NASCAR drivers are back to the paperclip for 500 laps in Martinsville. 8 drivers remain in the chase with only three more changes to move to the final round.
Martin Truex Jr. started this race off leading laps with Joey Logano stuck in second. At lap 22 we get the first caution of the day for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. that spun out. When the race continued it was Joey Logano getting to lead laps for the first time today. Martin Truex Jr. though was the hot car and took the race lead at lap 46. Fifteen laps later and David Ragan bring out the next caution as he wound up smoking big time. The caution brought down the leaders with Martin Truex Jr. keeping the lead of the race.
As the race restarted Martin Truex Jr. was back leading more and more laps. Kyle Larson though was the hot car and was able to squeeze his way to the race lead at lap 74. Kyle only had the lead for six laps and Martin Truex Jr. was back in the race lead. At lap 113 Kyle Busch got the lead, but only had it for two laps and Martin was back in the race lead. Twenty laps later and we get the debris caution. The caution brought down the leaders with Martin Truex Jr. keeping the race lead.
This was another long green flag run with Martin Truex Jr. leading laps. Matt Kenseth though got hot and had the race lead for multiple laps starting at lap 181. At lap 200 it was finally caution time. The leaders pit and Matt Kenseth kept the lead of the race.
We get a new long green flag run with Matt Kenseth leading all the laps. Around lap 305 Austin Dillion had a nice sized tire rub, but does not pit. The green flag racing continues on long enough that we get the start of green flag pit stops starting around lap 355. The last time we had a round a green flag pit stops was four years ago. Carl Edwards though ruins all the green flag pit stop fun on lap 357 as he blows a tire. Under the caution time Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and A.J. Allmendinger run out of fuel as they did not pit before the caution came out. After cars pit Denny Hamlin was now in the lead of the race. The caution was a lengthy one as NASCAR was figuring out who was on the lead lap.
When the race finally restarted it was Denny Hamlin up front leading a bunch of laps. Jimmie Johnson got hot and took the lead with 92 laps left. The long green flag run continued and Brad Keselowski was slowly moving his way up through the field. With under 25 laps left he was up to second, but still over 2 seconds behind Jimmie for the race lead. With six laps left Jimmie got into some heavy traffic. Brad was just too far back and Jimmie wins the race.
“I’m just honored to be in this position,” said Jimmie Johnson.
“I think everybody had him(Jimmie Johnson) written off,” said Jeff Gordon.
“We missed it,” said Kurt Busch.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
