Tony Stewart Wins Chase Race #7 At Martinsville

If you are one who believes “Rubbin’ is Racin’”, then NASCAR’s seventh race in the Chase to the Sprint Cup was your kind of race. It was Tony Stewart’s kind of race as well since he survived it all to win his third race in The Chase, the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

The bumpin’ and bangin’ that racing at Martinsville is known for didn’t take long to get started. On lap 8 of the 500 lap race, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. get together and spin while racing for seventh position. The incident ultimately ends up involving Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Mike Skinner and Jeff Burton to bring out the first yellow flag of the race, but not the last. There would be 18 total caution periods before the Tums Fast Relief 500 saw the checkered flag.

At one point in the race, Tony Stewart had to race hard to keep from going a lap down before a caution came out that kept him on the lead lap. As the race got closer and closer to the end, Tony made some two-tire pit stops to get him back toward the front of the pack. With the restart on lap 497 following the final yellow flag of the race, Tony re-started from second place  outside of race leader Jimmie Johnson. On the next lap, Tony passed Jimmie on the outside to take the lead.

Tony was able to hang onto the lead to capture his third race in the “playoffs” in NASCAR’s ten race post-season stretch in the Sprint Cup series known as “The Chase”. Jimmie held on to take second place with Jeff Gordon taking third and Kevin Harvick followed by Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth respectively. See the complete Tums Fast Relief 500 race results here.

Carl Edwards managed to hang onto the Sprint Cup points lead despite a less than good day at Martinsville on Sunday. With the win, Tony moves up two spots to second in points and is in great position to make a series run at the championship just 8 points behind Carl. Kevin Harvick also moved up a couple of spots to third in points with Brad Keselowski falling back one spot to fourth in points. Matt Kenseth took the biggest hit in points falling from second to fifth following the race at Martinsville. See the complete Sprint Cup points standings here.

With just three more races in The Chase, only a few Chase drivers have a real chance at the championship. For those drivers, every spot and every point in the next three weeks will be worth fighting for. Be sure to tune in this Friday morning at 6:50am as Wilson joins JD & Kevin for a preview race eight in The Chase to the Sprint Cup Championship as NASCAR heads to Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday afternoon (11/6) for the AAA Texas 500.