Clint Bowyer won the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. It’s his ninth career Cup series win, and his first at Martinsville. With this win, he broke a 190 race winless streak. Bowyer’s last win came in October 2012 at Charlotte.
When the green flag flew, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch arranged their start, so Busch slid in behind Truex. After five short laps, though, Busch got right by Truex. After 28 laps, Denny Hamlin took the lead from Busch, leading a Toyota 1-2-3 with Busch and Truex. That didn’t last too long, though, as Joey Logano got by Truex for third. Shortly after, Brad Keselowski also moved past Truex for fourth position. On lap 50, NASCAR threw the competition caution, since the cars hadn’t been on track since early Saturday afternoon.
As pit stops were completed, Hamlin and Busch were able to keep their top two positions. On the lap 57 restart, Denny Hamlin got away, again followed by Kyle Busch. On lap 66, Bubba Wallace cut a tire down and was forced to pit. He fell to last place, two laps down. Wallace would bring it to the garage to fix a sway bar mount later in the stage. Denny Hamlin was able to win the first stage, despite a close call with Jamie McMurray and Harrison Rhodes. On the pit stops, Ryan Blaney was able to overtake Hamlin.
Hamlin, though, took the lead back from Blaney on the restart, but Blaney took it right back and drove away from Hamlin and the rest of the field. Blaney dominated the second stage, but with about 40 laps to go, Clint Bowyer moved up to second and began to gain on Blaney. Bowyer, though, wasn’t able to convert, and Blaney won the caution-free stage two.
The restart to begin the final stage was easy for Blaney. He was able to clear Kyle Busch to take the lead once again. On lap 285, Clint Bowyer was finally able to take the lead from Ryan Blaney with a quick pass on the inside. About 100 laps later on lap 384, Jamie McMurray was sent into the outside wall by Austin Dillon, who had contact with the curb on the inside of the track. Aric Almirola got caught for speeding on pit road during the subsequent round of stops, while Bowyer led them off pit road.
On the restart, Bowyer took the lead from the outside lane, followed by Kyle Busch. With 45 laps to go, Trevor Bayne got into the wall due to wheel hop, but the caution didn’t come out. Bayne would continue. With only a couple laps to go, Jamie McMurray had to pit for a severe tire rub, but there was no caution. Clint Bowyer would finish the race off and break his 190 race winless streak and win the STP 500 at Martinsville.
Here is the full finishing order for the STP 500 at Martinsville:
- Clint Bowyer
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Blaney (Stage 2)
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Alex Bowman
- AJ Allmendinger
- Chase Elliott
- Brad Keselowski
- Kurt Busch
- Denny Hamlin (Stage 2)
- Paul Menard
- Aric Almirola
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Larson
- Erik Jones
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Newman
- William Byron (Rookie)
- Michael McDowell
- Ty Dillon
- Chris Buescher
- Kasey Kahne
- David Ragan
- Jamie McMurray
- Cole Whitt
- DJ Kennington
- Ross Chastain
- Austin Dillon
- JJ Yeley
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Trevor Bayne
- Darrell Wallace Jr. (Rookie)
- Harrison Rhodes
- Gray Gaulding
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Landon Cassill (Rear Gear)