A race that truly took days to get through was surprisingly underrated in my opinion. After several misty days in Texas Kyle Busch finally won his first Cup race of the season, and it greatly impacted the playoff battle. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick struggling plus a playoff driver not winning at Texas really makes Martinsville a must win situation for the bottom four playoff drivers.
Stage One started on Sunday afternoon, and it created the story lines for Wednesday including Denny Hamlin getting out of the groove losing valuable track position, and Kevin Harvick getting loose hitting the wall creating a consistent issue with damage. It was clear early on drivers recognized the value of track position, and Clint Bowyer held on to win stage one.
Stage Two lead to the rise of Martin Truex Jr., and after starting in the back from a penalty involving his spoiler he quickly made his way through the field, and looked to be the dominant car. Stage two featured a long green flag run where various fuel strategies were used and Kyle Busch won the stage. Chase Elliott's race became a mess after having to pit a second time for a possible tire going down.
Stage Three became a three man race Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell. Kyle Busch was dominant at the end of the race and used incredible fuel saving strategy to barely make it to the end. Truex rallied from over seven seconds back at one point to finish by less than one second. For large parts of stage three Christopher Bell was the best car on the track lap in and lap out, and in final home race for Leavine Family Racing. In the end this is arguably the most excited the fan base has ever been to see Kyle Busch win.