Drivers React To Sunday’s Martinsville Results: Good, Bad And Ugly

Martinsville saw a wide variety of emotions from the drivers in Sunday’s race. Here’s a sampling of some of them:

Marcos Ambrose (29th)

Ambrose said he was a “victim” of his early-race wreck, and said, “I don’t know what McDowell was thinking.”

“He just jacked me up and put me in the fence around lap 100,” Ambrose said. “We weren’t even a fifth of the way through, and it was uncalled for and unfortunate for us. It made for a very long day.”

Matt Kenseth (6th)

Kenseth was penalized at the start of the race for an illegal pass, which left him a lap down and seemingly faced with another poor Martinsville finish.

But he kept chipping away and rallied for his best Martinsville finish since 2007.

“It was probably one of our best runs at Martinsville,” he said. “I guess it was my mistake early, and it was just circumstances as to why we didn’t run any better. Really, that’s about the best we’ve performed.”

Kenseth said “What are you gonna do?” when asked about his early penalty.

“If you try to do more than you’re capable of doing, you’re just gonna mess up and make it worse,” he said.

Paul Menard (38th)

Menard said Gordon incorrectly “thought I got into him during that last run.” As a result, Gordon brake-checked Menard and caused the No. 27 car to run into him, Menard said. Ultimately, engine issues from a busted radiator ended his day.

“That (contact) is probably what put the hole in the radiator,” Menard said. “So I owe Robby Gordon.”

David Ragan (8th)

Ragan got a much-needed top-10 finish, his best career result at Martinsville.

“If we could have caught a couple of lucky breaks, we might have had a shot to finish in the top three or four,” he said. “... Thank the Lord for a good day. It was fun.”

Martin Truex Jr. (40th)

Truex was lucky to be uninjured after his scary crash straight into the Turn 3 wall, a result of his throttle hanging open.

“No indication at all,” he said. “Everything was fine, and I went to let off to go into (Turn) 3, and it stuck to the floor. At that point, there’s nothing you can do.”

Truex took out Kasey Kahne as well, and the crash sparked a fire from which Truex was able to quickly escape.

“It happens so fast, there’s no way you can hit the kill switch or shut the thing off,” he said. “Just lock up the brakes, and you’re just a passenger at that point.”