The 2016 Goody's Fast Relief 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that was held on October 30, 2016, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the .526 mile (.847 km) short track, it was the 33rd race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, seventh race of the Chase and first race of the Round of 8.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer1Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet2Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord3Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet5Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Trevor BayneRoush Fenway RacingFord7Regan SmithTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet10Danica PatrickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota13Casey MearsGermain RacingChevrolet14Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet15Clint BowyerHScott MotorsportsChevrolet16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Roush Fenway RacingFord18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota19Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota20Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota21Ryan Blaney (R)Wood Brothers RacingFord22Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord23David RaganBK RacingToyota24Chase Elliott (R)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet27Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet30Gray GauldingThe Motorsports GroupChevrolet31Ryan NewmanRichard Childress RacingChevrolet32Jeffrey Earnhardt (R)Go FAS RacingFord34Chris Buescher (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord38Landon CassillFront Row MotorsportsFord41Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet42Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet43Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord44Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty MotorsportsFord46Michael AnnettHScott MotorsportsChevrolet47A. J. AllmendingerJTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet48Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet55Reed SorensonPremium MotorsportsChevrolet78Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota83Dylan Lupton (i)BK RacingToyota88Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet93Matt DiBenedettoBK RacingToyota95Michael McDowellCircle Sport – Leavine Family RacingChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.289 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.289 98.170 2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.311 98.058 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 19.312 98.053Official first practice results
Second practice Jamie McMurray was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 19.566 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime11Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet19.56696.780222Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord19.57596.736323David RaganBK RacingToyota19.58896.671Official second practice results
Final practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.707 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime142Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet19.70796.088214Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet19.72196.020327Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet19.75795.845Official final practice results
Qualifying
Martin Truex Jr. scored the pole for the race with a time of 19.282 and a speed of . He said afterwards that Martinsville "is just so tough, and that first pit stall is just so critical to having a shot at winning here. I would love to get my first grandfather clock (the winner’s trophy). After last week, this helps a little bit. All in all, just proud of the guys for coming here with a game plan and executing. It's no guarantee that we'll race well on Sunday, but it's definitely a nice advantage if you have a good race car to be able to make up spots on pit road and not have to worry about getting blocked in and all those things. It's a definite advantage, and hopefully we can have a good car to take advantage of it."
Joey Logano, who qualified second, said he came so very "close to getting that fourth pole in a row. It would have been pretty cool to be able to say you did that, but it’s been a great streak.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – who "wheel-hopped" going into turn 1, spun out, damaged the car and rolled out his backup – said there was "a lot of wheel-hop. It was definitely not ideal in qualifying, but you're always pressing the issue to try to qualify better and trying to get everything out of the car that you can and it just started wheel-hopping. As a lot of us drivers know, once it starts wheel-hopping it's hard to save. I down-shifted to try and keep it out of the wall as best I could, but we weren't able to do that. We'll get this Fastenal back-up out and get to work on it tonight and make sure that we have it ready to go for practice tomorrow.”
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 178 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 19.365 19.298 19.282 222 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 19.259 19.379 19.290 348 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.414 19.385 19.354 447 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 19.397 19.419 19.376 524 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.380 19.297 19.382 614 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.294 19.320 19.385 719 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.445 19.397 19.399 811 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.374 19.431 19.418 918 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.387 19.300 19.420 1088 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.390 19.379 19.436 1142 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.480 19.364 19.541 1223 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 19.475 19.423 19.556 1331 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.447 19.437 141 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 19.408 19.447 1521 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 19.390 19.463 1643 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 19.494 19.463 1720 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.456 19.477 1827 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.490 19.487 192 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 19.453 19.507 204 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.463 19.512 217 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 19.507 19.512 225 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.486 19.520 2341 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.505 19.528 2410 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 19.481 19.539 2516 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.510 2613 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 19.520 2793 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 19.520 2815 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 19.558 2934 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.589 3095 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 19.591 316 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 19.608 323 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.616 3338 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.788 3455 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 19.853 3544 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 19.871 3630 Gray Gaulding The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 19.902 3783 Dylan Lupton (i) BK Racing Toyota 19.976 3832 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford 20.028 3917 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 20.362 4046 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 0.000 Official qualifying results
Race First half Under mostly cloudy Virginia skies, Martin Truex Jr. led the field to the green flag at 1:18 p.m. The first caution of the race flew on lap 22 after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wheel-hopped and backed into the turn 3 wall. He went on to finish 40th. Joey Logano exited pit road first. Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin were sent to the tail end of the field on the restart for speeding.
The race restarted on lap 28. Truex took the lead back from Logano on lap 45. The second caution flew on lap 61 for David Ragan laying fluid down on the track.
The race restarted on lap 68. Kyle Larson took the lead for six laps on lap 73 before Truex took it back on lap 79. Kyle Busch took the lead on lap 113 before giving it back to Truex the following lap. Debris in turn 4 brought out the third caution on lap 132. Kevin Harvick was sent to the tail end of the field for speeding.
The race restarted on lap 139. Matt Kenseth took the lead for a circuit on lap 152 before Truex took back over the following lap. He continued to hold it until Kenseth took it from him for good on lap 180. Racing for second, Hamlin made contact with Jimmie Johnson by bumping him out of the way rounding turns 3 and 4 before continuing on lap 198. In his post-race media availability, Hamlin explained his bump on Johnson by saying how they "were racing for 13th or something at New Hampshire and he turned us, luckily I saved it. [He] [n]early wrecked us there. I raced him hard for the lead at Charlotte and then we come here and I catch him from a really long ways back. They didn’t want to let us go. It was frustrating from my standpoint, so I had to move him out of the way. I gave him many warnings on the radio.’’ Johnson said afterwards in his availability that he was "puzzled that he had to move me like he did,” Johnson said. “I prefer to race people cleanly. I got accused of racing hard? I'll take that as a compliment.” Debris on the backstretch, a torn banner, brought out the fourth caution on lap 200.
Second half
The race restarted on lap 207. It ran the length of a full fuel run, which is rare at Martinsville, and a number of cars pitted under green, also rare at Martinsville, when Edwards cut a tire, slammed the wall in turn and brought out the fifth caution with 142 laps to go. He said afterwards that Goodyear had "come down here, look at the tire, and said it was a belt failure," Edwards said. "So that’s really big of them to say, 'Hey, there’s nothing you could have done about it.' We had a really good race going and sometimes that’s just what happens in racing." Hamlin was sorted out as the leader. Because this happened during a cycle of green flag stops, it caused a number of cars to be in the wrong order when the race was scheduled to restart with 127 to go. There was controversy with race control taking so long to sort out the running order and for allowing so many laps to click off (29 total under the caution period) instead of throwing the red flag and sorting the running order. “We don't need 100 laps under yellow ... trying to figure out where they're at. It probably cost us the race," said Keselowski after the race. Following the race, Sprint Cup Series Managing Director Richard Buck said what happened "was a very dynamic situation; it was unique, as you saw. We were right in the middle of green flag pit stops and we had to go to a caution. That presents one set of issues that we deal with and then from that point as it moved along and we started to get the lineup as we normally do, it went to another dynamic when we had the leader run out of fuel. ... We understand the stakes of the Chase. They're extremely high for everybody. Our job is to get it right. We've got a tremendous amount of resources up there (in the tower). We then moved into another dynamic of it, the wave-arounds. We took our time to make sure we got it right; we feel confident that we got it right."
The race eventually restarted with 114 to go. After two laps of side-by-side racing, Johnson passed Hamlin exiting turn 2 to take the lead with 91 to go. Keselowski worked his way past Busch, Kenseth and Hamlin to move into second, but ran out of time to run down Johnson who drove on to score the victory.
Post-race
Driver comments Johnson said in victory lane that "there were a lot of moments but anything in life you have to work for it. It's not going to come easy and we knew that coming into this race. There are so many challenges with this track. I'm so thankful for this race team. To win on this weekend at this track with the tragedy we had in ’04, we’re thinking of all the loved ones that we lost in the plane crash.”