MARTINSVILLE, Virginia — Jimmie Johnson secured his spot in the final four of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on Sunday with a win in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the first of the three races that make up the Chase round of eight. It was Johnson’s fourth win of the season and his second of the Chase.
With the win, Johnson tied Jeff Gordon with nine-career Martinsville wins.
After Martin Truex Jr. dominated early and Matt Kenseth took over just before lap 200 and dominated the middle portion of the race, Johnson took his first and only lead with about 100 laps remaining in the 500 -lap race and ran up front the rest of the way.
Once Johnson took the lead, he pulled away as Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Kenseth battled for second. Brad Keselowski, though, crashed the JGR party behind Johnson and moved by all three of them to take second with under 30 laps remaining.
Keselowski held the position to take runner-up honors. The Gibbs drivers rounded out the top-five, with Hamlin taking third, Kenseth fourth and Busch fifth, respectively.
For Hamlin, the top-five finish came after a recovery from an early-race pit-road speeding penalty. He was among three Chase drivers to get caught speeding on pit road, as Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards also were assessed pit road speeding penalties.
Truex started the race on the pole and led 147 laps before turning the lead over to Kenseth. Truex first lost the lead during a lap 22 caution as six drivers opted to stay on the race track while most of the field pitted. After Joey Logano led several laps, Truex returned to the lead on lap 46.
He then led fellow-Toyota drivers Busch and Kenseth by to lead laps for bonus points toward their championship efforts before retaking the lead from Kenseth on lap 152. Kenseth retook the lead on lap 181 and ran his laps-led tally up to 176 laps before a lengthy caution brought out by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Edwards on lap 357.
The caution lasted nearly 30 laps as the timing of it during a cycle of green-flag pit stops played into confusion surrounding the running order for the restart. The length of the caution allowed Edwards to head to the garage for repairs and return to the track several laps down before the race returned to green-flag conditions.
With the confusion cleared up, Busch restarted with the lead, but he lost that lead to JGR teammate Hamlin on lap 387. After Hamlin took the lead, Johnson moved into second, and a few laps later, Johnson took over command of the race.
NOTES: Joey Logano’s front-row starting spot (second) was his fifth-straight front-row starting spot at Martinsville Speedway. … Martin Truex Jr.’s pole on Sunday was the driver’s second-straight pole, adding to his pole a week earlier at Talladega Superspeedway. … Jeff Gordon’s last Sprint Cup Series win came in last year’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500. Sunday’s race may have been Gordon’s last-career Sprint Cup race, as it was the final race for which he was scheduled to substitute for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. They lead active drivers in Martinsville wins. … Kyle Busch won at Martinsville earlier this season. … Chase Elliott got extra Martinsville experience on Saturday by racing and finishing second in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the track. He led just over half of the 200-lap race.