Monday Racing Roundup: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins at Martinsville
October 27, 2014 | By IMS
Dale Earnhardt Jr. can’t win the 2014 Sprint Cup title, but can still grab special race victories.
Sunday’s triumph at Martinsville would qualify as one.
Earnhardt Jr. won on the short oval for the first time in 30 career starts, on a weekend marking the 10-year anniversary of a plane crash that took 10 lives including car owner Rick Hendrick’s brother, son, nieces, and several team members.
Earnhardt Jr. took the lead from Tony Stewart on a restart with four laps to go and held on to win by .344 of a second over teammate Jeff Gordon, collecting a fourth win in the last five Martinsville races for Hendrick Motorsports.
“Losing my dad was difficult, I can’t imagine that loss that he went through, his family went through, the whole organization. It just has to be unbelievable to have to deal with that,” Earnhardt Jr. said after his fourth win of the season. “The more years, the more time I spend around the organization, the more I started to understand what that weekend means to the company.
“They always run good at Martinsville. They always win here. I thought when I started with Hendrick I would have a better shot at getting a victory here. Part of me wishes that it hadn't took so long, but the other part of me thinks the fact that it did take me so long makes me appreciate it more and celebrate it.
For Gordon, the runner-up finish didn’t give him an automatic berth into the season finale at Homestead but it was a crucial first step. At least half of the four spots at the finale will now be set on points, and the four-time champion leads the Eliminator round standings with races at Texas and Phoenix remaining.
“Finishing second isn’t as big of a deal today, it’s actually a really good finish and good points day compared to if a Chase driver would have won,” said Gordon, whose last championship was in 2001. “I wanted to get that win to get ourselves locked in, but we have two more great tracks coming up.”
Brad Keselowski, who won his way into the Eliminator round with a must-win effort last week at Talladega, now may need a similar triumph to get to the finale. He was in a crash mid-race and finished 31st, second-worst among the eight title contenders remaining.
“My car barely had a scratch on it and was in really good shape to probably run fifth or sixth. We didn’t quite have the speed we needed to win today and then something broke, which was unfortunate not just for us but for the other guys that got tore up in it,” the Team Penske driver said.
Kevin Harvick finished two spots worse in 33rd. Shortly after Keselowski’s incident, Harvick was collected in a crash after working his way into the top 10 from the 33rd starting spot.
“Everybody was so worried about us starting in the back and we wrecked at the front. Unfortunate,” Harvick said.
Ryan Newman finished third, second among Chase drivers, while Joey Logano (fifth) and Matt Kenseth (sixth) rounded out the top four Chase finishers.
MotoGP: Marquez on the money in Malaysia
Marc Marquez added a record to his championship season on Sunday, winning in Malaysia to notch his 12th win in 17 races.
In beating Valentino Rossi by 2.445 seconds, Marquez equaled Mick Doohan’s record for most premier-class wins in a season. And the finale is still to come in Marquez’s home country, on Nov. 9 in Valencia, Spain.
“With one race left maybe I can beat (Doohan),” the Repsol Honda rider said. “If I had a bad result here the pressure in Valencia would be more. But now I am free and can do well for my fans and just enjoy it.”
Marquez sat on the pole – his 13th of the season, a record in the premier class – but lost the top spot on the first lap to Jorge Lorenzo, who maneuvered around a crashed Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi took over the race lead midway through, but Marquez was in close pursuit and passed the Italian two laps later, never to relinquish the top spot.
Rossi has a 12-point lead for second place over Movistar Yamaha teammate Lorenzo.
In Moto2, Esteve “Tito” Rabat clinched the championship with a third-place finish on his Kalex for Marc VDS Racing.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Off until November
Nationwide Series racing will resume on Nov. 1 at Texas Motor Speedway, with Texas, Phoenix and Homestead comprising the final three races of the season.
Chase Elliott is atop the standings by 42 points over Regan Smith, with Brian Scott (61 points back), Elliott Sadler (-63) and Ty Dillon (-64) filling out the top five.
Six of the last seven races have been won by Sprint Cup regulars, most recently by Brad Keselowski at Charlotte on Oct. 10.