Sixteen cautions, a Sprint Cup debut for Chase Elliott, and a last-turn bump from Brad Keselowski that Denny Hamlin held off at the sixth race of 2015.
Denny Hamlin won the 2015 STP 500 at Martinsville, the sixth race of the Sprint Cup season, ahead of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. The race featured 31 lead changes and 16 cautions, and Hamlin's victory moved him up to eighth in the points standings.
Denny Hamlin won the 2015 STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on 29 March 2015, his 25th career Sprint Cup victory and his fifth at the Virginia short track. The 500-lap race was the sixth of the season, and Brad Keselowski finished second after a late bump that Hamlin held off.
What is Martinsville Speedway like?
Martinsville Speedway is a paperclip-shaped short track of 0.847 km (0.526 mi) in Ridgeway, Virginia, and it is the shortest circuit on the Sprint Cup calendar. The track was built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles, and it is the only venue that has held NASCAR races since the series began in 1948.
Its short length means cars return to the start-finish line often and drivers race wheel to wheel for long stretches. For this weekend NASCAR cut the tyre allocation from eleven sets to ten, a cost-saving step that was the first of several reductions that year.
Clay Campbell, the track president, said tyre barrier packs would sit on the backstretch inside wall just before pit road. The move followed Kyle Busch's wreck in an Xfinity Series race at Daytona the previous month, and Campbell said the aim was the continued safety of drivers and fans.
Hamlin's win was his 25th in the Sprint Cup Series and moved him up to eighth in the points.
Where did the championship stand before the race?
Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship by 28 points over Joey Logano after an eighth consecutive top-two finish. Martin Truex Jr. was third, 33 points back, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth, 61 points behind the leader.
Brad Keselowski sat fifth, a point behind Earnhardt. The Martinsville race was therefore a chance for the top of the table to tighten or widen, and the 500 laps gave the leaders plenty of opportunities to make a difference.
How did qualifying shape the front row?
Joey Logano won the pole at 19.232 seconds, or 158.458 km/h (98.461 mph), with Ryan Newman alongside him on the front row. Logano kidded with crew chief Todd Gordon about his laps, and admitted in the end he could only manage six.
Newman was frustrated not to have been closer to Logano and said he could have been a tick quicker. Jimmie Johnson was fifth on the grid and called his car fast, while Matt Kenseth started eighth and said the balance had been loose on older tyres.
Chase Elliott qualified 27th on speed, which secured his place in the field for his first Sprint Cup start. Kurt Busch, the defending race winner, was 26th, and he described the car as tight on exit before saying the rear end had been planted too well.
How did practice go for the drivers?
Ryan Newman was fastest in first practice at 19.355 seconds, a speed of 157.450 km/h (97.835 mph). Elliott was 29th in that session, at 19.656 seconds, and he said Sprint Cup racing was a different world. Austin Dillon's car smoked badly late in the session after a fluid leak.
Denny Hamlin was fastest in the second session at 19.499 seconds. Kurt Busch was quickest in final practice at 19.502 seconds, and Greg Biffle made contact with the turn 4 wall, causing cosmetic damage that was repaired before he returned to the track.
Why did Kyle Larson not start the race?
On Saturday Kyle Larson collapsed at an autograph event and was moved to the infield medical facility. He was sent to a local hospital and then referred for a neurologist's assessment, and on race morning his team announced he was not medically cleared to race.
Regan Smith took the car and started from the rear of the field. Larson's qualifying result stood, so his chances of a place in the Chase were unaffected by the withdrawal.
How did the race start and the early cautions unfold?
Logano headed the field to the green, and the opening yellow came on lap 11 after Trevor Bayne spun in turn 1 following contact with Alex Bowman. A second caution followed on lap 22, when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun and lightly struck the wall.
Newman briefly took the lead from Logano on the restart, but Logano regained it on lap 20. A third yellow came on lap 54 when J. J. Yeley struck the turn 1 wall; his tyre had deflated after contact with Denny Hamlin. Brett Moffitt then crashed into the back of Chase Elliott, and the hood of his car flapped open and forced a pit stop.
Alex Kennedy spun in turn 4 after contact with Matt DiBenedetto to bring the fifth caution, and Earnhardt Jr. came onto pit road early, seemingly to fix a problem inside the car, and reported that he had lost the gear shifter.
How did the lead change hands in the middle of the race?
Logano retook the lead on lap 121 by passing Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick passed him on lap 135. Hamlin reclaimed the front on lap 149, and Brad Keselowski took the lead after the restart on lap 173.
Harvick was then passed by Kurt Busch for the lead on lap 176 and regained it on lap 196. A caution for debris followed, the seventh of the race, after a plastic grill plate from a Ford car landed on the track.
Earlier, a logjam formed around Danica Patrick and Landon Cassill until Cassill bumped Patrick, and Logano got under Cassill to send both backwards down the order.
How many cautions and lead changes were there?
The race had 16 cautions for 112 laps in total, and it produced 31 lead changes among 13 different drivers. The caution count was driven largely by incidents on the short track, several of them in the turns.
The tenth caution came for a multi-car wreck in turn 1, starting when Paul Menard slowed to avoid a car and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran into him. The eleventh was for Justin Allgaier hitting the wall, and the thirteenth for Michael Annett's collision with the turn 1 wall.
Harvick traded the front with Kenseth on pit road after his pit stall was located behind the start-finish line, and he left in front once green flag racing resumed.
Jimmie Johnson, an eight-time Martinsville winner, fell a lap down on lap 161. The sixth caution on lap 163 came when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun in turn four, and Casey Mears was waved through as the first car a lap down, ahead of Johnson.
Who was caught out by pit road penalties?
Pit road penalties decided several positions at Martinsville. Gordon was caught speeding and dropped to the back of the field, and Earnhardt Jr. was penalised twice for too many crew members over the wall. Busch also went to the back for too many men over the wall, and Earnhardt Jr. was sent back for speeding. Kurt Busch was also penalised, and his crew chief Tony Gibson asked for a review of one call that was later rescinded after a closer look at his restart position.
Carl Edwards spun in turn 4 after a right-rear puncture with 69 laps to go, bringing the fifteenth caution of the race. Stewart stayed out to lead during the sixteenth caution, which came with 40 laps left for debris on the front stretch.
How did Denny Hamlin win the race?
With 101 laps left Hamlin regained the front and kept it through the final stops. Kenseth grabbed the lead with 29 laps left, though Hamlin was back in front a couple of laps later and stayed there to the flag.
He survived a last-turn bump from Keselowski, who had been criticised for not pursuing the win hard enough. Hamlin thanked Keselowski for not wrecking him off the last turn, while Keselowski said he had raced his rival the way Hamlin preferred.
| Result | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing; fifth Martinsville win and eighth at the track for the team |
| 2nd | Brad Keselowski | Runner-up after the late bump at the final turn |
| 3rd | Joey Logano | Third place after leading 91 laps from pole |
| 4th | Matt Kenseth | Fourth place after leading late in the race |
| 5th | David Ragan | Fifth place; named Moog problem solver of the race |
Hamlin's win was his 25th in the Sprint Cup Series and moved him up to eighth in the points. Harvick had led 154 laps but finished eighth, which ended his streak of eight consecutive top-two finishes, and he still led the standings by 24 points over Logano.
Who collected the awards on the day?
Denny Hamlin also earned the Sherwin-Williams fastest lap, a 19.662-second run on lap 66 at 154.996 km/h (96.310 mph), and he took the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race award with a 134.9 driver rating.
Kevin Harvick took the Get Bioethanol Green Flag Restart award and the Duralast "Bake In The Race" award, while Joey Logano won the Freescale "Wide Open" award. Kurt Busch gained five positions to win the Ingersoll Rand Power Move award, and Roush-Yates Engines built the MAHLE Clevite engine of the race in the No. 22 car.
David Ragan took the Moog Steering and Suspension problem solver award, with a 0.129-second figure recorded for crew chief Adam Stevens. Brett Moffitt was named Sunoco Rookie of the Race, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus rolled over to $30,000 for the next event as no winner was declared.
How did the drivers react to the race?
Gordon was disappointed about the speeding penalty that dropped him to the back, and said that the team had finally got the car into a position to win the race.
Harvick said he had been hung on the outside and had been unable to get back down to the inside line, and that he had lost track position at the wrong time.
Patrick finished seventh, level with Janet Guthrie as the series' leading women for top-ten results, with five apiece. Hamlin said he and his team had simply refused to be beaten that afternoon.
What did the result mean for the broader table?
Toyota took the win yet remained 37 points adrift of Chevrolet in the manufacturers' table, third overall. The 31 lead changes and 16 cautions made the race a long series of restarts, and Hamlin was the driver who held the lead at the end.
How was the race broadcast?
The race went out on Fox Sports 1, the first scheduled points event the channel had aired. Earlier, the channel had shown the 2014 Food City 500, which rain had delayed, and an exhibition All-Star event. Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds were joined in the booth by Darrell Waltrip, an eleven-time Martinsville winner.
MRN supplied the radio commentary, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Rusty Wallace joined the radio call from the booth as the field raced down the front stretch,.
For Hamlin it was a fifth Martinsville win, and the eighth victory at the track for his team, Joe Gibbs Racing.
