Tracking the Trucks: 2006 Kroger 200 at Martinsville
Jack Sprague finally got the proverbial monkey off his back Saturday afternoon in the Kroger 200 at Martinsville.
Jack Sprague finally got the proverbial monkey off his back Saturday afternoon in the Kroger 200 at Martinsville.
The Subway 500 is the 32nd race on the 36-race NASCAR Nextel Cup Series schedule. Martinsville has hosted the Nextel Cup Series since 1949.
The tale of the championship that never was for Mark Martin.
A lot of people don’t like Joey Logano. For some reason, ever since the Team Penske driver broke into the NASCAR Cup Series in 2008 as an 18-year-old prodigy heralded by Mark Martin, Logano has rubbed people the wrong way.
_Darian Grubb is a Sprint Cup championship crew chief, winning the 2011 title with Tony Stewart. He was starting his second season as the head wrench for Denny Hamlin when Hamlin was injured at California a couple of weeks ago; now, he finds himself calling the shots for multiple drivers filling the seat in his car until they return. With the rules as they are, Grubb’s team will still have a chance to make the Chase if they can stay on top of the car and then win a couple of races with Hamlin in the seat._
_When Frontstretch caught up with Grubb this week, he told us about running Martinsville with Mark Martin and what the FedEx team faces as they head to Texas this week. Grubb covers things from tires to cool temperatures and the difference between having his primary driver in the seat behind him at the track and a sub._
*Sprint Cup: Camrys Go Kaput At Daytona* Heading to 50 laps to go in Sunday’s Daytona 500, it wasn’t a question of _if_ Toyota would be the first foreign manufacturer to win the race but _who_ would have the honor of holding the trophy. At one point, the top six drivers were all running Camrys, pulling away from the pack in a rare display of one make’s dominance over the field. Would Matt Kenseth stay on cruise control, dominating the race to the tune of 86 laps led and win the 500 back-to-back? Or how about Kyle Busch, recovering from a jack problem on pit road to run solidly inside the top 5? Could the third man in the Joe Gibbs Racing trio, Denny Hamlin, snooker them both? Or would one of the three Michael Waltrip Racing entries, driven by Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, or Martin Truex, Jr. take control?
On lap 16, Tony Stewart attempted to change lanes and make a move on race leader Matt Kenseth. While he wasn’t cleared by his spotter, Stewart chose to shift down low which resulted in his left rear corner making contact with the right front of Marcos Ambrose. Stewart’s car got out of shape, made contact with the apron and sent a shower of sparks over several cars that were pursuing him. Jimmie Johnson checked up in the high line, which caused Denny Hamlin to make contact with the five-time champ, turning him down in front of the oncoming pack and ultimately taking out one-third of the field. The accident eliminated defending champion Kyle Busch, two-time Unlimited champion Jeff Gordon, 2006 winner Denny Hamlin and 1999 winner Mark Martin. Just like that, the field was reduced by one-third, many contenders sat idle in the garage and the drafting – along with the racing – became a shell of its former self.
There’s a name not often mentioned as the catalyst for Brad Keselowski, 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. For every Roger Penske, Paul Wolfe, or Miller Lite VP with a bucket load of cash there’s just one name I will always think of, one whose own failure could have changed the course of the sport.
Mark Martin.
Dale Jarrett said it best: as much as everyone wanted to see the race end, and as close as some teams were on fuel mileage, there needed to be a caution for Danica Patrick on the green-white-checkered attempt. NASCAR’s failure to throw the yellow was costly. As Harvick took the checkers, several cars sustained heavy damage as their drivers raced for position coming to the finish line, only to realize that there was fluid on the track from Patrick’s limping car. Menard slammed into the back end of Patrick’s slower car so hard that the No. 10 was thrown into the air. Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Menard and Brad Keselowski all suffered damage. Kurt Busch’s car was destroyed and on fire.