Kyle Busch ‘wins’ again for Martinsville weekend sweep
Chevrolet Allmendinger in 2nd
MARTINSVILLE, Virginia, March 4, (AP): Kyle Busch pulled away on a restart with 11 laps to go and outran AJ Allmendinger to the finish for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Martinsville Speedway, and a sweep of the two-race weekend.
Busch, who won for the first time in 31 starts at Martinsville in a truck race on the 0.526-mile (0.846-km) oval on Saturday, dominated in the premier division in bright sunshine but cool temperatures that never let the track get quite as sticky as it normally does.
The option to pick the inside or outside line as the leader on the final restart was great for Busch, but not for teammate Matt Kenseth.
“That was the key to the race, being able to restart on the bottom like that,” Busch said after choosing the inside line, putting Kenseth outside.
“We all talked as a group earlier this morning about how we were going to do that and what we were going to do and we all said, with 10 to go, it’s pretty much off lim-
Last spring, he crashed race leader Joey Logano with 46 laps to go, earning himself a two-race suspension. This time, he seemed poised to challenge Busch for the lead with 35 laps to go until a blown tire by Jamie McMurray caused a caution, bunching up the field.
“I was a little worried there toward the end before that last caution came out that Matt was catching me,” Busch said. “He was on me pretty good and I wasn’t sure that I had enough brake in order to handle the rest of the day, but fortunately we got a yellow there.”
Busch led the most laps at Martinsville since Bobby Hamilton was out front for 378 on April 20, 1998.
The race also was a lost day for Denny Hamlin, one of the favorites going in and the defending champion.
Hamlin was running fifth after 221 laps after overcoming a pit road penalty until his car lost control heading into Turn 1 and slammed into the wall, sending him to the garage. He never returned, and finished 42nd.
Checklist: Busch has won on every Sprint Cup Series track except three: Kansas, Charlotte and Pocono.
Something for Joey: Joey Logano came into the day having won three consecutive poles here and hoping to turn that success into success in the race. But very quickly, it wasn’t happening. He faded quickly after the opening laps, was lapped on the 77th circuit and never really contended. At one point, he was racing with his damaged hood turned up, obscuring his view. He did rally to finish 11th.
The long run: The first short track race of the season uncharacteristically featured several long green flag runs. It went 81 laps after a spin by Dale Earnhardt Jr. just five laps in and later had green flag runs lasting 78 and 86 laps.
Who’s hot: Allmendinger, eighth two weeks ago at Fontana, has climbed from 20th to 12th in points over the past two races.
Who’s not: Since winning for the eighth time at Martinsville in April 2013, Jimmie Johnson has gone six races in a row here without visiting Victory Lane, and his ninth-place run Sunday ended a string of three straight races outside the top 10.
Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75th Anniversary Toyota, poses for a photo with his wife Samantha in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP
500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3 in Martinsville, Virginia. (AFP)
Vikings took an early 6-point lead in the first quarter, and then pulled away again in the second to finish with a 2-point lead midway into the game. But a Harley rally ignited by Jun early in the third saw the visitors pull within two points with 7:40 still left to play in the round.
Harley’s stalwart defender Nino picked up his fifth foul and left for an early shower late in the third quarter with still 3:40 left in the quarter, making way for Nico to partner with De Guzman for swift midcourt runs. Guzman contested a shot and missed, grabbed an offensive rebound and followed with a second-chance score bringing a boost of energy as Harley rallied to revive their fortunes.
Guzman powered Harley to a 60-51 lead with 11 points on 7-for-8 shooting in the third. He was 4 for 4 from 3-point range in the game totally. He made his first three shots, all from behind the arc during the first 3 minutes.
Nico stole the ball from Viking’s Bautista and converted it into a breakaway layup, then intercepted a pass by Mark to set up another breakaway layup by Donnie 13 seconds later. That sent Harley cruising ahead in the final stretch. Viking attempted 3 free throws in the third quarter and made 1, but didn’t get to the line again until Katakutan converted one of two with 36 seconds left in the final quarter.
Guzman’s layup and free throw sent Harley surging 7 points ahead. His 3-pointer with 30 seconds left gave the visitors a 9-point cushion at the close of the third after a 25-14 run that brought the overall score to 68-55. Harley rolled on to conclude the final quarter after a 24-15 spurt that sealed their victory at 69-55 at the buzzer.
Elsewhere in the 5’9” division, Manalo scored 49 points; Canlas added 19 and 12 rebounds as Western State Blades recorded their first victory of the season with a 101-71 pul-
Rosemary (right), sponsor of KPBA, officials, guests pose for a photo.
sating run over IFSI in the next game. Jojo had 19 points and PJ added 11 in the IFSI loss. The IFSI turned the ball over 23 times leading to 32 Blades points.
In other 5’9” series games, Bisdak won 70-66 against Kuwait Pirates in a foul-riddled game that saw Bisdak rebound from two points down in the opening quarter to take a commanding lead in the second on the efforts of Rustia who finished with a game-high 26 points. The Fajardoled Pirates rallied in the third and fourth but could only manage a claw back of some of their deficit, as Marmito partnered with Rustia in their barrages for the Bisdak surge
ahead to finish the game 4 points ahead, at 70-66.
Meanwhile, Osik lost 52-88 to Tigers in the penultimate of the 5’9” series, Mariano and Darrel leading the charge. Mariano had 19 with Darrel adding 11 in the win. Also, in the final game Bahay Kubo restaurant lost narrowly to Hotshots, 65-69.