The last time Clint Bowyer was in Victory Lane in NASCAR‘s top division was October of 2012 … that is until yesterday’s (3/26) snow-delayed STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
The winter storm that hit most of the country in some form or another blanketed Martinsville Speedway with snow and forced the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race to be postponed from the schedule Sunday date (3/25) to Monday afternoon. If you fall in the situation I was in you had to work when the race was on. That means I can’t really give you much more insight into what happened during the race other than what the re-cap video at the top of the page and the stats from the race reveal.
From what I can tell most drivers were able to keep their tempers in check since there were only four caution periods during the 500 lap race. There was a competition caution on lap 52 and the yellow flag waived at the end of each of the first two stages of the race. Denny Hamlin won stage one while Ryan Blaney was the winner of stage two.
The only caution period issued due to an on-track incident was on lap 384 when Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon had something happen between the two cars.
Clint Bowyer led a race high 215 laps including the final 114 laps of the race to claim his first ever Martinsville win in the Cup Series. The victory was Clint’s first in 190 races. He also became the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to win a race in all three manufacturer cars, Chevrolet, Toyota and now Ford.
Kyle Busch scored yet another runner-up finish in the 2018 season. Ryan Blaney finished in third place with Martin Truex Jr. claiming a fourth place finish. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the STP 500 here.
While he has yet to win a race, Kyle Busch’s high finishing spots in this year’s races allows him to move to the lead in the point standings. Martin Truex Jr. exchanges place with Kyle dropping back to second place. Ryan Baney moves up two spots to third place pushing both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski back a spot each to fourth and fifth places respectively. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
There’s not much of a chance of the next race being “snowed out,” but rain could be an issue. The drivers and teams are heading to Texas Motor Speedway Sunday, April 8th for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 after taking this coming weekend off for Easter.
By: Buck Stevens
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2018 STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway
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- MARTINSVILLE, VA - MARCH 26: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Caramel Toyota, lead the field to the green flag to start the weather delayed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 26, 2018 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo courtesy of NASCARmedia.com/by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
