Martinsville Race Report

· No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota driver Clint Bowyer finished fifth and is third in NASCAR’s Chase
  for the Sprint Cup now 26 points out of the lead. 
· No. 55 MyClassicGarage.com Toyota driver Brian Vickers finished eighth. The No. 55 is 14th in
  owner points.
· No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. finished 23rd and is seventh in
  NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup now 63 points out of the lead.
 
CHASE STANDINGS (After 7 of 10 races)
1          Jimmie Johnson          2291                Leader
2          Brad Keselowski         2289                -2
3          Clint Bowyer              2265                -26
4          Kasey Kahne              2262                -29
5          Denny Hamlin             2242                -49
6          Jeff Gordon                2237                -54
7          Martin Truex Jr.          2228                -63
8          Matt Kenseth               2225                -66
9          Greg Biffle                  2222                -69
10        Tony Stewart              2220                -71
11        Kevin Harvick             2203                -88
12        Dale Earnhardt Jr.      2151                -140
 
Clint Bowyer Race Summary: No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota driver Clint Bowyer finished fifth in Sunday’s 500-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver started eighth and drove to the front of the pack leading four times for 151 laps in the race. Bowyer raced in the top three before he pitted for four tires with 25 laps remaining. He restarted sixth with 19 laps remaining but fell to seventh before the final caution with 10 laps to go. He pitted again for two tires and restarted seventh with five to go before racing to fifth when the checkered flag fell. It marked Bowyer’s 21st top-10 finish and ninth top-five finish in 2012.  Bowyer and the 5-hour ENERGY team return to action Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in the eighth race in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. Bowyer is third in the Chase just 26 points out of first.

· Started eighth and finished fifth.
· Led four times for 151 laps
· Scored his ninth top-five and 21st top-10 of 2012.
· Raced from seventh to fifth in the final five laps
· The No. 15 carried a special paint scheme honoring its new Pink Lemonade flavor and the Avon Foundation for
  Women Breast Cancer Crusade
 
BOWYER: “It was a good day for us.  Man, I thought we had a car capable of winning.  As soon as it got cool I got a little bit tight, but we lost track position when they beat us out of the pits there and I never could regain it.”
 
Brian Vickers Race Summary: No. 55 MyClassicGarage.com Toyota driver Brian Vickers finished eighth in Sunday’s 500-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. The finish capped an impressive weekend that saw Vickers qualify second, top the speed charts in Saturday’s practice and look like one of the fastest cars on the track Sunday. Vickers started second and battled at the front of the field throughout race leading twice for 27 laps. The No. 55 overcame a tire that rolled away on a pit stop that dropped Vickers to 13th on lap 224. As the race neared the end, traffic slowed the No. 55 preventing Vickers from battling for the victory. Sunday marked Vickers fifth top-10 finish in his eight races in the No. 55 in 2012. Mark Martin returns to action in the No. 55 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway and will drive the remaining 2012 races.
 
· Started second and finished eighth
· Sunday marked Vickers’ eighth and final race driving the No. 55 in 2012.
· The No. 55 owns three consecutive second-place qualifying efforts.
· Vickers qualified second, topped Saturday practice sessions and looked to be one of the fastest cars Sunday.
· Vickers owns five top-10 finishes in his eight races in the No. 55 in 2012.
· Vickers will drive the No. 55 in nine races in 2013.
 
VICKERS: “My race was good -- not as good as we wanted.  I think when you come into a day with a car you think can win and you don’t win with it you’re always frustrated no matter how well you do.  It was another top-10 -- we’ve had a lot of those this year, which is great.  Should have been another top-five and maybe even a win so you can’t complain about that.  The guys did an amazing job with the car all weekend.  I can’t thank everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing enough -- Toyota, MyClassicGarage.com and Aaron’s for making all this possible.  It was a short year, but we made the most of it.  We had a lot of top-10s and a lot of top-fives in only eight races.  We contended for wins on more than one occasion.  We led laps and we raced our way there.  I’m really proud of the guys for that.  We got to the front today -- we were tight, we got the car better.  We lost track position in the pits a little bit, but we battled back.  Then at the end it was just bad luck.  We kept getting stuck in the outside lane the last three or four restarts and it was just tough.  It was tough to make gains when you’re on the outside.  You just hope to maintain and then make your gains on the inside and we just never got that shot at the inside.”
 
Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. finished 23rd in Sunday’s 500-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver started 12th and ran most of the first half of the race in the top 10. Truex lost two laps to the leaders on lap 238 when he served a drive-through penalty for changing lanes before the start/finish line on a restart. The No. 56 team rallied from 30th place regaining one of the two lost laps and finished 23rd. The NAPA AUTO PARTS team returns to action Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Truex will start the eighth race in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in seventh, 63 points out of first.
 
· Started 12th and finished 23rd.
· Raced in the top 10 most of the race’s first half.
· A drive-through penalty for switching lanes before the start/finish line on a restart dropped him two laps
  behind the leaders.
· Rallied from 30th regaining one of the two lost laps.
 
TRUEX: “This one is on me. I have never made a mistake like that before. I hate it for this entire NAPA team because we had a top-10 car. All we can do is look towards Texas and get us a race win.”
 
RACE NOTES:
· Jimmie Johnson won the race by 0.479 seconds over Kyle Busch .
· Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-five finishers.
· The race took three hours and 23 minutes. 
· The race featured 22 lead changes among nine drivers.
· Eleven cautions slowed the race for 64 laps.
· NASCAR estimated the attendance at 60,000.