to him and, if it comes back around, I will do the same. It’s just the way it is. In Martinsville, you have to battle for every inch and I was trying to protect a spot, and he was trying to get it at the end of the race. That’s the way it goes.`

Jeff Gordon, who started on the pole thanks to Friday’s qualifying rain-out, led 147 laps early on but fought tight conditions throughout the latter two-thirds of the race as the track changed.

Johnson led 42 laps and was the only driver besides Hamlin and Gordon to run up front for any length of time.

Tony Stewart finished 3rd, Jeff Gordon, 4th, and Clint Bowyer, 5th. Rounding out the top 10 were Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., AJ Allmendinger, and Jamie McMurray.

McMurray was the only Roush-Fenway driver to finish in the top 20, as the Roushketeers never had a handle on the track this week. Matt Kenseth finished 23rd, Carl Edwards, 26th, David Ragan, 27th, and Greg Biffle, 28th.

Meanwhile, if you count the Stewart-Haas teams as Hendrick Motorsports affiliates, there were six Hendrick-associated cars in the top 10, including Johnson, Stewart, Gordon, Newman, Martin and Earnhardt Jr. Seven of the top 10 cars were Chevys.

Also, if you read my pre-race columns this week, you’ll recall that I warned right-side tires would be an issue Sunday. There were, in fact, 15 episodes of melted beads on tires at Martinsville leading to blowouts, though Goodyear asserts the problem was drivers overheating the brakes rather than the tire compound itself, which was new to Martinsville this weekend. Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Aric Almirola and Joey Logano were among those affected by the tire troubles.

It’s also worth noting that all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars finished in the top 20, as did MWR-affiliate Marcos Ambrose.

19 cars finished on the lead lap and there were four DNFs – Robby Gordon, Joe Nemechek, Dave Blaney, and Todd Bodine.

Jeff Gordon remains first in the point standings, growing his lead from 76 to 89 points over 2nd. Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer, who swapped the 2nd and 3rd spots last week after Bristol, swapped back again this week, with Bowyer reclaiming 2nd and Busch slipping to 3rd. Johnson’s win moved him up five spots to 4th and Hamlin is up three spots to 5th. Though the rest of the top 12 shuffled spots up and down, no one entered or left the top-12 group this week.

On the other end of the spectrum, Paul Menard climbed into the top 35 in owner points, supplanting Scott Speed, who fell to 38th after his 39th-place finish.

The series heads next to Texas, where the average race speed will be about twice what it was at Martinsville. Carl Edwards swept the intermediate track last year.

Comment on this article.

(255 chars max)

Username:
(No HTML)

Captcha:

User	Comment
jamming	I guess it`s not a total surprise to see Jimmie take this race but it`s early for him to start showing his stuff. I really was thinking Bowyer would place higher in this one.
Nascar Groupie	I`m disappointed my favorite driver did not win but if anyone had to win besides him I`m glad it was Jimmie Johnson. He is pretty good himself.
2nd Place	Good race with few surprises here except for the number of blown out tires. I`m surprised there were not more accidents than there were yesterday. Still over all this was one of the most fun races I have seen in a long time
TrafficJam	You would think that companies would make ties that would withstand the torture that drivers put them through in these races. There sure were a lot of blowouts yesterday.
FastTrack	Jimmie Johnson always does a great job when his car is not falling apart around him. lol. And right now Jeff Gordon is looking good as a long shot winner of the Chase this year. I say long shot because between now and then is a lot of racing.
brownlee59	I really though Hamlin had it. Buy Jimmy did great. And yeah there were so many tire problems. I thought Goodyear was trying to fix that.
RIRmama	Denny Hamlin is such a nice guy! I think his after race comments were great and show that he has a lot of class. He raced really well and I was hoping he could win. It was a good race!
jade06	That was impressive of Dale Earnhardt to be included in top 10. If Dale Earnhardt Sr. was still alive, he would be so proud of his son showing some improvement at the race just this time at Martinsville.
ryder_29	I got surprised that Kyle Busch put his car in tire problem. He needs to change his being "reckless" when driving at the track. No wonder I like his older brother better than him.
Tetchie	If it wasn`t Jimmie who won, then it should be Denny Hamlin`s first victory. That was so far his most impressive record at the race track.
brix12	Wow Jimmie Johnson did it! The King of Martinsville! If I state it correctly, it`s his first victory at Martinsville track this year, am I right?
Cal	Something is always going on to catch our eye but you might be right about Dale Jr. I am sure you were not the only one a little happy he finished pretty decent there.
Jasper	That was a sweet race that won me some extra cash. Jeff Gordon could maybe have done better, he may still be ahead in points but that can change quick.
NapaFave55	I was happy that all three of Michael Waltrip`s cars finished so well. Also, I thought that Denny Hamlin was quite gracious in his after-race interview. He wasn`t angry or resentful; just realistic.
RaceFan88	I was glad to see Dale Jr finishing in the top-10. He really needed that. I am also quite pleased to see Michael Waltrip Racing finishing with all three cars in the top-20. Michael`s worked hard since becoming an owner and it looks as though it`s starting to pay off.
JJFan48	I am so glad that Jimmie won. He dominates this track and the others eat his dust. As I`m not mechanically inclined, I don`t know what he possesses on this track that the others may lack but whatever it is, I hope he hangs onto it. It was a great race.
OGr8ty8	Hendrick just owns this sport right now. He strikes me as the "daddy" to all these guys who are under his wing or under it as an affiliate.
GordaFan24	The tires continue to be an issue but with this race the brakes really played into that issue. Hopefully, this can be resolved but it seems to be a continuing issue every year.