The 2014 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on October 26, 2014, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the short track, it was the 33rd race of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the seventh race of ten in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race, his fourth win of the season. Jeff Gordon finished second, while Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano rounded out the Top 5. The top rookies in the race were Austin Dillon (12th), Justin Allgaier (17th), and Cole Whitt (18th).
Report
Background Martinsville Speedway is an International Speedway Corporation-owned NASCAR stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.
Entry list Forty-three drivers were entered for the race.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski (PC2) (CC) Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick (CC) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin (CC) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Tony Stewart (PC3) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth (PC5) (CC) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22 Joey Logano (CC) Team Penske Ford 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC6) (CC) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman (CC) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Kyle Fowler (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Travis Kvapil Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 41 Kurt Busch (PC4) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44 Timmy Hill Team Xtreme Racing Chevrolet 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC1) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 66 Mike Wallace (i) Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 93 Clay Rogers BK Racing Toyota 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 99 Carl Edwards (CC) Roush Fenway Racing FordOfficial entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional (CC) Chase Contender
Practice and qualifying Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.079 and a speed of . Justin Allgaier spun his car in the opening minutes of practice. Jamie McMurray lightly brushed the wall, but the damage was cosmetic. McMurray won the pole with a time of 18.954 and a speed of . "Great start to our weekend for our McDonald's Chevrolet," said McMurray. "We tested here and I thought we had a really good test. Keith (Rodden, crew chief) and Josh (Sell, Engineer) just did a really good job adjusting on the car. It's amazing you can go quicker your second time out. For years we came here to these places and ran slower. That was a good lap." "I thought that first lap would be enough to sneak our way in there and then we could make some adjustments," Gordon said. "But I don't mind starting 13th. It's not a bad place to start; you just want that really good pit stall. So we'll definitely suffer with the pit stall a little bit, but we can still win it from there. Our car's really good." "We just missed it today," Kevin Harvick said. "We were way too loose. ... We have to get better and be ready to go on Sunday." Harvick slapped the wall twice during qualifying and qualified 33rd. Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 19.318 and a speed of . Justin Allgaier had smoke billowing from his car during the session. The culprit was a loss of power steering. Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.457 and a speed of .
Qualifying result Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.033 18.954 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 19.109 19.011 3 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 18.971 19.066 4 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.155 19.070 5 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.048 19.076 6 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 19.093 19.081 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.089 19.083 8 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.134 19.087 9 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.141 19.159 10 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.150 19.201 11 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.152 19.214 12 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 19.094 19.258 13 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.158 — 14 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.163 — 15 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 19.164 — 16 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.196 — 17 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 19.200 — 18 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.207 — 19 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.231 — 20 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 19.231 — 21 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.235 — 22 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 19.256 — 23 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.257 — 24 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.267 — 25 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 19.280 — 26 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 19.283 — 27 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 19.300 — 28 40 Landon Cassill Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 19.305 — 29 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.308 — 30 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.341 — 31 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 19.345 — 32 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 19.347 — 33 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.355 — 34 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.365 — 35 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 19.376 — 36 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 19.383 — 37 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 19.457 — 38 93 Clay Rogers BK Racing Toyota 19.568 — 39 33 Travis Kvapil Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 19.583 — 40 83 J. J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 19.611 — 41 44 Timmy Hill Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet 19.719 — 42 32 Kyle Fowler Go FAS Racing Ford 19.787 — 43 66 Mike Wallace Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 19.800 —
Race
The race was scheduled to begin at 1:43 PM Eastern time, but it started at 1:48 p.m. with Jamie McMurray leading the field to the green. The first caution flag came out on lap 4 when Alex Bowman hopped the curb in turn 2 and spun around. The race restarted on lap nine and Matt Kenseth took the lead from McMurray for a lap, but gave the lead back to him the next lap. On lap 16, the second caution flag wave when Josh Wise tapped the corner of Travis Kvapil in turn 1 and sent him spinning. The race restarted on lap 21 with McMurray still leading. The third caution occurred on lap 75 when Kyle Fowler spun out in turn 2. The race restarted on lap 82 with McMurray still leading.
On lap 85, Jeff Gordon took the lead from McMurray. On lap 101, Jimmie Johnson was running third when he made an unscheduled stop to repair a loose wheel. He exited pit road in 38th place, and two laps down, but made one lap back by passing Gordon thanks to fresher tires. On lap 123, Gordon moved into second on the all-time laps led list at Martinsville Speedway.
The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 160 after Kasey Kahne tapped Brian Vickers and spun him around in turn 4 in front of the leader. "I was passing him and he ran me into the Turn 2 wall or he was going to, so I lifted. Then he blocked into 3, so I turned to go low and then he comes low and spun himself out," Kahne said after being released from the infield care center for an unrelated incident on Lap 438. "He definitely wrecked us on purpose the first time, I mean look at the video," Vickers said. "He just hooked us in the bumper and just wrecked us, I don't know why." This would be the first of three incidents where the two cars made contact. The race restarted on lap 169, and McMurray and Gordon traded the lead until McMurray was pinned in the outside line and freight-trained.
Reed Sorenson brought out the fifth caution on lap 189 after spinning out in turn 2. Gordon won the race off pit road, but he and Ryan Newman were flagged for speeding off pit road and had to restart from the tail end of the field. This meant that when the race restarted on lap 206, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading. Two laps after the restart, the sixth caution came out when David Ragan got clipped by Alex Bowman and spun in turn 4.
The race restarted on lap 214 and Earnhardt Jr. lost the lead to Joey Logano.
The seventh caution flag flew on lap 221, in what would be the second incident between Vickers and Kahne, when Vickers turned Kahne into the turn 1 wall, presumably as payback for the earlier incident on lap 160. Brad Keselowski was caught in the melee too, but suffered little, if any, damage.
The race restarted on lap 227, but the eighth caution came out a lap later when Matt Kenseth locked up his brakes, got loose and got into Kevin Harvick in turn 1. "The good thing about this format is you have two more weeks and two race tracks that we can win on," Harvick said. "Everybody was so worried about us starting in the back (because of a poor qualifying effort) and we wrecked at the front." "He won't win this championship," Harvick said of Kenseth. "If we don't, he won't." "I totally understand how he feels," Kenseth said of Harvick. "He knows it's a mistake, but it doesn't help him. He got taken out of the race for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The race restarted on lap 239 with Logano still leading. The ninth caution came out on lap 255 when a plastic Ford grille plate was spotted in turn 1. Justin Allgaier stayed out when the leaders pitted and assumed the lead. The race restarted on lap 261 and Tony Stewart took the lead. He led for fourteen laps before Logano reassumed the lead.
The tenth caution flag flew on lap 277 for the third case of contact between Kahne and Vickers. NASCAR issued a warning to the crew chiefs of both drivers to cease the antics.
The race restarted on lap 283. Denny Hamlin took the lead on lap 291. The eleventh caution flag came out on lap 294 when Martin Truex Jr. clipped Danica Patrick going into turn 2. Earnhardt Jr. stayed out when the leaders pitted and assumed the lead. The race restarted on lap 300. Kurt Busch took the lead on lap 314. He led for 21 laps before Gordon took the lead, after rallying all the way back from his speeding penalty. On lap 359, Denny Hamlin retook the lead.
The twelfth caution flag came out on lap 387 when Reed Sorenson blew a right-front tire and slammed the wall in turn 1.