RELATED: Race Center | Sunday’s schedule
RELATED: Full qualifying results
Cole Custer earned his third, and first for the 2015 season, 21 Means 21 Pole of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career at Martinsville Speedway after topping the qualifying leaderboard with a fastest lap of 96.959 mph.
Joining Custer’s No. 00 on the front row is the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota of Cameron Hayley (96.504 mph).
The No. 8 of John Hunter Nemechek will start on the second row after qualifying third as he brought his Chevrolet around the .526-mile track at a fastest lap of 96.224 mph.
The No. 19 of Tyler Reddick (96.141 mph) and the No. 14 of Daniel Hemric (96.024 mph) rounded out the top five.
The green flag for the Kroger 200 (200 laps, 105.2 miles) is set for 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, Sirius XM).
RELATED: Logano leads opening practice at Martinsville
Practice 3 recap | Practice 3 results
Jimmie Johnson led the final Sprint Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, topping the leaderboard with a speed of 97.108 mph.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver completed his fastest lap on his fourth go-around of “The Paperclip” track out of 67 laps. Johnson has eight wins at Martinsville, tying with Jeff Gordon for the most victories among active Cup drivers at the Virginia short track.
Kevin Harvick was second to “Six-Time” with a high speed of 96.721 mph in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.
Brad Keselowski (96.721 mph), Paul Menard (96.711 mph) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (96.538 mph) rounded out the top-five fastest.
Defending race winner Earnhardt Jr. was fastest in Saturday’s opening session.
Polesitter Joey Logano was seventh-fastest in the closing session at 96.504 mph. Logano was the fastest in Friday’s opening practice. The Team Penske driver is going for his fourth consecutive win, along with a ticket to the Championship 4 Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Kyle Busch was the slowest of the eight-driver Chase field, ranking 26th-fastest (95.854 mph).
Denny Hamlin, Martinsville spring race winner, was ninth-fastest (96.386 mph).
The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track on Sunday for the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at 1:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN/Live Extra, MRN, SiriusXM).
Practice 2 recap | Practice 2 results
After qualifying 22nd on Friday, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 picked up some speed for Saturday’s first practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The Hendrick Motorsports driver topped the leaderboard in his Chevrolet SS with a fast lap of 96.998 mph.
Next was the No. 78 Chevrolet of Martin Truex Jr., the fastest during this session among the remaining eight Chase contenders (96.879 mph).
Rounding out the top three was Ryan Newman, who circled the .526-mile track at 96.874 mph in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Polesitter Joey Logano showed speed again today, snagging the fourth spot with a high speed of 96.755 mph in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin landed in the fifth position after posting a quick speed of 96.731 mph.
Tony Stewart, who finished eighth, left the session with significant damage to his No. 14 after making contact with the wall. Stewart will start the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 in a backup car. Kasey Kahne, who wrecked in qualifying on Friday, will also start in a backup.
RELATED: Play Fantasy Live now
It’s getting down to crunch time in NASCAR Fantasy Live, with only four races remaining this season.
What to do for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway? So glad you asked. Make sure to set your lineup, using the information below to guide your picks. All stats listed — place differential, fastest laps run and laps led — are used in Fantasy Live scoring and are specific to the .526-mile track. We’re also offering some sleeper picks and value plays.
Good luck this weekend!
Laps led, since 2005
1. Jimmie Johnson, 2,575
2. Jeff Gordon, 1,890
3. Denny Hamlin, 1,312
Fastest laps run, since 2005
1. Jeff Gordon, 1,131
2. Jimmie Johnson, 1,041
3. Denny Hamlin, 687
Place differential, 2014 fall race
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., +22
2. David Ragan, +19
3. Cole Whitt, +18
Place differential, 2015 spring race
1. Trevor Bayne, +18
2. Clint Bowyer, +17
t-3. Cole Whitt, +15
t-3. David Ragan, +15
Sleeper picks
Martin Truex Jr.: Truex remains one of the only Eliminator 8 drivers with reasonable price value at Martinsville. He led 23 laps and posted a sixth-place finish there earlier this year. Truex has also posted the sixth most Average Fantasy Points (47.8) over the last three weeks.
Kasey Kahne: Outside of his crash at Charlotte, Kahne has been racing exceedingly well as of late for his asking price. He’s set to be a solid sleeper at Martinsville, although one reason for concern is Kahne starting from the rear in a backup car after a qualifying wreck.
Value picks
Tony Stewart: ‘Smoke’ is an intriguing option as a value play. In his last three Martinsville Chase starts, Stewart has a win and two top-five finishes. However, a wreck in practice forced him to a backup car, and he’ll need to start from the rear.
Austin Dillon: Dillon may be this week’s bargain. He owns a +2.3 place differential and an average finish of 22.7 in three career Martinsville races. He could be a steal for owners playing a high-dollar lineup.
Members of the NASCAR.com editorial team make their predictions for the first race of the Eliminator Round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Martinsville Speedway (Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, 1:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra, MRN, SiriusXM).
Zack Albert
Denny Hamlin: Expect the No. 11 to prevail in his home state for Hamlin’s sixth grandfather clock, denying the remaining Chasers an automatic berth in the Homestead championship finale.
Kenny Bruce
Jimmie Johnson: Johnson shares win record (eight) for active drivers at Martinsville with teammate Jeff Gordon. Bad fast in practice. No Chase pressure. In other words, everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Brad Norman
Joey Logano: Because why not? He’s starting from the pole and has won three consecutive races. Make it four.
George Winkler
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have more history on their side, but Junior will use the disappointment from last weekend as motivation to get his second grandfather clock (first for crew chief Greg Ives).
Kathy Sheldon
Jeff Gordon: The intensity is there, and so is the confidence at Martinsville, where he has eight career wins and a runner-up finish in this race last year. The four-time champion is serious about chasing down title number five.
Jessica Ruffin
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Having just missed the next round of the Chase with a runner-up result at Talladega Sunday, Junior heads to Martinsville with something to prove — and a fast race car, to boot. He’s also the reigning race winner and calls the paperclip oval one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.
Taylor Starer
Jeff Gordon: Martinsville’s fall race is what Gordon has been waiting for. The four-time Sprint Cup champ doesn’t plan on ending his lengthy career with a winless season or without scoring one more win at a track where he’s had eight victories.
Maggie MacKenzie
Carl Edwards: With the recent Joe Gibbs Racing difficulties, Edwards is the team’s biggest hope to snag the 2015 championship. He may not have a win at Martinsville, but the driver of the No. 19 Toyota has finished outside the top 10 only once thus far in the Chase.
RJ Kraft
Denny Hamlin: Yes, Hamlin is out of the Chase, but that doesn’t mean he can’t go out and get another win. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has one of the best cars this weekend as he eyes a sweep of the Martinsville races for the second time in his career.
Pat DeCola
Jeff Gordon: A winless final season just doesn’t seem to fit the four-time champion’s style. With more career victories at “The Paperclip” (eight) than any other track on his resume, you can book Gordon’s trip to Victory Lane this weekend — along with his spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead.
John Hunter Nemechek and Cameron Hayley were each pleased with their top-three efforts Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. With each other? Not so much.
As far as post-race confrontations go in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the face-to-face meeting between the NASCAR Next products on pit road was fairly mild, short though not so sweet. Nemechek came away with a runner-up finish behind winner Matt Crafton, and Hayley enjoyed a career-best third place in the Kroger 200, but there were indications that their late-race contact could have implications later in the season.
“The racing got really rough out there. John Hunter’s got it coming to him here later in Phoenix,” Hayley said after emerging from his ThorSport Racing No. 13 Toyota. “There’s no reason why he should just drive into someone that hard, but I guess it’s short-track racing and just great run for us.”
Nemechek bulled past Hayley on a restart with two laps to go, nudging to the inside groove in Turn 3 just before the white flag unfurled. Nemechek said he received Hayley’s warning loud and clear in their brief post-race talk, but indicated that watching a replay would help him understand the contact.
“It’s part of racing. It’s good, hard racing and good, hard battling,” said Nemechek, who added that he was being pushed from behind during the two-lap dash to the end. “Earlier in the race, he moved me, so he had one coming back to him.”
Aside from the abbreviated dust-up, there were plenty of shared positives. Hayley started second alongside pole-sitter Cole Custer, and Nemechek started third. Both spent the duration of the day in the top five, within sight of early leader Custer and late-race dominator Crafton.
For Nemechek, it marked his fourth top-five finish in his last five races, including his breakthrough win in Chicagoland. For Hayley, his third straight top-10 in his rookie campaign kept him sixth in the series standings.
“It just seemed like the one truck in front of us was just a little bit faster when it counted, and we’d be faster over those long runs, and we just could never quite get there, but I couldn’t be happier to run top-three all weekend,” Hayley said. “It’s something I’ve only dreamed about, so I’m really proud of this team.”
Said Nemechek: “Everyone was hitting each other, moving each other. It’s great to come home second, and I can’t thank all my guys enough.”
RELATED: Sunday’s lineup | NASCAR.com’s staff picks for Martinsville
Race day info
What: 67th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500.
Where: Martinsville Speedway, .526-mile oval in Martinsville, Virginia. | Learn more about the track
Green flag time: 1:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Forecast: Cloudy, high of 64 degrees, 60 percent chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service
National anthem: N.C. State Marching Band, “The Power Sound of the South”
Grand marshals: Richard Petty, seven-time NASCAR premier-series champion; Tom Harman, Circle K Southeast director of marketing.
Distance: 500 laps, 263 miles.
Pit road speed: 30 mph. Caution car speed: 35 mph.
On the front row
1. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (98.548 mph)
2. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet (98.487 mph)
RELATED: See the full lineup
Fastest in practice
First practice: Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (98.826 mph) | Results
Second practice: Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (96.998 mph) | Results
Final practice: Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (97.108 mph) | Results
Key story lines
1. Four consecutive wins a rarity within Logano’s reach | Read more
2. Plenty of incentive for Gordon, seeking ninth clock in Martinsville finale | Read more
3. Martinsville adds SAFER barrier, making tight track even cozier | Read more
4. Ford to debut new-look NASCAR Fusion in 2016 | Read more
Former winners in the field
Jeff Gordon (8), Jimmie Johnson (8), Denny Hamlin (5), Tony Stewart (3), Kurt Busch (2), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1), Kevin Harvick (1), Ryan Newman (1).
He said it
“I think about that one hot dog that I ate in an attempt to go faster in the spring. It didn’t work.” — Carl Edwards
RELATED: Gordon says, ‘We never stop fighting’ | Complete race lineup
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jeff Gordon‘s career will always be closely linked to Martinsville Speedway‘s tight confines, the site of many early successes and the provider of eight trophy timepieces. The remembrances are fond, the fan appreciation off the charts and the rhythm at an ever-finicky track seems to have never left.
It’s a double-edged blade for the four-time champion — familiar like a well-worn chair, but with pitfalls lurking for a misstep outside the comfort zone.
“It seems like no matter what changes in the sport, with the rules and the engine package, we always seem to be able to come here and find speed,” Gordon said after Friday’s opening practice. “So, we certainly have that kind of confidence within our program. But at the same time, going over the debrief this week and the planning and all the things we’re looking at for this race, we are also reminded of how tough this place can be.”
Should a ninth grandfather clock come his way Sunday, the bonus that comes with Victory Lane laurels could give Gordon the memory of a lifetime.
Gordon, in the final season of his Hall of Fame career, enters Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 (1:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) as a pre-race favorite for what likely will be his final event at the historic .526-mile track. He’ll start fifth in the 43-car field, landing him a strategic spot near the front and a favorable pit stall on an often-treacherous pit road.
Martinsville hosts the kickoff event in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs’ Eliminator Round, the final three-race series that will determine the four-driver championship field in the Homestead-Miami Speedway finale. With Gordon among the eight title-eligible drivers remaining, an automatic berth into the final round would be Martinsville’s ultimate parting gift.
“That would be pretty amazing,” Gordon said. “There is nobody that has any more motivation and reasons to get that ninth victory than our race team this weekend.”
FROM THE VAULT: Gordon holds off Stewart for Martinsville win
If experience counts, Gordon possesses a clear edge with 45 career Martinsville starts and eight wins — Gordon’s highest total at any track on the circuit. Among the remaining seven Chase drivers, only Kurt Busch (30 Martinsville starts) and Kevin Harvick (28) come close. Busch has won here twice and Harvick once; the other five Chasers have yet to scratch the win column at the paper-clip-shaped layout.
There’s also a chance for more history to be written. If Gordon leads 23 laps on Sunday, he’ll break Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough’s all-time record for the most laps led (3,766) at Martinsville.
There hasn’t been one clear-cut secret to success at Martinsville, a track that Gordon says “goes against all of the normal instincts that you have as a race car driver.” Instead, it’s a delicate balance of several factors — keeping composure, maintaining rhythm and trying not to overdrive the car in often-maddening gridlock for 500 laps.
“It takes a lot of patience here,” Gordon said. “I think that not only suited my style, but it also allowed me to communicate really well with the teams so that they could just fine-tune that set-up. It didn’t hurt that I’ve always had really good race cars here, as well.”
Though the 44-year-old veteran has enjoyed a warm reception from fans as he visits tracks for a final time as a driver, Gordon said the greeting from the No. 24 faithful has been among the most enthusiastic at Martinsville. Gordon was present for a Thursday night autograph session at a local Wal-Mart, with many fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite in the twilight of his career.
“The interactions, conversations and the memorabilia they brought out rivals the biggest fans that I have throughout the country,” Gordon said. “That is what stands out to me is the loyal support that I have here. Obviously winning here eight times helps, but still, these folks have a lot of choices as far as drivers that they can pull for and how avid that they pull for that driver. I saw it at the height of it all (Thursday) night during that event.”
RELATED: Full race results
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Those who were delivering a post-mortem to Matt Crafton‘s hopes for a third straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title after last weekend’s race at Talladega learned on Saturday that the lid on the coffin is far from nailed shut.
Crafton survived five restarts in the final 50 laps of Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway and won the race by .396 seconds over John Hunter Nemechek, who shoved third-place finisher Cameron Hayley out of the way after a restart with two laps left to secure the runner-up position.
With his fifth victory of the season, his second at the .526-mile short track and the 10th of his career, Crafton chopped 13 points off the series lead of Erik Jones, who struggled throughout the afternoon and came home 10th.
Crafton moved into second place in the standings, 10 points behind Jones with three races left in the season. Fifth-place finisher Tyler Reddick is third in points, 13 behind Jones.
Crafton grabbed the lead from Nemechek after a restart on Lap 137 of 200 and held it the rest of the way. Polesitter Cole Custer, who ran fourth, led a race-high 96 laps but wasn’t able to regain the top spot after suffering a pit road speeding penalty under caution on Lap 124.
For Crafton, though, the race was a dramatic turnaround after a late wreck a week earlier at Talladega dropped him to 24th at the finish, third in the standings and seemingly out of touch with Jones. But the misfortune at NASCAR’s longest oval turned on a dime at one of the sport’s shortest.
“We’ve had a very trying last two months, but to get back to Victory Lane is awesome,” Crafton said. “These guys (his No. 88 ThorSport Toyota team) just never give up. We weren’t that great on the short run, but like I said, I never give up on these guys. They keep fine-tuning and fine-tuning.
“The second-to-last run, we just got really tight, for whatever reason, but (crew chief) Junior (Joiner) called an audible, made a little change there, and the thing was good. I just had to pace myself and save enough tires for the end of the race.”
Jones felt his Kyle Busch Motorsports team simply missed the setup for the race.
“It was just a fight all day,” said Jones, whose handling issues were compounded by a soft brake pedal. “We missed it a little bit as an organization. I think it showed we were off most of the day for the three trucks (including the Toyotas of 16th-place Daniel Suarez and 21st-place Gray Gaulding).
“We’ll work on it and get it better.”
Ross Kenseth, son of 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, finished 17th in his Truck Series debut. Austin Cindric, son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric, had a strong top-10 run going in his maiden race in the series before running afoul of a three-wide wreck on the backstretch with eight laps left.
After the crash, Cindric came home 25th, the last driver on the lead lap.
The race featured 12 cautions, four short of the event record.