Martin Wins Southern 500

Mark Martin took the lead in the closing laps of the Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway, and drove to victory, his second of the season. Jimmie Johnson completed the Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 sweep, finishing second.

All in all, it was a pretty good day for Hendrick, with Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.

Top 5: Martin, Johnson, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and Gordon.

Martin Truex Jr, Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth finished sixth through tenth, respectively.

Notables: Kevin Harvick (11th), Jeff Burton (12th), Denny Hamlin (13th), Kurt Busch (16th), Kasey Kahne (23rd), Dale Earnhardt Jr (27th), Carl Edwards (32nd), Kyle Busch (34th),  Clint Bowyer (37th), and David Ragan (38th).

Give a call to Brad Keselowski who proved his victory at Talladega Superspeedway two weeks ago wasn’t a fluke. He drove the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevy to a seventh-place finish. Dale Earnhardt Jr., however, struggled throughout the day and never ran consistently in the top 10. He finished 27th after spinning in the closing laps.

Academy Sports To Sponsor HOFR No. 96, Labonte

Hall Of Fame racing announced that Academy Sports + Outdoors will sponsor Bobby Labonte and the No. 96 Ford for five races next season beginning at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The retailer will also sponsor the car at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

HOF Racing, in addition to signing Labonte, recently formed an alliance with Yates Racing, and has secured sponsorship from Ask.com.