Keselowski Dominates Martinsville STP 500

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MARTINSVILLE, VA – RIS – Brad Keselowski led 446 of 500 laps to go on to win the STP 500 Monster Energy Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, but it wasn’t easy.  Keselowski was followed closely by Chase Elliott most of the day.  In the final laps on of the race, Kyle Busch joined the party.  In the end, the three finished 1-2-3.

“The stats make it look a little bit more dominant than I think it really was,” Keselowski said.  “I thought Chase was probably the best car for most of the day today,” Keselowski continued. “He passed me there with (175) to go, and thought that might be the end of our day. But I was able to learn a few things from him and dissect the strengths and weaknesses and make some adjustments of our own.”

Joey Logano took the lead at the start from the pole, but only led five laps before Keselowski took over, and take over he did.  He led all but 54 laps on the day.  His margin of victory was .054 seonds and Busch was only 1.335 seconds back.

Ryan Blaney finished 4th and Denny Hamlin 5th.  Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, Jr, Aric Almirola, and Daniel Suarez made up positions six through ten.

Blaney feels with a lot of "cleaning up," they will be able to win.

“We’re right there." Blaney said.  "We just need a little bit more.  It’s so hard to win these races.  You’ve got to do everything perfect.  You’ve got to be good on pit road.  You’ve got to restart good.  You’ve got to have a good car on both ends of a run and I feel like we’re really close to where we need to be, just haven’t put it all together.  If we keep running top three, top five, you eventually try to put one of these things here together and try to figure out how to break through and get it done.”

The first stage saw polesitter Joey Logano jump out to the lead and Keselowski chasing him.  But Logano got too loose and both Keselowski and Hamlin got by.  Keselowski was never headed and won the stage.  Chase Elliott was second. Elliott thought the two cars were similar

“Our NAPA Camaro was good. I felt like we were about as even with him as we could be, Elliott said. “When I did get the lead, I felt like there was a little advantage to being out front and being able to work traffic your way and play off it and whatnot know if I could have got to him. Maybe if I moved up a little sooner, maybe. But, I tried to get to him there in (Turn) 3, but maybe next time.”

Keselowski continued his dominance by leading every lap of Stage two.  He was followed closely by Elliott.  That gave Keselowski a sweep of the first two stages.  Blaney passed Elliott for second place.  Logano held on for 10th place for the final playoff point.

Unofficial Race Results for the 70th Annual STP 500 - March 24, 2019
Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA - 0.526 - Mile Paved

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 3, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Reese/Draw Tite Ford, 500, 1, 1, 2, 446, 7, 60, Running
2) 7, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 500, 2, 4, 1, 49, , 51, Running
3) 13, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota, 500, 9, , , , , 36, Running
4) 17, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Libman Ford, 500, 5, 2, , , , 48, Running
5) 5, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 500, 4, 3, , , , 47, Running
6) 4, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford, 500, , 7, , , , 35, Running
7) 10, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Mobil 1/Rush Truck Centers Ford, 500, 6, 8, , , , 38, Running
8) 8, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 SiriusXM Toyota, 500, 8, 5, , , , 38, Running
9) 2, Aric Almirola, No. 10 SHAZAM!/Smithfield Ford, 500, 3, 6, , , , 41, Running
10) 9, Daniel Suarez, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford, 500, , 9, , , , 29, Running
11) 29, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Symbicort Chevrolet, 500, 10, , , , , 27, Running
12) 19, Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH/Monster Energy Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 22, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 16, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 14, Paul Menard, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 500, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 15, Ryan Preece #, No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 26, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Transporation Impact Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 6, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 1, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 500, 7, 10, 1, 5, , 23, Running
20) 21, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota, 500, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 12, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kroger Speed Up Your Cleanup Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 34, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 20, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Acorns Ford, 499, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 11, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 498, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 24, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 498, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 25, David Ragan, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford, 496, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 28, Daniel Hemric #, No. 8 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Chevrolet, 496, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 27, Landon Cassill, No. 00 CGS Imaging Chevrolet, 494, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 31, Matt Tifft #, No. 36 Surface Sunscreen/Tunity Ford, 494, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 18, Erik Jones, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 491, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 23, Michael McDowell, No. 34 A&W All American Foods Ford, 491, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 35, DJ Kennington(i), No. 77 Go-Parts Chevrolet, 489, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 32, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 CorvetteParts.net Ford, 489, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 30, Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 Rim Riderz Chevrolet, 365, , , , , , 0, Engine
35) 36, Jeb Burton(i), No. 52 Muzzy Bowfishing Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 0, Brakes
36) 33, Cody Ware #, No. 51 Jacob Companies Chevrolet, 55, , , , , , 1, Brakes
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 54 Secs.
Total Race Length - 500 Laps - 263. Miles
Average Speed: 78.158 mph
Margin of Victory: .594 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 22, 19, 18, 3
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 12, 11, 9, 19, 10, 4, 14, 41, 22