Martinsville Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today we are recapping the action from Martinsville Speedway. I love Martinsville! One of my favorite tracks. And it has so much history. It is the only track on the schedule today that has hosted a NASCAR race every year since its inception in 1948. And of course you can't forget the Martinsville hot dogs as well. Now that I've made you hungry, here is the recap. The Truck and Monster Energy Cup Series ran this weekend. Chase Elliott won the truck race on Saturday in his #23 GMS truck.

The Monster Energy Cup Series ran the STP 500 on Sunday afternoon. Qualifying was rained out on Friday so the field started on points. That put points leader Kyle Larson on the pole with Brad Keselowski alongside. Stages 1 and 2 would be 130 laps, with the final stage making up the rest of the 500 lap race.

The first caution came out in Stage 1, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun in turn 3 after Paul Menard got into the back of him. Stenhouse would continue on.

The next caution came out in the same corner, in stage 1 as Jamie McMurray cut a tire and spun. He would make contact into the wall and fall out of the race.

The last caution in stage 1 came out when Dale Jr would spin off of turn 2, after contact with young sensation Ryan Blaney. Jr would continue on with minimal damage.

Marin Truex Jr would once again win a stage as he won Stage 1. There was a great finish to the stage with the top 10 drivers battling to get the best spot they could.

The first caution in stage 2 came out when a multi car wreck would occur in turn 3 after the restart. Kurt Busch and rookie Daniel Suarez were involved. Both would still race with damage. But they made the 5 minute clock, so they were allowed to continue.


Also in Stage 2, Fox would do a special crank it up to honor NASCAR Busch Series legend Sam Ard who passed away earlier in the week.

Chase Elliott would win Stage 2 after a bold move by Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse moved leader Kyle Busch out of the way to stay on the lead lap after a long green flag run.

Stage 3 would continue to bring the action. Austin Dillon would spin after contact with Erik Jones. Denny Hamlin was also involved. All drivers were still in the race.

The next caution came out in stage 3 as Kurt Busch cut a tire going into turn 3. This was a result of the earlier crash with Daniel Suarez.

The caution came out with 192 laps to go in stage 3 and the race. Gray Gaulding's tough year continued as he spun in turn 2. Danica Patrick and Chris Buescher would have a disagreement on the track.

As the stage continued on, the caution came out with 167 laps to go. Reed Sorenson cut a tire going into turn 3. Man we seen some action in that turn for sure. Sorenson was out of the race.

The caution would once again come out with 110 to go, as Jeffrey Earnhardt would also cut a tire in turn 2. He would be out of the race as well. Photo courtesy of Google images and FS1.

The next caution came out with 94 to go as Matt DiBenedetto spun in turn 3 and crashed hard into the wall. Matt would be uninjured but out of the race. Photo also courtesy of Google images and FS1.

Man there were a lot of cautions for sure. This one would be the next to last however as a big crash would occur in, you guessed it, turn 3. Denny Hamlin would get loose underneath Danica Patrick, thus causing the multi car crash. Drivers involved also included Dale Jr. He would be out of the race.

The races final caution came out with 70 laps to go as stage 1 winner Martin Truex Jr would spin in turn 3 after getting loose underneath Matt Kenseth. Truex didn't suffer any damage however, but would fall to the rear of the field.

At the end of the caution filled race, Brad Keselowski would win his 2nd race of the year as he would battle hard with a dominant Kyle Busch. Busch would finish 2nd.

Well that's it for Martinsville. It was a great race for sure. Tune in next week as we recap Texas. How will the racing be with the brand new surface? We will find out. Hope you enjoyed. Goodnight everyone.