CUP: Winners & Losers - Martinsville

Sprint Cup

CUP: Winners & Losers - Martinsville

Trouble finds many drivers but Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin emerge as big winners at Martinsville...

Jeff Owens | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted October 25, 2010 Martinsville, VA

Mark Martin is the all-time wins leader in the Nationwide Series. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The list of casualties is always high on a short track like Martinsville, but this race was more about the winners than the losers.

Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin all turned in impressive performances in pressure situations in the Tums Fast Relief 500. The result was big for all three – the best finish of the season for Martin and a valuable points day for Hamlin and Harvick.

Here’s a look at this week’s winners and losers:

WINNERS

Denny Hamlin (Right) celebrates his seventh win of the season with team owner Joe Gibbs (Left) at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin – Rally for a third straight Martinsville win was impressive, but gaining 35 points on Jimmie Johnson was bigger. Hamlin now looks like a serious threat to win the title.

Mark Martin – Scored his best finish of the season (second) with an incredible comeback from an early wreck that tore up his car. Martin was downright giddy after the race. Ten more laps and he would have had an improbable victory.

Kevin Harvick – Let an excellent chance to win slip away, but hung on for his first career top-five at Martinsville and gained 15 points on Johnson to stay in points race at a track where he was expected to lose ground.

Kyle Busch – Was furious with Jimmie Johnson after spending numerous laps trying to get around him. But he kept his cool and it paid off with a top-five finish.

Jimmie Johnson – Didn’t have the contending car he usually has at Martinsville, but scored a hard-fought fifth-place finish to hang onto the points lead. With a slim six-point lead, he says he’s ready for “one helluva race” with Hamlin and Harvick for the championship.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Led 90 laps for his best performance in months, giving his struggling team some hope. Faded to seventh at the end, but it was just his second top-10 in 14 races.

LOSERS

Jeff Burton – Led a race-high 134 laps and had the car to beat before fading at the end. Run-in with teammate Kevin Harvick hurt, but long, green-flag run at the end didn’t play in his favor.

Jeff Gordon – Championship hopes were already slim, but Kurt Busch practically ended them by retaliating against Gordon and wrecking him. A 20th-place finish dropped Gordon 203 points behind Johnson.

Kurt Busch – Already out of Chase contention himself, he took Gordon out, too, by retaliating and wrecking him. His 16th-place finish was better than he deserved after ugly incident.

Tony Stewart finished 24th at Martinsville. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Tony Stewart – Rallied from early speeding penalty, but late flat tire cost him a lap and led to a 24th-place finish. Fell 236 points behind and out of championship contention.

Ryan Newman – Led 32 laps early and looked like a serious contender before a broken gear derailed him and led to a 30th-place finish.

Greg Biffle – Had a top-10 car but two pit-road penalties and a flat tire ruined his chances.

Marcos Ambrose – Led 40 laps early and was a contender until Jimmie Johnson ran into him, leading to a flat tire and wreck. Ambrose was all over the place after that and finished 34th.

COOL-DOWN LAP

“It was kind of unfortunate for us today. We had a right front tire go down. I don’t know, but something happened to the car after that because it drug the suspension off or something trying to get to pit road. The good news is we qualified well and practiced well this weekend, but we still have to keep working on it.” – Greg Biffle

Jeff Gordon crashes Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“Look, there was good racing all day amongst a lot of guys. There was respect given for guys when they were getting back to the inside. [Jeff Gordon] was on the outside lane on restarts and so, yeah, he shoved me in there and I shoved him back in Turn 4. I didn’t mean to get into him that hard. ..." - Kurt Busch

“We ran [Kurt Busch] down quite a bit; we were quite a bit faster than him. I dove inside of him in Turn 3 and I definitely overshot it a little bit. Either he didn’t know I was there or whatever and cut down on me and I got into him. Kurt Busch doesn’t have a very long fuse so either it was payback or he just got angry really quick and decided to wreck us.” - Jeff Gordon

“We got toward the front on some pit strategy that worked out really good and then we had a good enough car at the time to pass the guys that were around us. - Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Owens

SceneDaily.com

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