RIDGEWAY, Va. -- Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway proved to be an exciting one as Jimmie Johnson stamped his ticket to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a victory.
It was 500 laps of adversity and battling for position, filled with many takeaways.
Read below to see what we learned Sunday at Martinsville.
SHOW OF SPEED CONTINUES
The 2016 season has been all about speed for Kasey Kahne, crew chief Keith Rodden and the No. 5 Chevrolet SS team.
In the early and middle stages of the season, the team was struggling to find the speed they needed to land the finishes they wanted.
However, as the season has progressed, the No. 5 team has locked into the speed they have been searching for.
Beginning with Darlington, Kahne logged a string of top-five and top-10 finishes, with his best finish of third coming at Charlotte Motor Speedway three weeks ago.
Sunday at Martinsville, Kahne and the No. 5 UniFirst Chevrolet SS continued their solid performance, showing speed at the Virginia short track and taking the checkered flag just outside the top 10 in 11th.
SEASON-BEST FINISH
Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway marked Jeff Gordon's final race filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS.
It was his eighth start of the 2016 season and after taking the green flag in 10th, Gordon ran inside the top five and top 10 steadily throughout the 500-lap race.
After being caught a lap down with less than 150 laps remaining, the driver took a wave-around and battled his way to his season-best finish of sixth-place.
"Had to overcome a lot of adversity," Gordon said of Sunday's race, "but that last run I don’t know if it was from running so many caution laps...but the car just didn’t feel the same on that last run and had to settle for sixth.”