Ryan Newman finished off a great day by winning the 63rd Annual Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville. His Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet had a good battle on the final laps with the #22 AJ Allmendinger Shell Pennzoil Dodge. Ryan overcame a speeding penalty on pit road earlier in the race and was in the right spot at the right time when there was a late race wreck. This is the third win for Stewart Haas racing this year.
Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
With only a hand full of laps left and Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson battling for the lead there was a late race caution because of David Reutimann stalling on the racetrack. Jeff and Jimmie both lead the most laps as Jeff led for 328 and Jimmie led for 112 laps.
On a day that totally dominated by Hendrick owned cars the best placed Hendricks car was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who finished third and led for a few laps.
Dale Jr after the race said “Yeah, I’m real happy with our finish. We worked really hard all day, all weekend really we worked hard to obviously get the best finish we could. This is our first race with AMP on the hood, and we are proud to have a good finish for those guys, had a lot of people here in weekend.”
Kasey Kahne continued his bad luck streak when he had a blown engine on lap 316. It was a bad day for both Busch brothers as Kurt had a tire go down twice early on and Kyle had a crash on lap 99 when something broke in the rear end.
AJ Allmendinger on finishing second: “Well, I knew I had a shot. I knew Dale and Martin were on two tires, as well. So you know, I was — I knew I had a shot, but Ryan had been really good all day. He kind of — I think he basically had one bad run that got him shuffled in back — or he had a pit road penalty and that’s what caught him there.”
But today was all about Ryan Newman after the race had a few comments.”No doubt an impressive day for us; for me to take us out of the game and we ended up going a lap down because of my speeding penalty, and the guys did an awesome job in giving us the car to make the changes.
We were not a dominant race car today but we put ourselves in contention. The way the strategy and everything worked out, coming in for two tires and Clint kind of clearing out turn one for us, we were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.
We have been in that position here and been in the wrong place at the wrong time and it’s nice to be able to at least balance it out and get Outback in victory lane. That was really special for us, their first race with the team and if we get in the Top-10, we get free Bloomin’ Onions if you go to Outback and mention my name. Not sure, they might be rethinking that after this week.”
Average Speed: 78.823 MPH Lead Changes: 19 among 10 drivers Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 26 Mins, 12 Secs. Cautions: 7 for 56 laps Margin of Victory: 0.342 Seconds Attendance: 63,000
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. (December 8, 2010) – Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell is hoping for beautiful weather this weekend for a couple of reasons. Once concerns keeping himself warm on Friday; the other concerns warm, sunny weather for the 12th Annual Martinsville Speedway Toy Drive on Saturday.
According to the weatherman, Campbell should be pleased both days, with a warming trend taking the temperature into the high 40s on Friday and Saturday.
Warmer weather on Friday certainly sounds appealing to Campbell with the task he faces, sitting some 30 feet in the air in a bucket truck at the Martinsville Speedway entrance sign until $20,000 is raised for the Martinsville Speedway Children’s Foundation. He will not return to earth until the $20,000 goal is met.
Saturday’s mild temperatures will help bring a lot of smiles to the area on Christmas day as race fans and non-race fans make their annual trek to Martinsville Speedway to drop off toys and enjoy a day at the track.
“It’s going to be a great weekend. It’s going to help a lot of youngsters in our area,” said Campbell. “All of us out here are really excited. For all of us, it’s our favorite weekend of the year. What could be better than helping others at Christmas?”
It will be a full day of fun on Saturday, with the toy drive beginning at 10 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. Anyone bringing a new, unwrapped toy, or donating $10 will have the opportunity to drive their personal vehicle around the historic Martinsville Speedway, which has been racing NASCAR Sprint Cup races since 1949.
A $25 donation will be rewarded with five hot laps in a Martinsville Speedway pace car driven by Campbell.
Santa Claus will make an appearance in the infield at 11 a.m. and will remain until 1 p.m., listening to the wishes of youngsters.
Martinsville Speedway staff members will be preparing the Famous Martinsville Speedway Hot Dog™ in the infield concession stand and selling them for $1 each. Pepsi products will be on-sale for $1 each also.
All the toys and money collected will go to the Grace Network, which has identified families in the area who have not been aided by other agencies.
Grace Network volunteers will be stationed at the fourth-turn gate to collect toys and money for the drive-arounds. Everyone else should enter the track through the fourth-turn pedestrian tunnel. See more at http://www.martinsvillespeedway.com/
Martinsville Speedway Fundraiser is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
What a race we had today! It had everything you could possibly want. There was beating and banging, flared tempers, dramatic events, wild strategy, three wide racing (at Martinsville!), no wing, double file restarts, a race that didn’t end under caution and Jimmie Johnson wasn’t in victory lane (though this was a negative for some of you). Unfortunately, not many people saw it.
It really is a shame rain forced this race on to TV mid-day Monday. This though is often a symptom of racing at Martinsville this time of year. I can hardly think of a time, either Spring or Fall, that I have been to Martinsville and not had to worry about weather. I always make sure I’ve got my umbrella and raincoat ready to go at a moments notice.
This weekend, and every other wet weekend spent at Martinsville makes me wonder why NASCAR doesn’t consider moving at least one of the dates. It’s apparently something track president Clay Campbell is wondering too. He told The Virginian Pilot’s Dustin Long that he is asking if there is something that can be done about the Spring date. With the impeding inclusion of another Kansas date, the economic toll on the track from things like this has got to be making Campbell nervous.
On top of the cost it brings to Martinsville, it’s unfortunate fans are having to bear some of the financial burden of the rain delay. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but the fans are the reason we do this and their hard earned money is the reason we can continue to do this. As TC pointed out yesterday, for the fans it’s one more day of lodging and food and likely missed work.
I think Martinsville is a great race track, certainly one of my favorites, and the racing it produces is consistently some of the best we see. It’s races like the one we had today that the sport needs more of. We can’t continue to do this every year though. It’s bad for the fans, the track and the sport.
So I implore NASCAR, please consider Clay Campbell’s request and keep in mind all the people who wanted to be at the race today, or wanted to watch the race today and couldn’t. Give Martinsville a better date.
I don’t know what it is about Martinsville, but I feel like it rains every time the NASCAR train stops in town. Some level of racing always happens, but it seems that it’s very rare for the both the Trucks and Cup cars to get the whole weekend in without incident. Now, we are heading back in the morning to try and get the Cup race in (12PM EST), but according to Brian Neudorff (the unofficial Twitter NASCAR weatherman @NASCAR_WXMAN) the forecast for Monday doesn’t look good. And as we stare straight in the face of a possible second postponement, I want you to know that it doesn’t just suck for the fans.
As the crews walk out of the track after a postponed race, it’s hard not to feel really bad for the fans we pass by. They’ve usually been in the stands for hours, usually in the cold and wet, waiting and hoping for something to happen. And now, many won’t be able to return to the track on Monday, because the real world comes calling. For those that do get to stay, it means more money must be spent on food, lodging, parking, and all the other expenses associated with coming to a race. I just want you to know, we feel for you.
For the teams, besides trying to find ways to deal with the boredom while the track is being dried (I actually wrote a post about this a few years ago), rain delays can be detrimental to shop scheduling and car prep. The Cup teams have another big west coast swing coming up, and cars must be prepared for both trips. Even with an off weekend ahead, being at the track on Monday instead of being in the shop means crews are now behind. Any extra off days or small vacations will now probably not happen, as the teams will be scrambling to catch back up.
For the TV folks, the postponement now means ratings will stink. With most people who would normally be watching the race now probably at work on Monday afternoon, the number of folks who tune in will be drastically smaller. This will certainly be bad for those all important advertising dollars.
The rain also means lost revenue for the track itself. The crowd at the track today was no doubt smaller because of the threat of rain, and the stands certainly won’t be full tomorrow. This reduction in the crowd size will result in lower ticket, food, and merchandise sales.
So the next time you are bummed on a Sunday afternoon because the race was washed out, know you aren’t alone. Rain delays suck for everyone. Here’s to hoping the rain holds off tomorrow…
Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup
FanHouse Warmup: Tums 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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