I hate almost nothing more than an off week in Nascar. A week without racing is like a meal without food. Blank. So when I turn on the TV Sunday afternoon, and I know there is a race to watch, I’m very happy.

Joey Logano started on the pole for the STP 500, but he faded quickly and wasn’t a factor for the rest of the race. Just five laps into the race Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun in turn two, and he spent the rest o the race trying to make up lost positions.

Paul Menard passed Logano for the lead early in the race, and he was in turn passed by Kyle Busch 8 laps later. Kyle was quickly followed by Kevin Harvick and teammate Matt Kenseth. These three were destined to be the front runners for most of the day, and Kyle would lead well over 300 of the race’s 500 laps.

Other than Dale Jr’s spin, the race was relatively quiet for the first 200 or so laps. Then trouble hit one of the pre-race favorites. Denny Hamlin, a 5 time winner at Martinsville and the defending race winner, wheel hopped in turns 1 and 2 and slammed the outside wall, ending his day.

On the pit stops during the ensuing caution, disaster struck Harvick. His jack man had trouble getting the jack under the car, and cost Kevin several spots. Harvick’s crew is known to make costly mistakes, and Harvick was clearly angered by this one.

Kyle continued to lead the race, and Kenseth continued to hang on his back bumper. For the next 250 laps the two ran 1-2, and they seemed untouchable. Nothing short of a well timed caution would take them out of the 1-2 running order.

Well, with 15 laps to go, Jamie McMurray, who had suffered a tire rub a few laps earlier, finally lost the tire completely, and brought out the caution.

This brought strategy into play. Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, AJ Almendinger, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, and Paul Menard stayed on the track, but everyone else went down pit road. Kyle Larson and dale Earnhardt Jr restarted 9th and 10th with two tires, and Brad Keslowski restarted 11th with four. However, 12 laps around Nascar’s smallest and tightest track is hardly enough laps to get to the lead.

Kyle jumped ahead of his opponents as he took the green flag, but he didn’t have much time to build a lead. AJ Almendinger, driving his low-funded no. 47, blew past Kenseth for 2nd, and began chasing Busch. Lap after lap AJ gained on Kyle, but it didn’t seem he had enough time to catch the 18 car. Not to mention the fact that he was now being stalked by the no. 42 of Kyle Larson.

In the end Kyle Busch won his first career Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, his first of the 2016 season, and he also swept the weekend at Martinsville, winning the Truck race as well. All this at a track he has never before won at. Despite finishing second, Almendinger was clearly elated, and he seems to be ready to take his team to the next level.