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Joe Gibbs Racing's adventures define Martinsville
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Of course, for Denny Hamlin, the hometown boy who has forever wanted to win at Martinsville Speedway, it was quite a satisfying weekend to pull off the Sprint Cup victory on Sunday. Additionally, it was a little bit of redemption for what happened to that team at Bristol a couple weeks ago with the fuel pickup issue that cost them the victory. For crew chief Mike Ford and that entire No. 11 FedEx team, it really took a load off their shoulders to claim victory on Sunday.
I have been fortunate enough to win at my home track — Lowe's Motor Speedway — as a crew chief a number of times. My first NASCAR race was at Lowe's Motor Speedway. I was like 9 years old sitting on the back of my Dad's and my uncle's construction dump truck. We had built a platform on it and were on the back straightaway watching the race. For me to then be able to come back there and race at that place, it just becomes so special.
One of my proudest moments ever happened there. We had won the race and were finishing up in Victory Lane. My parents, who didn't live that far from the track and had watched the race on television, got in their car and worked their way through all the traffic leaving the track and met me outside of Victory Lane. It's hard to put into words how my heart sang out to win there in front of them at my home track. The smile on my Mom and Dad's face was one of pure happiness and something I will never forget.
Where I am going will all this is — that's how Denny Hamlin felt Sunday in Victory Lane at Martinsville. Whether it's basketball, football, anything — when you win on your home turf, it's special. Being from Virginia, Denny got to experience that kind of pride for the first time that no one will ever be able to take from him.
Looking a little further behind, fifth place to be exact, Tony Stewart was solid once again at a racetrack where he has had so many great runs in the past. Unfortunately, the No. 20 Home Depot crew had somewhat of a miscue on a pit stop and then Stewart had to try and work his way back up through traffic. Basically Smoke ran out of laps or he could have been right there battling Hamlin for the win.
As for the third Gibbs team, Martinsville is a place that until you learn the true meaning of the word PATIENCE, it will drive you insane — and Kyle Busch fell victim to that this weekend. And I just don't mean patience on Kyle's part; I am also talking about the other racers around him. That's what he went through with mechanical woes and then falling victim to those around him in those wrong place/wrong time kind of things, and it just made a bad day worse. It just puts an exclamation point on the fact that you can never roll into Martinsville saying "I have it figured out."
Just experience the kind of weekend that Kyle did at Martinsville and it will help you learn that lesson. He was good in both the Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday and the Sprint Cup race on Sunday — he had a shot at winning both. But because of circumstances (trying too hard) and just bad luck that little half-mile race track can put a lot of grey hairs on your head and ulcers in your stomach.
Most of these guys cut their teeth coming up through ranks at short tracks and so fans probably wonder why Martinsville is that hard? With the size and speed of these cars as well as the closeness of the competition, it just takes a special mental toughness to come up with the right combination to be successful there. For example, Jeff Gordon has expressed a number of times that back during one practice session in the mid-90s, the light switch for Martinsville just came on for him.
If there was ever a place where the old adage, "slow down to go fast" is exemplified, it's Martinsville, Va. You cannot beat this racetrack by trying to beat this racetrack. You cannot get up on the wheel and run hard. You cannot wear your brakes out. You cannot beat your car into submission and expect to win at Martinsville. It cannot or will not ever happen.
| Speed Mail Jeff Hammond |
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I promise you, Denny and Tony can sit down with Kyle today and talk about it. Kyle can agree. But until he figures it out, no amount of talk from them, Joe Gibbs, the best psychiatrists or therapists in the land, cannot fix the drivers problem at Martinsville until the driver figures it out on his own. All the good ones eventually do and when they do, Martinsville becomes a really fun place for them to race.
Thanks for the memories
Before I finish, I also want everyone to know what an honor and privilege it was last weekend to wave the green flag at Martinsville for the Goody's Cool Orange 500. The great folks at Goody's called and gave me the opportunity to do something that I have always been envious of Darrell Waltrip having done. He always talks about how exciting it is. To finally get up there on that flag stand and I don't mind telling you, I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof! My palms were sweating so badly yet it was so cold it was about to snow at Martinsville. All I could think about was DON'T DROP THE FLAG — DON'T DROP THE FLAG! I held it so tight I swear my finger imprints are on the wooden shaft of the flag. Trust me folks, fear is a great motivator!
Goody's has been a long time supporter of stock car racing. It's a great product, but more so, they are just really great people that believe in our sport. I really appreciate them allowing me to enjoy that and add it to my resume of accomplishments and memories.
FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.
For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.
For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.
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