Rapid Reaction | NASCAR Cup Series @ Martinsville | June 10, 2020

Finishing Order:

Martin Truex Jr. – P4 Stage 1, but had issues after that. Got a penalty that his Crew Chief did not agree with via this tweet. Did well to get back to the front. Led last 131 laps.
Ryan Blaney – Fantastic finish as #12 car went a lap down during Stage 1. Even went to end of lead lap cars late and still recovered back to 2nd. Team Penske had it figured out tonight.
Brad Keselowski – Seemed like he might run away with it during the final stage after passing #22, but Truex ran him down after only 5 laps in the lead. Was running in the 30’s during Stage 1. Looking close at the numbers, this was a fortunate finish. Mid Race = 12 and Ave Run Pos. = 13. Team Penske had it figured out, though.
Joey Logano – Lead the most laps (234). Won Stage 1. Finished P3 Stage 2. Not sure he was ever running outside the Top 5. Fast early, faded late (in terms of winning).
Chase Elliott – Ran inside the Top 5 all night, but didn’t challenge for the lead. The #9 was fast, and he got a result that he deserved (rather than wrecking late, and finishing much worse than he ran).
Alex Bowman – seemed to be near the front all night. I don’t remember seeing his name outside the Top 10 on the broadcast.
Matt DiBenedetto – What a finish for the #21 car. Alliance with team Penske sure helped tonight. Avg Run Pos = 10th. Never outside the Top 20. Started 19th and got P8 Stage 1. Overall, very solid night for Matty D and the #21 team.
William Byron – Stage 1 = P10. Stage 2 = P7. Very deserving Top 10 for young Mr. Byron. Just like #21 ahead of him, never dropped outside Top 20.
Kurt Busch – Ha, Start = 9, Mid Race = 9, Finish = 9. Expected Kurt to move forward, which he did early; his high position was 2nd. Ran 498/500 laps inside the Top 15 and all of his passes were Quality Passes (44).
Jimmie Johnson – Watching live, JJ should have finished better than 10th. He won Stage 2 and led 70 laps which was 3rd most. Comparing Fastest Laps vs. Laps Lead, though, you can see there was something different between the 48 car and Truex/Blaney/Logano (The class of this race). Those three cars combined laps lead and fastest laps. Absolutely a Top 10 car. Probably deserved to finish Top 7.
Bubba Wallace – Well done, Bubba! P5 for Stage 1 after taking 2 tires during caution. Produced 17 fastest laps for 10th most. Avg Pos. was 12. Very deserving 11th place finish, and let us not forget the bold paint scheme from Richard Petty Motorsports.
Ryan Newman
Chris Buescher
Michael McDowell
Kevin Harvick
Tyler Reddick
Clint Bowyer
Corey Lajoie
Kyle Busch
Erik Jones
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Ty Dillon
Matt Kenseth
Denny Hamlin
John Hunter Nemechek
Ryan Preece
Daniel Suarez
Christopher Bell
Cole Custer
Brennan Poole
JJ Yeley
David Starr
Aric Almirola
Quin Houff
Joey Gase
Garrett Smithley
Austin Dillon
Reed Sorenson
Timmy Hill