Backstretch Motorsports

Qualifying Fast Facts
Martinsville Speedway
TUMS Fast Relief 500 (61st Running)

Coors Light Pole Winner: Ryan Newman
Age: 31
Team : No. 39 - U.S. Army Chevrolet
Owner: Tony Stewart
Crew Chief: Tony Gibson [read more...]

Mark Martin’s experience in battles for a title hunt are legendary. The Man from Batesville, Ark. has just about seen and done it all in the modern era of NASCAR racing.

Include in that experience seeing the tracks at Martinsville, Virginia and Talladega, Alabama seal some deals in some pretty definitive fashions.

“It’s not over.” says the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports livery, “I still say, like I’ve said all along, we’ve got to get through Martinsville and Talladega. Then we’ll have a clear view of what’s going to happen here with this championship. Give us those two more races to see.” [read more...]

Jimmie Johnson has done it again, winning of the NASCAR Banking 500 Only From Bank of America. It was Johnson’s sixth win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and put him another step closer to a fourth consecutive championship, which would be a first in NASCAR history.

Johnson extended his lead in the Chase standings to 90 points over second place teammate Mark Martin with five races remaining in the season.

Johnson drove away from the field after dicing with teammate Jeff Gordon in the closing laps of the 334-lap race. [read more...]

Fontana, CA — Saying that 3-Time NASCAR Sprint Jimmie Johnson has a really strong affinity for the Auto Club Speedway is understatement.

For months, the defending champion has been saying the addition of ACS to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was a gift to his No. 48 team.

In Sunday’s Pepsi 500, Johnson proved it—and grabbed the points lead from Mark Martin in the process. Johnson’s win also left runner-up Jeff Gordon conceding that his Hendrick Motorsports teammate is in a class by himself. [read more...]

KANSAS CITY, KS. (Oct. 4, 2009) — Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart took two tires on his final pit stop and held off hard-charging Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion himself, at the finish to win the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway Sunday afternoon.

Stewart, a first-year car owner/driver, raced hard all afternoon with the frontrunners and gambled with crew chief Darian Grubb on the two-tire strategy at the end.

“Darian (Grubb, crew chief) made it.” said the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet “We got two tires earlier in the day and were able to go really quick on them so it was pretty much in our opinion a no-brainer of what to do. The guys that took four could just never gain the track position back. We had a really good car on two tires. Darian and these guys on the pit crew, they are the ones that got us the win. They got us track position and I was able to pick which line I wanted on the restart and that won us the race.” [read more...]

OK, everybody sing along, you know the tune:

“I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come - they got a winning little speedway there and I’m gonna get me some…”

No?.. well.. it was worth a shot… (apologies to the late, great Wilbert Harrison)

If the ’stock-car’ racing standards are set in the way many have historically classified them, it breaks down this way: [read more...]

If the New Hampshire opener proved nothing else, it shined light on just how volatile the Chase can be, just as humbling.

Now enter Dover, The Monster Mile, it can be it’s own “wildcard” in The Chase, have no doubt.

It’s a tough track. Speeds are quick, disaster looms and can become reality just as quickly.

The drops in points position are hard to recover from, the gains are just as hard to maintain.

Dover has that modus operandi: 400 miles, hard on drivers, hard on equipment…

It can be a game changer for certain.

One race neither wins or loses a championship, but two races can become an indicator, a look at the end for some. [read more...]

BROOKLYN, Mich. (Aug. 16, 2009) — Polesitter Brian Vickers ran out of gas at the end of Sunday’s Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

It’s a good thing it was on the way to Victory Lane. [read more...]

JOLIET, Ill. (July 11, 2009) — Body-slamming and bump-drafting were the order of the day — at 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, no less — and 50-year-old Mark Martin was the last man standing in a wild LifeLock.com 400.

Pulling away after a double-file restart with two laps left in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, Martin won his series-best fourth race of the season and the 39th of his career. Martin gained two positions to 11th in the standings and will have at least 40 bonus points for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup seven races hence, if he can hold a position in the top 12. [read more...]

LOUDON, N. H. — Sometimes, the sun shines even though it’s raining.

Ask young Joey Logano. A late-race rainstorm stopped the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 after 273 of the scheduled 301 laps, giving Logano his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.

The 19-year-old rookie, who turned 19 on May 24, was probably the only happy driver when NASCAR announced the race official, but veterans of the sport would quickly tell the youngster to enjoy his win because “there’s no telling how long it might be before he wins another one.” [read more...]