The 2019 STP 500 was a

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

that was held on March 24, 2019, at

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in s ...

Ridgeway, Virginia Ridgeway is a town in Henry County, Virginia, Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 742 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Martinsville, Virginia, Martinsville Martinsville micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. M ...

. Contested over 500 laps on the .526 mile (.847 km) paperclip-shaped short track, it was the sixth race of the

2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series (also known as the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for sponsorship reasons) was the 71st season of NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 48th modern-era Cup series season. The seas ...

season.

Report

Background

Martinsville Speedway, September 2011 overview

Martinsville Speedway is an

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business is the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

-owned

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

stock car racing track located in Henry County, in

, just to the south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the

. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by

H. Clay Earles Henry Clay Earles (August 11, 1913 – November 16, 1999) was the founder and chairman of the board of Martinsville Speedway, a NASCAR stock car racing track that Earles built in 1947 in Ridgeway, Virginia that was one of the circuit's first pa ...

. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Entry list

Practice

First practice

Clint Bowyer Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight yea ...

was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.387 seconds and a speed of .

Final practice

Chase Elliott William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the 2014 NAS ...

was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.413 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 19.356 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

* William Byron, D. J. Kennington, and Jeb Burton all starting at the back due to failing inspection.

Race

Stage Results

Stage One ''Laps:'' 130 Stage Two ''Laps:'' 130

Final Stage Results

Stage Three ''Laps:'' 240

Race statistics

* Lead changes: 4 among 3 different drivers (Laps Led: Keselowski (446), Elliott (49), Logano (5)) * Cautions/Laps: 7 for 56 * Red flags: 0 * Time of race: 3 hours, 21 minutes and 54 seconds * Average speed:

Media

Television

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

covered their 19th race at the

Mike Joy Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadcast ...

, nine-time Martinsville winner

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

and 11-time Martinsville winner

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...

called the race from the booth.

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting duty for the 2007 and 2008 In ...

, Vince Welch and

Matt Yocum Matthew Yocum (born April 8, 1968) is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for CBS as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2021. He most recently worked in tha ...

handled pit road duties for the entire race.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and seven-time Martinsville winner

Rusty Wallace Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...

called the race in the booth as the cars raced down the frontstretch. Dave Moody called the race from atop the turn 3 stands as the field raced down the backstretch. Winston Kelley, Steve Post and Dillon Welch worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup

STP 500 The Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 is an annual 400-lap NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. It had no name from 1950 to 1955, before taking the name Virginia 500 in 1956. It is the first ...

NASCAR races at Martinsville Speedway