Johnson Wins Martinsville, Will Race for Championship at Homestead

Jimmie Johnson picked up his ninth Martinsville Speedway grandfather clock on Sunday, but it might be one of his most cherished clocks yet as the win today will secure him a spot in Round of 4 to race for a championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

When the race started, it seemed like the Joe Gibbs Racing quartet and its technical alliance member Martin Truex, Jr. would dominate on the day, but ironically, things began to shift when a caution came out for JGR driver Carl Edwards slamming the wall with just over 100 laps to go in the race. The ill-timed caution in the middle of green-flag pit stops messed up NASCAR’s restart order, which caused an extended caution of 30 laps.

When the race finally restarted, it was Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch on the front row with Johnson and Jamie McMurray behind. Johnson, who made contact with Hamlin earlier in the race, raced up to the back bumper of the No. 11, and took the lead from him for the final time of the race with 92 laps to go.

“We really had great long run speed,” Johnson said after the race. “That caution with the 19 car but us in the catbird seat.”

While Johnson ran away from the rest of the field, Brad Keselowski ran from sixth to finish second in the closing laps of the race, edging out a trio of Gibbs cars. Despite being eliminated from Chase contention, Keselowski is still racing hard for wins.

The first of the Gibbs teammates in the top-five was the No. 11 of Hamlin. Hamlin led 48 of 500 laps, but couldn’t close the deal to take his sixth Martinsville win. Even still, Hamlin puts himself second on the Chase grid.

Matt Kenseth led the most laps with 176, but finished fourth followed by a frustrated Kyle Busch. Busch was upset with his teammates not working together to catch the No. 48 late in the race saying they “gave the (No.) 48 the win.”

Jeff Gordon finished sixth in what’s believed to be his final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start. Truex, Jr., McMurray, Joey Logano and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top-10, and were the only 10 lead lap finishers.

The race was Martinsville’s shortest, and the least caution-filled since 1989 with only five yellow flags, but it likely felt like a long day for the Stewart-Haas Racing camp, who struggled throughout the day. Kevin Harvick scored the best finish for SHR in 20th, two laps down. Kurt Busch finished 22nd followed by Danica Patrick in 24th and team owner Tony Stewart in 26th.

Following the No. 19’s wreck late in the race, Edwards was able to return to the track, but struggled to keep pace. Edwards finished 23 laps down in 36th, and is need of a win at one of the next two races in order to race for the championship at Homestead.

While Johnson can sleep easy until Homestead, seven other drivers have two more races to endure before their dreams of racing for a championship come to fruition. Logano, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Edwards all find themselves outside looking in as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend.