Dreaded Martinsville

Ah, Martinsville.  Not a track I look forward to.  Carl has traditionally struggled here, so I approach the weekend with trepidation.  Even before the week got underway, his team tweeted this quote from Carl:  "Alright, Dave Rogers & this 19 crew like a challenge.  Getting me to victory lane at Martinsville is going to be a good one!"  Rather than hoping for a win, I hoped that he would not be relegated to the back half of the pack.

But that is exactly how things got started.  Throughout the practices and qualifying sessions, he was consistently running between 20th and 25th.  Once the race got started, he fell even further backwards.  Running that far back on a short track like Martinsville, it was only a matter of time before the leaders were nipping at his heels and putting him a lap down.

He spent much of the race just trying to dig his way to the front of the cars that were one lap down so he would be sitting in the lucky dog position when a caution came out.  Finally, finally, he got into that position.  By that time he was running so well that he was passing cars that were on the lead lap.  Those cars served as barriers between him and the next car one lap down, protecting his hold on the lucky dog position.

He held that spot for a very long time, but not quite long enough.  He did get passed before the caution came out.  Thankfully he did not have to wait a very long time before another caution came out, and he circled the track to the back of the field and rejoined the lead lap cars.  Then came the drive through the field of lapped cars to run in his actual position.

During each restart late in the race, I hoped he would be on the inside lane.  Sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't.  And when he was on the outside lane, he would lose spots just trying to find an opening and get down to the inside.

But Carl's crew, led by Dave Rogers, improved that car throughout the race.  And Carl seemed to improve his driving as he got more and more repetitions around the track.  And where was Carl when the checkered flag flew?  Did he get a top 20?  Oh, yes.  How about a top 15?  You bet he did.  Would it be too much to ask for to pull off a top 10?  Apparently not, because he snagged 6th place!  He was even knocking on the door of a top 5.  At Martinsville!  Will wonders never cease?

So instead of plummeting down the standings, he maintained his positioning quite nicely.  Kyle's win leapfrogged him over Carl on the Chase grid, so now he is positioned in the 6th spot instead of the 5th spot.  And over on the drivers' standings, he holds the 4th spot instead of the 3rd sport.  But he is still the highest pointed driver who does not yet have a win.

There are only five Cup drivers who have three or more top-5 finishes:  Kevin, Jimmie, Kyle, Denny, and our man, Carl.  That is pretty good company to be in.  The only thing they have that he does not have is a win.  I don't know about you, but Texas is a great place to rectify that situation.  Who wants to see Carl fire off those six-shooters in victory lane?