Posted on by Reid Spencer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joey Logano offers understanding, but no apologies.

After he applied the bumper to Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota in the final corner of last year’s fall race at Martinsville Speedway, Logano edged past Truex for the race victory and a guaranteed berth in the Championship 4 event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In that season finale, Logano went on to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title.

RELATED: Almirola’s take on bumping for the win

Logano understood why Truex was upset at being denied his first short-track win on the final lap. But Logano wasn’t sorry.

Given that the series is returning to Martinsville this weekend for the first time since last November’s memorable race, it was inevitable that the subject of the bump-and-run would come up.

“I mean, it’s in the past at this point,” Logano said. “But I think at that point Martin texted me and, like I told you guys, he was pretty clear that he was frustrated with the move. I understood, and I think he understood why I had to do it, and it kind of played out and worked out, but my move to him was that I didn’t wreck you. I gave the old bump-and-run.

“That happened 15 times a race here at Martinsville, and that one was just a little more popular. I think there’s a fine line. You don’t want to straight out bump somebody on purpose, but you also, when it comes down to the end of the race like that and there’s that much on the line … that was our shot to win a championship.

“So I think every driver has a line that they are OK with and that you can go to sleep at the end of the night and say, ‘I did what I had to do and I’m all right with it,’ and if it happened to me, you have to be OK with that as well. I think that was the situation for me that I was trying to explain to him.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Perhaps the most uncomfortable feeling at any race track comes from stabbing the brakes and feeling the pedal sink to the floorboard.

That’s what happened to Corey LaJoie, whose No. 32 GoFas Racing Ford crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall after his brakes failed in Saturday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

The car suffered extensive front-end damage, leaving the right front tire barely rolling at a cockeyed angle as LaJoie nursed the car back to pit road.

RELATED: Photos of the wreck | Practice results

“I’ll tell you, there is no coffee strong enough that will wake you up like losing brakes into Turn 1 at Martinsville,” LaJoie said after the crash. “It’s not a good feeling, losing brakes. It had like a half-pedal, and then it felt like it blew through the seal or something.

“It’s unfortunate, because small teams like ours, we don’t really bring a backup (car) that’s fully ready to go, so my guys have a lot of work ahead of them. I’ll probably pitch in and help a little bit, but, obviously, our backup is not going to be as good as the car that we choose and bring as our primary.”

Posted on by Staff Report

PRACTICE 2

Chase Elliott led a Hendrick Motorsports sweep in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway, his No. 9 Chevrolet posting a fast lap of 97.543 mph.

A pair of Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates also rounded out the top three: Alex Bowman was second-quickest in the No. 88 (96.627 mph), while nine-time Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson laid down a 96.612-mph lap to rank third on the speed charts. Hendrick Motorsports has 24 wins at Martinsville Speedway, the most by one team at a single track in NASCAR history.  Johnson most recently won for the organization at “The Paperclip” in fall 2016, the same year he won the series championship.

MORE: Full practice results

Austin Dillon became the fourth Chevrolet to post a top-five speed in the final session, his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet notching the fourth spot with a 96.548-mph lap. Paul Menard’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford completed the top five (96.538 mph).

Reigning race winner Clint Bowyer, who paced Saturday’s opening session, was 12th-quickest in final practice.

Saturday’s final practice ended under caution, as Cody Ware hit the wall hard in his No. 51.

The Monster Energy Series returns to the track for Busch Pole Qualifying at 5:10 p.m. ET on FS1.

PRACTICE 1

Defending winner Clint Bowyer returned to the top of the leaderboard at Martinsville Speedway in Saturday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice. Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford notched a fast lap of 97.674 mph around “The Paperclip.”

He was joined in the top three by two of his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, as Daniel Suarez (97.257 mph) and Aric Almirola (97.003 mph) ranked second- and third-quickest, respectively.

Martin Truex Jr., who is still searching for his first career short-track victory, came up fourth in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (96.939 mph), while Phoenix and Auto Club winner Kyle Busch rounded out the top five in his No. 18 Toyota (96.884 mph).

Martinsville’s most recent winner Joey Logano — who won the series’ Playoff trip to the short track in 2018 — was eighth-fastest.

RELATED: Full practice results | Martinsville schedule

William Byron hit the wall early, sustaining right-front fender damage on his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. He headed to the garage afterward.

Corey LaJoie brought out a caution midway through practice when his No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford got into the wall. LaJoie said the team was going to a backup car for Sunday’s race.

“That just sucks because we were making it really good,” LaJoie said. “I think we were 20th at the time, but I’ll tell you there is no coffee strong enough that will wake you up like losing brakes into Turn 1 at Martinsville. It’s not a good feeling losing brakes. It had like a half-pedal and then it felt like it blew through the seal or something. It’s unfortunate because small teams like ours we don’t really bring a backup that’s fully ready to go, so my guys have a lot of work ahead of them. I’ll probably pitch in and help a little bit, but, obviously, our backup is not gonna be as good as the car that we choose and bring as our primary.”

The No. 34 of Michael McDowell served a 15-minute penalty at the end of practice for multiple pre-race inspection failures last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Even JTG Daugherty Racing’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Ryan Preece, can appreciate the irony. For a young talented driver renowned for his short track background and expertise, his best showing so far this year is a top 10 in the Daytona 500 on the sport’s most famous superspeedway.

Preece, 28, is genuinely optimistic, however, to feature those skills that helped him rise in the stock car ranks when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races Sunday in the STP 500 (at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the Martinsville Speedway half-miler.

This is Preece’s wheelhouse, as they say.

He already owns a Martinsville grandfather clock trophy from a win there in 2008 – the first of 22 victories in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – a series the Connecticut native won the championship in 2013.

RELATED: Preece among fantasy sleeper picks

“It’s what most of us that come through the ranks grow up doing,” Preece said of short-track racing. “Heavy braking, getting the car turned, being able to drive off the corner, pick the throttle up as quick as possible. It’s something that I’m used to doing.

“These mile-and-a-halves, that’s just a different package where you’re on the throttle so much, it’s kind of outside the nature of what I’m used to doing. Kind of going to a place like Martinsville, and I would say even the next few races, it’s going to be very familiar to what my background is.

“It makes me very optimistic. Obviously if you look back at JTG’s runs with AJ [Allmendinger] and even Chris [Buescher] last year, they ran really well. It makes me very excited to go there this weekend.”

Allmendinger, who previously drove the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Camaro that Preece now drives, had five top-10 finishes in 10 Martinsville races with the team between 2014-2018, including a best showing of runner-up in the spring of 2016.

Six of Preece’s 17 career top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series have come on tracks one-mile or shorter, including wins at Iowa Speedway (2017) and Bristol Motor Speedway (2018).

Even with his particular background and place atop the current Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, he insisted this week he is, at best, cautiously optimistic about his Martinsville Monster Energy Series debut. It’s a careful balance of managing expectations and carrying confidence.

“Man, the expectations?” he said. “It’s hard to say without being there or running there with the team. I mean, my expectations when I go to a short track are to be a contender. Really at this point, it’s to have a really smooth weekend, run top-10 most of the day. If we can get a top-five, that would be fantastic.

“Definitely short tracks like Martinsville, Bristol, New Hampshire, those are kind of in my wheelhouse. It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time. When it comes to the restarts and all those moments of being aggressive, it’s something that I enjoy doing.

“As far as what I expect, I expect that we should show really well and at least be running top-10 and hopefully get a top-five by the end of the weekend.”

There should certainly be a good vibe at Martinsville for Preece. His success there initially put him on the map for NASCAR teams searching for young, untapped talent.

He acknowledged, however, his short track debut in NASCAR’s big leagues will be a definitive new test. The hard-nosed, bumper-on-you style that has long characterized this form of exciting full-contact racing will be a brand new arc on Preece’s learning curve. But, he said this week, he feels absolutely ready for it.

“I’ve never been anybody who really wants to put a bumper to someone,” Preece said. “I always try to find a way around them without doing that.

“At the end of the day, I think we all just look for respect. You’re going to race somebody the way they race you. I’m going to fully intend on going into the weekend just like I would a Modified [race], that’s finding a way around without using them up.

“At the end of the day, as long as we’re respectful to others, I believe you get respect back. That’s kind of how I’m going to approach it. I don’t fully intend on going there and smashing people.”

RELATED: Full schedule for Martinsville

The style and philosophy has certainly worked for Preece, who leads the Sunoco Rookie standings for fourth time in the season’s opening five weeks. He’s ranked 25th overall, tops among the four-driver 2019 rookie class with one top-10 (his Daytona 500 debut). He was involved in wrecks at both Atlanta and Phoenix but responded last week with a 23rd-place effort in Fontana, Calif.

In six years, Preece has made 67 starts in either the Xfinity or Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but had the chance previously to run only a single full season – the 2016 Xfinity Series schedule for team JD Motorsports.

So the encouraging start to 2019 says a lot about Preece’s natural ability, but also about his huge drive to make good on this opportunity.

“It’s nice,” Preece said of leading the rookie standings. “It’s showing that we’re right there. But Daniel [Hemric], he’s shown a lot of speed, especially during the West Coast Swing. That’s something we addressed in the meetings yesterday.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make the Playoffs. We’re kind of in a hole right now because of Atlanta and because of Phoenix. It’s really put us behind.

“We just really need to turn it around and get to where the 37 is running and hopefully sneak in some top-10s and be up front. It’s definitely not from a lack of effort. Hopefully we can turn things around and really fight these guys.”

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On his decorated resume, Martin Truex Jr. has a 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, a coveted Coca-Cola 600 victory and 18 additional wins on speedways and road courses in NASCAR’s top competition. But one feat that has eluded the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in his career is a short-track win — a box he’ll look to check this weekend at 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway.

That’s not to say Truex hasn’t been close, especially in recent years where he’s been agonizingly close. Truex has been passed for the win within the final 11 laps in three of the last eight short-track races.

He notably — and most recently — came within mere feet of Martinsville’s Victory Lane in the series’ fall trip to Virginia on Oct. 28, 2018; Truex was pacing the field when Joey Logano moved him for the victory in the final corner at the Virginia track. Logano went on to win the championship less than a month later.

WATCH: Logano moves Truex on last lap at Martinsville

With frustration and heartbreak his most recent memory from “The Paperclip,” Truex will head to the Virginia oval this weekend likely looking for redemption. He certainly has the team equipped to get it done. In the last 10 years, Joe Gibbs Racing has notched the most short-track wins with 27 trips to Victory Lane. Their 27 victories in a decade is more than Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing combined during that time period.

In their complete short-track history, JGR has posted 35 victories with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Bobby Labonte behind the wheel. Of those six drivers, Hamlin, Stewart and Labonte all scored their first short-track win while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

So, what are the odds that Truex, in his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, will become the fourth driver to do so in Sunday’s showdown? Looking at his recent Martinsville runs, his chances are high. He’s led the second-most laps on short tracks without a win (1,215) behind Sterling Marlin’s 1,221 laps led, making him arguably the best driver in NASCAR history who hasn’t won at a short track. Truex’s past three races at Martinsville in particular have resulted in three straight top-five finishes.

MORE: Martinsville 101 | All-time Martinsville spring winners

Sunday’s race at Martinsville could — and may be — the stage where Truex finally gives a winning performance at a short track.

Only time will tell – or in Martinsville’s case, the winner’s grandfather clock trophy.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

Martinsville Speedway is always a welcome site for Virginia native Denny Hamlin.

The pride of Chesterfield has racked up five victories in 26 career starts at the .526-mile short track, landing him ninth on the all-time Martinsville wins list and second among active drivers behind Jimmie Johnson’s nine triumphs. His 9.8 average finish makes it his third-best track by that measure, right behind Darlington Raceway and another Virginia short track, Richmond Raceway.

“I look forward to going to Martinsville every time,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, it’s one of my best tracks. With the strong runs we had in the spring and fall last year, I’m pretty optimistic that we can go out there and be good.”

RELATED: Hamlin part of Martinsville masters | Vegas odds for Martinsville 

Between winning the Daytona 500 and earning finishes no worse than 11th in the first five events, Hamlin and new crew chief Chris Gabehart have started strong in their maiden season together with the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

For Hamlin, Gabehart brings his excitement level up a notch because he comes from an extensive short-track racing background, which bodes well for the pairing’s first short-track experience together in Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I’m excited so far with where I’m at with Chris — the mindset he has on these race tracks and the strategy he likes to pull and things like that,” Hamlin said. “He’s really smart and he’s obviously a short-track guy.”

Hamlin is hopeful to continue the momentum into the track dubbed “The Paperclip,” but despite all the previous success, Hamlin hasn’t visited Victory Lane since spring of 2015. That could very well be a product of other teams — including those of JGR teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — learning the tricks of the Martinsville trade, thanks to extensive data sharing.

“I think data sharing changed the game,” Hamlin said. “There are just no more secrets anymore. There’s no questions of ‘well, how does this guy drive?’ You can just look it up nowadays.

“Back in the old days, I remember we did a test with me, Joey (Logano) and Kyle (Busch), we all ran the same car 20-25 laps with the same set up and everything and it was like, ‘Well, why am I so much faster in the long run, why is Kyle so much faster in the short run?’ … But you didn’t have the true data that you can stare at now and pretty much mimic anyone’s style. Certainly, all the advantages I had on short tracks were taken away when the notebook was open.”

Since Hamlin’s last victory at Martinsville, Busch has scored a pair of wins, while Logano, Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer have all earned one apiece. But that doesn’t mean Hamlin hasn’t been right there to pounce, including last fall when he finished second by taking advantage of the no-holds, barred race to the finish line between Logano and Truex Jr.

So, could that play out again this time around? According to Hamlin, anything is possible.

“You never know,” Hamlin said. “I think it depends on the players that are in it. If there’s somebody that doesn’t think they’re going to get another win in the course of the season and that’s going to be their ticket to punch to the Playoffs, then certainly you’ll see a move like that.”

Despite teammates and other competitors closing the gap on Hamlin at his home track, Hamlin feels he will still naturally find his way to the front when it’s crunch time.

“There’s really five guys that are always up front in those races,” Hamlin said. “It doesn’t really change too much from that. … But it’s always been a track where if something crazy doesn’t happen, we’re always in contention there for a race win. … I’ve driven it the same, no matter the style or any data sharing. I’ve always stuck to what I know there and it’s been successful.”

Posted on by Team Release

Lexington, N.C. (March 21, 2019) – Kaulig Racing is proud to announce the addition of AJ Allmendinger to their 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver line-up. Allmendinger, who has spent the past 13 years driving in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, will slide behind the wheel of the No. 10 Chevrolet for multiple races.

Additionally, Allmendinger recently signed a multi-year contract with NBC Sports Group as a motorsports analyst for both IMSA on NBC and NASCAR America.

MORE: Allmendinger joins NBC Sports Group

“I am excited for the opportunity to hop back into a Xfinity Series car,” Allmendinger said. “I look forward to helping Kaulig Racing build their program, as well as fight for wins with them.”

Throughout his career, Allmendinger has recorded one win and 11 top-five finishes in the MENCS and two wins in the NXS. He also boasts a successful career in the International Motorsports Association (IMSA), winning the coveted Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in 2012.

“I am looking forward to seeing what AJ can do in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevy,” Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice said. “He is another talented driver that we have tapped to wheel our All-Star car and I can’t wait to see it compete for wins.”

Announcements regarding slated races and sponsors will be released at a later date.

Posted on by @nascarcasm

When you think of Jamie McMurray, you think of a kind, gentle soul. The kind of fellow who signs every autograph, poses for every picture, and is way into bands like Dashboard Confessional.

Time to vacate those thoughts. Jamie is actually capable of taking the verbal propane torch to anyone who dare cross his path. Don’t know this? Kyle Larson knows this. He knows this all too well, and the burns haven’t healed.

Lately, because of an apparent lack of anything better to do, folks on Twitter have been taking Jamie to task because of … his attire and footwear when he appears on NASCAR on FOX. That’s how social media works – Jamie could recite an editorial entitled “Why Kyle Busch is so much better than Richard Petty” and Twitter users will be posting screenshots of his feet with “WHAT ARE THOSE????”

Here’s what they forget – Jamie McMurray is retired now, and therefore has all the time in the world to scour his mentions for static. Not only that … he has time to check out the profiles of those who dare cross him. And the result:

So here we are – you’re sitting there with third-degree burns, while Jamie drops the mic and walks away in the shoes he wants to wear that have proper comfort and arch support. Let it go on record that March Madness games hadn’t even tipped off, and a 5’8” player from Missouri had the first massive dunk.

Posted on by Marissa Fuller

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Martinsville Speedway, the smallest track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit, is a special place for the Wood brothers, whose hometown is a close 30 miles away in Stuart, Virginia.

The Wood Brothers Racing team has been competing at the legendary short track for seven decades and the current driver of the No. 21 Ford Mustang, Paul Menard, will be behind the wheel this weekend for the STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Late Wood Brothers Racing team founder Glen Wood made his first start in the Cup Series in 1953 at Martinsville. This weekend, a win at the short track would mean even more to Menard and the entire team.

RELATED: NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood dies at 93

“It would be huge,” Menard told NASCAR.com on Thursday. “It would be a big deal, especially this weekend as we honor Mr. Glen Wood, so I can’t think of a better way to honor him than to win at Martinsville.”

Wood, who had been the oldest living member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, passed away on Jan. 18 at 93.

A win this weekend would not only honor the his legacy, it would also mark the team’s 100th Cup Series win.

Menard has 23 starts under his belt at Martinsville with just two top-10 finishes, but the 38-year-old from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is on the hunt for his second career victory.

With the debut of a new rules package this season, drivers have been faced with a lot of unknowns. As the series heads into the sixth race weekend of 2019, however, things are becoming clearer for Menard and Co.

“We’re just trying to understand this package and what it wants. It seems like, for us, we can get on either side of the balance so easily, so trying to figure out how to make small adjustments to the car without overdoing it so we’re not teeter-tottering back and forth between loose and tight throughout the race,” Menard said. “That’s just work in progress. We’re building our notebook, our database and that’s just going to improve.”

The veteran considers Martinsville a track that nods to the old days, putting a spotlight on the kind of aggressive, nowhere-to-hide racing that a lot of drivers — himself included — grew up on.

“Martinsville is definitely a throwback to how our series started with the short-track racing and how a lot of us drivers started with running around little short tracks throughout the Midwest or California or the Southwest, or wherever you’re from,” he said.

“… It’s a lot of fun to drive at Martinsville; you have all this horsepower and not much grip and the cars accelerate really hard, but they don’t stop very good. So, that always makes corner entry really exciting but once you get racing, it’s kind of like 100-mile-per-hour bumper cars. You’re literally around cars all day long, trying to pass cars, trying to stay off other cars’ fenders to keep your fenders from cutting down tires. It’s a battle for 500 laps.”

Wood Brothers Racing also has an alliance with Team Penske, which has seen plenty of 2019 success thus far with two wins (Atlanta and Las Vegas) through five races. The partnership has given Menard and the No. 21 team confidence that their breakthrough is on the way.

“For us, we know that with the alliance we have with Team Penske, we have the equipment to get it done. It’s just up to us to make the right adjustments throughout the race and keep track position. Maintain track position and make good adjustments and we’ll have success,” Menard said. “We have everything we need, just a matter of putting all the pieces together to make it happen.”

MORE: Wood Brothers through the years

For those interested in honoring Glen Wood, Menard and the team will be at the Wood Brothers Racing Museum in Stuart, Virginia, on Friday for a tribute to the late team founder. Fans, family members, friends and former drivers will be there from 4-7 p.m. ET.

His son Eddie Wood said the tribute will be open to anyone who wishes to participate.