The sun is out. The temperature is 72. For all accounts it is a beautiful day.
And 24 hours too late…
It’s Monday. Yesterday closed out race weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the STP 500.
Thursday of last week the forecast still looked good for Sunday in southside Virginia. Sunny to partly cloudy and mid 60’s. Marvelous!
By Friday someone had flipped a switch. There was a good chance rain could blow Sprint Cup qualifying out for Alpha Energy Solutions Pole Day. There was a 60 to 90 percent chance of rain on Saturday for the Camping World Series Kroger 250.
Sunday still looked like the weather would blow out and clear up Saturday night into Sunday.
Qualifying did go off Friday. Kyle Busch combined the two sessions to win the pole.
Saturday was a wash. It was damp. It was cold. Just to the west and the north there were reports of snow.
The only thing more pitiful than a handful of fans in plastic ponchos keeping their seats dry with the seat of their pants was the endless lap after lap of track dryers. Ever hopeful the rain may stop and see some racing the drivers of these things kept at it. They would blow the water towards the inside curb with another slightly behind keeping the flow going to a third still a bit behind… While one set was crossing the checkers another set was hurling down the back stretch at speeds that must have been topping 4, maybe even as high as 6, miles per hour.
The Kroger 250 was pushed back. Reset to run Sunday after the STP 500.
The Martinsville Speedway does not have lights. The forecast had changed yet again with a 30 percent chance of rain at 1:00pm. Race time.
Pack up and come back…
Sunday. It snowed in the morning. Snow!!!! Then a light drizzle. Then clouds. Wind. If the temperatures went above 50 at any given time it was hardly noticed.
Even when the sun came out for 4 minutes and 28 seconds. It ducked back in the clouds as if to say “whoops… sorry… my mistake… sorry to have bothered you…”
Nevertheless… They raced. The STP 500 went off. One Busch started it and another closed it down.
Then they raced. The Kroger 250. Matt Crafton came out on top as the sky was turning red behind the grandstands. Timothy Peters, Darrell Wallace, Jr., Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday gave it a run at various times but it was Crafton at the end.
The weather and two races on Sunday is one story. Another is the follow up on Kyle Busch on the pole and brother Kurt winning the STP 500.
Another possible line of thought… Kurt Busch, winner at Martinsville and the 6th race of the 2014 season, is also the second member of Stewart-Haas racing to gain a win in these early races. Kevin Harvick won at Phoenix, the second race of the season, giving both of the new members at SHR a win in the column while teammate and owner Tony Stewart has been chasing some luck and seeing bumpers.
There is also a story to look at on controversy. An early pit road smash had Brad Keselowski all wound up on Kurt Busch. Meanwhile, Busch was not owning it and talking about tight Martinsville pit roads and easy incidents. Kasey Kahne didn’t say much…
Apparently, Keselowski was coming out and Kahne was coming in and there was a check up on brakes and Busch went towards the outer pit wall to go around and clipped Keselowski who clipped Kahne and it was Keselowski in the garage with broken steering…
Perhaps there is enough to throw a few lines down on Danica Patrick. She qualified 10th and finished 32nd which was still 8 places above Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Perhaps that story played out later… in private…
There were Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Their sales rig was literally right outside the door of the hut 90% of the track photographers were huddled into. How the fans managed to get any is still a question…
There were hot dogs. The roast chicken and BBQ ribs were long gone after two races so lingering media types were tapping away at story lines with a hot dog in one hand and a doughnut in the other…
The #3 was back at Martinsville. Austin Dillon finished on the lead lap in 15th…
Jimmie Johnson owned most of it and lost it. Matt kenseth was in front for a while. Clint Bowyer was in front for a bit late in the race. There were 33 lead changes…
Somewhere there is likely a story line on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He also held the lead for a few laps but finished third which was enough to regain the Sprint Cup points lead as the show goes on to Texas.
There you go… Some possible lines of discussion between now and next Sunday in Texas.
As for today, Monday, it is 72 degrees and sunny. Considering all, if the weather had completely blown it out and there was racing today it may have been more pleasant but certainly not any better.
Racing at Martinsville returns with The CHASE in October. I’ll take the hot dogs and doughnuts but keep the snow out of it.
Let’s go racing!
LINK: Martinsville Speedway
LINK: Missed Gear Photos from the STP 500