Event statistics
following the sixth race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season,
the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
Clint Bowyer
led a race-high 215 laps to score his first victory in 191 races, the third
most races between victories all-time. He defeated Kyle Busch, who finished
second for the third time in six races this season, Ryan Blaney, points leader
Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick, who owns three victories this season.
STP 500
Martinsville Speedway –
Martinsville, Virginia
- Winner
(starting position): Clint Bowyer (9th)
- Top Five: Clint
Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick
- Full
Results: Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin
Harvick, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, A.J. Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Brad
Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola, Jimmie
Johnson, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman, William Byron,
Michael McDowell, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Kasey Kahne, David Ragan, Jamie
McMurray, Cole Whitt, D.J. Kennington, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon, J.J.
Yeley, Matt DiBenedetto, Trevor Bayne, Darrell Wallace Jr., Harrison Rhodes,
Gray Gaulding, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Landon Cassill
- Average
Speed: 81.663 mph
- Laps
Completed: 500
- Race Leaders:
6
- Laps Led: Clint
Bowyer (215), Ryan Blaney (145), Denny Hamlin (111), Kyle Busch (24), Martin
Truex Jr. (4), Brad Keselowski (1).
- Pole Position: Martin Truex Jr. (No Qualifying)
- Hard
Charger: A.J. Allmendinger (+17; 25th to 8th)
- Margin of
Victory: 1.146 seconds
- Car Count: 38
- Cars
Entered: 38
- Cars
Running at Finish: 37 (of 38; or 97 percent of the field)
- Drivers to
Finish on Lead Lap: 14
- Cautions: 4
for 33 laps
- Lead
Changes: 11
- Stage
Winners: Denny Hamlin (1), Ryan Blaney (2)
- Weather at
Start of Race: 47 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, winds E 7 mph
- Weather at
End of Race: 51 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds ENE 8 mph
-
Manufacturer Breakdown: Chevrolet (18); Ford (13); Toyota (7)
Notes of Interest – Race/Weekend
Recap
- This is
Clint Bowyer’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and
the ninth of his career. This is Bowyer’s first victory at Martinsville
Speedway.
- Bowyer is
the fourth driver in six races this season to win a race, joining Kevin
Harvick, Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr.
- It marks
the first time Bowyer has won a race since October 2012 at Charlotte Motor
Speedway, a span of 191 races. That marks the third most races between
victories. Bill Elliott holds the record with 226, followed by Martin Truex Jr.
with 218.
- Bowyer is
the 51st driver to win a Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway since the
first race in 1949.
- This is
Bowyer’s fifth victory on a track of one mile or less and third on less than a
mile. He also has two victories at Richmond International Raceway, thus also
giving him three victories in the state of Virginia.
- This is
Bowyer’s first-career victory from the ninth starting position, and the second
furthest back he has started a race and won. He won the 2008 spring race at
Richmond from the 31st position.
- The last
driver to win a race from the ninth starting position was Denny Hamlin, in the
2017 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
- The last driver
to win a race at Martinsville from the ninth starting position was Jeff Gordon
in the 2013 fall race.
- This is
Bowyer’s second top-five finish of the season and third top-10 finish of 2018.
- Bowyer won
the race by 1.146 seconds over Kyle Busch.
- This is
Bowyer’s first victory for Stewart-Haas Racing, which has won four of the six
Cup Series races in 2018. Bowyer’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, has three victories
this season.
- Bowyer led
215 laps, the second-most laps he’s led in a victory. He led 222 laps in his
first career victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2007.
- The leader
of the most laps in a Martinsville race has now won 67 times in 139 tries.
- This was
the first Martinsville race Bowyer had led since the 2014 fall race.
Previously, the most laps Bowyer had led at Martinsville was 154, in the 2012
fall race.
- This was
the first race Bowyer had led this season and the first in 21 races, since the
second race at Pocono Raceway in 2017.
- During the
race, Bowyer surpassed the 2,500-laps led mark. His 215 laps led was also more
than the laps he’s led in the four previous seasons (2014-2017), in which he
led only 145 laps.
- Bowyer’s 215
laps led was the most in a race this season, one more than Kevin Harvick led in
his win at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month.
- Bowyer has
now won races at six different tracks.
- This is
Bowyer’s first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driving a Ford.
He has won five races in a Chevrolet and three in a Toyota.
- This is
Bowyer’s first victory in the No. 14, and the first victory for the No. 14
since Tony Stewart won the 2016 race at Sonoma Raceway in California.
- Bowyer now
has 20 national NASCAR victories – nine in the Cup Series, eight in the Xfinity
Series and three in the Truck Series.
- Bowyer has
now won races in six of his 13 full seasons.
- Bowyer
averaged 81.663 mph, making this the fourth Martinsville race to average more
than 80 mph.
-
Stewart-Haas Racing has four victories at Martinsville – one each by Tony
Stewart, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch.
- This is
Ford’s second consecutive victory in the Martinsville spring race and only its sixth
victory at Martinsville since 2000 (37 races).
- This was
the sixth consecutive race in which there was less than 10 leaders. Six drivers
led Monday’s race.
- Eleven of
the last 12 races at Martinsville have gone exactly 500 laps, with only the
2017 fall race going extra laps.
- Kyle Busch –
who won the most recent race at Martinsville in the fall of 2017 – finished
second, his third runner-up finish of the season and fourth consecutive finish
of third or better. Busch, making his 950th career national NASCAR race, drove
the top-finishing Toyota in the race.
- Busch, who
led 24 laps Monday, has six consecutive top-five finishes at Martinsville,
equally distributed between first, second and fifth place efforts (two each).
Busch has led each of the last five races at Martinsville, the most among all
drivers.
- Busch has
finished on the lead lap in 11 straight races in which he has competed at
Martinsville, dating back to the 2012 fall race. He missed the 2015 spring race
due to an injury ahead of the Daytona 500.
- Busch
picked up the points lead and now leads Martin Truex Jr. by eight points.
- Ryan Blaney
finished third, a season-best finish and his third top-five of 2018. Blaney led
145 laps, the second time this season he’s led 100 laps or more in a race
(Daytona 500).
- Blaney won
the second stage, his second stage victory of the season (Daytona 500).
- Blaney
moved to third in the points standings, one point ahead of teammate Joey Logano
and seven points ahead of his other teammate, Brad Keselowski.
- Martin
Truex Jr. finished fourth, his fifth consecutive top-five finish. Truex, who
leads all drivers in top-five finishes this season, led four laps and has now
led in each of the last seven races, including all six this season (only driver
to lead all six races in 2018).
- Truex has
the best average finish of all Cup Series drivers this season, at 6.17. Without
his Daytona 500 run (18th), he has an average finish of 3.8.
- Truex has
now finished on the lead lap in each of the last seven Cup Series races at
Martinsville.
- Kevin
Harvick finished fifth, his fourth top-five finish of 2018. With Bowyer and
Harvick each in the top five, it marked the second race for Stewart-Haas Racing
this season with two drivers finishing in the top five.
- Joey Logano
finished sixth, his fifth top-10 of the season. That ties him for the most with
Truex and Kyle Busch. This race broke an eight-race streak in which Logano led
at least one lap at Martinsville.
- Logano and
Blaney have finished all but one lap this season, completing 1,810 of 1,811
contested laps.
- Alex Bowman
finished a season-best seventh, his first top 10 of 2018 and fourth career
top-10 finish in 87 races. It was also Bowman’s first top-10 finish in five
races at Martinsville.
- A.J. Allmendinger
finished a season-best eighth, his second top-10 finish of the season. It was
his four top-10 finish in the last five Martinsville races.
- Chase
Elliott finished ninth, his third top-10 finish of the season. With Bowman and
Elliott each in the top 10, it marked the first time this season that two Hendrick
Motorsports drivers finished in the top 10 in the same race, and first time
since last season’s penultimate race at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona
(Elliott second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 10th).
- Brad
Keselowski finished 10th, giving Team Penske three drivers in the top 10. It
was Keselowski’s fourth top-10 finish of 2018.
- Denny
Hamlin finished 12th, after leading 111 laps early in the race. It marked the fourth
consecutive race in which Hamlin has led a race at Martinsville.
- Paul
Menard, driving for the Virginia-based Wood Brothers Racing, finished 13th.
- Aric
Almirola, the last driver to finish on the lead lap, was 14th, the lowest
finish he has recorded in six races this season. No another driver that has
competed this season has finished every race 14th or better.
- Other
drivers who recorded or tied season-best finishes included: Ty Dillon (22nd);
Cole Whitt (27th); J.J. Yeley (31st; first race of season); and Landon Cassill
(38th; first race of season).
- Michael
McDowell finished 21st, his best finish since taking ninth in the Daytona 500.
- Kasey Kahne
finished 24th for the third consecutive race.
- This is the
eighth time in 260 races Landon Cassill has finished last.
- Jeffrey
Earnhardt missed his first race of the season. A total of 32 drivers have
competed in all six races this season.
- A total of 17
drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- This is the
second race out of six this season in which one driver has not led at least
half of the race’s laps.
- The 38-car
field marked the second consecutive spring race at Martinsville Speedway that
many cars contested the race.
- Thirty-seven
cars finished the race, the most drivers to finish a race this season.
- The next race will be Sunday, April 8, with the O’Reilly
Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
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