Rain postpones Martinsville NASCAR race and return of spoiler until Monday at noon

The fans munched on the famous Martinsville hot dogs, the television crew filed the air with driver interviews, and fans at home switched over to the NCAA basketball playoffs.  In the end the weather was the winner Sunday as NASCAR was forced to postpone the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 until Monday.

Rain also canceled Friday’s qualifying session at the Martinsville (VA) track.  As a result, the 43-car field for Sunday’s 500-lap race was set by current car owner points per the NASCAR rulebook.

Perhaps the driver that will be most affected by the delay is Denny Hamlin who had surgery scheduled on his knee for Monday.  The delay in surgery will give him a little less time to rehab his knee before the next scheduled race on April 10 at Phoenix.

The Martinsville race will see the return of the spoiler to the Sprint Cup cars. That debut will have to wait at least one more day.

“I think it’ something that the fans wanted from a cosmetic standpoint”, Stewart-Haas driver Ryan Newman said earlier this week about the spoiler.

“I think NASCAR’s grown so much in the last 50 years with that spoiler on the back of the car, so I think that’s part of it,” Newman continued. “I also feel the safety factor of the wing versus the spoiler is important, as well. I think that wing, as it goes forward, it creates downforce. But when it gets turned around, as it goes backwards, it creates a percentage of lift. That’s what we saw with (Brad) Keselowski’s car at Atlanta and my car at Talladega last year. I think it’s a good thing for multiple reasons.”

Newman, a Purdue engineering graduate, was involved in a tumbling crash last year at Talladega and Keselowski had a similar ride at Atlanta when their cars got airborne.

“We haven’t tested it at a short track,” Newman observed. “I know that we have had our short-track car in the wind tunnel, looking at what effects the spoiler might have on the car, so we’re ready. I’m looking forward to the spoiler’s debut this weekend.”

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