Fantasy Racing Scouting Report – Martinsville

[box border=”full”]This post is a recap of what happened in spring 2014 at Martinsville[/box]

Martinsville Top Ten Starters

1. Kyle Busch
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Joey Logano
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Jeff Gordon
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Tony Stewart
8. Carl Edwards
9. Jamie McMurray
10. Danica Patrick

Martinsville Full Starting Lineup

Martinsville Race Notes

Kyle Busch started on the outside lane and he led the first 16 laps.

During the first lap Parker Kligerman who started near the back wrecked when he was caught up in an accordion crash. Others who got minor damage who weren’t effected competitively were Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Casey Mears, Martin Truex Jr. Justin Allgaier and Kasey Kahne.

Denny Hamlin struggled on restarts early in the race.

Matt Kenseth passed Kyle Busch for the lead on lap 17. He started in 6th. Shortly after he took the lead he started falling back into the field.

Kyle Busch was back to 4th on lap 20.

Jimmie Johnson passed Matt Kenseth for the lead on lap 21.

Running order on lap 28: 48,24,22,18,14,15,1,20,4,11 … 99,2,31,16,43,55,41,9,88,10 … 27,47,17,42,38,34,23,13,40,78

Kyle Busch said his car was too tight in the center on lap 33

Denny Hamlin said he had no lateral grip and was way too loose on lap 33

On lap 33 Matt Kenseth said his reason for falling back in traffic is because he burned off his tires too quickly. He said he couldn’t touch his throttle because he didn’t have grip.

Tony Stewart was up to 4th on lap 39. He said his car was good in and off corners.

During Johnson’s first pit stop he said he was loose on exit.

During his first pit stop Gordon said he was tight in turn 1 and loose off turn 2.

During his first pit stop Joey Logano said he wanted more forward bite.

During the lap 44 caution on pit road Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski wrecked. Brad Keselowski got heavy damage that sent him to the garage area.

Running order on lap 57: 20,18,22,14,48,11,24,4,1,15 … 31,9,27,55,43,10,88,42,99,16 … 47,17,13,78,3,5,34,40,41,95

Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch were very good on short runs following restarts.

Joey Logano took the lead from Kyle Busch on lap 65. Prior to this race Logano has never led here.

Kyle Busch was back in 16th on lap 79. He led as recently as lap 64. His car was only strong on short runs and then after that it dropped off dramatically.

Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Joey Logano on lap 82.

On lap 86 Brad Keselowski raced Kurt Busch hard.

Running order on lap 101: 48,20,22,24,9,1,31,11,16,27 … 43,88,47,55,99,5,4,13,15,14

On lap 103 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into the wall hard while running in 24th. He was trying to get around Kurt Busch and Keselowski who were racing each other hard.