Notebook: Logano, Setzer crash primary cars in Cup practice

Notebook: Logano, Setzer crash primary cars in Cup practice MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Joey Logano and David Setzer crashed their primary cars Friday during the final Sprint Cup practice at Martinsville Speedway.
Setzer likely will not be able to qualify Saturday as his K-Automotive Motorsports’ team did not have a backup car ready Friday afternoon. If the Brian Keselowski-owned team does not get a backup car ready, then all 43 of the remaining entries will make the field.
Logano had to go to a backup car for Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500. Qualifying is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday.
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch: Share and share alike?
When it comes to racing at Martinsville, you’d think Kyle Busch would be able to learn a lot from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.
After all, Hamlin has won the previous three races at the .526-mile short track.
Then again, Busch isn’t sure he’s getting the full story from his teammate when it comes to the philosophy and methodology of running Martinsville.
“I’ve talked to him a little bit about it,” Busch said Friday before Sprint Cup practice at NASCAR’s oldest and shortest speedway. “It’s kind of like me at Bristol. I might not tell everybody everything that I know, so I don’t know how much Denny is really telling me.”
Busch says he depends more on the free exchange of information between the three Cup crew chiefs in the JGR camp than he does on conversations with his teammate.
“We all share our information all day long, and it’s just a matter of applying the right information for my driving style,” said Busch, who is fourth in the series standings after five races. “We do talk, and we do talk about different things. I will give Denny a lot of credit—that’s why I’m a lot better here than I’ve been in the past.
“But, I think a lot of it still has to do with basic car setup and how that is. So, we’ve gone closer to Denny’s way and migrated his way, which I think has helped us and just gives me a more consistent feel every time we come here.”
Busch said he’s looking for a top-five finish at Martinsville. A win might be an ambitious goal, given that Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson have combined to win the past nine races here.
“You can almost guarantee the top two spots will be the 11 (Hamlin) and the 48 (Johnson), so everybody else is racing for third,” Busch said. “It seems like I can’t even get to third yet, but we’ll see what we can figure out here this weekend.”
Busch had the fastest car in the first practice session but was 23rd on the speed chart in the second and final practice.
Martinsville is a home game for Harvick
When he comes to Martinsville, Kevin Harvick can leave the motor coach at home.
He’s close enough to his home and race shop in Kernersville, N.C., that he can spend the night in his bed.
“Well, for us, this is kind of a home game, as far as where KHI (Kevin Harvick Inc.) and RCR (Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, N.C.) are and where a lot of our employees live,” Harvick said Friday before Sprint Cup practice. “We’re having our East Coast fan club gathering here this weekend at this particular track.
“This has been a fun racetrack for us. I think this is something that we all look forward to during the year, just for the fact that we all grew up on racetracks like this, and to kind of go back to your roots and be able to beat and bang is something we don’t get to do every week.
“Being so close to home for us, it’s the only race that we can drive back and forth to and sleep in your own bed at night—so that makes it pretty high on the list.”
Fresh from his dramatic last-lap pass for the win Sunday in Fontana, Calif., Harvick hopes to improve on the career-best third-place finish he posted at Martinsville in October in his 19th start at the .526-mile track.
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service