Nascar Pit Road: Week 6

Martinsville Speedway

 

 

When you have eight, large, tall, grandfather clocks what do you do with them?  Jimmie Johnson will now have the answer to that after this weekend. Jimmie Johnson becomes the first driver this season to win multiple times after his Martinsville win. JJ dominated most of the weekend including the pole, leading 346 of 500 laps, and eventually winning the race. Matt Kenseth also lead 96 laps and Kyle Busch added in 56 laps up front on the day. Really no one could touch Johnson's 48 this Sunday and it showed in a less than exciting Martinsville finish.

 

That is not to say that the race was a snooze. Compared to the last two weeks, yes Martinsville was a bit slow, but this season has started out as good as any so far. I think cooler heads prevailed this week after having a weeks rest on the Nascar schedule. Tony Stewart and Joey Logano were near each other briefly with around 170 laps left, but nothing happened. Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Clint Bowyer had a few late race restarts next to each other, but with Ryan Newman down a few laps none of them felt like getting into it this year (See last years Spring Martinsville finish).

 

However, Martinsville may not have had too many hot heads this week but we still had some drama. Jr Nation was very loud on Sunday when he was fighting in the front, and then falling to the back, and then spinning out of the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr was on the wrong end of turn3 and 4 when Brian Vickers came in too hot and hit Danica Patrick into Jr and spun Jr around. Then when Jr was trying to get turned around Jimmie Johnson could have let him, but instead he drove in front and put Jr a lap down (Everyone else in the field held up and let Jr get straightened out).

 

It is too bad at times like this that Jr is such a good garage man and teammate, otherwise the post race may have got interesting. Not much complaining was heard from Jr and he also made a classy move and made sure he mentioned the spin out wasn't Danica's fault and he had nothing against her.

 

We also had a bunch of cautions but no huge wrecks that also happened to stir up drama occurred. Kurt Busch did have his car start on fire towards the end of a dismal day for his team and every Nascar fan got to see the Car Self Extinguisher work (Which was pretty cool to see and see work). Overall Nascar fans got another quality race out of the Gen 6 car minus all the drama we have come to expect this season. On to Texas for our first Saturday night race of the season. Lets leave Martinsville in the past until the Chase. Check out full race results here.

 

 

Rising, Coasting, Falling Drivers after Martinsville Speedway

 

Rising:

• Jeff Gordon- He was a top driver in need of this finish. Gordon would have loved if he was the one getting his 8th win at Martinsville this time around, but he stayed at 7 career wins this week. Gordon did however notch his first top 5 (3rd) on the season.  Two quality finishes in a row for Gordon that now puts him in the Chase running standing 12th.
• Clint Bowyer- Clint may keep finding himself on this list if he keeps up the season trend of good finish bad finish. After starting the season off with a 11th and 6th place finish, Clint hasn't put together two good finished in a row. At Martinsville Bowyer had a car to win it, but JJ was just too strong. Bowyer eventually ended up finishing 2nd.
• Jamie McMurray- Do you remember much of McMurray's Sunday? He was quiet all day and was not in his Bass Pro Chevy, so it was easy to miss him, but it resulted in a top 10 (7th) on the day. McMurray hasn't been overall impressive, but he still sits 13th in points going to Texas.
• Honorable Mention- Marcus Ambrose (Qualified up front, finished 8th), Mark Martin (Slow rise from 35th to 10th filling in for Denny Hamlin), and Danica Patrick! (Stayed out of trouble and made her way to a 12th place finish. More impressive then her top 10 at Daytona)

Coasting:

• Greg Biffle- The Biffe finished in the top 10 (9th) but didn't make too much noise this Sunday. Kind of like this season, he sits 6th in points but hasn't really had a winning car too often.
• Honorable Mention: Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, and Matt Kenseth.

Falling:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr: Jr Nation close your eyes! Jr fell after one week in first, but much of it was bad luck. The other half of it was that the Diet Mountain Dew team just couldn't find it for long runs and Jr fell off at the end of the race. Overall it was a good weekend for Jr but just a poor finish, so Jr find himself in the falling category for the first time (much like BK after last race). Will he bounce right back? Only time will tell.
• Tony Stewart- Smoke finished 17th, which wasn't terrible, but it was behind Danica, and it also would have been behind Newman if it wasn't for some cut tires and bad decisions with those tires. This also comes two races of 33rd and 22nd. Stewart just hasn't got it going so far in 2013 and has taken it out on Logano once, will he return to that by the end of the season? Also, only two top 15's on the year.
• Ryan Newman- Another Stewart Haas team member, Newman had a rough day with tires in the second half. He had a strong car to start the day (not a winning car, but possible top 10) he ran into tire troubles. Stopping on the track after his first down tired lead to a Nascar ruling of a 3 lap penalty that effectively ended his day. Newman has also been struggling to gain consistency this 2013 season.
• Dishonorable mention: Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Lost on the Danica battle), Joey Logano, and Kurt Busch.

Pit Road (Week 6 Power Rankings)

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW-5)- The top drivers have been so close that a win is an easy way to jump right back on top of the Rankings. It also helps he took back over the points standings.
2. Kyle Busch (LW-2)- Another top 5 for Busch after the Fontana win leave him staying still at number 2. Kyle still has not won at Martinsville but he did have a good car on Sunday.
3. Kasey Kahne (LW-4)- Kyle and Kasey have been on a four race hot streak. This week Kasey had a car that could have made a run at first but he never got in position at the end of the race, ending in 4th.
4. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)- BK finishes 6th and moves down in the power rankings!? How? Well the top 5 drivers as of late have been, well, all so good. Brad maybe 5th after this week but he is still 2nd in points and he has yet to win. I would guess a win is coming sometime soon if I am a betting man.
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-1) Jr has one bad race and he drops to 5th!? How? Like I said this top 5 has been competitive. Jr is still sitting well off 3rd in points, but he finished Sunday off struggling, finishing 24th. Last week BK hit his first speed bump and fell down the rankings, this time around its Jrs turn, what will he do about it next week?
6. Greg Biffle (LW- 7)- Biffle has a good run on Sunday for a quiet 9th. This is Biffle's second top 10 in a row and might be the start of a run.
7. Clint Bowyer (LW-NR)- Bowyer dropped out of the rankings last week, just to come back even stronger this week. He had a great car and finished 2nd at Martinsville. It has been up and down this year for Bowyer but he still sits 9th in points.
8. Matt Kenseth (LW-8)- Drivers passed him and fell this week in the rankings around Kenseth, but he remained in 8th. The rankings are too tough right now to move him up for a 14th place finish, but for a guy who isn't a fan of Martinsville to lead 96 laps on the day and be a front runner he has to get some credit.
9. Carl Edwards (LW-6)- He has been quiet, quietly falling. Carl is still putting together a better season then last, but the 15th place finish wasn't enough to keep him up near the top 5. Next week could be a bounce back week he needs.
10. Jeff Gordon (LW-NR)- The 10 spot was tough. Logano has had a great start to the season, but a rough day at Martinsville where it seemed everyone was running into him placed him 23rd on the day, effectively dropping him out. Gordon gets the nod here because he has had a hot career at Martinsville, and the power rankings are about who is hot at this time. My point, when isn't Gordon hot at this time? 7 time winner, Gordon had a car to win on Sunday. That is after a full day of figuring out the car. Gordon and his team may have worked more finding the right mix then anyone on the day, and he finished 3rd so something worked.

Dropping out- Joey Logano (LW-9) and Paul Menard (LW-10)

Just Missed- Kevin Harvick (Just cant get enough to get over the hump, too average so far) and Jamie McMurray

Want to look back at the preview for Martinsville? Check it out here.
Tweets of the Week leading up to Martinsville here.
Also last weeks Driver Spotlight: Tony Stewart.

Off to Nascar's first night race of the season, Texas Motor Speedway. Preview to come later this week. Also coming later this week Tweets of the Week leading up to Texas and the March Madness Nascar Style Finals!

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