At one of the historic speedways in America, host to NASCAR for 65 years, racing took place with late-model stock cars for a full day of fender scraping, bumper ripping and wall refinishing.
Apparently, the same was going on for the Cup drivers at Kansas…
The Virginia Is For “Racing” Lovers 300 was turning laps through heat races, last chance advances and a main event which left metal and fiberglass stacked on trash bins throughout Martinsville Speedway. A few tempers were scraped along the way, as well.
Meanwhile, the Hollywood Casino 400 was crunching numbers with attrition and battered metal as the Chase was being knocked around the new pavement of Kansas Speedway. A few tempers may have been scraped along the way.
For Kansas, 14 cautions littered the day. There were at least that many for the late-model folks at Martinsville. We suspect there were more…
Teams will scrape their bits into the haulers, reset and now bring the Cup show to Martinsville. The crews there will be busy for a couple of days setting the decorations correctly. Walls and curbs will need a once-over as well as a few sponsor touch-ups along the way.
Matt Kenseth took the flag at Kansas. Followed closely by Martin Truex, Jr. Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart rounded the top 5. For the Chase, the top three are still Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin. For drivers chasing the championship, despite the 14 cautions, all finished on the lead lap except for Greg Biffle. He was running well but a turn 4 wall presented itself…
Back at Martinsville, the day was won by Philip Morris in the Clarence’s Steak House #26 Chevy. Any number of folks might have won but quite a few of them had issues with other cars or retaining walls being in the same space. Clarence’s, by the way, happens to be a Martinsville mainstay for dining and will likely remain busy for the next bunch of days. Bragging rights on the Martinsville win on top of a good steak should be good conversation for race fans coming in for the larger NASCAR weekend.
Perhaps, over that steak dinner, speculative conversation will pop over who could be at Martinsville for Cup weekend. It seems there was a little bit of a false start on announcements that Dale, Jr. would be doctor certified to race. However, now there seems to be a couple more tests to pass to clear his head of the concussion(s) from an earlier Kansas tire test and more recent bump at Talladega.
Mere formalities… He’ll make it. He’ll be back in the #88 for the Tum’s Fast Relief 500. It will be Halloween weekend but we think people would notice Regan Smith in a Dale, Jr. mask.
Of Smith, after a disappointment with an engine at Charlotte as the sit-in with the #88, he rallied back for a top 10 at Kansas. Not bad… Not bad at all…
Good as that may be, fans will be all too glad to see the #88 reunited with its owner. For now, that still appears to be Martinsville…
Kansas was a bit of a shakedown. The new surface put some twists in the race that did a number on some drivers. It did not, however, shake up the Chase all that much. We’ll see how that stands after Martinsville.
As for the late-model folks, their run is done at the historic speedway for 2012. They will return, as will Virginia Tourism, for the Virginia Is For “Racing” Lovers 300. NASCAR is now on tap. Get tickets – Go racing!
Photo Gallery from the Virginia Is For “Racing” Lovers 300 (10-21-2012) Online!