The 2006 DirecTV 500 was the sixth race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. It was held on April 2, 2006 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Jimmie Johnson won the pole and Tony Stewart led the most laps and won the race.[5]

2006 DirecTV 500
Race details[1][2][3][4]
Race 6 of 36 in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
2006 DirecTV 500 program cover
2006 DirecTV 500 program cover
Date April 2, 2006 (2006-April-02)
Location Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, Virginia
Course Permanent racing facility
0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance 500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 80.6 °F (27.0 °C); wind speeds up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h)[2]
Average speed 72.741 miles per hour (117.065 km/h)
Attendance 65,000
Pole position
Driver Hendrick Motorsports
Time 19.575
Most laps led
Driver Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps 288
Winner
No. 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network Fox
Announcers Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Larry McReynolds

Background

edit
 
Martinsville Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

Martinsville Speedway is a 4-turn short track that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long.[6] Its turns are banked at 11° while the frontstretch, where the start/finish line is located, is banked 0°.[6] Like the front stretch, the backstraightaway also does not have a banked surface.[6]

Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track on the Sprint Cup circuit, [6] but because of its size and shape – described most often as the shape of a paperclip – Martinsville offers some of the most exciting and close racing in the sport.[6] Also because of its size, fans are closer to the action than any other track.[6] The cars are never more than a few hundred yards away and sometimes they seem close enough to reach out and touch.

In a recent poll of race fans by a major publication, Martinsville Speedway was voted as the top bargain in all of Sprint Cup racing as well as the track having the best view of the action.[6] The track is also one of the most modern, with high-rise aluminum chair back seating, corporate and fan suites and state-of-the-art facilities for the media.[6]

The race track was built in 1947 and is owned by the International Speedway Corporation.

The race consisted of 500 laps, equivalent to a race distance of 263 miles (423 km).[6] Jeff Gordon was the defending race winner, after he won the race in 2005, the previous year.

Qualifying

edit
ST[7] Car # Driver Make SPD Q Time BHND
1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 96.736 19.575 0.000
2 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 96.696 19.583 00.008
3 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 96.632 19.596 00.021
4 12 Ryan Newman Dodge 96.563 19.610 00.035
5 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 96.509 19.621 00.046
6 14 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 96.484 19.626 00.051
7 38 Elliott Sadler Ford 96.445 19.634 00.059
8 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 96.288 19.666 00.091
9 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 96.117 19.701 00.126
10 16 Greg Biffle Ford 95.976 19.730 00.155
11 10 Scott Riggs Dodge 95.864 19.753 00.178
12 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet 95.830 19.760 00.185
13 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge 95.786 19.769 00.194
14 22 Dave Blaney Dodge 95.752 19.776 00.201
15 99 Carl Edwards Ford 95.670 19.793 00.218
16 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 95.632 19.801 00.226
17 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 95.603 19.807 00.232
18 18 J. J. Yeley Chevrolet 95.530 19.822 00.247
19 21 Ken Schrader Ford 95.487 19.831 00.256
20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 95.443 19.840 00.265
21 1 Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 95.357 19.858 00.283
22 01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 95.275 19.875 00.300
23 19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge 95.271 19.876 00.301
24 25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet 95.218 19.887 00.312
25 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge 95.146 19.902 00.327
26 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 95.132 19.905 00.330
27 7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet 95.065 19.919 00.344
28 88 Dale Jarrett Ford 95.017 19.929 00.354
29 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 94.855 19.963 00.388
30 6 Mark Martin Ford 94.708 19.994 00.419
31 34 Chad Chaffin Chevrolet 94.543 20.029 00.454
32 42 Casey Mears Dodge 94.538 20.030 00.455
33 55 Michael Waltrip Dodge 94.505 20.037 00.462
34 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet 94.463 20.046 00.471
35 95 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 94.458 20.047 00.472
36 4 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 94.444 20.050 00.475
37 45 Kyle Petty Dodge 94.214 20.099 00.524
38 40 David Stremme Dodge 94.200 20.102 00.527
39 51 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 94.106 20.122 00.547
40 32 Travis Kvapil Chevrolet 94.087 20.126 00.551
41 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 93.915 20.163 00.588
42 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 93.673 20.215 00.640
43 92 Chad Blount Dodge 94.017 20.141 00.566
Failed to qualify
44 74 Derrike Cope Dodge 20.142
45 61 Kevin Lepage Ford 20.176
46 78 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 20.225
47 49 Jimmy Spencer Dodge 20.247
48 89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge 20.261
49 00 Hermie Sadler Ford 20.443

Race results

edit
Pos Grid Driver No. Make Points Bonus Laps Winnings
1 3 Tony Stewart 20 Chevrolet 190 10 500 $220,786
2 8 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 170 0 500 $153,461
3 1 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 170 5 500 $150,361
4 29 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8 Chevrolet 160 0 500 $133,416
5 17 Kyle Busch 5 Chevrolet 155 0 500 $98,400
6 7 Elliott Sadler 38 Ford 150 0 500 $120,808
7 26 Kevin Harvick 29 Chevrolet 146 0 500 $115,011
8 24 Brian Vickers 25 Chevrolet 142 0 500 $85,350
9 2 Jamie McMurray 26 Ford 143 5 500 $122,675
10 11 Scott Riggs 10 Dodge 134 0 500 $76,700
11 9 Kurt Busch 2 Dodge 130 0 500 $111,683
12 25 Reed Sorenson* 41 Dodge 127 0 500 $85,925
13 30 Mark Martin 6 Ford 124 0 500 $90,575
14 6 Sterling Marlin 14 Chevrolet 126 5 500 $92,083
15 28 Dale Jarrett 88 Ford 123 5 500 $106,825
16 15 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 115 0 500 $89,100
17 14 Dave Blaney 22 Dodge 112 0 499 $89,233
18 4 Ryan Newman 12 Dodge 109 0 498 $114,358
19 21 Martin Truex Jr.* 1 Chevrolet 106 0 498 $94,208
20 18 J. J. Yeley* 18 Chevrolet 108 5 497 $109,125
21 12 Tony Raines 96 Chevrolet 100 0 497 $67,850
22 42 Clint Bowyer* 07 Chevrolet 97 0 496 $84,250
23 22 Joe Nemechek 01 Chevrolet 94 0 495 $98,245
24 16 Matt Kenseth 17 Ford 91 0 493 $113,491
25 34 Jeff Green 66 Chevrolet 88 0 491 $90,483
26 23 Jeremy Mayfield 19 Dodge 85 0 462 $100,066
27 32 Casey Mears 42 Dodge 82 0 456 $103,918
28 36 Scott Wimmer 4 Chevrolet 79 0 451 $69,460
29 33 Michael Waltrip 55 Dodge 76 0 445 $78,722
30 37 Kyle Petty 45 Dodge 73 0 439 $77,550
31 10 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 70 0 436 $86,100
32 13 Bobby Labonte 43 Dodge 67 0 429 $105,211
33 20 Jeff Burton 31 Chevrolet 64 0 426 $92,845
34 40 Travis Kvapil 32 Chevrolet 61 0 403 $65,425
35 5 Kasey Kahne 9 Dodge 58 0 374 $102,889
36 31 Chad Chaffin 34 Chevrolet 55 0 345 $65,325
37 41 Denny Hamlin* 11 Chevrolet 52 0 307 $65,250
38 38 David Stremme* 40 Dodge 49 0 299 $73,200
39 35 Stanton Barrett 95 Chevrolet 46 0 280 $65,140
40 19 Ken Schrader 21 Ford 43 0 164 $92,279
41 39 Mike Garvey 51 Chevrolet PE 0 93 $65,015
42 43 Chad Blount 92 Dodge 37 0 92 $64,960
43 27 Robby Gordon 7 Chevrolet 34 0 7 $64,384
Sources:[1][3][4][8]

Failed to qualify: Derrike Cope (#74), Kevin Lepage (#61), Kenny Wallace (#78), Jimmy Spencer (#49), Morgan Shepherd (#89), Hermie Sadler[1][3][4]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "2006 DirecTV 500 - Racing-Reference.info". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  2. ^ a b "Complete weather information". Almanac.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Official results". NASCAR.com. Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  4. ^ a b c "2006 DirecTV 500 - Martinsville Speedway". Martinsvillespeedway.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  5. ^ "Tony Stewart Leads Chevrolet To Win the 2006 DirecTV 500 In Exciting Martinsville Shootout". NASCAR.about.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "About the Track". Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  7. ^ "Qualifying times: DirecTV 500". Crash. 2006-04-01. Archived from the original on 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  8. ^ "NASCAR Race Results at Martinsville - April 2, 2006 [DIRECTV 500] [DriverAverages]". Driveraverages.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
Previous race:
2006 Food City 500
Nextel Cup Series
2006 season
Next race:
2006 Samsung/Radio Shack 500