Cross' Words: Martinsville (cont'd)

Random ruminations after Martinsville:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. was impressive on Sunday. He posted the fastest lap 97 times (19 percent), led the most laps (137), never fell out of the top 15 and had a race-best 133.1 driver rating.

• Kurt Busch made up five spots -- 17th to 12th -- in the final 50 laps on Sunday to continue his roller-coaster year -- awful, top-15, awful, top-15, awful, top-15 ...

Weekend That Was

Jeff Gordon played nice at Martinsville and didn't punt teammate Jimmie Johnson out of the way. But nice guys finish second, Joe Menzer says.

• Complete story

• Ricky Rudd's 13th-place finish was his first top-15 of the season. It also was a true reflection of his day at Martinsville: average running position throughout the 500 laps was 12.388.

• Kevin Harvick had a what-could've-been day: He finished 55 laps behind the leaders, but was among the top 15 in Fastest Drivers Early In a Run and Fastest Drivers Late In a Run.

Say what?

"The only way I could get by him was to wreck him. He blocked me really bad. I'm mad, but I'm not really mad at him. It's going to be some interesting racing going forward. I race people the way they race me."
-- Jeff Gordon on his waning-laps give-and-take with Hendrick teammate and race-winner Jimmie Johnson

Figuratively Speaking

1998 -- Last time that Hendrick Motorsports won four consecutive races (Jeff Gordon at Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan). In the past 36 races, Chevy has 25 victories with streaks of four (current), four, five, seven and three.

Up Next

Samsung 500 | Texas | 1:30 p.m. ET April 15, FOX

Race No. 7 of 36 | Get your tickets | Book your travel

• Defending race winner: Kasey Kahne
• Most victories at the track: 12 drivers with one victory
• Best average finish (minimum five starts): Jimmie Johnson (6.3 in seven starts)
Active drivers only

Mailbag

From Phil Krieg, fuel pump cable-hating Hamlin fan

Maybe there is a rule I don't know about, but isn't there an obvious solution to the fuel pump issues that the 20 and 11 had at Bristol and then the 29 had at Martinsville? Why can't they get rid of the cable-driven pump, which is obviously going to do nothing but cost top teams valuable top finishes, and replace it with an electric pump? Is there a rule against electric pumps or are there a lot of people in the NASCAR world that can't see the obvious solution?

With tongue planted firmly in cheek: They're "stock cars," which means old-school fuel systems. Maybe it'll be an option when NASCAR implements composite engines (and it will happen; identical engines for everyone). (Continued)