STP 500

STP 500

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Venue	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, Virginia
Corporate sponsor	STP
First race	1950
Distance	263 miles (423 km)
Laps	500
Previous names	Unnamed (1950–1955) Virginia 500 (1956–1981, 2001–2003) Virginia 500 Sweepstakes (second 1961 race) Virginia National Bank 500 (1982–1983) Sovran Bank 500 (1984–1987) Pannill Sweatshirts 500 (1988–1989) Hanes Activewear 500 (1990) Hanes 500 (1991–1995) Goody's Headache Powder 500 (1996–1998) Goody's Body Pain 500 (1999–2000) Advance Auto Parts 500 (2004–2005) DirecTV 500 (2006) Goody's Cool Orange 500 (2007–2008) Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 (2009–2010) Goody's Fast Relief 500 (2011–2012) STP Gas Booster 500 (2013)

The STP 500 is an annual 500-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held at the 0.526-mile (0.847 km) Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. It had no name from 1950 to 1955, before taking the name Virginia 500 in 1956, the other one being the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Longtime sponsor GlaxoSmithKline returned as race sponsor for the 2007 spring race with their new orange-flavored brand with the race title being Goody's Cool Orange 500; the Goody's 500 was originally the name of the fall race, which since 2008 has also been sponsored by the British pharmaceutical conglomerate, as the TUMS QuikPak 500.

The race on April 1, 2007, was the second race for NASCAR's car design, the Car of Tomorrow. This event is currently the sixth race of the season, the first race where current points standings (instead of the previous year, as in the first five races) determine exemptions. Denny Hamlin is the most recent winner of the race, having won it in 2015.^[1]

Notable races

• 1953: Herb Thomas was originally declared the winner, but a recheck showed that he had been credited with an extra lap.
• 1971: Controversy dogged Richard Petty's win as he lost his gas cap (dry-brake fuel couplers were not mandated until 1974) during the race but was not black flagged; there had been incidents of drivers flagged to get gas caps under green.
• 1973: David Pearson won his first short track race since 1971, driving the Wood Brothers Mercury.
• 1976: Darrell Waltrip took the win, the first for the DiGard Motorsports Chevrolet.
• 1979: Richard Petty posted his first win in a Chevrolet and first short track win since 1975.
• 1981: Morgan Shepherd stunned the field with his first career Winston Cup win.
• 1982: After nearly a dozen second-place finishes, Harry Gant pulled down his first win.
• 1984: Geoff Bodine edged Ron Bouchard for the win, the first for Bodine and the first for Hendrick Motorsports; it was also the first for crew chief Harry Hyde since 1977.
• 1986: Ricky Rudd won a race where wrecks and blown engines put the entire field behind him at least one lap down.
• 1989: Darrell Waltrip won, the final win for Chevrolet's bubble-glassed Monte Carlo racecar; the Monte Carlo was replaced by the Lumina.
• 1990: Geoff Bodine posted his first win with Junior Johnson.
• 1997: Jeff Gordon edged Bobby Hamilton for the win, ending a four-race win streak in the Virginia 500 by Rusty Wallace.
• 1998: Bobby Hamilton drove the Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet to the win; he engaged in several bouts of multilap drag-racing with John Andretti, driving the Petty Enterprises Pontiac that Hamilton had driven the previous three seasons.
• 1999: John Andretti lost a lap after being tagged by Ward Burton; he made up the lap and ran down Jeff Burton; in the final ten laps he and Burton raced nose to nose for several laps before Andretti rallied to the win, his first for Petty Enterprises, the 200th short track win for the team, and the first for the team since 1997.
• 2002: Bobby Labonte posted his first career short track win.
• 2004: Rusty Wallace posted his final Nextel Cup win.
• 2010: Denny Hamlin stormed four-abreast through traffic on a late restart to steal the win.
• 2012: Ryan Newman stormed to the checkered flag because of the wreck that happened before. Clint Bowyer hit both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon during the first attempt. Newman held off A. J. Allmendinger on the second attempt to win the Goody's Fast Relief 500.
• 2014: Kurt Busch posted his first win with Stewart-Haas Racing after passing Jimmie Johnson with eleven laps to go. The win was Busch's first in two seasons following his firing from Penske Racing and numerous confrontations with media. The race lead changed 33 times, a track record, breaking the 31 set in Kevin Harvick's 2011 win.

Past winners

• 1957: Race shortened due to crash.
• 1961 (first): Race abandoned as a result of rain. Under current rules, it would not be declared official as less than 50.1% of the race distance was completed.
• 1961 (second): A replacement race for the original 1961 race.
• 1970, 1977, and 1995: Race shortened due to rain.
• 1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis.
• 2010: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 2010 and 2012: Race extended due to a green–white–checker finish. 2012 took two attempts.

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (teams)

Manufacturer wins

Television broadcasters

References

External links

• NASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks
• Ratings For NASCAR's Spring Martinsville Race Since 1999
• Crittenden Automotive Library: Sovran Bank 500