Hendrick Power Wins Martinsville 'Goody's Fast Relief 500', But Not Like You Think!

This weekend at Martinsville Speedway saw a few fascinating events take place, where Kevin Harvick destroyed the competition in the truck series and the two guys fully expected to win the Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, did not!

First up, the Camping World Series Kroger 250 race had Kevin Harvick lead all but 2 of the 250 laps, setting a track record.  And he did it in the No. 2 Richard Childress entry.  That is a pretty impressive stat!

At one point in the race, he had such a strong entry that Kevin relayed a message back to Ty Dillon to not burn up his equipment since he was running at 80% of his own truck's capacity.  Dang.

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Speaking of Kevin Harvick, he made his 400th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start on Sunday in the Goody's Fast Relief 500.

Congrats to Kevin on that one.

But on a more excited note, I spent the entire race watching the Goody's Fast Relief 500, KNOWING that the two cars that were up front most of the race will be winning.  It was either going to be Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon.  These two worked their up through the field and dominated.  It was their race to lose!  And it would have been the magic 200th victory for Hendrick Motorsports... which would have been something special, at Martinsville!


But...

Near the end of the race, Johnson had taken the lead with Gordon on his tail.  At times one might have thought that Johnson was spent yet when Gordon made some form of a move, Johnson would goose it and retain his front runner's position.  So it was looking like Johnson would get the win.

But alas, wondering if Johnson was going to beat Gordon became moot, because, yes, Johnson finished the race in front of Gordon...  and crossed the finish line before Gordon did.  But not in the fashion anyone was expecting.

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The Goody's Fast Relief 500 had seven cautions for the day... and it was the last two that impacted NASCAR history that 'was' in the making.

Early on a part broke in Kyle Busch's car, then Dave Blaney at about the midway point had an issue.  Other cautions included Juan Montoya (spin), Kasey Kahne (engine) and Travis Kvapil having issues with physics in the the turns.

But we have two more cautions to account for... the two most important it turns out.

Through the latter half of the day, we had Hendrick Motorsports running up in the top-five spots with Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr..

At one point, those three were the lead three cars, and if I were a betting man, I'm guessing that at one point "Jr. Nation" was politely desiring something to go afoul with the No. 48 and 24 cars so Dale Earnhardt Jr. could could scoot past and take the win.

But there were several factors going against the entire group up there.

David Ruetimann was limping the No. 10 Chevy home trying to get points for his car's standings in the owner points because this is the car that Danica Patrick will drive when she returns to Cup series racing.  The team is desperately trying to keep the car in the top-35 in points.  But while limping around his engine then up and died on him.

This brought out a caution on lap 496 and it was going to be a very fateful caution.

Johnson and Gordon stayed out while the rest of the world pitted.  On the restart, Ryan Newman got a slight run from the inside third row spot and Clint Bowyer dove down to block him and goose it into the corner, getting in under Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

This might have been the classic fresh vs. old tires battle.

Bowyer had the spot but had to back off because he entered the corner kind of hot, thumped the inside curb and slid out a bit and Jeff Gordon got out of shape dealing with Bowyer on the inside, and he spun, taking Jimmie Johnson with him.  Then Bowyer got spun out himself.  Through it all, Ryan Newman and A.J. Allmendinger ducked low below the track  self-cleaning accident.



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On the green/white/checkered restart, Ryan took the race lead and won handily... his first win at this track.

Here is the unofficial results:

FIN		DRIVER
1	-	Ryan Newman
2	-	AJ Allmendinger
3	-	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4	-	Matt Kenseth
5	-	Martin Truex Jr.
6	-	Denny Hamlin
7	-	Tony Stewart
8	-	Aric Almirola
9	-	Brad Keselowski
10	-	Clint Bowyer
11	-	Carl Edwards
12	-	Jimmie Johnson
13	-	Greg Biffle
14	-	Jeff Gordon
15	-	Marcos Ambrose
16	-	Regan Smith
17	-	Bobby Labonte
18	-	Brian Vickers
19	-	Kevin Harvick
20	-	Jamie McMurray
21	-	Juan Montoya
22	-	Jeff Burton
23	-	Joey Logano
24	-	David Ragan
25	-	Casey Mears
26	-	Paul Menard
27	-	Travis Kvapil
28	-	David Gilliland
29	-	Landon Cassill
30	-	David Stremme
31	-	Hermie Sadler
32	-	Ken Schrader
33	-	Kurt Busch
34	-	Dave Blaney
35	-	David Reutimann
36	-	Kyle Busch
37	-	J.J. Yeley
38	-	Kasey Kahne
39	-	Joe Nemechek
40	-	Michael McDowell
41	-	Josh Wise *
42	-	Scott Riggs
43	-	Reed Sorenson

-Bruce