MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Just to offer a few musings after the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

** Let’s face it, just about every race at every speedway on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit comes accompanied with a lot of hype.

So it was with Martinsville. How many times did we hear, or read over the course of several days, that NASCAR’s oldest track was, because of its half-mile, paper-clip configuration, one of the most difficult on which to compete?

Drivers couldn’t succeed at Martinsville unless they figured out how to whoa down from high straightaway speeds, keep a low line and then roll their cars smoothly through the tight turns.

If they didn’t learn how to manage their brakes, they were doomed.

They could expect a lot of bumping, banging and gouging for position because it has always been extremely difficult to pass.

And so on and so forth …

Such things have been said, so often and for so long, about Martinsville (and admittedly every other track), that many of us tend to roll our eyes as if to say, “Yeah, yeah, so what else is new?”

Guess what? This year there was at least one new thing. It was discovered during practice that the tire compound provided by Goodyear did not permit the racing surface to “rubber up,” or, in other words, to create a second groove with enough grip, generated by runner burned into the asphalt and concrete, on which to race.

Instead, flakes or rubber – called “the marbles” for years but also known as “owl (business)” in days passed – were tossed toward the outside of the track. This created extremely poor racing conditions because of a lack of grip.

This was part of the Martinsville pre-race drama this year.

You know what? This year it, and everything else that’s been said about the track, wasn’t hype at all. It was true. The Goody’s Fast Relief 500 contained elements of everything racing at Martinsville is supposed to be, and then some.

For example, there was indeed only one racing groove. Those pieces of rubber flung toward the outside of the track made a second almost impossible – hell, you can’t race on “marbles.”

Consequently, drivers always charged toward the inside of the track – the only place to be. Those in the outside lane had no chance to pass, particularly on restarts. When they could, finally, move down one lane they did so, but often at the cost of several lost positions.

Now, as for the banging, bumping and gouging that is said to be so typical of racing at Martinsville, it was intensified this past Sunday.

One reason, and certainly not the only one, was that drivers on the preferred inside line had only one way to get past those ahead of them. And that was to, shall we say, perform the old “bump and run.” Sure couldn’t make a pass on the outside, right?

Such strategy was adopted many times, lap after lap, at Martinsville. Sometimes it was successful and other times not.

Additional incidents were caused when some drivers caught on the outside just forced their way to the inside in desperation.

This was done during a race in which even teammates were loath to give each other the coveted inside groove – especially if it cost them track position.

Consider this: Remember the “old” Bristol, the one in which there was only one racing groove and the only way to pass was to adopt the “bump and run?”

After the track was reconfigured and a second racing lane was created, bumping and grinding have been less prevalent.

The drivers love it. The fans do not and they have made that clear.

What we had, for the most part, at Martinsville in this past race was so very similar to the “old” Bristol.

There was jostling and bumping for position that created some, but not all, of the race’s 11 caution periods.

Some were caused by excessive brake use, which resulted in blown tires, and other things.

The point is that while all of the typical racing characteristics at Martinsville were displayed in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500, the newest and most publicized one, the absence of a second groove because of the tire situation, played a significant role in the conduct of the race.

Reckon Goodyear will change all that by the track’s second race it October.
 
** That aside, the race itself turned out to be a beauty.

There might have been several caution periods and one red-flag stoppage, before the race was half complete, that caused us to wonder if everything might be over by nightfall.

In the end, however, none of that mattered as the race wound down to its exciting conclusion.

With 21 laps remaining in the 500-lap race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped Kyle Busch out of the way (sound familiar?) in the third turn to take the lead.

The “Junior Nation” went nuts and rightly so. Young Earnhardt seemed on his way to his first victory in 99 races.

It didn’t happen. With four laps to go, Kevin Harvick got past Earnhardt Jr. and went on to win his second straight race.

However, be encouraged, “Junior Nation.”

Your driver has now compiled his best finish of the year and his third among the top-10 in six races. He also has an 11^th-place run at Bristol.

After he fell from ninth to 12^th in points after a 12^th-place run at Auto Club Speedway, his runnerup finish at Martinsville has propelled him to eighth in points.

As I’ve said before, in 2010, he finished second at Daytona, was thus second in points, and slid downward from there. He did not make the Chase.

This year, he finished 24^th at Daytona because of an accident. But he steadily rose in points from there, slipped at Auto Club Speedway and now, after Martinsville, has climbed four positions in the standings.

In 2010, his trend was decidedly downward. Now it is upward and his Martinsville performance has significantly contributed to that.

It’s obvious improvement that should offer promise for his many fans.

 

** I don’t know who “they” are, but they’ve named Kevin Harvick “The Closer,” and with good reason.

He won at Auto Club Speedway with his pass on five-time champion Jimmie Johnson on the last lap.

He won at Martinsville by getting the best of Earnhardt Jr. with four laps to go, taking advantage of his rival’s loose Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

He was one of 12 drivers to lead a record 31 laps.

Let’s see … if I figure correctly, Harvick has won two straight races in which he led only five laps – the most important ones, of course.

You have to credit what’s happened so far to his perseverance and that of his Richard Childress Racing team. It has shown the ability to improve its Chevrolet’s performance throughout the course of a race.

My guess would be that Harvick might well prefer to have a strong car capable of victory from the start of a race rather than one, so far, that has been able to succeed only after a sizable amount of work and alterations, which were then accompanied by favorable circumstances.

Heck, to be honest, it doesn’t matter.

Harvick is currently fourth in points and the only driver with multiple wins this season.

So, unless there are unexpected meltdowns at RCR, the victories alone will be enough to qualify Harvick for the Chase this year.