NASCAR‘s showdown on the short track of Martinsville was dominated as Kyle Busch claimed his first Sprint Cup win of 2016 and claimed his clock in the STP 500.

With cooler temperatures at Martinsville Speedway, it could have been a day full of crashes as the track was not expected to take on much rubber through the 500 laps of racing around the 0.526-mile track. However, the drivers knew this and for the most part adapted their driving accordingly. There were some issues though including on lap five when a Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sent spinning after another car got into the #88 Chevrolet enough to flatten his left rear tire. The incident put Dale Jr. a lap down which he would take some 300 laps getting back on the lead lap.

That was the first of only eight caution periods during the STP 500 which seemed to show that after that early yellow flag the drivers all realized how much they would have to adjust their driving style to make sure it wasn’t a complete crash fest through the race.

Kyle Busch won the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday night (4/2) to claim his first career victory at Martinsville in any series. Sunday afternoon (4/3) it appeared that Kyle was applying what he learned the night before to the Sprint Cup series. He was able to get out front and lead the race by lap 32 and dominated from that point forward as he led a race high 352 or the 500 laps.

The race turned into a ten lap shootout as the final re-start of the race took place on lap 490. AJ Allmendinger had been strong all day and began trying to track Kyle down to challenge for the win. However, the #18 Toyota was just too strong and Kyle was able to complete the NASCAR weekend sweep at Martinsville claiming his second career Grandfather Clock trophy in 24 hours with the win in the STP 500.

AJ claimed a career best finish at Martinsville with his runner-up finish. Kyle Larson and rookie Austin Dillon also had career days at Martinsville finishing in third and fourth places respectively. Brad Kesleowski rounded out the top five in the race. See the complete race results for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway here.

Kyle’s win moved him up in the point standings to third place, but more importantly it gives him a win and all but guarantees his spot in The Chase to have the chance to defend his 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. Kevin Harvick remains the leader in the point standings after the Martinsville race with Jimmie Johnson holding steady in second place. Carl Edwards slipped a spot to fourth as Kyle moved up to third with Joey Logano moving up a spot to take over fifth place in the standings. See the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings after Sunday’s Martinsville race here.

The 2016 NASCAR Chase Grid now has five drivers with a win on it. Jimmie Johnson remains at the top of the grid as the only Sprint Cup driver with two wins in 2016. See the Chase Grid as it stands after the STP 500 here.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series heads to Texas Motor Speedway next for some racing action Saturday Night under the lights April 9th in the Duck Commander 500.

By: Buck Stevens