NASCAR at Martinsville 2018: Start Time, Ticket Info, Lineup, TV Schedule, More
Martin Truex Jr. finally stopped the reign of Kevin Harvick ahead of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series turning into Martinsville Speedway for Sunday's STP 500.
Harvick had won three checkered flags in a row, a run of dominance the sport hadn't expected a year removed from the parity-riddled run last year. It seemed a matter of time, though, before Truex got himself to Victory Lane.
Now the question is simple—can he do it again? It would almost be fitting to have this year's series defined by runs from dominant names as opposed to unexpected winners. With names like Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski finishing close behind Truex a week ago, things should get interesting as the series closes out the month of March.
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Here's everything to know about the event.
Viewing Details
Where: Martinsville Speedway
When: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET
Watch: Fox
Tickets: StubHub
STP 500
- Landon Cassill
- Jamie McMurray
- Brad Keselowski
- Austin Dillon
- Kevin Harvick
- Trevor Bayne
- Chase Elliott
- Aric Almirola
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Blaney
- Ty Dillon
- Clint Bowyer
- Ross Chastain
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Kyle Busch
- Daniel Suarez
- Erik Jones
- Paul Menard
- Joey Logano
- Gray Gaulding
- William Byron
- Ryan Newman
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Michael McDowell
- Chris Buescher
- David Ragan
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Larson
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- AJ Allmendinger
- Jimmie Johnson
- Harrison Rhodes
- JJ Yeley
- Cole Whitt
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Alex Bowman
- Kasey Kahne
- D.J. Kennington
*Qualifying is Saturday
2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Standings
| 1. Kevin Harvick | 170 |
| 2. Martin Truex Jr. | 216 |
| 3. Austin Dillon | 141 |
| 4. Kyle Busch | 207 |
| 5. Joey Logano | 197 |
| 6. Brad Keselowski | 183 |
| 7. Ryan Blaney | 181 |
| 8. Denny Hamlin | 176 |
| 9. Kyle Larson | 174 |
| 10. Clint Bowyer | 155 |
| 11. Aric Almirola | 148 |
| 12. Kurt Busch | 144 |
| 13. Erik Jones | 132 |
| 14. Ryan Newman | 117 |
| 15. Paul Menard | 115 |
| 16. Alex Bowman | 115 |
Drivers to Watch
Kevin Harvick
Harvick failed to win last week, but it doesn't make his run any less impressive. In fact, plenty of drivers don't win each week, so the fact it's a talking point around Harvick says quite a bit.
In California, Harvick's three-race tear came to an end with a finish of 35th thanks to a crash.
Said crash came courtesy of Kyle Larson, which should make for some interesting in-race battles in Martinsville:
Before the early ending, Harvick won in Atlanta by leading 181 laps, led another 214 at Las Vegas for a win and then hit the desert in Phoenix for the third in a row, coming up clutch while only leading 38 laps.
Now it becomes a matter of seeing if Harvick can bounce back in a hurry. Cooling off was an inevitable result, but wrecking out a good car at a favorable event isn't an easy hurdle to clear. While he's got plenty of time and an assured spot in the playoffs to get some momentum back, rest assured he'll attempt to run Martinsville aggressively in the hopes of doing just that.
Brad Keselowski
Harvick's hiccup leaves room for a guy like Keselowski to swoop in and get his first win of the season after finishing fourth at California a week ago.
It was the third top-six finish for Keselowski on the season—he's also had a showing of 15th in Phoenix and a disappointing 32nd in Daytona to start the year.
Now is as good a time as any for the Keselowski bounce back considering he won this race a year ago. His explaining how Martinsville gives more control back to the drivers during an interview with FoxSports.com says it all:
"Oh, absolutely because it takes away all the aerodynamics of the car. When you're at such a small track and the air's flowing over the car much slower—and you know this is true—the aerodynamics don't mean as much. That doesn't mean they don't mean anything because you definitely need the air to cool the brakes and all those things, but they don't mean nearly as much. And I think that puts the car more in the drivers hands."
Keselowski made his point here a year ago well enough. Coming off a top-five showing and well versed in how the 500 laps can play to his advantage, it's easy to expect him to show up in contention late over the weekend.
Martin Truex Jr.
Truex has been his usual consistent self this season, going from 18th at the Daytona 500 to finishes of fifth, fourth, fifth and now first at California.
It felt like it was only a matter of time before he got his win and started thinking about the playoffs.
Yet even Truex himself likely had a hard time predicting he'd be so dominant at California—according to ESPN.com's Matt Willis, he became the first to win by 10 or more seconds since 2009.
As NASCAR captured, Truex was simply focused on the "when" of the race:
Fair enough, as Truex notched his first win a season ago in mid-March, so the series' most dominant driver is a little off schedule here.
Sarcasm aside, Truex is now in a position to do what he did a year ago. He's going to be as aggressive as ever while trying to win more races, but he's merely biding his time until the postseason.
Just keep in mind last year, he went on to win seven more races after the first.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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