The 2019 STP 500 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on March 24, 2019, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the .526 mile (.847 km) paperclip-shaped short track, it was the sixth race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
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 Monster Energy NASCAR 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 remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 00 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 8 Daniel Hemric (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 13 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 15 Ross Chastain (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 32 Corey LaJoie Go Fas Racing Ford 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 36 Matt Tifft (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Daniel Suárez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 47 Ryan Preece (R) JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware (R) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 52 Jeb Burton (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 77 D. J. Kennington (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing ToyotaOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice
Clint Bowyer was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.387 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.387 97.674 2 41 Daniel Suárez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.470 97.257 3 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.521 97.003Official first practice results
Final practice
Chase Elliott was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.413 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.413 97.543 2 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.597 96.627 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.600 96.612Official final practice results
Qualifying
Joey Logano scored the pole for the race with a time of 19.356 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 122 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 19.476 19.462 19.356 210 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.453 19.429 19.393 32 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 19.430 19.474 19.430 44 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.462 19.423 19.445 511 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.355 19.385 19.449 624 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.530 19.551 19.481 742 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.462 19.445 19.502 89 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.548 19.432 19.511 919 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.587 19.529 19.518 1041 Daniel Suárez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.505 19.497 19.556 1114 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 19.580 19.560 19.581 1248 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.579 19.550 19.608 1337 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 19.571 19.571 — 1418 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.635 19.579 — 1521 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 19.545 19.583 — 1647 Ryan Preece (R) JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 19.496 19.588 — 1788 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.580 19.593 — 1812 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 19.501 19.602 — 1920 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.597 19.602 — 201 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.572 19.623 — 216 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.570 19.626 — 2295 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing Toyota 19.575 19.630 — 2313 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 19.591 19.652 — 2434 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.636 19.695 — 2517 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.664 — — 2638 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.703 — — 2743 Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 19.742 — — 2800 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 19.785 — — 298 Daniel Hemric (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.807 — — 303 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.814 — — 3115 Ross Chastain (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 19.846 — — 3236 Matt Tifft (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.846 — — 3352 Jeb Burton (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 19.998 — — 3477 D. J. Kennington (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 20.013 — — 3532 Corey LaJoie Go Fas Racing Ford 0.000 — — 3651 Cody Ware (R) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 0.000 — —Official qualifying results
William Byron, D. J. Kennington, and Jeb Burton all starting at the back due to failing inspection.
Race Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 130
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 102 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 93 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 84 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 66 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 57 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 48 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 39 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 210 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1Official stage one results
Stage Two Laps: 130
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 102 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 93 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 84 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 66 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 57 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 48 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 39 41 Daniel Suárez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 210 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 1Official stage two results
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 240
Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 3 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 500 602 7 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 513 13 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 500 364 17 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 500 485 5 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 500 476 4 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 500 357 10 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 500 388 8 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 500 389 2 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 500 4110 9 41 Daniel Suárez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 500 2911 29 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 500 2712 19 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 500 2513 22 13 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 500 2414 16 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 2315 14 21 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 500 2216 15 47 Ryan Preece (R) JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 500 2117 26 43 Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 500 2018 6 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 500 1919 1 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 500 2320 21 95 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing Toyota 500 1721 12 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 499 1622 34 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 499 1523 20 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 499 1424 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 498 1325 24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 498 1226 25 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 496 1127 28 8 Daniel Hemric (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 496 1028 27 00 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 494 929 31 36 Matt Tifft (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 494 830 18 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 491 731 23 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 491 632 35 77 D. J. Kennington (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 489 033 32 32 Corey LaJoie Go Fas Racing Ford 489 434 30 15 Ross Chastain (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 365 035 36 52 Jeb Burton (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 163 036 33 51 Cody Ware (R) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 55 1Official race results
Race statistics Lead changes: 4 among 3 different drivers (Laps Led: Keselowski (446), Elliott (49), Logano (5)) Cautions/Laps: 7 for 56 Red flags: 0 Time of race: 3 hours, 21 minutes and 54 seconds Average speed:
Media
Television Fox Sports covered their 19th race at the Martinsville Speedway. Mike Joy, nine-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon and 11-time Martinsville winner Darrell Waltrip called the race from the booth. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled pit road duties for the entire race.
FS1 Booth announcersPit reporters Lap-by-lap: Mike JoyColor-commentator: Jeff GordonColor commentator: Darrell Waltrip Jamie LittleVince WelchMatt Yocum
Radio MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and seven-time Martinsville winner Rusty Wallace called the race in the booth as the cars raced down the frontstretch. Dave Moody called the race from atop the turn 3 stands as the field raced down the backstretch. Winston Kelley, Steve Post and Dillon Welch worked pit road for the radio side.
MRNBooth announcersTurn announcersPit reporters Lead announcer: Alex HaydenAnnouncer: Jeff StriegleAnnouncer: Rusty Wallace Backstretch: Dave Moody Winston KelleySteve PostDillon Welch
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kyle Busch 273 2 2 Denny Hamlin 252 (–21) 3 Kevin Harvick 248 (–25) 2 4 Joey Logano 245 (–28) 5 Brad Keselowski 236 (–37) 6 Aric Almirola 215 (–58) 7 Martin Truex Jr. 207 (–66) 2 8 Ryan Blaney 203 (–70) 3 9 Chase Elliott 186 (–87) 1 10 Kurt Busch 185 (–88) 3 11 Kyle Larson 182 (–91) 1 12 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 158 (–115) 2 13 Clint Bowyer 157 (–116) 1 14 Erik Jones 140 (–133) 1 15 Jimmie Johnson 134 (–139) 2 16 Daniel Suárez 134 (–139)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Toyota 223 2 Ford 222 (–1) 3 Chevrolet 194 (–29)
Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
References