Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Photo by Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images
Kyle Busch made the winning move in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on the final restart.
After the race was slowed with 17 laps to go for a spin by Jamie McMurray, Busch nailed the restart, hanging his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth on the outside. With the field scrambling behind him, Busch drove away to score his first series win at the historic Virginia raceway.
Busch made his second trip of the weekend to Martinsville’s victory lane, having won the Truck Series race the day before. It means Busch will have to make room for two of Martinsville’s coveted Grandfather Clock trophies.
“Leading as many laps as we did, that was really good for us,” Busch said. “It was a confidence boost for me as well, too, just being up front that much. I’ve never really felt like I’ve had a car to be able to do that in years past, but Adam and the guys were able to give that to me this time around.
“So pumped about the things that I learned here this weekend, let alone the years past or years prior that I was able to learn, and of course my teammates that helped me out a lot here over the years, so to be able to finally put it all together is pretty cool, and take home not one but two Martinsville trophies, Martinsville clocks is pretty awesome.”
After starting in the seventh position, Busch took the lead for the first time on lap 32 with a pass on Paul Menard. From there, Busch would lead 352 of the race’s 500 laps, the most at Martinsville since the late Bobby Hamilton led 378 in 1998.
But the win didn’t come easily. Busch found himself battling Kenseth for much of the event, with Kenseth leading three times for 45 laps on the day. On a late restart, Kenseth worked with his teammate to make sure the two stayed at the front of the field, allowing Busch to move in front while starting on the outside line. Over the closing laps, Busch appeared to be at the mercy of Kenseth, who was stalking him with less than 20 laps to go.
But on the final restart, the agreement between the two went out the window. Busch chose to restart on the inside, letting him get away while Kenseth slipped back, hung in the outside line.
“That was the key to the race – being able to restart on the bottom like that,” Busch said. “We all talked as a group earlier this morning about how we were going to do that and what we were going to do and we all said, ‘Okay, with 10 to go, it’s pretty much off limits, no more,’ and it was 12 to go, so it was pretty much right on the brink there, so sorry Matt (Kenseth), but I can’t say enough about my teammates.”
Kenseth slid back through the field, and ended up fighting with Danica Patrick coming to the checkered flag to finish 15th.
“We’ve had fast cars this year, but got shuffled to the back, so disappointing ending but it was an encouraging day,” said Kenseth. “We ran really well, had great pit stops and they gave me fast cars. Hopefully we’ll start getting some finishes soon.”
A.J. Allmendinger showed his short track prowess, as he time and again powered his way into the top ten. Driving like a short track ace, Allmendinger pushed his way through the field, and moved to second on the final restart. He tried to chase down Busch, but came up short with a second place finish.
“Yeah, I mean, just a really solid weekend as a whole,” Allmendinger said. “We had a good qualifying, a great happy hour, and early in the race we weren’t quite where we wanted to be, and we got our car really, really good on the long runs. That’s kind of where I thought we shined. We didn’t have great short-run speed, but after about 30, 40 laps we could really get rolling there. I was kind of hoping we’d stay green the last 120 laps. I figured that wasn’t going to happen, but I was praying we had a shot at that because I felt like if that happened we had a great chance to win the race.”
Kyle Larson finished in third, with Austin Dillon in fifth.
Brad Keselowski looked to have a car to contend with. After battling back from a pit road speeding penalty, he was in the top five when the final caution flag flew. His team made the call to pit for four fresh tires, setting him up to restart from the 11th position. In the end, Keselowski brought his Ford home in fifth place.
“It was a good Martinsville race,” he said. “We had a lot of speed with the Miller Lite Ford on the long runs, but just not quite enough on the short runs to make anything of the Gibbs cars. They were really strong all day. All in all, I’m real proud of my team. We’re starting to get this place where we’re real consistent and can run up front and that’s a good feeling.”
Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman rounded out the top ten.
Polesitter Joey Logano did not have the day he had hoped for. After leading the opening laps, the handling went away on the No. 22 Ford, sending Logano plummeting back through the field and eventually landing him one lap down. After getting back on the lead lap, Logano would end up finishing 11th on the day.
“It was frustrating,” he said. “You want to go out there and win for sure and we just missed it. The first run was just absolutely awful to go down a lap from the lead, so we fought to get our car better, which we did, and then we over adjusted and came back and over adjusted on the way back, and then we had a pit road penalty. I think we know where we missed it, but we didn’t have the tools to fix what we needed to fix.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
STP 500 – April 3, 2016
1. (7) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 500.
2. (6) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 500.
3. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 500.
4. (29) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.
5. (11) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500.
6. (25) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 500.
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8. (4) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 500.
9. (24) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500.
10. (5) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 500.
11. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, 500.
12. (14) Greg Biffle, Ford, 500.
13. (23) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 500.
14. (21) Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Chevrolet, 500.
15. (9) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 500.
16. (28) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 500.
17. (19) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 500.
18. (16) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 500.
19. (12) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 500.
20. (10) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 499.
21. (22) David Ragan, Toyota, 499.
22. (2) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 499.
23. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 499.
24. (27) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 498.
25. (30) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 497.
26. (26) Brian Scott #, Ford, 496.
27. (32) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 496.
28. (33) Landon Cassill, Ford, 495.
29. (35) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 495.
30. (31) * Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 495.
31. (18) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 494.
32. (13) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 494.
33. (36) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 491.
34. (34) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 491.
35. (38) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 490.
36. (37) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 490.
37. (40) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 490.
38. (39) * Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Engine, 326.
39. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 221.
40. (20) Aric Almirola, Ford, Engine, 206.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 80.088 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 17 Mins, 02 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.663 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 51 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano 1-21; P. Menard 22-31; Kyle Busch 32-100; K. Harvick 101-105; Kyle Busch 106-131; M. Kenseth 132-146; Kyle Busch 147-155; K. Harvick 156-222; M. Kenseth 223-240; Kyle Busch 241-314; M. Kenseth 315-326; Kyle Busch 327-500.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch 5 times for 352 laps; K. Harvick 2 times for 72 laps; M. Kenseth 3 times for 45 laps; J. Logano 1 time for 21 laps; P. Menard 1 time for 10 laps.
Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 220; J. Johnson – 216; Kyle Busch – 215; C. Edwards – 206; J. Logano – 196; B. Keselowski – 178; A. Dillon – 176; Kurt Busch – 176; D. Hamlin – 172; D. Earnhardt Jr – 172; M. Truex Jr – 150; A. Allmendinger – 147; J. Mcmurray – 143; M. Kenseth – 140; *. Blaney # – 132; C. Elliott # – 131.
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