Nascar 2012 - race 33

Tums Salute to our US Military Heroes


Tums Fast Relief 500



Written by Rick A. Talford

NASCAR Enthusiast



MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA - The Sprint Cup Series ran race 33 of 36, at the short track in Virginia. The Pole-sitter was Jimmie Johnson (48), with Brian Vickers (55) starting second. In news this week, Vickers, Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip all re-signed to drive the 55 car next season. Also, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) will return to the race track this week. For the Martinsville race, Tums brought 500 members of the US Military to the track. Members from Fort Bragg, Fort Lee and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base all came for the race. There will be five soldiers taking the position of Grand Marshal in the pre-race ceremonies. SPC Matthew McClintock, SGT. Chase Noble, SGT. Chad Willis and PFC Albert Boston gave the command to start engines. SGT. 1st Class Matthew Solomon waved the green flag to start the race. The winner of the race, gets a large Grandfather Clock as their trophy. In the pre-race ceremonies, Eddie Barton provided the invocation. The Winston-Salem Marching Band played the National Anthem, as Two T-45’s flew over the track. The In-race reporter was Denny Hamlin (11).



Jimmie Johnson led the first lap, to get another bonus point towards the championship. Brad Keselowski (2) started the race in 32nd spot, as the championship points leader by seven points. By lap 30, Johnson had already caught the rear of the field, and started putting cars a lap down. Up to this point, Jeff Gordon (24) was the fastest car on the track. Keselowski had only moved forward by five spots from the start, to twenty-seventh. The biggest loser so far was, Matt Kenseth (17) who started sixth, but fell back nearly twenty positions by lap thirty-five. Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved from twentieth to eleventh in the first 40 laps.



The first caution flew on lap 46, when David Stremme (30) had a tire failure and hit the wall. During the caution, Denny Hamlin fell from third to thirty-fifth due to a speeding penalty on pit road. On lap 67, Jeff Gordon took the lead. Hendrick cars ran first, second, fourth and eighth at this point. Jr. had moved himself into the top five early in the race. On lap 98, David Gilliland (38) had a tire blow, then he hit the wall. The third caution came out on lap 127, when Travis Kvapil (93) spun out on track. Three cars did not pit during this caution. Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch (18) and Martin Truex Jr.(56) stayed on track. The fourth caution flew for Kyle Busch spinning out on track, at lap 150. He restarted in twenty-ninth. During the next green run, Hamlin, Johnson and Clint Bowyer (15) all led laps. The fifth caution on lap 199, was for Marcus Ambrose (9) spinning out on track. The sixth caution was on lap 211, for Ambrose and Kvapil both spinning out. AJ Almandinger (51) got into the side of Ambrose, and cut his rear tire down. That was the start of the caution.



By lap 228, all four Hendrick cars were running in the top five spots. The team seemed to be the strongest in the first half of the race. Points leader Keselowski, had now worked his way up to eleventh spot. The seventh caution flew on lap 230, when Kurt Busch (78) was spun out by Kevin Harvick (29). Busch started to move down, when Harvick was already inside of him. On the restart, Martin Truex Jr. was penalized for changing lanes before the start/finish line. At lap 250, the top ten running were: Bowyer, Gordon, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, Vickers, Harvick, Hamlin, Busch and Keselowski.



Denny Hamlin’s day went from poor (two pit road speeding penalties) to horrible, when his car began having electrical problems on lap 371. He was reporting that the car gauges were flashing on and off continuously. The car started to shut off on the straight away, but would run in the corners. On lap 392, the eighth caution flew for Hamlin’s car being dead on track. His car would be taken to the garage. Hamlin started the day only 20 points out of the Championship lead, but this would do plenty of damage to those hopes. Hamlin did return to the track (-30+ laps) after they found the master switch had a short. He would finish the race in thirty-third position, 49 points out of the lead.



The ninth caution came out on lap 440, when leader Johnson got into Juan Montoya (42). Montoya began to move down the track, but Johnson was already there. Montoya’s car spun out and stopped on track in front of a couple lap cars. All the leaders would make another stop. Caution number ten flew on lap 475, when Kevin Harvick’s engine finally failed. On lap 490, the eleventh caution flew for Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) and Carl Edwards (99) spinning out. Sam Hornish Jr. (22) ran into the back of Edwards, and then Edwards ran into Earnhardt Jr.



The race re-started with five laps remaining. Jimmie Johnson was able to get a good re-start, and beat Kyle Busch to the checkered flag. This is Johnson’s fifth win at Martinsville, during the “Chase Series”. It was Johnson’s seventh win at the paperclip shaped track, and his 59th career win.



The rest of the top ten were: Kasey Kahne (5), Aric Almirola (43), Clint Bowyer (15), Brad Keselowski (2), Jeff Gordon (24), Brian Vickers (55), Bobby Labonte (47) and Greg Biffle (16). Other “Chase” notables were: Matt Kenseth was 15th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 21st, Martin Truex Jr. was 23rd, Tony Stewart was 27th, Kevin Harvick was 32nd and Denny Hamlin was 33rd.



The Points are now led by Jimmie Johnson by two points over Brad Keselowski. Third place is Clint Bowyer (-26), Fourth is Kasey Kahne (-29) and Fifth is Denny Hamlin (-49).



The next race is at Texas on Sunday, on ESPN at 2 EST.

The Nationwide race is scheduled to race on Saturday night at 7 EST on ESPN.