{"id":1798,"date":"2016-04-03T17:36:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T22:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=1798"},"modified":"2016-04-03T17:36:14","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T22:36:14","slug":"kyle-busch-clocks-his-first-nascar-sprint-cup-series-win-at-martinsville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/03\/kyle-busch-clocks-his-first-nascar-sprint-cup-series-win-at-martinsville\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch clocks his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Martinsville"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer<\/strong><\/em>
\n NASCAR Wire Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MARTINSVILLE<\/strong>, Va. \u2013 Kyle Busch came to Martinsville Speedway this weekend with no grandfather clock trophies from the shortest and tightest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series short tracks.<\/p>\n

He left with two clocks after completing an unprecedented Martinsville sweep in Sunday\u2019s STP 500, and, appropriately, the first question he radioed to his crew after his celebratory burnouts dealt with telling time.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“What time is it?” crowed the reigning series champion, who a day earlier had won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville in his own equipment.<\/p>\n

Then Busch answered his own rhetorical question. “Time to tell the haters to shut up!” Busch shouted, a reference to the ambivalent relationship the Joe Gibbs Racing driver enjoys with the NASCAR fan base.<\/p>\n

But Busch can be forgiven for his over-the-top exclamation. With the victory, he\u2019s all but assured of defending his 2015 championship in this year\u2019s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t say enough about this whole JGR team,” who led the final 174 laps after passing teammate Matt Kenseth for the top spot on Lap 327. The (No. 18) M&M\u2019s Camry was awesome in practice (on Saturday). We had a really good car through practice, and (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) made some really good adjustments overnight to keep us where we needed to be, running up front all day.”<\/p>\n

\"Kyle

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In fact, Busch led 352 of the 500 laps on the way to his first victory of the season and the 35th of his career. The 352 laps led were the most at Martinsville since Bobby Hamilton dominated the Apr. 20, 1998 Sprint Cup race at the .526-mile track, winning from the pole and leading 378 circuits.<\/p>\n

For the final restart on Lap 489, after caution had slowed the race for the eighth time when Jamie McMurray shredded a tire and lost control in Turn 2, Busch pulled away to cross the finish line .663 seconds ahead of AJ Allmendinger, who matched his career-best Sprint Cup finish on an oval track, with his previous second place coming at Martinsville in 2012.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it was Allmendinger\u2019s first top five since he won at the Watkins Glen International road course in August 2014 and qualified for the Chase for the only time in his career.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia. Photo by Sean Gardner\/NASCAR via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

“God, I wish we had one more spot,” said Allmendinger, who restarted third with 12 laps left, forced his way past Kenseth and spent the final 10 laps in an all-out \u2014 albeit futile \u2014 attempt to run down Busch before the finish.<\/p>\n

“We got our car really, really good on the long runs. That\u2019s kind of where I thought we shined. We didn\u2019t have great short-run speed, but after about 30, 40 laps we could really get rolling there. I was kind of hoping we\u2019d stay green the last 120 laps. I figured that wasn\u2019t going to happen, but I was praying we had a shot at that, because I felt like, if that happened, we had a great chance to win the race.”<\/p>\n

Kyle Larson, who, like Busch, competed in Saturday\u2019s truck race, used the extra track time to full benefit in finishing third, one spot ahead of Austin Dillon, who stayed out on old tires for the final restart (as did Busch, Kenseth and Allmendinger) and held the fourth position.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia. Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

Brad Keselowski recovered from a Lap 93 pit road speeding penalty to run fifth. Carl Edwards, who started 25th and spent much of the race a lap down, fought back to finish sixth. Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman completed the top 10.<\/p>\n

Polesitter Joey Logano struggled with the handling of his car from the outside. Busch put him a lap down on Lap 76, but Logano recovered to finish 11th, despite damage to the nose of the No. 22 Ford\u2014so much so that he finished the race with his hood flapping above the engine compartment.<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin, like Logano a pre-race favorite, wheel-hopped his No. 11 Toyota into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 220 and retired from the race in 39th place.<\/p>\n

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick were shuffled back during the final restart and finished 14th and 17th, respectively. Harvick retained the series lead by four points over Johnson and five points over Busch.<\/p>\n

Hung on the outside on the final restart, Kenseth dropped to 15th after Allmendinger passed him. Danica Patrick came home 16th, her best result so far this season.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race – STP 500<\/strong>
\nMartinsville Speedway<\/strong>
\nMartinsville, Virginia<\/strong>
\nSunday, April 03, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. (7) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 500.
\n2. (6) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 500.
\n3. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 500.
\n4. (29) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.
\n5. (11) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500.
\n6. (25) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 500.
\n7. (3) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 500.
\n8. (4) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 500.
\n9. (24) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500.
\n10. (5) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 500.
\n11. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, 500.
\n12. (14) Greg Biffle, Ford, 500.
\n13. (23) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 500.
\n14. (21) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 500.
\n15. (9) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 500.
\n16. (28) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 500.
\n17. (19) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 500.
\n18. (16) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 500.
\n19. (12) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 500.
\n20. (10) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 499.
\n21. (22) David Ragan, Toyota, 499.
\n22. (2) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 499.
\n23. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 499.
\n24. (27) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 498.
\n25. (30) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 497.
\n26. (26) Brian Scott #, Ford, 496.
\n27. (32) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 496.
\n28. (33) Landon Cassill, Ford, 495.
\n29. (35) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 495.
\n30. (31) * Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 495.
\n31. (18) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 494.
\n32. (13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 494.
\n33. (36) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 491.
\n34. (34) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 491.
\n35. (38) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 490.
\n36. (37) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 490.
\n37. (40) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 490.
\n38. (39) * Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Engine, 326.
\n39. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 221.
\n40. (20) Aric Almirola, Ford, Engine, 206.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:\u00a0 80.088 mph.
\nTime of Race:\u00a0 03 Hrs, 17 Mins, 02 Secs. Margin of Victory:\u00a0 0.663 Seconds.
\nCaution Flags:\u00a0 8 for 51 laps.
\nLead Changes:\u00a0 11 among 5 drivers.
\nLap Leaders:\u00a0\u00a0 J. Logano 1-21; P. Menard 22-31; Kyle Busch 32-100; K. Harvick 101-105; Kyle Busch 106-131; M. Kenseth 132-146; Kyle Busch 147-155; K. Harvick 156-222; M. Kenseth 223-240; Kyle Busch 241-314; M. Kenseth 315-326; Kyle Busch 327-500.
\nLeaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):\u00a0 Kyle Busch 5 times for 352 laps; K. Harvick 2 times for 72 laps; M. Kenseth 3 times for 45 laps; J. Logano 1 time for 21 laps; P. Menard 1 time for 10 laps.
\nTop 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 220; J. Johnson – 216; Kyle Busch – 215; C. Edwards – 206; J. Logano – 196; B. Keselowski – 178; A. Dillon – 176; Kurt Busch – 176; D. Hamlin – 172; D. Earnhardt Jr – 172; M. Truex Jr – 150; A. Allmendinger – 147; J. Mcmurray – 143; M. Kenseth – 140; *. Blaney # – 132; C. Elliott # – 131.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Kyle Busch came to Martinsville Speedway this weekend with no grandfather clock trophies from the shortest and tightest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series short tracks. He left with two clocks after completing an unprecedented Martinsville sweep in Sunday\u2019s STP 500, and, appropriately, the first question […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[59,155,16],"class_list":["post-1798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kyle-busch","tag-martinsville","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/MS_040316_14.jpg?fit=1816%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-t0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions\/1812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}