October Madness

With much anticipation leading up to the paper clip, many knew that the point standings would take a tumble from start to finish. Carl Edwards, who coming in had a 14 point lead over teammate Matt Kenseth, had weak intentions on scoring a run that will keep him with the other chasers.

"We have had good cars here, we just have not had the luck to come along with it." Edwards said during the rained out practice session. "And here at Martinsville, luck is key."

With only 4 top ten finishes and one top five in 14 career starts at the short track, there was a reason to be down coming in. Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, and Tony Stewart were the next 3 in points who were within a practical striking distance after race #7 in the ten race chase. But under the pile of top contender lay "Mr. Where Did He Come From?" Kevin Harvick whose 6 top tens in the past 11 Martinsville races plus a win in the April race surely made him a guy to keep an eye on once the green flag flew on Halloween Eve.

Martinsville has always been known for its hard racing and vast number of caution flags which flares the heads inside the helmets. The last 24 races at Martinsville have had 10 or more caution periods in them.And once the green dropped, and the 43 cold blooded hounds raced into turn 1 and down the backstretch, racing turned into a brawl for position. The first envolving Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch who both were later collected in further separate race contact. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon were two other chasers envolved in the early crash but who were able to bounce back to make something of the day.

"Our main problem was to avoid blocking the brake ducts because that would've made for a rough day and we would not have been able to come back like we did." said Gordon post race. With a hole in the nose on the #24 and Hamlin with minor contact on both sides, they were able to restart without losing too much speed.
Why they didn't build a cage fighting rink in the infield of this track, we will never know. Like usual the tempers sparked and the racing turned into a "Wreck Fest" as crew chief Gil Martin said. The list of p***ed off drivers include, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Marcos ambrose and Brian Vickers. The most significant incident had runner-up point leader Matt Kenseth spinning and slamming the wall on the left side first. The issue mirrored that of Kevin Harvick last week at Talladega who got collected in a multi car wreck to finish 32nd. He was also 2nd in points at the time.

With Jimmie Johnson holding the top spot as the laps wound down, Harvick had climbed up to the fourth position as Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart held the spots in between. The lead stretched to almost a full straightaway while racing for mid field positions eased into dangerous territories. But it was not lead lappers that brought out the emmence 18th caution of the afternoon. An earlier wreck brought back old friends in the closing stages as Brian Vickers seeked revenge following contact earlier forcing the #83 hard into the wall and outside the top 10.

His car was parked in turn 3 after the hit at Kenseth and the yellow was thrown once again. That demolished Johnson's lead over Stewart and made the dash to the finish , a short wild one. It was the #48 and #14 on the front row with Gordon and Harvick claiming the second row. Harvick quickly dashed to the inside behind Gordon and the #24 and into the 4th spot. Tony Stewart with a power move, passed Jimmie Johnson on the outside and into the lead with 2 to go.

While there were battling side by side, Joey Logano was taking a wild ride as he went into turn 3 and his brakes got held. "After 1000 times hitting the brake and really relying on it all day, it was just a matter of time. It seems to happen quite often. Look at Truex's wreck last time we were here." said Logano who walked away after hard contact with the outside SAFER barrier.

Clint Bowyer, last weeks winner, also went for a slide in turn 4. He lost multiple positions and ended up finishing 19th after restarting in the top 10.

"I could have gotten into him, but that wouldnt have been the right thing to do." said 5-time after his 2nd place finish. Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin closed the day with top 5's after the early contact as Harvick finished in between them in 4th, his first top 5 since Chicagoland.

"Darian Grubb(crew chief) is the one that got us the track position at the end." said Stewart. "Once I was able to pass Jimmie quickly on that final restart, all I had to do was to just hold him off for the last 2 laps and thankfully we were able to."