April 3rd, 2011 
T.C. As is usually the case with Martinsville races, there was definitely no shortage of story lines after Sunday’s race. There was the usual Martinsville bumping and grinding, a ton of lead changes, some hard hits, and a near miss for Dale Jr. In the end though, Kevin Harvick made another late race move and won his second straight race.
Truex Not Happy With Team Over Hung Throttle
A hung throttle was the culprit behind the scariest wreck of the day at Martinsville that involved Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne. Truex got under Kahne into turn three part way through Sunday’s race but, unable to slow his car down, Truex got into Kahne sending them both hard into the turn three safer barrier. Following the incident, we heard that Truex was none to pleased with his team over the problem and he made sure crew chief Pat Tryson was aware of his displeasure. Why? Because this isn’t the first time Truex has been affected by this issue with MWR. If you’ll remember back to qualifying last fall at Richmond, Truex was the victim of a hung throttle during qualifying that forced the team to a backup car for the race. And while sometimes caused by mechanical failures, hung throttles can also be caused by issues with the preparation of the car back at the shop. Hopefully the #56 team is able to rectify any issues they may have.
NASCAR Maybe Looking At Fueling Heads
There was some talk in the garage this weekend that NASCAR may begin taking a closer look into the fueling systems used by the Cup Series teams. As you’ve heard repeatedly all season, the teams are using a new style self-vented fueling system this season with the elimination of the catch can man. NASCAR’s rules for the new system, which was developed by Schultz Products, allow for some modifications to the components. And besides making changes to pit stop choreography, many teams have spent a lot of time trying to find ways to make fuel flow faster with the new equipment. It sounds now as if NASCAR wants to see what they’ve been able to accomplish.
I’ll now turn this post over to you. What were your thoughts on the Martinsville race? Have you enjoyed the season up to this point? Could Harvick be showing he’s the guy to beat for the championship? Is Dale Jr. finally turning a corner?
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What was up w/ the restart w/ 30 to go? The entire 2nd half of the field was strung out when the 18 (leader) took the green. Someone was evidently sleeping and cost many teams valuable track position relative to the front runners. Incidently, that was when the 48 had to go start at the tail end of the longest line. Ouch! So anyone that thinks the 48 gets preferential treatment from NASCAR is mistaken. Just IMO!
Nothing defines Brian’s NASCAR better than the new fuel cans. It ain’t broke, but let’s fix it anyway. Keep on, Brian, keep on.
Great race, great ending. Short tracks produce the best stock car races.
Fox coverage sucks. Tony Stewart went from two laps down to forty laps down and I don’t recall the idiots in the booth even mentioning how that happened.
Just got back from Martinsville. Great races and great track. Nothing beats short track racing. I would have liked to see the 24 take the win, but that final battle between Jr. and Harvick had the place rockin! I’ll definitely go back, especially for the hot dogs.
Not a huge Jr fan and didn’t watch the post-race so I don’t know what his explanation was, but I would have guessed that a guy who had gone that many races without a win would have been a tad more aggressive in fighting off Harvick in those last couple of laps, and really more aggressive in trying to get the lead back. Seems like he would rather lose clean than win aggressively.
i was under the impression that roush had developed a device to prevent stuck throttles and was being used but i guess i was wrong.
Another abysmal one lane race track, with 450 boring laps followed by an exciting finish.
Maybe the time has come to pass by Martinsville.
Interesting, isn’t this similar to the problem on production Toyota cars? Not saying there is any comparison from race car to production cars, just find it interesting, both having the same problem.
Wow grumpie, I think Martinsville is one of the best tracks out there. Maybe it is just your grumpiness. Did you not see Jr pass Kyle and Harvick pass so many to pass Jr at the end? Doesn’t look like one lane too me at all.
@Neon
What you saw on that final restart happens almost every week at the back of the field, especially towards the end of the race. Most of it is due to cars being multiple laps down and not having no one else on their lap, therefore the are racing no one. They don’t want to cause trouble on the restart, so they hang back. Generally, those drivers will, themselves, wave cars in contention by if they are serving a penalty. Whether the drivers didn’t do it, Jimmie didn’t see that, or the 48 didn’t want to take the chance of another penalty, only they know.
Yeah, I had to fast forward a lot of the race because I taped it and had to be somewhere later as well. I’m a big Stewart fan, and indeed they never said anything about him at the end. And… they had plenty of time, the post-race was longer than normal.
Come on guys… re-cap at least the star racers, even if they have a rotten day. Stewart has gone from leading the points to 11th in 2 races. That’s big enough news.
Loved the ending. Good to see NASCAR is looking at the flow rate of the new coupler. The last thing anyone wants is for a good tire stop to get slowed down because the cans aren’t empty due to flow rate issues. Gotta reward a clean tire stop.
As for Junior, it looks like he could have accomplished the bump-N-run when he did the crossover. Probably should have done it, I guarantee Jeff, Kevin, Kyle, Kurt, and no telling who else would have done it. But good to see him making good progress with the new team roster.
Still a bunch of racing to go but it sure looks like it’s going to be a Kevin and Kyle show, mainly because they are both picking up where they left off last year, only Kyle is showing some newfound maturity and pragmatism (just needs to quit using up too much car too soon, just as Gordon inferred) and Kevin is showing he can win in bunches and their early lack of consistency seems more due to bad fortune than not being on that day.
@ Steve. You can be glad that you didn’t see the post race with Junior. The guy’s alright but man what a struggle it is to watch him being interviewed anytime or anywhere. I sometimes blame the interviewer for just sticking that mike in J’s face when he is struggling to find the words. About the finish,I agree Junior was way too kind. Needs to get after it. Don’t believe Harvick would have cut him any slack.
i remember the robert duvall line in days of thunder….’oooo..get out of that race car.’ thats all we heard about truex after joonyer left dei. he is too good to be stuck there. he hasnt run any better than at dei. the 55/56 car was a step back in my opinion. then we have to listen to him make excuses every week on moodys show. but im sure if he blew up to team he will make no mention of it this week…..oh that the washed up guy won three races last year in that car he was too good for, in case you guys forgot.
Great racing this season…. terrible coverage.
I dunno if Jr. has turned the corner or not, but he’s been going in the right direction. 10 tens and top 15 and now a top 5… and next week is Texas, a track he likes as I recall.
Dear TV,
we want to see the racing ACTION, that is always number 1.
We don’t care about in car, on car cameras except for replays or when the action gets boring when everyone gets strung out.
thanks,
the fans.
-W
It’s no surprise that NASCAR is looking at the modifications to the new fueling system. I figure that they will allow some modifications and ban others. That’s always been the price of creative innovations: they either get banned or everyone in the garage learns about them. It happened to that extra camber Junior Johnson gave Bill Elliott and Andy Petrie gave Harry Gant in the early 90′s. It happened with the HANS and Hutchens devices ten years ago. It happened with the mandated gear ratios.
The old fueling system wasn’t broken, but it was one of those NASCAR things that can seem as bit arbitrary, like having five lug nuts and sticking with carburetors this long. It’s not as contrived as IndyCar’s mandate that each team use each of the two tire types in each race and their silly push-to-pass overdrive. Personally, I am for anything that can keep costs down and allow for more competitive teams and fewer start-and-parks and teams with no hope of staying on the lead lap.
do you think shrub will make the chase ??
If I was Truex, I’d be hot with my team as well… especially if it had happened before.
I think I’d be popping the hood to check it out before I drove it in the next race to make my point.
Sometimes ya gotta rub their face in it to make the point.
Yay for the SAFER barriers tho’, yikes.
-W