Dale Jr. wins Martinsville Cup race, fourth win of season
After getting eliminated from the Chase last weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said his goal for the last four races of the season is to "win races and get trophies." On Sunday evening he did just that, winning the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Crew chief Steve Letarte made the call before the final restart to come in and pit and take fresh tires. Tony Stewart elected to stay out on old tires.
When the green flag waved, Earnhardt blew past Stewart and held on to capture the checkered flag. Getting eliminated from the Chase didn’t seem to bother him too much.
“I couldn’t care less about the points!” Earnhardt said in victory lane. “We don’t have to worry about the points anymore, we’re trying to get trophies.”
For the Chase drivers, Earnhardt’s teammate Jeff Gordon finished 2nd. Gordon also chose to come in to pit and grab tires on the final pit stop, and easily passed Stewart.
Here's how the Chase drivers finished:
| Pos. | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon |
| 3 | 31 | Ryan Newman |
| 5 | 22 | Joey Logano |
| 6 | 20 | Matt Kenseth |
| 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 20 | 99 | Carl Edwards |
| 31 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
| 33 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
Here's your UNOFFICIAL finishing order:
| Pos. | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon |
| 3 | 31 | Ryan Newman |
| 4 | 14 | Tony Stewart |
| 5 | 22 | Joey Logano |
| 6 | 20 | Matt Kenseth |
| 7 | 15 | Clint Bowyer |
| 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 9 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 10 | 34 | David Ragan |
| 11 | 18 | Kyle Busch |
| 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon # |
| 13 | 16 | Greg Biffle |
| 14 | 27 | Paul Menard |
| 15 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray |
| 17 | 51 | Justin Allgaier # |
| 18 | 26 | Cole Whitt # |
| 19 | 40 | Landon Cassill(i) |
| 20 | 99 | Carl Edwards |
| 21 | 43 | Aric Almirola |
| 22 | 38 | David Gilliland |
| 23 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose |
| 24 | 7 | Michael Annett # |
| 25 | 98 | Josh Wise |
| 26 | 66 | Mike Wallace(i) |
| 27 | 55 | Brian Vickers |
| 28 | 32 | Kyle Fowler(i) |
| 29 | 23 | Alex Bowman # |
| 30 | 42 | Kyle Larson # |
| 31 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
| 32 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 33 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
| 34 | 10 | Danica Patrick |
| 35 | 36 | Reed Sorenson |
| 36 | 41 | Kurt Busch |
| 37 | 13 | Casey Mears |
| 38 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 39 | 83 | JJ Yeley(i) |
| 40 | 5 | Kasey Kahne |
| 41 | 33 | Travis Kvapil |
| 42 | 44 | Timmy Hill |
| 43 | 93 | Clay Rogers |
# = rookie, (i) = not eligible for points