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Get all the on-track times for the weekend’s NASCAR action

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All times ET

COMPLETE TV LISTINGS / BUY TICKETS FOR TEXAS / WEEKEND TRACK EVENTS

This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series head to Texas Motor Speedway

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2:

PRE-RACE SCHEDULE
— 1:00:00 p.m.: NSCS Driver/Crew Chief Meeting
— 2:30:00 p.m.: NSCS Drivers Introductions
— 3:01:00 p.m.: Intro and Pledge of Allegiance by Boy Scouts
— 3:02:00 p.m.: Intro Presentation of Colors: Sheppard Air Force Base 82nd Training Wing Honor Guard
— 3:02:20 p.m.: Invocation by: Texas Alliance Raceway Ministries; Dr. Roger Marsh
— 3:02:45 p.m.: Intro National Anthem
— 3:03:00 p.m.: National Anthem: Air National Guard – Band of the Southwest
— 3:09:30 p.m.: "Drivers, Start Your Engines" by: Harlem Globetrotters
— 3:18:00 p.m.: Start of the AAA Texas 500 (334 Laps / 501 Miles on ESPN)

ON TRACK
— 3 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 (334 laps, 501 miles), ESPN (Follow live)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 1:45 p.m.: Harlem Globetrotters (grand marshals) and Texas Rangers pitcher Derek Holland (honorary pace car driver)
— 6:45 p.m.: NSCS Post Race Press Conference

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30:

ON TRACK
— 2-3 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice (Get results)
— 3:30-5 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice (Get results)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31:

ON TRACK
— noon-12:50 p.m.: NASCAR Nationwide Series practice, FOX Sports 1 (Get results)
— 1-2:30 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FOX Sports 1 (Get results)
— 3:15 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FOX Sports 1 (Get results)
— 4:30-6 p.m.: NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice, ESPN2 (Get results)
— 6:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, ESPN2 (Get results)
— 8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino and Resort 350 (147 laps, 220.5 miles), FOX Sports 1 (Get results)

GARAGECAM PRESENTED BY MOBIL 1 (Watch live)
— 11:30 a.m.: Nationwide Series
— 12:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 11 a.m.: Joey Logano
— 11:30 a.m.: Elliott Sadler
— noon: Ryan Newman
— 12:15 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson
— 2:45 p.m.: Chase Elliott
— 3 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
— 7:45 p.m.: NSCS Post Qualifying Press Conference
— 10:45 p.m.: NCWTS Post Race Press Conference

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1:

ON TRACK
— 11-11:50 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FOX Sports 1 (Get results)
— 12:15 p.m.: NASCAR Nationwide Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FOX Sports 2 (Get results)
— 2-2:50 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice FOX Sports 2 (Get results)
— 3:30 p.m.: NASCAR Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge (200 laps, 300 miles), ESPN (Get results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 10:30 a.m.: James Buescher
— 5:45 p.m.: NNS Post Race Press Conference

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Accident sends No. 4 car to the garage and bottom of Eliminator 8 standings

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Kevin Harvick‘s championship hopes took a major hit Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway. To hear him tell it, so did Matt Kenseth‘s.

"Yeah, he won’t win this championship," Harvick said. "If we don’t, he won’t."

The run-in between the two championship hopefuls in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 left both drivers upset, but came with two very different outcomes on the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff picture. Kenseth placed a respectable sixth, keeping him firmly in contention for his second crown. Harvick finished 33rd, sending him to the bottom of the standings heap among title hopefuls after the opening event in the three-race Eliminator Round.

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Harvick had started 33rd, sparking some concern that an accident in the middle of the pack would derail his day. As is turned out, the worry manifested itself up near the front-runners after a spirited drive through the field.

Kenseth, running eighth, overdrove the .526-mile track’s first turn in the 227th of 500 laps, cooking his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota into the left-rear fender of Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet. Both cars spun, but Harvick took the brunt of the damage, smacking the outside wall in Turn 1.

The whole Stewart-Haas operation contributed in a frantic repair effort, replacing the radiator, patching the rear-end damage and removing the splitter, hood and front fenders.

While the wreck didn’t end Harvick’s day, the substantial time spent in the garage for major repairs left him 43 laps off the pace when the checkered flag flew and left plenty of hurt feelings in the No. 4 camp.

"It’s all a circumstance with being upset with the 20," said Rodney Childers, Harvick’s crew chief. "He just flat-out wrecked us. It’s a bad decision on his part, for sure."

Kenseth took the lion’s share of the blame for the initial contact, to the point that it soured his mood after the finish. He also took some front-end damage in the 365th lap as a laps-down Harvick gave him fits on the track, brake-checking him and slowing his momentum.

"It was a long day. It was one of the lowlights of my career, honestly," Kenseth said. "I’m glad we got that finish, even though we got the car all banged up and all the extra stuff going on. At the end of the day I’m glad we got the finish, but it was a rough day.

"I don’t blame (Harvick) for feeling like that, to be honest with you. It was a mistake. He was an innocent bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time. I totally understand how he feels, I totally understand why he would say that; I totally get it. He knows it’s a mistake, too, but that doesn’t really help him. I don’t blame him. He got taken out of the race for being at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Jason Ratcliff, Kenseth’s crew chief, said the result was just another sign that his team was on the verge of netting its first victory of the season. But he shared his driver’s lament about the collision that altered the championship picture.

"Obviously, he didn’t mean to do it. It was just hard racing and just came around on him," Ratcliff said. "I know he would never want to take anyone out, regardless of who it was. But sometimes, those things happen. Kevin’s got every reason to be frustrated. I would be, too. Hopefully, it’s over. We’ll see. But I know Matt was not real pleased with it. He was aggravated not only because it cost us some track position there, but he doesn’t like to get into anyone, especially someone that’s trying to win the championship."

While Harvick’s title hopes are far from extinguished, his chances of advancing to the Sprint Cup Championship on the basis of points have become increasingly daunting. He can also clinch a shot at the championship in the Nov. 16 finale by winning either of the Eliminator Round’s two remaining races — at Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.

Harvick is winless in 23 career starts at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track, but he has been dominant in the desert with five Phoenix victories, including three of the last four races at the Arizona mile. Though his finish at Martinsville was bleak, Harvick left with hope for putting his name among the final four.

"It’s definitely not the way you wanted to all play out," Harvick said. "But that’s the great part about this format — you’ve got two more weeks and two race tracks we can win on."

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Keselowski: ‘With this format, we’re by no means out’

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — After the first round of another three-race segment in the new-look Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, Brad Keselowski finds himself in a familiar spot — looking up at his competition from the lower rungs of the standings.

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If there’s any comfort to be had from the mechanically plagued 31st-place finish Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, it’s that he’s emerged from such a deficit before. With the points deck stacked against him — 31 behind new standings leader Jeff Gordon — Keselowski may need to rekindle last weekend’s magic at Talladega, where a clutch victory helped him avoid elimination.

"We were gonna probably have ourselves a fifth or sixth-place day, which is certainly something we could be proud of and move forward with, but this kind of puts us in a position now where we need to win," Keselowski said after emerging from his Team Penske No. 2 Ford in the Sprint Cup garage. "This Chase lends itself to those moments and we’re a team that’s capable of them, so we’ll try to be as positive as we can and move forward with two more opportunities to do just that."

Keselowski started a promising sixth but fell back early, losing 11 spots in the opening 30 laps. The wrong-way slide was compounded by a pit road speeding penalty during the fourth of 15 caution periods, and wasn’t helped by his slowed momentum in trying to scrape past Brian Vickers‘ retaliatory crash of Kasey Kahne on Lap 221.

Though he restarted 23rd at the tail end of the lead lap after the speeding penalty, Keselowski inched his way back up into the back half of the top 10 in the race’s second half before the day took a drastically downward turn.

Keselowski slowed dramatically at the exit of the fourth turn in the 438th of 500 laps, stacking up four more cars behind him in the race’s biggest crash and prompting the first of two red flags in the final 100 laps. Keselowski stopped in his pit stall, but needed more extensive repairs behind the wall, losing 28 laps to the front-runners in the process.

"Yeah, my car barely had a scratch on it and was in really good shape to probably run fifth or sixth, which would have been a very decent day for us," Keselowski said. "We didn’t quite have the speed we needed to win today and then something broke, which was unfortunate, not just for us but for the other guys that got tore up in it. It’s just one of those deals, there was nothing you could really do different. I’m not really sure what happened. Something in the back of the car broke and I don’t even know what yet, so it’s just one of those deals."

The next two races on the horizon come at Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday and then Phoenix International Raceway in two weeks. A win in either race would place him among the final four drivers eligible for the title in the Sprint Cup Championship race Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Keselowski led multiple laps in his previous visits to each track, finishing third at Phoenix in March and taking 15th at Texas in April. Though victories have come in bunches this year, with a series-leading six winner stickers above his driver’s door, Keselowski said the task ahead isn’t easy.

"Yeah, it’s still tough to do," Keselowski said. "It’s not like we’re just gonna go and guarantee a win at Texas and Phoenix, but it’s also not impossible, and we’ve got the team, if there is one, to pull it off."

Keselowski’s victory in the Contender Round finale at Talladega made him an automatic qualifier for the current round of eight, but it also helped soothe the heartache of a crash-related 36th at Kansas and a rough-and-tumble 16th at Charlotte. Now, all he needs is an encore.

"Yeah, it’s been tough but it builds character and makes us stronger," Keselowski said. "Like I said, with this format, we’re by no means out."

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Sponsor to serve as primary on No. 88 XFINITY ride through 2017

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — As the second year of their partnership nears an end, both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Goody’s are looking for more from their relationship as the calendar approaches 2015. Judging by the news emerging Sunday morning from Martinsville Speedway, both sides did more than enough to up the ante.

Goody’s announced Sunday that the brand would expand its support of the Earnhardt-owned JR Motorsports team, serving as the primary sponsor for one NASCAR XFINITY Series race each season through 2017. Earnhardt will take the wheel of the operation’s No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for each race, including the company’s primary sponsorship debut with JRM next season at Texas Motor Speedway.

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The deal is an extension of the partnership that Earnhardt struck with the headache-relief powder manufacturer before the 2013 season, when he joined forces with original Goody’s spokesman and NASCAR royalty in "King" Richard Petty, the seven-time NASCAR premier series champion.

"It’s great when you can bring in a partner that starts off as a personal service agreement, they get an understanding of how our company works and get a good experience from that and want to grow that into sponsorship of a race car — it helps us a ton," Earnhardt said. "Anytime we can get a sponsor grown from a personal service agreement to where they’re on the quarterpanel of a car is a success for us. We’re in the business of racing cars and trying to fund a race team, so them becoming a part of that process is really important for us."

Besides the bigger sponsorship footprint, Goody’s also sweetened the deal with what’s either a unique technological advance or an extreme gimmick — a talking car. In the latest commercial video, shot with help from personnel on his own production company Hammerhead Entertainment, Earnhardt’s voice emerges from a No. 88 Chevy in Goody’s livery parked along the main drag in Davidson, North Carolina, startling passersby and giving a good-natured ribbing to the curious.

If the ability to have his car talk was available come Sunday, would it come in handy to tell his rivals to move over while working through Martinsville’s trademark rush hour traffic?

"I don’t know if any of them guys would listen as well as those people did walking around on the street," Earnhardt said, "but honking and playing jokes on people is always a good time."

Goody’s presence in NASCAR has been well-established, as the company signed Petty as its spokesman in 1977. The addition of Earnhardt to the Goody’s driver lineup was intended to appeal to the next generation of NASCAR fans.

The subsidiary of Tarrytown, New York-based Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc., has also been a longtime supporter of Martinsville Speedway. Goody’s partnership with the .526-mile oval reached its 27th anniversary this season; title sponsorship of the track’s October race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continues through 2015.

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Posted on by Brad Norman

Earlier incident leads to retaliation from No. 55

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers exchanged bumps — and their cars exchanged bruises — throughout the first half of Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway before the NASCAR tower put an end to it.

Kahne’s day still ended early from a wreck, although Vickers had nothing to do with it. Kahne was caught up in a five-car incident on Lap 438 that began when Brad Keselowski‘s car dropped speed suddenly, with Kahne getting caught up in the wreckage.

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Still, it was the No. 55 Toyota on Kahne’s mind when the Hendrick Motorsports driver was checked out of the infield care center.

"I was passing him and he ran me into the Turn 2 wall, or he was going to, so I lifted and he blocked into 3, so I turned to go low and then he comes low," Kahne said of their Lap 161 incident. "So, he spun himself out. I think he thought I had spun him out. I was just trying to get by him. I tried right, I tried left. He was using every lane.

"I don’t really understand why he was so mad. I was surprised when he spun me later, that he was even mad at me."


Vickers hit the wall and was forced down pit road after that tap, the first of three incidents between the two drivers.

"He just turned you," Vickers’ spotter said over the radio after that first instance.

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver would repay the favor on Lap 222 and follow it up with a bit of faux concern — and incredible sarcasm — over the radio.

"The car just went straight when I got down to (Turn) 1," Vickers mused. "Be sure and check that splitter. Something must be wrong."

Kahne’s car was fixed, and he made his way through the field until he was behind Vickers again in Turn 1 on Lap 279 — in which he promptly spun Vickers in an incident that also involved Keselowski, who did not incur significant damage.

"Alright, we owe him another. We can do this all day long," Vickers radioed to his team.

Not quite.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Managing Event Director David Hoots radioed to "tell the 5 and 55 it’s over. It’s done."

Kahne’s day was officially done exactly 160 laps later. He was scored in 40th

"It was a bad race for us," Kahne said. "It wasn’t a good race. It hasn’t been a good year."

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Posted on by Brad Norman

Hendrick driver leads Chase standings after second-place finish

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It was perhaps the biggest decision of the race for Jeff Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson, and the two had plenty of time to make it.

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A nine-minute, 19-second red flag had cars parked on the track after 490 of 500 laps Sunday with strategy talk filling the radios just as dusk settled on Martinsville Speedway.

Gordon, second at the time to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., wanted four tires. As has been the case so often through this resurgent season, crew chief Alan Gustafson agreed.

"I really did not want to see us try not to come in," Gordon said. "We’ve been in this position before where we stayed out and we thought it was the right call and we ended up getting wrecked in Turn 1. To me, I wanted those tires. I was glad that Alan was feeling the same way."

Gordon would wind up finishing exactly where he sat during the red flag — second to Earnhardt — in what was yet another instance of this group making good calls late in the race.

From a critical two-tire stop at Texas Motor Speedway in April through Sunday’s collective decision, late-race strategy is one of many reasons why, with three races remaining in the 2014 season, Gordon sits atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

It wasn’t as if it was a clear-cut call, either. Several drivers — Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer among them — opted for two tires. Tony Stewart, who was in fourth place at the time and then finished fourth, was one of three drivers to not come in at all.

For the No. 24, there was no doubt.

"When it’s open, come on," the crew chief called once the red flag was withdrawn.

This late-race symbiosis is a trait that is both organic and learned.

"Communication is key to everything in this sport," Gordon said on pit road after the race while Earnhardt celebrated in the background. "Alan and I are definitely on the same page right now and have been most of the year. But it’s also trial and error. Being in that position and making the wrong move and learning from it. I feel like this season has been three years in the making for us. The chemistry of the team, getting our race cars where we need to go, getting my confidence up, the pit crew … they’re on it right now, and it’s awesome."

The 43-year-old couldn’t quite get to Earnhardt Jr. over the final laps, but stressed he absolutely would have moved the No. 88 if he could reach him.

After all, Gordon knew what was at stake. A win in the opener of the Eliminator Round would have guaranteed him one of four Chase spots for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

His attempt at catching the No. 88 was just the final stanza of a complex Martinsville melody, one that started Friday when Gordon uncharacteristically qualified poorly — by his own standards — by earning the 13th starting spot.

In the race, he sped on pit road following a Lap 188 caution, a mistake he called "embarrassing" and one that sent him from the lead to 30th.

Then there was the side-by-side battle with Denny Hamlin over a late 100-lap span, two of the best Martinsville drivers chasing each other all over the 0.526-mile oval that set up the frenetic final moments.

"It was just a great performance," Gordon said. "I thought we had the car to beat, and today was just about clawing our way back up there. Me and Denny had a great battle. We had a great late pit stop. And the good news is that a Chase driver did not win the race, so finishing second isn’t as big of a deal today."

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Posted on by Brad Norman

Who caused Earnhardt’s nerves in Martinsville media center?

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Being in the media center and answering questions? Absolutely no problem for Dale Earnhardt Jr. The veteran has plenty of experience there.

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So what made him so nervous being in front of the press Sunday morning? Well, it had nothing to do with the Goody’s announcement that required his presence for a press conference more than three hours before the green flag is scheduled to fall here at Martinsville Speedway.

No, Junior’s heart was pounding for a very different reason. It was because there were two Juniors in the media center. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one. Junior Johnson, one of the most legendary figures in NASCAR history, was the other.

"I’ve never been this nervous in a media center before," Earnhardt said. "And it’s because Junior Johnson is in here. Wow."

"What an honor," Earnhardt added, while beckoning to the man who, in addition to being a member of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class, represents perhaps the greatest living connection to NASCAR’s roots.

The two then posed for a photo in front of a grandfather clock. Junior — err, Earnhardt — won his first Ridgeway Clock on Sunday afternoon.

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Get caught up quickly before the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

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What: 66th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500
Where: Martinsville Speedway
When: Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014
TV/Radio: ESPN, MRN, SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 500 laps; 263 miles
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
Pit road speed: 30 mph
Caution car speed: 35 mph

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On the front row
1. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (99.905 mph)
2. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (99.605 mph)

Fastest in practice
First practice: Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet (99.250 mph)
Second practice: Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet (99.023 mph)
Final practice: Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet (97.322 mph)

Great eight
Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief 500 marks the first race in the Eliminator Round. Eight drivers are still in contention to win this year’s championship, and their point totals were reset to 4,000 after last week’s race at Talladega. Among the surprises still in title contention — Ryan Newman, whose three top-fives are the fewest out of all eight eligible drivers, and Carl Edwards, whose 13 top-10s rank last in the group. "I keep going back to what Ryan Newman said at the Hall of Fame," Edwards said. "He said, ‘Man, I’ve never been tied for the points lead with four races to go.’ It’s an amazing opportunity."

They said it … on tempers
"Things do carry over. You can put them away, but if you’re back racing with that individual and they use you up a time or two, maybe you remember and don’t push the brakes as hard or get on the gas a little earlier than you should have. Those moments seem to surface on short tracks. There can be plenty of madness here." – Jimmie Johnson

"This is a track certainly where it’s easy to let your temper get the best of you, especially if things aren’t going your way and your car isn’t driving good and somebody runs into you and all that kind of stuff. I think this track always lends itself to that no matter what the situation is. " — Matt Kenseth

"It will be interesting to see how everything plays out. I think there will be something that happens that we don’t expect. It will definitely be entertaining." — Carl Edwards

Hope for Harvick?
A loose race car during the first round of group qualifying saw Chase contender Kevin Harvick slap the wall twice, then finish 33rd. That’s where he will start Sunday. It’s his worst start of the season at a non-restrictor-plate track and far worse than his average start in this year’s 32 races — 8.8, second-best in the series. A positive: Harvick was fast Saturday, leading final practice and finishing fifth in the day’s opening session.

Fond farewell
Sunday marks the final race for drivers Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch with their respective crew chiefs, Tony Gibson and Daniel Knost. The Stewart-Haas Racing teammates will swap crew chiefs, starting next week at Texas Motor Speedway, for the remainder of the year and into 2015. The hope is to jumpstart both teams by better meshing the personalities between the two roles. Knost has an analytical background that Patrick likes, while Gibson was referred to this weekend as more of an "old-school" crew chief. "I think long-term, it’s the right thing," SHR Competition Director Greg Zipadelli said.

Driver rating
(Best driver rating average at Martinsville Speedway based on past nine years)
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (124.8)
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (119.0)
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (109.6)

Defending race champion: Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet

Former Martinsville winners in the field
Jeff Gordon (8), Jimmie Johnson (8), Denny Hamlin (4), Tony Stewart (3), Kurt Busch (2), Ryan Newman (1), Kevin Harvick (1).

Fantasy Sleeper (powered by Rotowire.com): Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Hendrick Motorsports star is coming off the disappointment of not advancing in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Talladega last weekend. Earnhardt should shake that off as we visit one of his favorite short tracks this weekend. He has been the closest driver in the field at upsetting the Martinsville big three of Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in recent races. The risk is relatively small and the fantasy racing upside is too good to ignore.

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Driver leads 97 laps on way to third victory of season

MORE: Full Martinsville results

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Driving a No. 34 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota painted and numbered as a tribute to NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Wendell Scott — and with Scott’s family in attendance at Martinsville Speedway — polesitter Darrell Wallace Jr. held off Timothy Peters to win Saturday’s Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

Last year at Martinsville, driving the No. 54 KBM Tundra, Wallace became the first African-American driver to win a race in one of NASCAR’s top three touring series since Scott accomplished the feat in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Dec. 1, 1963 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida.

Though his number was changed to 34 on Saturday, in honor of Scott’s traditional car number, the result was the same for Wallace, who grabbed the lead from Johnny Sauter in heavy traffic on Lap 188 of 200, moments before the 11th caution slowed the race.

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Wallace pulled away after a restart with six laps left, beating Peters to the finish line by .495 seconds. Peters had bumped Sauter out of the way in the closing laps, also opening the door for reigning series champion Matt Crafton, who came home third and extended his series lead to 18 points over fifth-place finisher Ryan Blaney.

"I wasn’t worried about anybody, honestly," Wallace said. "They kept telling me where everybody was, and I said I didn’t care. It’s our weekend and we’re going to come out and take this (grandfather) clock (trophy) home with us and we just did that.

"That was so fun. Martinsville is my favorite place to come to. Without the support of NASCAR and Toyota… the whole Wendell Scott family is here and this is a special moment, just a perfect weekend for us. It’s a true honor to have Wendell Scott on our Toyota Tundra and to be able to put it in Victory Lane. I know he (Scott) just said up there, ‘Hell yeah.’ This is cool."

Wallace said Saturday’s win surpassed his first victory in the series at Martinsville a year ago.

"It means a lot — I know I had a guardian angel looking over me this weekend," said Wallace, who took over third place in the series standings, 22 points behind Crafton. "To be able to put it in Victory Lane, you couldn’t ask for a better weekend. You thought last year was special, but this definitely beats it."

Upset with what he deemed roughhouse tactics from Peters, Sauter attempt to confront the runner-up on pit road after the race, but NASCAR officials and crew members kept the drivers apart.

"It’s Martinsville," Peters said. "If you’re going to dish it out, you’re going to need to be able to take it. Did I mean to run into him? Yeah. I’m not going to deny that — maybe not as hard.

"But it is what it is. I don’t want to waste too much of my breath on that. We’ll just focus on how well we ran today…"

Wallace led 97 of the 200 laps. Second was the pace car, which was out front for a record 71 laps during a race that featured more rookies than veterans and six drivers competing in the series for the first time.

Erik Jones ran fourth, followed by Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Sauter, Matt Tifft (a UNC-Charlotte freshman making his first start) Alex Guenette and German Quiroga, whose ill-fated attempt to take the lead in heavy traffic on Lap 188 caused his No. 77 Toyota to spin and brought out the 11th caution, solidifying Wallace in the lead.

The series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend for Friday’s Winstar World Casino and Resort 350 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

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Posted on by Staff Report

See where the Truck Series drivers will pit during the Kroger 200

The Camping World Truck Series pit stall assignments are out for the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

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Keystone Light Pole Award winner Darrell Wallace Jr. chose the first stall coming off pit road. Wallace has an empty space in front of him for a smooth departure.

Erik Jones, Johnny Sauter, John Hunter Nemechek and Jeb Burton also chose pit stalls with empty space in front of them.

Tyler Reddick chose the first pit stall onto pit road.

The Kroger 200 will kick off at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1.

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