Breakout race for JR Motorsports at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — While JR Motorsports didn’t have a top-5 finish in the first six races of 2024, race seven saw three of their drivers finish in the top-5.
Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway didn’t start like that, however. Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith and pole winner Brandon Jones started in the rear. Then, they and Carson Kvapil pitted during stage one and stayed out in stage two.
Sam Mayer – Finished 2nd
Mayer was the only driver who didn’t do the JR Motorsports strategy Saturday night at Martinsville. However, he finished the best of them on the night.
He started ninth and moved up to fourth by lap 60. Then, in stage two, Mayer stayed out and led the quintet of JRM cars.
Mayer hung around the top-5 for a little bit but the old tires started to show, putting him in 13th at the end of stage two on lap 120.
As the final 100 laps worked in, Mayer creeped into the top-10. In the final 50 laps, he worked into the top-5. Then, in the final 15, he was contending for the win.
After Aric Almirola took the outside lane and lost the lead to teammate Chandler Smith for a lap after a restart on lap 239, Mayer pounced. He took the lead from Almirola right before another caution sent the race into overtime.
In overtime, Mayer chose the inside lane beneath Almirola but ahead of Sheldon Creed, who showed all night he was very hungry to claim a win.
Creed shoved Mayer up the track in turn one, allowing Almirola to scoot away.
Mayer finished second. While it was his best finish of what he once described as “The Year from Hell,” he was hoping for more.
“I’m happy with P2, the car is in one piece. The restarts here are ruthless and painful. The 20 was really good, I was happy I was able to keep up with him. That was the first time I was able to do that. I got one, I feel like, stolen from me. Tough deal. We’re moving on, we’ll haul the mail wherever we go next,” Mayer said.
Carson Kvapil – 4th
Kvapil was arguably the most impressive driver Saturday night.
The 2021 CARS Super Late Model Tour Champion and 2022-23 CARS Late Model Stock Tour Champion had a quiet start to the race, starting 12th. He fell outside of the top-20 due to the JRM strategy but started stage two in the top-5.
The young standout stayed there for the rest of the night. Kvapil drove like a veteran, including when he let actual veteran Aric Almirola go when Almirola had fresher tires and slotted in behind him entering turn three. That was in stage two, preceding a fourth-place finish in that stage.
At the end of a wild overtime finish, Kvapil found himself in fourth again.
Justin Allgaier – 5th
Out of all of the JR Motorsports cars, Allgaier arguably had the biggest up and down night at Martinsville.
While he benefited from JRM’s clever pit strategy and claimed stage two, his crew let him down when it came time to pit again.
Allgaier lost the lead during the stage break and never tasted the lead again. He fell back to 10th at one point but rebounded to finish fifth.
Sammy Smith – 7th
On his march to the front, Smith brought out the first caution on lap 10 when he drove aggressively into turn three, hit Garrett Smithley and spun Dexter Bean.
In stage two, Smith took the lead from Mayer. He led 42 laps before his tires started wearing out, giving Allgaier the lead and pushing Smith to third at the end of the stage.
From then on, Smith had a relatively quiet night. He restarted ninth and finished seventh in overtime.
While JR Motorsports had four drivers finish in the top-7, one driver bore the brunt of all the trouble Martinsville could throw at the organization.
Brandon Jones – 27th
Jones matched the track-record qualifying lap Ty Gibbs previously set en route to winning the pole. However, he revealed in his post-qualifying interview that he would drop to the rear after the team found a hairline crack in the brake rotor.
Jones quietly moved his way up with Allgaier and Smith who also started in the rear before they all pitted. Then, when their strategy shuffled them to the front in stage two, Jones had trouble right away.
Jones had issues shifting from third to fourth gear, causing him to check up the entire outside lane behind him. He stacked up 13 other drivers in a wreck, including AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Weatherman and Corey Heim whose nights ended because of it.
Under caution, Jones’ team instructed him to shift from third gear to fourth and to run in fourth before the field got the one to green signal.
Jones held on to a top-10 finish in stage two, placing seventh. However, in the final 70 laps, he seemed to struggle and fell outside of the top-10. rn
Jones ran 17th in overtime but finished 27th, one lap shy of the checkered flag after sliding into Riley Herbst, who clobbered the wall in turn one on the final lap.
Jones now sits 13th in the Xfinity Series standings, -2 points to Shane van Gisbergen who currently holds the final playoff spot.
Next: Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, April 13 (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com