Posted on by Zack Albert

Driver of No. 55 for MWR taking setback in stride

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — An upbeat Brian Vickers was back at the race track Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, wishing he was able to compete but carrying a thankful and positive outlook as he continues treatment for a season-ending blood clot ailment.
 
"I think I look at it more as, ‘that’s life.’ That’s just part of life," Vickers said. "Everyone in this room probably has had some sort of setback at some point in their life. I’ve had a lot of them, but I’ve also had a lot of good things happen, and I try to really focus on those."
 
Doctors discovered a small clot in Vickers’ right calf on Oct. 14, ending his season as a part-time driver in Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 55 Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Joe Gibbs Racing.
 
Vickers said Sunday that doctors earlier had placed him in an immobilizing boot after his involvement in a crash last August at Bristol Motor Speedway, leaving him with a severe foot sprain. He said Sunday that the boot is what caused the clot.

Vickers was placed on blood thinners after the clot was discovered; he said competing either on or off the medication poses its own set of risks.
 
"It’s not the clot and it’s not that I can’t race on blood thinners, it’s that I can’t crash," Vickers said. "As long as I can promise my doctors that I will not crash, then they’re fine with me racing. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of moving parts in the car that I can’t control and there’s 42 competitors that I can’t control, so I can’t firmly commit to that. So they’d rather me not race. The risk is not even so much external injury, like a cut or something, it’s really more of an internal injury — they wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding."
 
Vickers was announced Aug. 13 as the full-time driver for the No. 55 Camry in the 2014 Sprint Cup Series. Vickers, who had previously shared the MWR ride on a part-time basis with veteran Mark Martin, said he would take three months off from his driving career, but would be ready to compete for a championship next season, starting at Daytona International Speedway.
 
Elliott Sadler, Vickers’ teammate this season at Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series, will replace Vickers in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Martinsville and in the remaining three races of the season. Team owner Michael Waltrip drove the No. 55 Toyota as previously scheduled last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
 
Vickers missed most of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season with blood clots in his leg and lungs. He had heart surgery that summer and returned to NASCAR competition the following year.

 

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty
Posted on by Nascar

Kenseth defies Martinsville odds to force standings deadlock

RELATED: Race results | Updated standings | Full Chase coverage

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It was supposed to be Jimmie Johnson‘s statement race, one in which he and his Hendrick Motorsports team put a bit of distance between itself and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team with driver Matt Kenseth. 

Kenseth, however, had other ideas.

Thanks to a runner-up finish and a bonus point for leading the most laps, Kenseth erased Johnson’s four-point advantage and the two title contenders are now tied with 2,294 apiece after 33 races.

"I think we saw here in the spring race with Matt and we’ve seen it in general in that Gibbs equipment, (that) he’s tough," Johnson said after finishing fifth in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger.

"Those cars are great, he’s doing an awesome job and he’s bonding well with his crew chief. All in all, he’s doing what I would expect. I wish that he wouldn’t have had an awesome day here, we would have loved to have gotten some points on him.

"When it comes down to the championship at the end of the year, you have to expect the best out of people and they’re certainly doing an awesome job."

Both drivers found themselves having to race their way back through the field on Sunday due to varying pit stop strategies during an event that saw the caution flag appear 17 times.

Johnson, an eight-time winner at Martinsville, wasn’t conceded the win beforehand, but given the past success of he and crew chief Chad Knaus here, he was the easy favorite. He led three times for 123 laps, but never in the second half of the 500-lap race.

Stuck in the outside lane on numerous restarts made maintaining one’s position "tough," he said.

"You just keep watching that inside lane march on and not able to get down. That put us back and it forced our hand to pit a bit early and then I had to come through the pack. And as things cycled around, Matt was probably 8-10 positions ahead of me. … It just didn’t kind of go our way from lane starts, but that’s how it goes."

Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, currently holds the tiebreaker between the two drivers with seven wins to Johnson’s five. Win No. 8 slipped from his grasp on Lap 480 when eventual race winner Jeff Gordon powered past for the final lead change of the race.

"I have nothing to complain about, just you always feel bad when you’re leading at the end and your crew puts you out front and you can’t hold on to win," Kenseth said. "So I’m disappointed about that.

"I’m just not that experienced running up front here and I had something that was working, but I was kind of hurting the rear tires and I hurt the front tires too."

Crew chief Jason Ratcliff said the No. 20 team was most concerned about the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Talladega and Martinsville, "so to come out here with a good performance, finish second … that’s like a win to me.

"Maybe we ran a little too hard in the first 10 laps … but he had one of the best out there breathing down his neck. … Between Jeff and Denny (Hamlin) and Jimmie, they are just so good here; when you can run against those guys here competitively for a win, that’s putting your in a different league in my opinion."

With three races remaining, Kenseth isn’t ready to call it a two-man race between himself and Johnson.

"I think if you’re within a race (points-wise), anything can happen. … If you’re more than 48 points behind more than one driver, more than two drivers, I think that’s hard to overcome with three races to go.

"But as we’ve seen through the years, anything can happen. You just never know what’s going to happen."

MORE:

READ: Gordon earns
first win of 2013

WATCH: Final Laps:
Gordon triumphs

WATCH: Kurt Busch
spins, collects Martin

WATCH: Harvick turns
Newman at Martinsville
Posted on by Nascar

Drivers have tense discussion after race; Biffle tweets apology

RELATED: Race results | Updated standings | Full Chase coverage

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Greg Biffle, upset with Jimmie Johnson for contact he believed led to a damaged rear bumper cover and a subsequent loss of 20 spots on the race track, angrily confronted the Hendrick Motorsports driver on pit road following Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger at Martinsville Speedway.

Johnson was about to be interviewed by members of the media when Biffle rushed up, grabbed Johnson from behind by the collar and yanked him around.

The exchange was brief but intense.

"Hey, you knocked my (expletive) rear bumper off," Biffle charged.

"I was inside of you. I was inside of you," the five-time Cup champion said.

"You (expletive) ran into the back of me," Biffle continued, eventually warning Johnson "You better watch it."

Biffle then turned to walk away before Johnson grabbed him by the arm and said, "If you want to talk about it, we can talk about it."

The Roush Fenway Racing driver countered with "I just did.

"(Expletive). I had to go all the way to the back," he said.

It appeared that contact from Dale Earnhardt Jr. shortly before the halfway point of the 500-lap event initially dislodged the bumper cover from Biffle’s car.

"Really (for) about a five-lap window, I was trying to get by him and I was inside him two or three times," said Johnson, who finished fifth. "We made contact and I didn’t quite understand why he was down (here) like he just did, but we’ll get it sorted out.

"Short-track racing at its finest; things get heated up and there it was right there. … I was surprised he was still that pissed but he came down and was obviously pretty mad."

The bumper cover eventually became loose a second time, and Biffle, running seventh, had to pit under caution to allow his crew to remove the cover entirely. As a result, he restarted the race 27th with just over 100 laps remaining.

"We finally had a good car at Martinsville and drove our way all the way up into the top 10," Biffle said. "We were running sixth or seventh there. And just got our rear bumper tore off and, you know, it takes a lot to get a rear bumper to come off."

Biffle said he would go back and look at the incident in question. "But he claims he was inside of me," he said. "But it sure felt like he hit me from behind and rubbed it across."

Johnson, who exited Martinsville tied with Matt Kenseth in the points standings (Kenseth owns the tiebreaker), said he expected the issue with Biffle would get worked out.

"Greg … was pretty upset," he said. "As we talked, he seemed to calm down quite a bit. I know how it is when you climb out of a race car and you’re mad (and) upset."

Later Sunday night, Biffle issued an apology via Twitter.

 

MORE:

READ: Gordon earns
first win of 2013

WATCH: Final Laps:
Gordon triumphs

WATCH: Kurt Busch
spins, collects Martin

WATCH: Harvick turns
Newman at Martinsville
Posted on by Nascar

Martinsville represents chance for veteran to make a surge

RELATED: Race lineup | Points standings | Full coverage from Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — If Jeff Gordon hopes to race his way back into the title picture, there may be no place more likely for that to occur than here at Martinsville Speedway.

Entering Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 powered by Kroger, the Hendrick Motorsports driver sits fifth in the standings, trailing teammate Jimmie Johnson by 34 points. In between the two are Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth (second) and Kyle Busch (third), as well as Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick (fourth).

It’s been billed, for the most part, as a two-man race between Johnson and Kenseth heading into the sixth of 10 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. And while Martinsville, a tiny, tight 0.526-mile oval, might be Johnson’s domain — he’s an eight-time winner here and winner of the track’s last two Sprint Cup Series races — Gordon’s proven to be no slouch on the flat track himself.

"Absolutely, we come in here feeling really good about this race track and our race team," said Gordon, a seven-time Martinsville winner. "We have had a lot of positive things that have happened to us over the last six weeks.

"To come with a good feeling about where we are at as a race team and our race cars and come into one of my favorite race tracks, a track that we have had good results at, not only in the past but this year, it definitely is something that we come into very excited about."

Can that excitement translate into a return trip to Victory Lane? It’s been eight years since he last wheeled his No. 24 Chevrolet into the winner’s circle at Martinsville. In the 15 races since, he’s been competitive if not dominant, with three runner-up finishes and a dozen top-five finishes. He led 92 laps in this race a year ago, then finished third in this year’s spring event.

Fourth in points two weeks ago, he slipped to fifth with a 14th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway last week.

Gordon will start ninth Sunday, behind Johnson, Busch and Kenseth. Harvick will be alongside Gordon in the fifth row after qualifying 10th.

"This is the track that I believe has changed the least," Gordon said of the series’ oldest venue. "The track, the setups and the tires have changed the least since I started racing in NASCAR.

"Martinsville isn’t about aerodynamics. Even though the cars have gotten faster, the way you drive the track, how you use the brakes, how you roll the center (of the corner) and how you apply the throttle hasn’t changed drastically here versus other tracks."

His first win at Martinsville came in his eighth start at the track (in 1996), and from ’95 through 2000, he finished inside the top 10 in all 12 races, winning three times.

"It took me a while to figure out how to get around here," Gordon said. "During a test early in my career we were just doing lap after lap after lap and it finally just clicked for me. We started having success after that.

"With all the experience and success that we’ve had here, that can carry over from race to race and even season to season. Because of that, we always seem to enter a Martinsville race weekend with confidence."

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty
Posted on by Staff Report

Watch Jeff Gordon finish off his eighth victory at Martinsville

Final Laps: Jeff Gordon outduels Matt Kenseth to get back in the Chase

 

MORE:

READ: Gordon earns
first win of 2013

WATCH: Final Laps:
Gordon triumphs

WATCH: Kurt Busch
spins, collects Martin

WATCH: Harvick turns
Newman at Martinsville
Posted on by Staff Report

Follow the Martinsville Sprint Cup race with live Lap-by-Lap reports

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

Click here to follow the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger live.

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty
Posted on by

Darrell Wallace Jr. is first African-American to win in Truck Series

RELATED: Dillon, Harvick have war of words

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Darrell Wallace Jr. capped a dominant day at Martinsville Speedway with a historic result. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender won the Kroger 200, becoming the first African-American driver to find Victory Lane in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

With the win, Wallace Jr. also becomes the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR national touring series event since Wendell Scott won in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Dec. 1, 1963.

"This (win) means everything," a jubilant Wallace Jr. said "This is an emotional win for me, especially doing it in Wendell Scott’s backyard. I love coming here to Martinsville, it’s always good to me. It finally paid off. I think it’s my third trip here. I love coming here, the fans are great here and we always put on great races. I had to do some muscling there at the end and get around Ty (Dillon) and keep away from (Kevin) Harvick, so we dodged a few bullets in the race and this is awesome.
 
"I had so much confidence coming into this race, and I told my guys that I did, and I told everybody that asked if I was going to win I said, ‘Hell yeah’ every time."

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• View all articles
• View all videos
• View all photos

The NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate Wallace Jr. took the top spot for the first time of the afternoon Lap 10. All told, he led 96 of 200 laps.

Wallace took the lead for the third and final time of the day on Lap 151 and never relinquished, taking the checkered flag in his 19th career start holding off Brendan Gaughan and Jeb Burton to collect Toyota’s 11th NCWTS win of the season.

While the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver was celebrating his triumph, tempers were flaring in the garage following a late-race tangle between Ty Dillon and Kevin Harvick. A bump from Dillon sent Harvick around and subsequently collected series points leader Matt Crafton. Harvick and Dillon hit each other’s trucks while driving to pit road under caution. Once they entered pit road, Harvick stopped in Dillon’s pit stall to voice his displeasure.

From there, chaos ensued as crew members for the Richard Childress Racing stables fired back with words of frustration, and also a sledge hammer directed at the No. 14 Anderson’s Maple Syrup Chevrolet Silverado.

Harvick would pull his machine behind the wall and be done for the day, while Dillon continued on to finish 22nd.

Ben Kennedy, in just his fourth NCWTS race for Turner Scott Motorsports, finished fourth with Ryan Blaney recovering from an early spin to finish fifth.

Denny Hamlin, the Keystone Light Pole sitter, recovered from a spin to bounce back to sixth, German Quiroga Jr. was seventh, Johnny Sauter eighth, Scott Riggs ninth and James Buescher comprised the remainder of the top 10.

Crafton holds a 51-point lead on James Buescher entering the final stretch. Dillon is third (-61), Burton fourth (-68) and Sauter in fifth (-82).
 
Just three races remain on the 2013 Truck Series calendar. Next up is a return trip to the Lone Star State for some Friday night racing at Texas Motor Speedway.

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty
Posted on by

The 20-year-old joins Wendell Scott as African-American NASCAR national series winners

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In short order, Darrell Wallace Jr. has piled up accolades usually preceded by the word "youngest" or "fastest" or "first." Now, with a win at Martinsville Speedway, Wallace adds another history-making accomplishment to the list – and continues a competitive landscape evolution.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• View all articles
• View all videos
• View all photos

With the victory, Wallace becomes the second African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race, joining trailblazer and NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Wendell Scott.
 
"We congratulate Darrell Wallace Jr. on his first national series victory, one that will be remembered as a remarkable moment in our sport’s history," said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. "Darrell’s success, following fellow NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate Kyle Larson‘s win earlier this season, is indicative of a youth and multicultural movement that bodes well for NASCAR’s future growth."
 
The Concord, N.C., driver of the No. 54 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is running for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors this season.
 
In 2010, Wallace won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Sunoco Rookie of the Year and was championship runner up. Last season at Dover, Wallace became the first African-American driver to win the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Brewing Co. in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Wallace won the pole award for the NCWTS race at Dover in May this year, making series history as youngest winner of the award – a record now held by Chase Elliott.
 
In 2012, Wallace finished among the top 10 in three of his four NASCAR Nationwide Series starts for Joe Gibbs Racing, with a best finish of seventh at Iowa Speedway.
 
Wallace, who competed under the NASCAR D4D banner from 2010-11, is the second graduate from the program to win a NASCAR national series race, following Larson’s April victory at Rockingham Speedway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He is also the fourth NASCAR D4D driver to compete in a national series this season, with Ryan Gifford’s ninth-place finish in his NASCAR Nationwide debut at Iowa and Paulie Harraka’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Sonoma.
 
Wendell Scott, a two-time NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee, won a premier series — now Sprint Cup — race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla. on Dec. 1, 1963. The Danville, Va. native competed in 495 races between 1961 and 1973, passing away in 1990 at the age of 69.
 
Since 2004, NASCAR Drive for Diversity has provided an opportunity for multicultural and female drivers to compete in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series with the goal of racing in NASCAR’s national series. Since 2010, five different drivers have totaled for 12 wins over 45 K&N East races and Larson won the series championship last season. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine for the 2014 class begins Monday, Oct. 21 and will run until Wednesday, Oct. 23.

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty
Posted on by Staff Report

Nine-time winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series earned honorary Oscar in 2012

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

Hal Needham, a Hollywood stuntman and director who also won nine races as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner, has died at the age of 82.

Needham’s business managers told the L.A. Times that he died Friday in Los Angeles.

From 1981-1989, Needham entered 250 races as an owner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, winning nine races from 1982-1985 with Harry Gant. His first win came at this weekend’s venue, Martinsville Speedway, with Gant in the 7-Eleven/Skoal Bandit Buick. Stan Barrett, Morgan Shepherd and Rick Mast also piloted cars for Needham.

In 2012, Needham received an honorary Oscar for a legendary career as a stuntman, breaking 56 bones on the job. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he directed starring vehicles for Burt Reynolds, including "Smokey and the Bandit," "The Cannonball Run" and "Stroker Ace," which included NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough and former drivers Neil Bonnett, Gant, Terry Labonte, Benny Parsons, Kyle Petty, Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd.

For the current NASCAR Hall of Fame exhibit, "Lights. Cameras. NASCAR," Hall historian Buz McKim had hoped to secure a famous car from the stock car movie.

"Everybody would have loved to see the ‘Stroker Ace’ car," McKim told NASCAR.com’s Kenny Bruce. "We called the guy who built it; he didn’t know where it went. We called the studio, they didn’t have it. We beat the bushes for three months.

"The great thing about exhibits is they have an opening date. Eventually at some point, a month or two before the opening date, we have to say ‘stop looking for the chicken car.’ "

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty
Posted on by Staff Report

Logano paces Saturday’s first session; Kyle Busch, Kenseth also show speed

RELATED: Full practice results, lineup

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano set the pace in Saturday practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in cool, crisp conditions at Martinsville Speedway.

Earnhardt, in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, topped the final 50-minute practice session with a fast lap of 97.533 mph. He starts 12th in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 powered by Kroger (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), vying for his first win at NASCAR’s oldest track.

Logano, driving the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford, topped the leaderboard in the early 55-minute session with a lap at 97.468 mph around the 0.526-mile oval. He’ll start sixth Sunday on a track where he has just one top-five finish and has yet to lead a lap in his Sprint Cup career.

Clint Bowyer was second-fastest to Earnhardt in final practice, followed by third-fastest Kasey Kahne, Earnhardt’s Hendrick teammate. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, who will start third and fourth respectively in Sunday’s 500-lapper, closed out the top five.

Familiar faces rounded out the top five in the early practice Saturday, with Busch, Earnhardt, Kenseth and Bowyer grabbing spots two through five on the leaderboard.

Series points leader Jimmie Johnson, an eight-time Martinsville winner, was eighth-fastest in the early session and sixth-best in final practice. Pole-starter Denny Hamlin, a four-time winner here, was just 28th on the speed charts in the early practice, but improved to 17th in final practice.

The first practice session was slowed by two spins, one early by Greg Biffle in the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and one late by Bobby Labonte in the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Toyota. Labonte made contact with the wall, but his crew was scrambling to repair his Camry and avoid going to a backup car.

Only one caution for debris slowed the final practice.

MORE:

READ: Johnson’s best track
is Kenseth’s biggest test

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Martinsville

READ: Logano learning
from first time in Chase

WATCH: Almirola unveils
No. 41 for Maurice Petty