NASCAR 2019

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2019 Cup series schedule

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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400, his 200th NASCAR win, at Auto Club Speedway on March 17 in Fontana, Calif.

Kyle Busch celebrates 200 wins

Kyle Busch recently netted his 200th career NASCAR win at Fontana, Calif., the same track where he got his first Cup win. It was his 53rd in the premier series, and he also has 94 wins in the Xfinity Series and 53 in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Here are some impressive numbers about Busch’s racing career.

1 – Made his NASCAR national series debut in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series

in 2001 at Indianapolis Raceway Park driving for Roush Fenway Racing with crew chief Jeff Campey. He started 23rd and finished ninth.

1 – Won his first NASCAR national series race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on May 14, 2004 at Richmond Raceway driving for Hendrick Motorsports with crew chief Lance McGrew.

He won the event from the pole position.

5 – Number of differ-

ent car/truck owners Kyle Busch has won a NASCAR national series race for – Joe Gibbs (131 wins), Kyle Busch (37), Billy Ballew (16), Rick Hendrick (15) and Todd Braun (1).

10 – His 10th career NASCAR national series win came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series on Oct. 29, 2005 driving the Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevrolet with See WINS, 2B

NASCAR makes competition changes NASCAR announced several initiatives and procedural updates for the 2019 season.

Among the new procedures is NASCAR’s plan to move its thorough post-race inspection to the race track immediately following each national series race. If a vehicle fails post-race inspection, it will be disqualified, resulting in a last-place finish and the loss of all benefits from the win/finish, as well as any stage points. All other vehicles

would move up in the finishing order under this scenario.

NASCAR will inspect the first- and second-place vehicles, as well as a random vehicle, after each event. Previously, full post-race inspections took place at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C. “Our industry understands the need to focus on what happens on the race track,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president

of competition and racing development. “We cannot allow inspection and penalties to continue to be a prolonged storyline. Race vehicles are expected to adhere to the rule book from the opening of the garage to the checkered flag.”

The disqualification procedure will be implemented for all three NASCAR national series, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the See CHANGES, 3B

Date Sunday, Feb. 10 Sunday, Feb. 10 Thursday, Feb. 14 Sunday, Feb. 17 Sunday, Feb. 24 Sunday, March 3 Sunday, March 10 Sunday, March 17 Sunday, March 24 Sunday, March 31 Sunday, Apr 7 Saturday, Apr 13 Sunday, Apr 28 Sunday, May 5 Saturday, May 11 Saturday, May 18 Saturday, May 18 Sunday, May 26 Sunday, June 2 Sunday, June 9 Sunday, June 23 Sunday, June 30 Saturday, July 6 Saturday, July 13 Sunday, July 21 Sunday, July 28 Sunday, Aug. 4 Sunday, Aug. 11 Saturday, Aug. 17 Sunday, Sept. 1 Sunday, Sept. 8 Sunday, Sept. 15 Saturday, Sept. 21 Sunday, Sept. 29 Sunday, Oct. 6 Sunday, Oct. 13 Sunday, Oct. 20 Sunday, Oct. 27 Sunday, Nov. 3 Sunday, Nov. 10 Sunday, Nov. 17

Race Daytona 500 Qualifying The Clash Duel At Daytona Daytona 500 Atlanta Las Vegas Ism Raceway Auto Club Speedway Martinsville Texas Bristol Richmond Talladega Dover Kansas All-Star Open All-Star Race Charlotte Pocono Michigan Sonoma Chicagoland Daytona Kentucky New Hampshire Pocono Watkins Glen Michigan Bristol Darlington Indianapolis Las Vegas Richmond Charlotte Dover Talladega Kansas Martinsville Texas Ism Raceway Homestead-Miami

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Hall of Fame nominees announced NASCAR recently announced the 20 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020, as well as the five nominees for the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. The list includes six first-time NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees whose careers spanned the entirety of NASCAR. Among them are a NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion (Sam Ard), an original member of the “Alabama Gang” (Neil Bonnett), a Daytona 500 winner (Marvin Panch), a short track ace (Jim Paschal), a three-time Cup Series champion (Tony Stewart) and the first master mechanic in NASCAR (Red V ogt).

Stewart was nominated in his first year of eligibility, and could j oin Jeff Gordon as a second consecutive first-ballot Hall of Famer.

The nominees were selected by a nominating committee consisting of representatives from NASCAR and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from maj or facilities and historic short tracks, and media. The committee’s votes were tabulated by accounting firm EY .

From the list of 20 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees, five inductees will be elected by the NASCAR Hall of Fame V oting Panel, which includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.com.

V oting Day for the 2020 class will be Wednesday, May 22.

Added to this year’s list of Landmark Award nominees are Edsel Ford II, Mike Helton and Dr. Joseph Mattioli. Two nominees return for the Landmark Award: Alvin Hawkins and Ralph Seagraves.

Potential Landmark Award recipients include competitors or those working in the sport as a member of a racing organiz ation, track facility, race team, sponsor, media partner or being a general ambassador for the sport through a professional or non-professional role. Award winners remain eligible for NHOF enshrinement.

Following are the 20 nominees for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, listed alphabetically: Sam Ard, NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion Buddy Baker, won 19 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 Neil Bonnett, won

RUSTY JARRETT/GETTY IMAGES

Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart celebrate a 1-2 finish in Victory Lane at Talladega in April 2007, after Labonte beat Stewart by less than a car length. Both legendary drivers are nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year. Fan voting starts next week and lasts until May 21.

18 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including consecutive Coca-Cola 600 victories  Red Farmer, three-time Late Model Sportsman champion; 1956 Modified champion Ray Fox, legendary engine builder, crew chief and car owner Harry Gant, winner of 18 NASCAR Cup Series races, including two Southern 500 victories Joe Gibbs, combined for nine car owner championships in Cup and XFINITY series John Holman, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing Harry Hyde, 1970 NASCAR Cup Series championship crew chief Bobby Labonte, won a championship in both the Cup Series and XFINITY Series Hershel McGriff, 198 6 NASCAR west series champion Ralph Moody, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing Marvin Panch, won 17 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1961 Daytona 500 Jim Paschal, 23 of his 25 NASCAR Cup Series wins came on short tracks Larry Phillips, only five-time NASCAR weekly series national cham-

pion Ricky Rudd, won 23 times in NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400 Mike Stefanik, winner of record-tying nine NASCAR championships Tony Stewart, threetime NASCAR Cup Series champion, two-time Brickyard 400 winner Red V ogt, the first master mechanic of NASCAR, and a founding member Waddell Wilson, won three NASCAR Cup Series championships as an engine builder The five nominees for the Landmark Award, listed alphabetically, are as follows… Edsel Ford II, Member of the Board of Directors for Ford Motor Company, long-time NASCAR supporter Alvin Hawkins, NASCAR’s first flagman; established NASCAR racing at Bowman Gray Stadium with Bill France Sr.  Mike Helton, named third president of NASCAR in 2000; career included track operator roles at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway Dr. Joseph Mattioli, founder of Pocono Raceway Ralph Seagraves, formed groundbreaking Winston-NASCAR partnership as executive with

Wins: Busch by the numbers Continued from page 1B

crew chief Richie Wauters.

12 – Number of NASCAR national series weekend sweeps Busch has accomplished; most recent ISM Raceway (2019). His 12 weekend sweeps are the most alltime.

24 – Number of different crew chiefs Kyle Busch has taken to V ictory Lane with NASCAR national series win.

24 – The most NASCAR national series wins Kyle Busch has won in a single season (2010: 3 MENCS, 13 NXS and 8 NGOTS).

25 – Number of NASCAR national series starts before his first win.

50 – His 50th career NASCAR national series win came at Richmond

Raceway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on May 2, 2009 driving for Joe Gibbs Racing with crew chief Steve Addington.

53 – Number of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins in his career.

53 – Number of NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series wins in his career.

59 – Number of NASCAR national series races he won from the pole position — second-most to Richard Petty’s 61.

94 – Number of NASCAR Xfinity Series wins in his career.

100 – His 100th career NASCAR national series win came at New Hampshire Motor

Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on July 16, 2011 driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with crew chief Jason Ratcliff.

147 – Number of starts he has made in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

200 – His 200th career NASCAR national series win came at Auto Club Speedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on March 17, 2019 driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with crew chief Adam Stevens.

348 – Number of starts he has made in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

503 – Number of starts he has made in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company NASCAR Hall of Fame Nomination Eligibility Drivers who have competed in NASCAR for at least 10 years and been retired for two years are eligible for nomination to the NHOF. If extenuating circumstances cause a driver’s eligibility to be in question, NASCAR will review and determine if any adj ustments are needed prior to the Nomination Committee Meeting. In addition, drivers who have competed for a minimum of 10 years and reached their 55th birthday on or before Dec. 31 of the year prior to the nominating year are immediately eligible for the NHOF. Any driver who has competed for 30 or more years in NASCAR competition by Dec. 31 of the year prior to the nominating year is automatically eligible, regardless of age. Drivers may continue to compete after reaching any of the aforementioned milestones without compromising eligibility for nomination or induction. For non-drivers, individuals must have worked at least 10 years in the NASCAR industry. Individuals may also be considered who made significant achievements in the sport, but left the sport early due to a variety of circumstances.

Driver standings as of March 22 Rank 18 22 4 11 2 10 19 42 1 12 17 9 20 48 14 88 6 41 24 3 21 37 13 95 47 38 8 34 32 43 36 00 40 52 77 77 27 15 96 51 62 31 52 66 77

Driver Points Kyle Busch 237 Joey Logano 222 Kevin Harvick 213 Denny Hamlin 205 Brad Keselowski 176 Aric Almirola 174 Martin Truex Jr. 169 Kyle Larson 163 Kurt Busch 160 Ryan Blaney 155 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 146 Chase Elliott 135 Erik Jones 133 Jimmie Johnson 121 Clint Bowyer 119 Alex Bowman 110 Ryan Newman 107 Daniel Suarez 105 William Byron 104 Austin Dillon 103 Paul Menard 98 Chris Buescher 94 Ty Dillon 84 Matt DiBenedetto 76 Ryan Preece 61 David Ragan 61 Daniel Hemric 58 Michael McDowell 54 Corey Lajoie 54 Bubba Wallace 49 Matt Tifft 41 Landon Cassill 33 Jamie McMurray 19 Cody Ware 17 Quin Houff 7 Reed Sorenson 4 Casey Mears 1 Ross Chastain 0 Parker Kligerman 0 BJ McLeod 0 Brendan Gaughan 0 Tyler Reddick 0 Bayley Currey 0 Joey Gase 0 Garrett Smithley 0

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This weekend: Martinsville

Team Penske Power

The championship three-car Team Penske organiz ation already owns two wins through the opening five races of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season and has quite a strong recent history at this week’s stop, V irginia’s Martinsville Speedway.

Already, Brad Keselowski has a victory at Atlanta and Joey Logano at Las V egas.

Their young teammate, 25-year old Ryan Blaney, posted his best effort of the season two weeks ago — third place — at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway and answered with another top 10 on Sunday in California.

The reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Logano is ranked second in the points standings — 15 points behind two-race winner Kyle Busch — heading into Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway at 2 p.m.

Keselowski is fifth in the standings, and Blaney is 10th.

Logano, who drives the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang, has four top 10s in five races this season — including the V egas win and a runner-up to Busch last weekend in California.

Keselowski, the 2012 series champion and driver of the famed No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang, has three topthree showings including his win at Atlanta, a run-

ner-up at Las V egas and a third-place finish last weekend in California.

Blaney, who drives the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang, is coming off back-to-back top-five finishes at Phoenix and California. His recent work at Martinsville has been similar. He has two top-10 finishes in the last three races at the track, including a third place in this race last year after leading 145 laps.

Logano has been especially good at Martinsville, picking up his bid to the Championship 4 round of the Playoffs last October in a thrilling last lap victory at the half-miler — memorable for an especially aggressive run to the finish with 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr. And overall, Logano has won three times at Martinsville and has four poles — earning three straight poles from 201516. He’s finished in the top-10 in four of the last five races and led laps in four of the last five races as well. His 309 laps out front last October were the most laps led since Kyle Busch paced the field for 352 laps in March, 2016.

Keselowski also has a victory at Martinsville (Spring 2017) and boasts a current string of six consecutive top 10s — five top-fives — in the last six races there. He’s led 266 laps at the track in j ust the last four races.

Martinsville Speedway streaks

For as challenging as Martinsville Speedway’s iconic paper-clip half-miler has been in the course of NASCAR history, it has produced a trend — particularly in the early years of its existence. Once a driver figured out the track, he really had success.

Seven drivers have won at least three consecutive races at Martinsville. And Fred Lorenz en holds the record for winning four straight from 1963-64.

Richard Petty — the track’s all-time winningest driver (15 victories) — won three straight from 1968- 69. Cale Y arborough matched the threerace streak in 1976-77, 11-time Martinsville winner Darrell Waltrip did so in 1988- 8 9, Rusty Wallace in 1994-95, Jimmie Johnson in 2006-07 and Denny Hamlin in 2009-10.

Johnson and Hamlin are the only two active drivers to have pulled off the impressive feat of streaks and they are also the only two drivers on this impressive list of superiority not to already be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Bowyer returns to defend his win

The defending winner of Sunday’s STP 500, Clint Bowyer, could use a dose of that positive vibe again this weekend. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has vacillated between great promise and disappointment in 2019. He has three top-15 finishes and two DNFs (did not finish) through the season’s opening five races. His best effort is a fifth at Atlanta four weeks ago.

He suffered one of his DNFs last Sunday in California when his No. 14 Ford had an overheating issue.

Last year’s Martinsville showing gives him reason to be optimistic this week.

He led a race-high 215 laps en route to a solid 1.14-second win over Kyle Busch — Bowyer’s first victory since j oining the SHR team in 2017. The win was especially satisfying considering how competitive the race was — three drivers (also Ryan Blaney, 145 laps and Denny Hamlin, 111 laps) led at least 100 laps on the afternoon.

Bowyer has 15 top-10 finishes in 26 starts at the track, including three in the last four years.

BRIAN LAWDERMILK/GETTY IMAGES

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Demo Day Ford, leads Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, during the weather delayed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway last year in Martinsville.

Changes: NASCAR makes changes to rules Continued from page 1B

NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

NASCAR also unveiled several other competition and personnel updates for 2019: O’Donnell announced that the “Generation 7” car in the Monster Energy Series is scheduled to make its debut for the 2021 season and will be designed to feature new technologies and elements that showcase future production vehicles.

“There is a great deal of interest from our current and potential manufacturer partners to make the cars look even more like they do on the street,” O’Donnell said. “This will be an exciting progression in our racing technology that began with the introduction of the 2019 rules package.”  The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will feature the “Triple Truck Challenge” this season, a bonus program that takes place at

three consecutive races — Texas (June 7), Iowa (June 15) and Gateway (June 22). All drivers earning series points are eligible and drivers who win one of the three races receive a $50,000 bonus.

Winning two races nets a driver $ 150,000 total ($ 50,000 per race plus a $50,000 bonus), while winning all three races results in a $ 500,000 total priz e ($50,00 0 per race win, $50,000 bonus for winning twice, plus a $ 300,000 bonus for sweeping the Challenge races). Monster Energy Series and Xfinity Series drivers are not eligible to compete in the three races of the program.  NASCAR has implemented a model of series-specific inspectors.

Each national series will have a dedicated team of officials who will specializ e in inspections for their respective garages. Q ualifying procedures across all three national series remain the

same for 2019, with the exception that the first round of “group qualifying” for short track and intermediate tracks will shorten to 10 minutes in length (previously 15) and the breaks between sessions will be five minutes long (previously seven). The national series driver participation guidelines remain mostly unchanged from 2018. Drivers with more than five years of fulltime Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series experience are eligible for a maximum of seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts and five NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts. Drivers who elect to accumulate Monster Energy Series points are not eligible to compete in any Dash 4 Cash or Triple Truck Challenge races, or the final eight races in either the Xfinity Series or the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. In addition, drivers who earn points in the

Xfinity Series are ineligible to compete in Triple Truck Challenge races and the Championship race for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Jimmie Johnson has set the bar high

As is the case at so many NASCAR tracks, seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion and 8 3-race winner Jimmie Johnson holds the distinction for winning the most races (nine) at Martinsville Speedway among active drivers.

And history shows that once he gets on a hot streak at the historic half-miler, he has plenty of reason to celebrate thereafter. Johnson won three straight races there in the 2006-07 seasons and twice won backto-back races (2008 -09 and 2012-13). He won five out of six races between 200609 with Denny Hamlin winning the one race (Spring 2008 ) he did not hoist a trophy in that time.

Johnson has 19 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes in 34 starts, and he’s led at least 100 laps in 13 different Martinsville races. He’s led 200 laps four times and twice led at least 300 laps — in 2008 he led 339 laps and in 2013 he led 346 laps (both times from the pole position).

Johnson’s 2,8 62 total laps led at Martinsville is most in the field this weekend — 1,000 laps more than Hamlin’s second-most laps led at 1,536.

If Johnson were to lead 138 laps or more at Martinsville Speedway this weekend, he would become j ust the fifth driver in series history to

lead 3,000 or more laps at multiple tracks, j oining NASCAR Hall of Famers Cale Y arbrough (five tracks with 3,000 or more laps led), Richard Petty (four tracks), Rusty Wallace (three tracks) and Darrell Waltrip (two tracks).

In comparison to the high standard Johnson has set, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z L1 has struggled some at the track in recent years, leading laps in only two of the last nine races and scoring only two top-10s during that time; one of those was the 2016 victory en route to his record-tying seventh title.

If Johnson were to win this weekend at Martinsville, he would become j ust the third driver in series history to record 10 or more wins at more than one track; j oining NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip. Johnson currently has nine series wins at Martinsville.

This year Johnson is 14th in the championship standings, looking to end a winless streak that dates back to the summer of 2017. He’s scored a pair of top-10 finishes in 2019 (at Daytona and at Phoenix) and his 14th place in the rankings is the highest he’s been since seventh place following the season-opening Daytona 500.

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Sunoco Rookie watch

A 23rd-place effort by JTG Daugherty Racing driver Ryan Preece last weekend at Auto Club Speedway was good enough to put the 28- year old back on top of the Sunoco Rookie of the Y ear standings. In addition, he moved up three spots in the series driver points standings but is still looking for his first top-20 finish since an eighth-place run in the season-opening Daytona 500. This will be his first start at Martinsville in any of NASCAR’s three top series.

Richard Childress Racing’s Daniel Hemric, 28 , dropped back into second position in the rookie standings following a 33rd-place finish in California last weekend.

He is still looking for his first top 20 of 2019 in the Monster Energy Series. He does have a

previous top-10 effort at Martinsville — a ninthplace finish in the 2016 Gander Outdoors Truck Series race there.

Front Row Motorsport’s Matt Tifft, 22, arrives at Martinsville feeling optimistic about his chances at the challenging venue and after posting his best two Cup finishes to date — a season-best 20th at ISM Raceway answered with a 26th-place run at Auto Club Speedway last weekend. Tifft scored back-to-back top-10 finishes at Martinsville in the Truck Series, finishing eighth and ninth in the two truck races there in 2015.

Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware, 23, was 32nd at Auto Club Speedway.

His only previous start at Martinsville was a 27th-place finish in the Truck Series in 2015.

Harvick still looking for first win of the season

By the time Kevin Harvick arrived in V irginia for the 2018 season’s first short track race at Martinsville Speedway, he had already won three times.

This season, he’s still looking for his first victory of 2019, but his fifth-place finish at Martinsville last March sparked a seven-race string of finishing seventh or better, including back-to-back victories at Dover and Kansas.

His last — and only — Cup victory at Martinsville came in 2011, although he has won in the Xfinity Series (2006) and three times in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series (2009, 2010, 2012) at the track.

Harvick’s 2019 has certainly been encour-

aging, if not trophy-hoisting. The driver of the No. 4 StewartHaas Racing Ford has finished in fourth place three times in the opening five races and won the Busch Pole position at Las V egas. He is currently third in the Monster Energy Series points standings, 24 points behind standings leader Kyle Busch.

“Some guys j ust have a knack for Martinsville,’’ Harvick said. “There are some weekends when I show up and I feel good about where I’m at and some weekends I j ust feel like I’ve never been there before. Y ou look at this little bitty racetrack and you think it would be so simple, and you go out there and it becomes so hard.”

Tough and Tumble: Truex is ready for Martinsville

There will likely be two drivers, in particular, eyeing one another — and being eyed by everyone else — following a dramatic last-lap dust-up in the 2018 Playoff race at Martinsville Speedway.

Eventual Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano and 2017 series champion Martin Truex Jr. battled door-to-door coming to the finish line with some aggressive

beating-and-banging that resulted in Logano earning the victory.

Truex has top-five finishes in the last three Martinsville races and has won the pole position twice at the venue. Right now, his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team has finished top-10 in the last four races of the 2019 season.

Not only does Truex have a strong record at Martinsville, he has a good memory about rac-

ing the track, too — for the good and the bad. He had worked his way all the up through the field from a 33rd-place starting position and led 18 laps before getting passed by Logano on the last lap in November.

“We’ve certainly got some unfinished business going into Martinsville this weekend,’’ Truex said.

“It’s a place that wasn’t one of my favorites early in my career, but the last

few years, I feel like I’ve really started to get a handle on it.

“A lot of that can be attributed to having a really good crew chief and driving fast cars. It would mean a lot to win there, especially after how the last race there ended up.

I’m confident that we’ll have a fast SiriusXM Toyota Camry this weekend and be right there to have a shot at the end of the race.”

PHOTO BY SARAH CRABILL/GETTY IMAGES

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Reese/DrawTite Ford, leads Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Libman Ford, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway last year.

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JERRY MARKLAND/GETTY IMAGES

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 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 last year in Martinsville.

Hamlin welcomes the short tracks

Martinsville Speedway has certainly been among this year’s Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin’s “go-to” venues. His five wins — including three straight from 20092010 seasons — are eclipsed by only ninetime Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson among active drivers.

Last year Hamlin certainly made a strong go at victory in this race, leading 111 laps but finishing 12th.

In 26 starts at his home state of V irginia’s half-miler, he has 19 top10 finishes and 13 topfives and an impressive 9.8 average finish. He’s led laps in 17 of the last

19 Martinsville races, highlighted by a performance in 2009 unequalled in recent history. That season he led 502 laps in the two races - 296 laps in this spring race and 206 laps in the fall. He’s led 1,536 laps total — second to Johnson’s 2,8 62 laps led.

Outside of winning the sport’s most celebrated race, the season-opening Daytona 500, Hamlin’s impressive work has been largely low profile. He has four top-10s through five races, and the fifth finish was 11th at Atlanta. He’s led laps in three of the five races and is ranked fourth in the championship stand-

ings, 32 points behind his teammate Kyle Busch.

Interestingly, for all the success he’s enj oyed at Martinsville, Hamlin insisted he doesn’t prepare any differently or feel any extra emotions at the venue where he has been so good.

“I treat every race the same, and I know our team is always working hard to give the FedEx Toyota the best chance to take the checkered flag,’’ Hamlin said “I’m proud of my accomplishments at Martinsville, but every race is different and we need to be fully focused and be at our best if we are going to have a shot at winning this weekend.’’

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