By: Cole Cusumano

One thing was certain at the conclusion of the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway– it had everything. Well, maybe not cautions, but that’s the beauty of it. We were treated to an event of redemptive rebounds, glimmers of a promising future and a potentially winning formula for the sport’s success. 

Martin Truex Jr. secured his second consecutive victory in dominating fashion at the half-mile track, but you would have never guessed this in the beginning of the race. At a start which had 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Joey Logano, pacing the field for 101 laps out of 130 in Stage One, it looked as if Joe Gibbs Racing would descend even deeper into their slump.

The driver of the No. 22  lapped up to 19th at the Lap 60 competition caution, including pole-sitter Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. All were victims of failing to adjust to Goodyear’s new tires for the race and their inability to lay down rubber.  

To make things even worse, both Truex and Busch suffered significant right-front damage after a collision on pit road. If that wasn’t enough, the 2017 Cup Series Champion was nailed for a commitment cone violation on the pit stop at the end of Stage One.

Luckily for the New Jersey-native, this damage was repaired to perfection by cutting a piece off the right-front on the car. This modification allowed for optimum airflow to cool the Camry’s brakes.

Drivers were fearful, but the track did rubber-in once Stage Two began, and when it did, Hendrick Motorsports came to life. Seven-time Champion, Jimmie Johnson, had a well equipped long-run car and tracked down Logano to lead the final 58 laps in Stage Two, en route to his third career stage win. Three of the four Hendrick Chevys finished in the top-10 as well.

The road to redemption for multiple teams began at the beginning of the final segment. That, and the assurance the 500-lap event was a Team Penske party. Blaney ran down Johnson for the lead after being one-lap down in the first quarter of the race. Keselowski also powered his way all the way up to the top-five after being marred two laps down early on.

From here it was an absolute dog fight for victory between the Penske trio. They battled for 93 consecutive laps, which allowed Truex to quickly make his way into the picture.

In the biggest redemption story of the night, Truex snagged the lead with 131 to go and never looked back. Overcoming the odds of right-front damage and a pit road violation, the driver of the No. 19 earned his first win of 2020 and JGR’s third.

Team Penske would go on to occupy positions two-through-four at the conclusion of the event and Matt DiBenedetto would notch a seventh place finish. Hendrick Motorsports also ended the day with all four cars inside of the top-10. The success of these teams was cemented tonight, but even after a win, there are still many questions surrounding the Toyota camp. The next highest finishing Camry was Busch in 19th.

While the competition in the Blue Emu 500 was outstanding, one performance garnered a headline of its own — Bubba Wallace.

Just hours after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all future events and weeks in the midst of a worldwide movement, the 26-year-old delivered in what he called, “the most important race of his career.”

After appearing on numerous news networks throughout the week and assuming the role of an ambassador for the Black Lives Matter movement, Wallace had himself a career day. Consistently running inside the top-10 all night and picking up stage points in both segments the driver and his No. 43 team made their presence known, even though they were bested by nine-time Martinsville winner, Johnson, for 10th.

Bubba wasn’t the only smaller budget team to turn heads on Wednesday night. Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell were common names hanging tough in the top-10 and top-15 all night. The GoFas Racing driver even led a lap due to staying out and the Arizona-native was as high as fifth at one point. In a shocking twist, LaJoie managed to out-race Hamlin and finish eight spots above him in 18th after a Twitter spat on Sunday. McDowell went on to finish comfortably in 14th.

Between the incredible racing and exposure to smaller teams, there was one clear-cut winner, and that was NASCAR.

Goodyear brought a near-perfect tire to the track. Their durability and ability to lay rubber after a full stage of racing aided in increased competition. This was also a testament to the newly implemented low-downforce package. Coupling these things with the reality of a weeknight short track race may be the winning formula for NASCAR’s future success,

This inaugural primetime event solidified the reasons fans and sports personalities had been campaigning for this for years. It had nearly everything you could want and that was felt in the reception from essentially everyone. The Martinsville night race has the potential to reach the iconic stature of the Bristol Motor Speedway annual event.

Weeknight short track races with this new low-downforce package are the answers.

Lastly, Martinsville will remain the site of the semi-final race for 2020, so we should have a pretty solid look at who could be feeling confident coming back at the end of the year. Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports seem like the ones to beat thus far, and it appears it could be feeling confident for the long-haul heading out of Virginia.