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RELATED: Starting lineup for Sunday’s race

 

At a Glance 

What: STP 500

Where: Martinsville Speedway, .526-mile oval in Martinsville, Va.

Green flag: 2:13 p.m. ET 

TV/Radio: FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio 

Forecast: Sunny with a high near 68, according to the National Weather Service. North winds at 5 mph.

National anthem: Martinsville, Bassett and Magna Vista High School Marching Bands

Grand Marshal: Rockmond Dunbar, star of the FOX TV show, "Prison Break"

Race distance: 500 laps, 263 miles 

Pit road speed: 30 mph 

Caution car speed: 35 mph

Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 130. Stage 2 ends on Lap 260. Final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 500.

 

MORE: Race-day schedule | Kyle Larson will lead field to green

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville | Full schedule for Martinsville
MORE: Final practice results | Best 10-lap averages

Clint Bowyer led Saturday’s final practice at Martinsville Speedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ahead of Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Bowyer turned a fast lap of 93.863 mph around the .526-mile track in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Defending race winner Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 93.567 mph.

Jamie McMurray (93.530 mph, No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) was third in the 50-minute session. Brad Keselowski (93.525 mph, Team Penske No. 2 Ford) and Ryan Newman (93.511 mph, No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) rounded out the top five.

Kyle Larson, last week’s winner at Auto Club and the driver with the top starting spot for Sunday’s race, was 14th at 92.951 mph.

Keselowski leads Practice 2
Practice 2 results

Keselowski topped Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session with a fast lap of 94.406 mph. The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford has yet to win at Martinsville but has two runner-up finishes in the last four races at the .526-mile track.

Newman (No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) came in second (94.092 mph) for the 55-minute practice session, followed by Martin Truex Jr. (93.835 mph, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota) in third. Joey Logano (93.835 mph, No. 22 Team Penske Ford) and AJ Allmendinger (93.729 mph, No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet) rounded out the top five.

Nine-time Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) finished seventh (93.604 mph).

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville


PRACTICE 1: RESULTS

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson 5 14 92.857
2 1 Jamie McMurray 4 13 92.843
3 77 Erik Jones # 5 14 92.795
4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6 15 92.486
5 24 Chase Elliott 18 27 92.195
6 14 Clint Bowyer 1 10 91.830
7 6 Trevor Bayne 11 20 91.804
8 3 Austin Dillon 7 16 91.461
9 41 Kurt Busch 1 10 91.337
10 10 Danica Patrick 1 10 90.587
11 19 Daniel Suarez # 1 10 90.467

PRACTICE 2: Results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson 3 12 93.177
2 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 93.148
3 31 Ryan Newman 3 12 93.117
4 18 Kyle Busch 7 16 93.020
5 22 Joey Logano 2 11 92.999
6 14 Clint Bowyer 3 12 92.963
7 21 Ryan Blaney 6 15 92.855
8 77 Erik Jones # 4 13 92.844
9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3 12 92.813
10 1 Jamie McMurray 8 17 92.770
11 72 Cole Whitt 3 12 92.704
12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 10 19 92.695
13 47 AJ Allmendinger 12 21 92.663
14 48 Jimmie Johnson 5 14 92.646
15 43 Aric Almirola 7 16 92.636
16 4 Kevin Harvick 12 21 92.555
17 13 Ty Dillon # 7 16 92.474
18 27 Paul Menard 4 13 92.431
19 78 Martin Truex Jr. 32 41 92.366
20 24 Chase Elliott 17 26 92.342
21 11 Denny Hamlin 1 10 92.335
22 95 Michael McDowell 24 33 92.260
23 3 Austin Dillon 30 39 92.251
24 20 Matt Kenseth 20 29 92.116
25 6 Trevor Bayne 4 13 92.112
26 37 Chris Buescher 36 45 91.952
27 5 Kasey Kahne 5 14 91.937
28 38 David Ragan 5 14 91.867
29 34 Landon Cassill 5 14 91.847
30 32 Matt DiBenedetto 4 13 91.745
31 41 Kurt Busch 31 40 91.713
32 23 Gray Gaulding # 4 13 91.579
33 15 Reed Sorenson 16 25 91.313
34 83 * Corey LaJoie # 2 11 91.305
35 51 * Timmy Hill(i) 3 12 91.001
36 19 Daniel Suarez # 15 24 91.000
37 10 Danica Patrick 16 25 90.578

PRACTICE 3: Results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 18 Kyle Busch 2 11 92.976
2 1 Jamie McMurray 4 13 92.740
3 22 Joey Logano 2 11 92.718
4 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 92.578
5 14 Clint Bowyer 1 10 92.485
6 21 Ryan Blaney 5 14 92.484
7 31 Ryan Newman 4 13 92.469
8 43 Aric Almirola 2 11 92.393
9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2 11 92.334
10 3 Austin Dillon 2 11 92.296
11 78 Martin Truex Jr. 3 12 92.282
12 11 Denny Hamlin 4 13 92.192
13 42 Kyle Larson 43 52 92.125
14 48 Jimmie Johnson 15 24 91.977
15 72 Cole Whitt 2 11 91.966
16 24 Chase Elliott 3 12 91.859
17 27 Paul Menard 1 10 91.812
18 19 Daniel Suarez # 25 34 91.798
19 77 Erik Jones # 17 26 91.787
20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 26 35 91.783
21 47 AJ Allmendinger 30 39 91.742
22 5 Kasey Kahne 15 24 91.701
23 37 Chris Buescher 2 11 91.700
24 13 Ty Dillon # 2 11 91.568
25 10 Danica Patrick 22 31 91.565
26 32 Matt DiBenedetto 1 10 91.457
27 41 Kurt Busch 8 17 91.385
28 4 Kevin Harvick 24 33 91.349
29 95 Michael McDowell 26 35 91.273
30 15 Reed Sorenson 2 11 91.147
31 23 Gray Gaulding # 2 11 91.126
32 38 David Ragan 3 12 91.065
33 34 Landon Cassill 3 12 90.969
34 6 Trevor Bayne 38 47 90.947
35 83 * Corey LaJoie # 34 43 90.562
36 51 * Timmy Hill(i) 3 12 90.045
37 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt 1 10 88.277

* Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series.
# Indicates driver is a rookie in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville | Starting lineup


MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Joe Gibbs Racing, which dominated the first half of the 2016 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, is winless in five races to start the current season.



So is Hendrick Motorsports, the juggernaut that carried Jimmie Johnson to his record-tying seventh championship last year.



Instead, Kyle Larson delivered Chip Ganassi Racing its second victory in as many years last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, and Ryan Newman broke a 127-race drought with his strategic win at Phoenix International Raceway.



But don’t think for a minute that Busch is worried heading into Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FS1).



"I don’t think it should be alarming," Busch said Friday at Martinsville, where he broke through with his first victory at the track in last year’s spring race. "I think it’s probably a good thing, to be honest with you. There needs to be more parity in our sport. There needs to be other teams that have the opportunity to get up there and run well and win races.



"You see RCR (Richard Childress Racing) has done that (with Newman). You see Ganassi has done that. Those would be two teams that probably haven’t won in the last couple years. I know Larson won a race last year, but not regularly, let’s say, like the JGR bunch or the HMS bunch. Our time is coming. We know that. We’ll turn our program around. We’ll get it up to speed to where we need to."



Busch has acknowledged that JGR perhaps hasn’t kept up with other Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams in adapting to the new lower-downforce aerodynamic package introduced full-time this season.



"I think we’re playing a little bit of catch up right now, to be honest with you," Busch said. "We do have great partners with the guys at Furniture Row that have been running really good. They’ve been strong and up front each week.


"They have been helping us as well, getting our program to where we believe we know it can be. They’ve shown us. They’ve had the potential each week. We just have to get there with ourselves."


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RACE DAY: Full starting lineup | Key race info

 

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jimmie Johnson hasn’t won in the first five races of this year’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but the jury is still out on what to make of the situation.

Concern or indifference?

Johnson has won 80 times, more than any other active driver, and he’s a nine-time winner here at Martinsville. Which is also more than any other active driver.

He’s won the series championship seven times, and you know what comes next — more than any other active driver.

So a five-race winless streak isn’t a bump in the road for the driver of the blue and silver No. 48 Chevrolet. It’s not even a bug on the windshield.

But still it’s there and when you’ve spent your career raising the competitive bar, there are expectations. It’s the baggage of champions.

Those expectations don’t include a spin during practice, a need for a backup car and a 21st place finish. But that’s the short version of Johnson’s last appearance, just last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

Very un-Johnson like.


MORE: Johnson’s pursuit for title No. 8


"If you haven’t won, why aren’t you winning and if you’ve won, can you do it again?" Johnson said Friday as his Hendrick Motorsports team began preparing for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). "Everybody has a question.

"I am so fortunate in that my career has shifted in a way to where there are high expectations that come with it. I will gladly take that than a lot of shoes that other drivers are sitting in. I don’t mind that; I just find it amusing, the overreaction good and bad."

Johnson says he’s made mistakes and the team has made mistakes and some calls haven’t gone their way, and when you add it all up you get an 0-for-5 start to the season and a 17th-place points position.

That someone so successful at his vocation would still be making the occasional mistake might seem surprising but Johnson admits, "It’s just tough to be 100 percent."

"I have habits and tendencies in a race car that are mistakes that I make," Johnson said. "It’s easy to try too hard in our cars."

That might work in something such as open-wheel racing, where over-driving a car can have its rewards. But that’s not the case in NASCAR. Push too hard and you spin out. You hit the wall. You hit another competitor. Finding that edge is the key. It’s a never-ending search.

"Our fear factor is usually way above the grip factor of the cars and the tires," he said. "It’s easy for me to get sucked into trying harder and making mistakes, and when you are not going forward to say ‘alright, let’s back off 10 percent and the car will go faster’ is the last thing you would imagine working or happening."

Toss in more teams contending for wins, format changes that basically break each race into three shorter races with points up for grabs and you wind up with a tempo and rhythm out on the track unlike anything teams have faced before this season.

And because of that, Johnson said, "it’s easy to get sucked into an environment to make mistakes as a team and a driver.

"And as odd as it may sound, I think we are guilty, we are really guilty of that right now and we’ve got to dial that in."

Few in the garage believe Johnson and the team are out of the competitive picture. Least of all those in the 48 camp.

Given his history at Martinsville, Sunday’s race might well be the turning point.

"Last fall went very well for us here," he said of career win No. 9, "and (I’m) looking forward to a good race this weekend."

 

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SHOP: Elliott gear
RELATED: Race results | Standings | Detailed breakdown
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Polesitter Chase Elliott held off defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter after a restart with 12 laps left and pulled away to win Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at Martinsville Speedway by 1.865 seconds.

 

Elliott grabbed the lead from third-place finisher Christopher Bell on Lap 234, when Bell’s Toyota tangled with Austin Cindric’s Ford through Turns 1 and 2. Bell lost the top spot, and Sauter charged past into the second position before NASCAR threw the 10th and final caution of the race.

 

MORE: Bell: It’s miserable to lead all day and not win | Bell, Cindric collect

 

The decisive move, however, came after the final restart on Lap 239, when Elliott blocked Sauter’s crossover move in Turn 3 and kept the lead.

 

“It was fun today,” Elliott said. “I had some help there with Christopher’s misfortune. I was trying all I could to get by him. He was doing a really good job of maintaining my bumper, a good job with me hitting him … His bumper was getting progressively more blue (the color of Elliott’s car) as the day went.

 

“It was a hard-fought battle, for sure.”

 

And then came the battle with Sauter, who said he would have made the same blocking move on the final restart, had the roles been reversed.

 

“Chase did what he needed to do with the old block,” Sauter said.

 

“I saw him coming in the mirror with a big run, and I knew I had to block him,” Elliott said. “Fortunately, it worked out.”

 

Bell led a race-high 96 laps, 90 in the final 110-lap stage. Before that, GMS Racing teammates Elliott and Sauter dominated the action. Elliott, a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular getting extra track time in preparation for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), won the first stage.

 

SEE: Every Camping World Truck Series winner of ’17

 

Sauter took the second stage but had to come through the field from 13th following the restart for the third stage after pitting for tires in a contrarian strategy to that of Elliott, who got fresh rubber before the end of Stage 2.

 

Elliott (92 laps), Sauter (62 laps) and Bell were the only drivers to lead the 250-lap event at the .526-mile track, but the action behind them was ferocious, producing 10 cautions for 63 laps.

 

Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Noah Gragson recovered from a spin off Chase Briscoe’s bumper to finish fourth, one spot behind his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate. Ty Dillon and Brett Moffitt ran fifth and sixth, respectively.

 

WATCH: Gragon reflects on day | Briscoe spins

 

Note: Sauter took over the series lead by four points over Bell, who won the previous NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta … Elliott and Sauter reversed their positions from the fall race at Martinsville, which Sauter won on the way to his first championship.

 

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MORE: Monster Energy Series owner standings | XFINITY owner standings

 

Rank Owner Trk # Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff pts Attempts
1 Maurice Gallagher Jr. 21 140 0 0 0 3 3 3
2 Kyle Busch 4 136 -4 -4 1 2 7 3
3 Rhonda Thorson 88 117 -23 -19 0 0 0 3
4 Maurice Gallagher Jr. 23 113 -27 -4 1 1 6 3
5 Tom Deloach 17 110 -30 -3 0 0 0 3
6 Maurice Gallagher Jr. 33 103 -37 -7 1 0 5 3
7 Duke Thorson 27 103 -37 0 0 0 0 3
8 Brad Keselowski 29 93 -47 -10 0 0 0 3
9 Maurice Gallagher Jr. 24 91 -49 -2 0 0 0 3
10 Kyle Busch 51 87 -53 -4 0 0 0 3
11 Mike Curb 98 84 -56 -3 0 0 0 3
12 Ricky Benton 92 81 -59 -3 0 0 0 3
13 Tom Deloach 7 73 -67 -8 0 0 0 3
14 Kyle Busch 18 70 -70 -3 0 0 0 3
15 Matthew Miller 99 70 -70 0 0 0 0 3
16 Andrea Nemechek 87 68 -72 -2 0 0 0 3
17 Jeff Bolen 66 66 -74 -2 0 0 0 3
18 Duke Thorson 13 65 -75 -1 0 0 0 3
19 Shigeaki Hattori 16 60 -80 -5 0 0 0 3
20 Randy Young 02 57 -83 -3 0 0 0 3
21 Joe Nemechek 8 56 -84 -1 0 0 0 3
22 Jay Robinson 49 49 -91 -7 0 0 0 3
23 Brad Keselowski 19 48 -92 -1 0 0 0 3
24 Mike Mittler 63 37 -103 -11 0 0 0 3
25 Chris Larsen 52 36 -104 -1 0 0 0 3
26 Richard Wauters 5 36 -104 0 0 0 0 2
27 Tim Self 132 35 -105 -1 0 0 0 1
28 Al Niece 45 33 -107 -2 0 0 0 3
29 D J Copp 83 31 -109 -2 0 0 0 3
30 Tim Self 22 29 -111 -2 0 0 0 1
31 Mark Beaver 50 28 -112 -1 0 0 0 3
32 Craig Martins 44 24 -116 -4 0 0 0 3
33 Charles Henderson 75 21 -119 -3 0 0 0 3
34 Tracy Lowe 1 15 -125 -6 0 0 0 3
35 Rick Ware 12 15 -125 0 0 0 0 3
36 Mark Rette 130 12 -128 -3 0 0 0 1
37 Clay Greenfield 68 8 -132 -4 0 0 0 1
38 Chris Fontaine 47 0 -140 -8 0 0 0 1
39 Norm Benning 6 0 -140 0 0 0 0 2
40 Jennifer Jo Cobb 10 0 -140 0 0 0 0 2
41 Jim Rosenblum 28 0 -140 0 0 0 0 1
42 Mike Harmon 74 0 -140 0 0 0 0 1
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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville
RELATED: Full race results | Updated standings

 

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Forgive Noah Gragson if there was an element of “here we go again” to his Martinsville Speedway debut in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The first two races of his rookie season had barely begun before trouble struck — the Lap 3 crash at Daytona, the Lap 2 spin at Atlanta. In Saturday’s Martinsville matinee, a mishap waited until Lap 101, when contact with fellow rookie Chase Briscoe sent Gragson’s Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota into a Turn 2 spin.

“I thought our day was over,” said Gragson, a current member of the NASCAR Next initiative. “We were running, say, in the top five and the 29 (Briscoe) took us out in the left-rear and cheap-shotted us. But my guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports — crew guys, pit-stop guys — they didn’t give up on me. We kept fighting till the end and managed to get a fourth-place finish.

“First time to Martinsville, I’m just so thankful for everyone who makes this possible.”

Gragson’s methodical rally turned back a handful of factors working against him. Among those was the race track itself, the tricky .526-mile layout that tends to be most demanding on newcomers. Add to that a rainy Friday that reduced valuable practice time to just an hour, leaving Gragson to learn as he navigated Saturday’s 250-lapper.

On the plus side, Gragson found his way with the help of top-shelf equipment from the KBM stables, sage advice from team owner Kyle Busch over the team radio communications, and veteran crew chief Marcus Richmond reassuring him after his early setbacks.

“We’ve had some shaky starts here in the beginning, the first two races,” said Richmond, in his first year with the Kyle Busch-owned team. “Noah’s a good short-track racer, coming from short tracks, so I think Martinsville fell right into his place. And we’ve just been preaching to him to stay calm. Just do your deal, don’t get excited, and it’ll come to you in the end.”

It eventually did Saturday, when Gragson ran third in the late stages before ceding the position to defending series champ Johnny Sauter with 37 laps remaining. He still emerged with his career-first top-five finish and a longing to return to Martinsville — “my new favorite race track,” he says — in the fall.

“This is huge for myself gaining confidence, the team … we needed this,” Gragson said. “We were struggling after those first two races. Takes a little weight off my shoulders knowing that I can run with these guys in the top five.”

 

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Editor’s note: Every Friday during the season, "Tweets You Might Have Missed" presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week. 



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MARTINSVILLE: Stage 2 has thrilling ending

 

Just six weeks into the 2017 season, the implementation of stages for all three NASCAR national series has grown from mild concern to garage-wide positive reviews.

 

The format change, announced Jan. 23, provides two pre-determined breaks in each championship points event and rewards those drivers running in the top 10 at the end of each stage with additional championship and playoff points.

 

The format is used in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series.

 

The move does more than just generate additional opportunities for drivers to earn points — it also creates more up-on-the-wheel moments throughout the course of each event.

 

"I don’t think any of us went into it thinking that we were going to have incredible action at the end of every single stage," Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, told NASCAR.com on Wednesday before Martinsville. "But I think we have produced enough stages that were intriguing and compelling. One of the things I think has been really good for us — scoring in that top 10, a lot of times we’ll find a pretty intense battle for seventh, eighth, ninth just to get some more points built up. That’s something I don’t think we would have seen had we not had the stages laid out as they are."

 

Additional points earned in-race, a change in the end-of-race points structure and playoff points for not only stage "wins" but also race wins created a lot of questions.

 

But once the cars got on the track at Daytona in February and the system was put into play, concerns and any confusion began to abate.

 

"I think it’s a huge plus for our sport," said Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "At no point will you ever hear that stage racing has made the racing worse. There are only positives that come out of it."

 

Drivers inside the top 10 at the end of Stage 1 or Stage 2 receive between one and 10 points (10 for first, 9 for second, etc.) based on their running position. A driver that runs in the top five all day, for example, might actually earn more points than the race winner. That was the case at Phoenix earlier in March when Kyle Larson finished second in the race, and also was second in the first and second stages to earn more points (53) than race winner Ryan Newman (42), who earned only two stage points.

 

Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing) has earned 70 stage points through five races, the most of any driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He has been running inside the top 10 at the end of the first two stages of all five of this season’s races. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott has earned 63 while Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski has earned 58.

 

Twenty-two drivers have earned one or more stage points; 16 have yet to collect, including Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Paul Menard and Daniel Suarez.

 

RELATED: Complete list of 2017 stage points | Fast facts: Race enhancements

 

"It does bring some intensity that wasn’t there in the past," said Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Especially if you are in that eighth, ninth, 10th spot coming down to those last few laps. You are like ‘Man, I don’t want to give up any points. I really want these points.’ That was never the case before. We never had points to race for, so we were just kind of getting through the day hoping to be there at the end to get the points and now we are having to worry about points throughout the day."

 

This weekend, the series is at Martinsville Speedway for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin, a five-time Martinsville winner, says the stages will have big impact at the .526-mile track.

 

"I think there are various strategies that could play out on this track; you don’t always have to pit at this track," Hamlin said. "We saw at Las Vegas the varying strategies, some played out OK for the guys and some of them didn’t work at all.

 

"I think at this track, if the caution falls at the right time, you could see someone who potentially dominates the race end up having to go back to 20th position and have to make up all those positions before the stage is over."

 

The lengths at Martinsville are 130 laps for each of the first two stages, with 240 laps making up the final stage. Stage lengths vary for each race depending on the length of the race. For the season-opening Daytona 500 at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, stage lengths were 60, 60 and 80 laps each.

 

Miller said stage lengths were determined based on several elements, not the least of which was fuel mileage.

 

"There’s a lot more that meets the eye than maybe where the stages breaks are located," he said. "A huge concern as we laid out the stages was not to place a stage where it immediately became a fuel conservation event to make it to the end of the stage.

 

"We had to make the stage long enough to where they absolutely had to stop for fuel or short enough to where they (all) could make it. It’s worked out different on different length tracks, like Phoenix they could make the stage ends (on fuel) but at the mile-and-a-halves and Fontana they couldn’t make the stage ends.

 

"So to get three stages to work out to where you don’t set any of them up to be a fuel mileage event is a little bit tricky, and I think we’ve done a good job at that."

 

Miller said officials will continue to look at the stage lengths, but that there are "no plans on the near horizon to change anything up."