NASCAR: 2018 STP 500 at Martinsville results – Clint Bowyer ends win drought
By Asher Fair
Clint Bowyer ended his NASCAR Cup Series win drought by winning the 2018 STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in dominant fashion.
In a postponed STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, Clint Bowyer drove his #14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing to victory lane, giving him his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since he won at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina in October of 2012.
The race was initially scheduled to take place yesterday afternoon. Qualifying, which was scheduled for Saturday evening, was canceled due to rain, so the starting grid for the race was set by entrant points.
However, a snowstorm caused the race to be moved from yesterday afternoon to this afternoon following the twice-postponed Truck Series race, the Alpha Energy Solutions 250, and weather did not end up being an issue whatsoever.
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Bowyer’s win ended the 190-race win drought he was on coming into the weekend, and he won the race in dominant fashion, as he led 215 of its 500 laps after starting in 9th place.
The 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile oval featured 11 lead changes among five different drivers, with Bowyer leading the most laps. Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. were the race’s other four leaders.
The race only featured four caution flag periods, with one being a competition caution and two more being the caution flag periods at the end of stages one and stage two. The only incident-related caution flag period took place on lap 385 after Austin Dillon’s car got loose and hit Jamie McMurray’s car, sending McMurray’s car into the turn two wall.
Here are the full results from the 2018 STP 500 at Martinsville.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Manufacturer |
| 1 | Clint Bowyer | #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 2 | Kyle Busch | #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | #12, Team Penske, Ford |
| 4 | Martin Truex Jr. | #78, Furniture Row Racing, Toyota |
| 5 | Kevin Harvick | #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 6 | Joey Logano | #22, Team Penske, Ford |
| 7 | Alex Bowman | #88, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 8 | A.J. Allmendinger | #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | #2, Team Penske, Ford |
| 11 | Kurt Busch | #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 12 | Denny Hamlin | #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 13 | Paul Menard | #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford |
| 14 | Aric Almirola | #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 15 | Jimmie Johnson | #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 16 | Kyle Larson | #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet |
| 17 | Erik Jones | #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 18 | Daniel Suarez | #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 19 | Ryan Newman | #31, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet |
| 20 | William Byron | #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 21 | Michael McDowell | #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford |
| 22 | Ty Dillon | #13, Germain Racing, Chevrolet |
| 23 | Chris Buescher | #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet |
| 24 | Kasey Kahne | #95, Leavine Family Racing, Chevrolet |
| 25 | David Ragan | #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford |
| 26 | Jamie McMurray | #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet |
| 27 | Cole Whitt | #72, TriStar Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 28 | D.J. Kennington | #96, Gaunt Brothers Racing, Toyota |
| 29 | Ross Chastain | #15, Premium Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 30 | Austin Dillon | #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet |
| 31 | J.J. Yeley | #55, Premium Motorsports, Toyota |
| 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | #32, Go FAS Racing, Ford |
| 33 | Trevor Bayne | #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford |
| 34 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 35 | Harrison Rhodes | #51, Rick Ware Racing, Chevrolet |
| 36 | Gray Gaulding | #23, BK Racing, Toyota |
| 37 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford |
| 38 | Landon Cassill | #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet |
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Be sure to tune in to the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, which is the next NASCAR Cup Series race, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. That race is set to take place at 2:00 pm ET on Sunday, April 8th, and it is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 at that time on that date.