Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on April 3, 2006.
Ah, Martinsville. The paperclip. Two drag strips connected with two hairpin turns. Whatever you call it, don't leave without eating a hotdog! {Seriously, the teams nearly boycotted last year when the condiments and wrapper were changed. } The race for the most part was uneventful - at least compared to last week at Bristol. There were still some interesting storylines...
A crash on lap 2 took several cars out of contention for the win. The groaning you heard across the country was due to the red #8 being involved. By the end of the race, Junior had "crashed" again, managed to stay on the lead lap, work his way through traffic, and finish 4th after getting by Kyle Busch. I don't know that there was much to salvage on the car when it hit the hauler - three of the four corners of the car were missing, based in, or dented and half the brake fan system was gone. Most impressive was that the team did not give up - which is a marked difference in attitude from last year at this time.
The lap 2 crash ended Robby Gordon's day. Robby, one of few owner/drivers, was in the top 15 in points prior to the race, but due to the DNF is 27th in points.
Despite the multiple on track incidents throughout the race, there did not appear to be any Bristol pay-backs. Jimmie Johnson commented on this after the race - his point was that if the media would quite playing it up, there would be more. According to Johnson, no one will do it when they know the media is looking to pounce on it, so if they lay off, the paybacks will come. An interesting theory to be sure.
The one feud that has started is Denny Hamlin vs. Mark Martin. I'm not clear on what happened, but Hamlin expressed his displeasure with Martin due to two run-ins on the track - one at Las Vegas and one at Martinsville. Martin has not commented at this point to my knowledge, and Hamlin acknowledged that he still respects Martin but whats to know why he has been singled out. Knowing Martin, this will be a non-issue by Texas.
The Dodge teams continue to have some trouble with the Charger - their highest finisher was Scott Riggs in 10th. The highest finishing rookie was Reed Sorenson in a Dodge (12th)
What happened to all the discussion of Roush Racing domination? The highest finisher was McMurray in 9th, followed by Martin (13th), Edwards (16th), Kenseth (24th) and Biffle (31st).
Jeff Gordon has stalking at Martinsville down to a science. He's won there 7 times - and the last few has appeared out of nowhere at the end. He likes to spice it up - this time he got a flat tire early in the race, which caused a caution. Conspiracy theorists point out that while Gordon got a caution with no debris apparent on the track, a couple other spins, tire-blow outs and debris went unflagged during the race.
Does anyone else think that Jeff Gordon's two teammates cut him a break on the final two laps when he slipped on the speedy dry? I think if any other two cars had been right behind him, he would have been shown the wall.
For a guy edging toward retirement, Mark Martin is sure charging up the points standings - he's currently in 2nd behind Jimmie Johnson.
Since it was Martinsville, I wondered how quickly Stewart would mention the Hendrick Motorsports plane crash in his victory speech. It was practically the first few words out of his mouth. In Oct 2004, his pilot, Scott Lathram was on the plane, coming to Martinsville to see Stewart before Lathram left for Iraq. Apparently Stewart hasn't forgotten him - and still has information on his website to make a donation to Lathram's Memorial Fund.
I don't know which is more fun - watching Tony Stewart climb the fence after he wins or watching him spray Jimmy Spencer with a Coke during the victory lane broadcast.
My vote for one of the coolest trophys anywhere is the Grandfather Clock given at Martinsville, although I'm fond of the "brick" trophy at Indy and the glass palm trees at Darlington.
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