Toyota Driver Denny Hamlin Continues to Charm Martinsville

Racin’ with Russ

Denny Hamlin looked good early during the running of the Tums 500 at Martinsville Speedway, dropped back mid-pack only to rebound to win his third grandfather clock in a row from the fall event.

After capturing his latest pole on Friday, the Gibbs Toyota driver was on target to dethrone or at least curtail points leader Jimmie Johnson’s lead on the pack.

By the end of the race, Hamlin wound up the victor over a very hard charging Mark Martin (with a bent up car that was two laps down!), Kevin (bumper) Harvick, Kyle (get outa my way) Busch and Johnson.

Like most races at the "paperclip," there were incidents, accidents and hurt feelings, probably not the least of which was Martin being punted sideways by A.J. Allmendinger much earlier in the race, only to see the crafty professor climb through the field to a runner-up finish.

Then, there were teammates at each other’s throat, namely Harvick and Jeff Burton with Harvick claiming his teammate was not "running him right" to which Burton took exception to. He later stated he would not change his driving style for him or anyone else.

From what I saw in person was Harvick needing to back down a bit, especially with one of his own teammates. Not everyone is going to run away once they see the big bad yellow and red clown car in their rear view mirror.

Chase Notes

Hamlin’s seventh win of the season puts him only six points behind Johnson in the big picture. Harvick’s third place run moved him a little closer, yet sits 62 back while everyone else is toast.

Jeff Gordon’s run in with Kurt Busch netted him a 20th place finish and has all but eliminated him from a shot at a fifth title.

Nationwide

In what was probably the final race at Gateway Speedway, we saw points leader Brad Keselowski take his sixth checkers of the year, just in front of a hard charging Mike Bliss. Justin Allgaier, Jason Leffler and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five finishers in what turned out to be a wreck-a-thon event with barely half the field circling at the end. A 10-car wreck with 97 laps to go really thinned out the field.

Allgaier started on the pole and led the most laps, but a very late last minute pit stop had him mired among the 10 yet managed to get to third.

Danica Patrick had another dismal weekend starting 41st and finishing 22nd, some 17 laps down, getting involved in not one but two incidents re-arranging more then the tin on the car.

Truckin’

Points leader Todd Bodine led the most laps at Martinsville, but it was Ron Hornaday, Jr. out dueling Kyle Busch over the final handful of laps to claim his 46th career win, yet his first at the Virginia half-mile track.

Busch was his usual contrite self after the race, stating the Harvick Chevy trucks were just too strong against his Toyota.

Bodine nailed down this and further extended his lead over Aric Almirola who wound up fifth just ahead of Jason White.

Open Wheel News

Red Bull Racing driver Sebastien Vettel took the inaugural pole at the Formula One race in Korea at which many thought would never happen as the finishing touches were still putting on while opening the gates.

Torrential rains delayed the start of the race. Once underway, Mark Webber spun away his points lead, although his teammate Vettel started to walk away with it, only to wind up on the side of the track in smoke and flames as the Renault powerplant let go.

With the two Red Bulls out of the way, Fernando Alonso ran away with the win over Lewis Hamilton and teammate Felippe Massa.

Alonso now leads the points, but only narrowly over Webber and Hamilton with two shows to go.

From Rumorville

The biggest rumors this week revolve around Richard Petty Motorsports. The four car team will dwindle down to two for next year with A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose slated for a full season….or not. There are serious financial problems that may have the whole operation on the ropes by season's end. Stay tuned.

Looks like Scott Speed will be added to the ever-growing list of drivers looking for a ride, as his option was not picked up for next year. This personable driver has been under contract with Red Bull for many years starting as a development driver, then F-1, trucks and Cup and while he has shown well, evidently it is not good enough for the performance-minded folks at Red Bull.

Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers should be behind the RB wheels at the start of next season…IF Vickers is cleared to return from blood issues.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Camping World truck battles from Talladega along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at [e-mail]