Johnson Wins Martinsville, Punches Title Round Ticket

Jimmie Johnson had to come back from a pair of setbacks to score his ninth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Martinsville Speedway Sunday.

More importantly, Johnson now is guaranteed of racing for his seventh Sprint Cup Series championship in the season finale next month at Homestead, with the win locking him into the championship round.

Johnson took the lead shortly after the final restart, moving past Denny Hamlin with 90 laps to go, and would go unchallenged the rest of the way en route to his 79th career series win.

“We really had great long run speed,” Johnson said. “We lost track position through a couple of different means there at the first half of the race. Honestly, that caution with the No. 19 car put us in the catbird seat. I wasn’t sure I could get by the No. 18 or the No. 11, but we got going and I got by both of those guys. I thought ‘man I hope this stays green’ because that really suits what our racecar was doing all day long.”

Johnson had hurdles to clear during the running of the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 to make his way to victory lane. The first was body damage incurred as he battled for seventh position with Hamlin around the 200 lap mark.

After making repairs under an ensuing caution, Johnson would restart in 25th. He would spend the next several segments of the race hovering around the top 12.

Then, while running under caution on lap 358, the engine in Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet shut down, as he rolled to a stop on the backstretch. Initially, the team thought he had run out of gas. But Johnson was able to refire the engine, and, after restarting in the top five, was able to battle around Hamlin for the race lead.

“Yeah, there were a lot of moments but anything in life you have to work for it,” Johnson said. “It’s not going to come easy and we knew that coming into this race. There are so many challenges with this track. I’m so thankful for this race team.”

While Johnson scored the win, it was the Joe Gibbs Toyota teams that dominated the day. Matt Kenseth led the most laps, pacing the field for 174 laps. Late in the day, Hamlin led some 44 laps. But as the laps wound down, the teammates of Hamlin, Kenseth and Kyle Busch fought each other inside the top five, with Hamlin working to hold both behind him.

That allowed Johnson to get away, and eventually, it gave Brad Keselowski the opportunity to get around all three of them. Keselowski then tried to track down Johnson for the lead, but could not close the gap in time.

“I think we had the speed capable to pull it off, but still a really strong day,” said Keselowski. “The car was good. The team executed really well, we just kind of missed out on the racing Gods today. We have a lot to be proud of, a great effort, and showed that we’re still a strong team if not the strongest in the garage and I’m really proud of that.”

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch seemed less than pleased about the outcome of the three teammates racing so hard together.

“We worked so good together that we gave the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) car the win today,” he said. “That’s how good JGR is. We had a great M&M’s Camry and we could have been a little farther up front, but we were held up there and we couldn’t pass and if I did try to make moves or try to make a pass, I got cutoff.”

“I think we all agreed that we would work together on restarts and try to do everything we could to be sure we didn’t screw the other guy over on restarts and stuff like that,” said Hamlin. “When it comes to racing, I didn’t think that any of us really had anything for the 48 (Jimmie Johnson). Maybe the other guys thought I was holding up the line, which is very possible, I definitely was at one point. There at the end, I didn’t have anybody pressing on my rear bumper and we had a third place car.”

While Johnson can rest easy with a guaranteed spot in the Chase, for three championship contenders, Sunday was a very bad day.

Kevin Harvick was penalized for speeding on pit road under the third caution of the day on lap 132, and from there on was never a contender. He would eventually finish one lap down in 20th position.

“We were slow all weekend,” said Harvick. “We could just never get the handle on it.”

Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Kurt Busch, also had a down day. After battling handling issues throughout the race, Busch had to settle for a 22nd place finish.

“We missed it,” Busch said. “I don’t know where, how, why, we missed it. Even SHR as a group we didn’t perform well. That was not the day we needed.”

Another Chase contender, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Carl Edwards, suffered a cut tire on lap 358, sending him into the turn one wall. After spending several laps behind the wall for repairs, Edwards would end up finishing 36th at the end of the day, some 23 laps down.

Edwards tire issue led to one of the most contentious moments of the day. When the caution flag flew, it came in the midst of green flag pit stops that saw the majority of the field having already stopped.

NASCAR officials spent the next 29 laps under caution trying to sort out the lineup for the restart. When 21 cars took the wave around, several questions came up about some of the cars getting a lap back. Once NASCAR was satisfied with the lineup, which placed Hamlin and Kyle Busch on the front row, the race finally went back to green.

Johnson would restart the race from third place. After working his way quickly around Kyle Busch, he would hunt down Hamlin and make the final pass for the win.

“All I knew is when I came off pit road I beat the leader so that allowed me to stay on the lead lap,” Busch said. “From there it didn’t seem like it was that hard to figure out, but NASCAR couldn’t figure it out. They’re a hell of a lot smarter than me so maybe there was another problem that I saw.”

Hamlin finished in third, with Kenseth in fourth and Kyle Busch in fifth, giving solid finishes to three of the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers going into next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Jeff Gordon, driving in what may be his final race in relief for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished in sixth. Pole sitter Martin Truex, Jr. who led 146 laps in the early stages of the race, came home in seventh, with Jamie McMurray, Chase contender Joey Logano and A.J. Allmendinger rounding out the top ten.

The race was slowed five times for cautions, as opposed to 18 cautions in this same race last year. Sunday’s smaller number of cautions led to two uncommon, long green flag runs on the tight, half-mile raceway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
The working of this drug actually starts after relaxation of the vaginal muscles which are vital conditions in having great cialis prices sex. Even if you generic super cialis go forward in the near future then. It boosts pill sildenafil stamina, strength to perform better in the game of love. There is no required to let Erectile generic levitra pill Dysfunction make you feel ashamed and useless. Goody’s Fast Relief 500 – October 30, 2016

1. (3) Jimmie Johnson (C), Chevrolet, 500.
2. (19) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500.
3. (8) Denny Hamlin (C), Toyota, 500.
4. (17) Matt Kenseth (C), Toyota, 500.
5. (9) Kyle Busch (C), Toyota, 500.
6. (10) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 500.
7. (1) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 500.
8. (14) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 500.
9. (2) Joey Logano (C), Ford, 500.
10. (4) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 500.
11. (22) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 499.
12. (5) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 499.
13. (25) Greg Biffle, Ford, 499.
14. (11) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 499.
15. (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 499.
16. (13) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 499.
17. (32) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 499.
18. (30) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 498.
19. (15) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 498.
20. (20) Kevin Harvick (C), Chevrolet, 498.
21. (26) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 497.
22. (23) Kurt Busch (C), Chevrolet, 497.
23. (31) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 497.
24. (24) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 497.
25. (18) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 496.
26. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 496.
27. (29) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 495.
28. (28) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 495.
29. (33) Landon Cassill, Ford, 494.
30. (21) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 494.
31. (37) Dylan Lupton(i), Toyota, 490.
32. (27) * Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 489.
33. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, Ford, 486.
34. (35) Brian Scott #, Ford, 484.
35. (40) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 479.
36. (7) Carl Edwards (C), Toyota, 477.
37. (12) David Ragan, Toyota, 424.
38. (34) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 407.
39. (36) * Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 360.
40. (39) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, Accident, 21.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 78.54 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 20 Mins, 55 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.291 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 54 laps.

Lead Changes: 15 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M. Truex Jr 1-24; J. Logano (C) 25-45; M. Truex Jr 46-62; R. Smith 63-64; M. Truex Jr 65-73; K. Larson 74-79; M. Truex Jr 80-110; Kyle Busch (C) 111-113; M. Truex Jr 114-150; M. Kenseth (C) 151; M. Truex Jr 152-180; M. Kenseth (C) 181-355; D. Hamlin (C) 356; A. Allmendinger 357-361; D. Hamlin (C) 362-408; J. Johnson (C) 409-500.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): M. Kenseth (C) 2 times for 176 laps; M. Truex Jr 6 times for 147 laps; J. Johnson (C) 1 time for 92 laps; D. Hamlin (C) 2 times for 48 laps; J. Logano (C) 1 time for 21 laps; K. Larson 1 time for 6 laps; A. Allmendinger 1 time for 5 laps; Kyle Busch (C) 1 time for 3 laps; R. Smith 1 time for 2 laps.

Top 16 in Points: J. Johnson (C) – 4,044; D. Hamlin (C) – 4,039; M. Kenseth (C) – 4,039; Kyle Busch (C) – 4,037; J. Logano (C) – 4,033; K. Harvick (C) – 4,021; Kurt Busch (C) – 4,019; C. Edwards (C) – 4,005; M. Truex Jr – 2,226; B. Keselowski – 2,207; A. Dillon – 2,187; C. Elliott # – 2,185; K. Larson – 2,183; T. Stewart – 2,156; J. Mcmurray – 2,143; C. Buescher # – 2,123.