Sprint Cup 2012: Race 6: Martinsville -- Red Hot Clock Work on Historic Track

Martinsville is one of the most enjoyable stops on the Sprint Cup tour, a true throwback to the early days of the sport when the glare of big media lights, super speedways, and cookie-cutter sameness was not an issue. Having just seen short track racing two weeks ago at Bristol, Martinsville is the other half mile track on the circuit, but its short length is the only similarity with its sister track to the west. While Bristol is a high-tech engineering marvel, at Martinsville “what you see is what you get,” a rustic flat paperclip shaped track with concrete for the inside lanes in the turns. Set in small town Virginia next to a railroad track is rural Americana; so much so, it’s a rather substantial distance from the facility nestled in the Virginia Mountains. Thankfully despite NASCAR’s recent inability to pack its tracks, quirky little Martinsville continues to hold its own while other more unique tracks North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, and one date at Darlington have been surrendered to the giant cookie cutter raceways. Rockingham has its own traditions from its flaming bright red jumbo hotdogs to the lovely Ridgeway Grandfather clocks awarded as trophies with unique racing action to match.

In looking at the starting lineup for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500, one has to wonder, where are the Fords? The “blue ovals” have been strong in 2012, but technique and setup are more important than brute force at Martinsville. The highest Ford qualifier rests in 12^th place, Marcos Ambrose in the #9 ride. Kasey Kahne whose ability to finish races has been frustration gains his second pole of the year in the #6 Chevrolet with Kevin Harvick in the #29 Chevy on the outside row.

Here’s how they line up.

POS		CAR		DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED
1		5		Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	HendrickCars.com	97.128
2		29		Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser is Back	97.048
3		11		Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Freight	97.003
4		15		Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-hour Energy	97.003
5		39		Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Outback Steak House	96.988
6		55		Brian Vickers	Toyota	RK Motors	96.765
7		2		Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	96.751
8		18		Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	96.745
9		24		Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	96.731
10		20		Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	96.706
11		27		Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Libman / Menards	96.701
12		9		Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Dewalt	96.627
13		56		Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	96.583
14		88		Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Amp Energy / National Guard	96.43
15		14		Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	96.322
16		47		Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	96.215
17		78		Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / CSX "Play it Safe"	96.2
18		31		Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	BB&T	96.18
19		43		Aric Almirola	Ford	Smithfield "Helping Hungry Homes"	96.049
20		1		Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Belkin	96.049
21		17		Matt Kenseth	Ford	Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation / Gary Sinise Foundation	95.971
22		48		Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	MyLowe's	95.854
23		98		Michael McDowell	Ford	Curb Records	95.849
24		34		David Ragan	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	95.83
25		13		Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	95.796
26		16		Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	95.743
27		22		AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	95.738
28		99		Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	95.607
29		10		David Reutimann	Chevrolet	Accell Construction	95.607
30		26		Josh Wise*	Ford	Morristown Driver's Service	95.583
31		83		Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	95.511
32		42		Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	95.477
33		23		Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	95.352
34		93		Travis Kvapil	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	95.347
35		74		Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	Turn One Racing	95.223
36		32		Ken Schrader	Ford	Federated Auto Parts	95.127
37		87		Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves	94.936
38		38		David Gilliland	Ford	Long John Silver's	94.78
39		30		David Stremme	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	94.609
40		51		Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction Services	94.566
41		33		Hermie Sadler	Chevrolet	Anderson's Maple Syrup	94.486
42		36		Dave Blaney+	Chevrolet	Ollie's Bargain Outlet	93.18
43		249		J.J. Yeley	Toyota	JPO Absorbents	93.212
Did Not Qualify
44		52		Scott Speed	Toyota	Crusader Staffing Associates	92.101
45		119		Mike Bliss	Toyota	Humphrey Smith Racing	84.846
46		37		Tony Raines	Ford	Poynt.com	93.757