Martinsville Masters Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson Miss Top-10 Results

Kevin Harvick became the first person not named Denny Hamlin or Jimmie Johnson to win a Martinsville race since 2006 with his victory on Sunday.

But how did Hamlin (three straight Martinsville wins) and Johnson, the previous masters of the paperclip-shaped track, fare in this year’s race?

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t awful: 11th for Johnson and 12th for Hamlin. For two drivers who expected to win, though, it wasn’t anything close to a good day.

“It’s disappointing for sure,” said Hamlin, who needed a win or top-five result to get his season back on track. “We have to get rolling. We have to get some good, solid finishes.”

Hamlin, who is still only 19th in points, said his team’s fuel mileage wasn’t acceptable for a team with championship aspirations.

“Our mileage just sucks real bad,” he said. “It sucked at Phoenix and it sucks here. We just have to figure it out. All of the things we need to do to be a championship team – we don’t have all those parts together right now.”

Another problem is Hamlin’s pit crew. After the team struggled on pit road, Hamlin said his No. 11 crew needs “to work on who we’re going to have change tires for us, I guess.”

“You’ve got chemistry and stuff that you’ve got to deal with, but at this point you either work with what you’ve got or try to find someone that can maybe do a better job,” he added.

As for Johnson, the five-time defending champion was insistent that he did not speed on pit road while running in second place with 33 laps to go.

“I wasn’t speeding,” he said. “(NASCAR) didn’t like how it looked – the way I managed my timing lines.”

Johnson said he knows exactly where he needs to accelerate and where he needs to stop in order to not speed on pit road, which are broken up into smaller timing zones. And Johnson said he executed it, but NASCAR didn’t like his method.

“People will say whatever,” he said. “But with the math and the way we know our timing lines, there is just no way. ... With no one (in front of him), I accelerated like I always do from my mark. There is just no way. There is just no way. It won’t do me any good to have a conversation (with NASCAR); it isn’t going to matter.

“I guess I just can’t attack pit road like I know I can and like I did every single time before this.”

The day didn’t do much to hurt Johnson in the point standings, though. Despite his first finish outside the Martinsville top 10 since 2002, he actually gained two spots and moved up to third in the Sprint Cup Series points.