Stewart Holds Off Johnson for Caution-Dominated Martinsville Win

Tony Stewart came on late and passed Jimmy Johnson to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Tums Fast Relief 500.  It was Stewart’s third victory of the Chase and his third victory at Martinsville Speedway.  Stewart passed Johnson on the outside on Lap 498 and went on to hold off the five-time champion for the win.

“He’d better be worried and that’s all I’ve got to say,”  Stewart said in speaking of points leader Carl Edwards’ slim lead in the standings. “He’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”

Indeed, Stewart closed the gap to Edwards by several points to be only eight points behind in second place.  If he gains only three positions per race in the final three contests, he will accomplish his goal.

After Stewart and Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin completed the top five finishers.

Edwards started on the pole due to the inclement, but teammate Kenseth passed him before the start-finish line and led for the first three laps,  Edwards as able to get by on Lap 4 and led the next 28 laps.  It was evident from the beginning that the drivers had nothing to lose, so bumping and banging was the rule.

The first caution came out at Lap 9 for a multi-car accident in Turn 1 involving Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  It all started when Earnhardt, who many drivers were calling a “madman” on their crew communications, turned Busch.  Damage was minimal to cars involved.

With Edwards leading, the first of several incidents involving Brian Vickers brought out the second caution, after a spin in Turn 3.  Other drivers included Joe Nemechek  and Dave Blaney.  Nemechek retired his car.

After the usual pit stops, Stewart and others decided not to pit, even thought it was a competition caution, leaving him in the lead.  He led the next eight laps before being passed by Kyle Busch.  Caution number 3 came out when Brian Vickers got together with Juan Pablo Montoya.

A.J. Allmendinger got the jump and took over the lead for the next eight laps before being passed by  Hamlin on Lap 68 when the race’s fourth caution came out for an altercation between Marcos Ambrose and David Reutimann.  After pit stops, Ryan Newman assumed the lead for the next 39 laps, even after a fifth caution caused by Vickers turning into Jamie McMurray.

“We were just racing hard,”  McMurray said. “I tried to block and I couldn’t get down far enough.  He sent me for a ride.  I think he had been in four or five incidents earlier, his car looked pretty beat up, so maybe he was a little more frustrated.  Not with me, but maybe I got the bad end of the deal.”

At Lap 108, Allmendinger took the lead from Newman and led the next 11 laps,  but it was short lived.  At Lap 119, Hamlin passed and maintained his lead through the sixth caution—a spin by Ambrose and Montoya.

By the halfway mark, the race had seen 11 leaders and eight cautions totaling 57 laps (of 250).  Leading was Gordon with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and teammate Johnson close behind.

The race had settled down in the second half, with only Gordon and Hamlin on the point.  With two more cautions, the first at Lap 259 for Mark Martin’s spin that saved Edwards from going down a lap, and the second at Lap 362 for David Gilliland’s blown tire and spin in Turn 1, it brought the total number of Laps under caution to 72 (of 375).  It wasn’t an especially good time to Carl Edwards. 

“Why are we so slow,” Edwards asked his crew chief.  “It doesn’t make sense.”

Indeed, Edwards was slow and had only advanced to 23rd place by Lap 409.  He had gone a lap down finally.  He finally got the lucky dog at Lap 410,after a spin by Regan Smith,  and found himself back on the lead lap, but still in 23rd place.

After all of that, the last 100 laps changed everything.  At Lap 400, no one would have believed that  things could have ended like they did.  While it appeared that Johnson was going to win the race and Kenseth was going to take the point lead, it didn’t work out that way.  The number of cautions multiplied to 18 and things got wild in a racing sort of way.  It was more about the cautions than the racing or the championship.  At Lap 404, Kurt Busch spun and just five laps later, Greg Biffle spun.  On the first lap after that caution, Mark Martin and Regan Smith spun in Turn 3 for another caution.  It was on this caution that Edwards made up his lost lap, putting him in 23rd place.  At Lap 428, Kurt Busch, who had a very frustrating day, spun with Paul Menard in Turn 2.

They weren’t finished.  Jimmie Johnson passed leader Kevin Harvick at Lap 438 and moved out to a substantial lead, but the caution flew again at Lap 459.  It was on this caution that Vickers and Kenseth got together, damaging Kenseth’s car so bad that he had to go behind the wall for repairs.  Kenseth finished 31st and fell to fifth in the points, 36 points behind and probably out of the running for the championship.

At Lap 465, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Juan Montoya spun in Turn 3.  After nine laps, racing resumed with Johnson still leading, but several cars in hot pursuit.  Another caution came out at Lap 476 for an altercation between Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman in Turn 2.  Finally, at Lap 494, Vickers spun again.  When racing resumed at Lap 497, Johnson and Stewart were line up beside each other with Johnson inside and Stewart on the outside.

Johnson seemed to get the jump on the restart, but Stewart was persistent and got by Johnson in the third and fourth turns, but Johnson wasn’t finished.  Staying on the back bumper of his rival, Johnson took one last try, but Stewart was able to cross the finish line first and claim the grandfather clock trophy as the winner.

Edwards’ lead shrunk to eight points over Stewart, but Harvick is only 21 points behind.  Brad Keselowski, who spun late in the race, a spin that was not afforded a caution, fell to 27 points behind.  Kenseth’s 36 point deficit is followed by Jimmie Johnson at 43 points behind.

The circuit now heads to Texas Motor Speedway, a place where both Stewart and Edwards have run well.  The line has been drawn in the sand, so it should be interesting.