In typical Martinsville fashion, drivers traded paint, banged fenders and crunched hoods at the 0.536-mile short track. And, after 500 laps, Denny Hamlin earned his fifth grandfather clock by winning the STP 500.
After an incredible celebration burnout that ended with melted tires and a steamy engine, Hamlin, the only Toyota driver to ever win at Martinsville, praised his team.
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"We just weren't going to be denied today," Hamlin told FOX Sports 1 after the race that featured 16 cautions. "This is a great race car that's part of a great organization that gives me cars that are able to do it."
Hamlin held off a charging Brad Keselowski in the closing laps, while Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan rounded out the top five finishers.
"Just great race cars and part of a great organization that gives me cars that we're able to do it," Hamlin said in a Toyota Racing press release. "I feel like I missed out on so many grandfather clocks here because of mechanical issues and such.
"We just weren't going to be denied today and hats off to Brad (Keselowski). He had an option and he took the latter — thank him for that. I'm proud of the whole FedEx team — we're going to the Greenbrier and celebrate after this win."
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Keselowski, who led 18 laps, went to Hamlin's car and congratulated him on the win after the race, letting him know there were no feelings about the way they raced.
"I really wanted that clock," Keselowski said, talking about the track's unique winner's prize. "At the end we were good at the right time, I just couldn't quite make the move I needed to make to complete the pass... I would have loved another five or 10 laps to keep trying."
Keselowski tapped Hamlin in the final turn in an attempt to get by, but didn't get into him hard enough to spin him around.
"Hat's off to Brad (Keselowski)," Hamlin said. "He had an option and he chose the latter. I thank him for that."
Points leader Kevin Harvick finished the day in eighth place, snapping his streak of eight consecutive races with finishes in the top two.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s day took a turn for the worse on Lap 228 after he plowed into the rear of Paul Menard’s car as he tried to slow down and avoid contact ahead of him between Casey Mears and David Ragan.
Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevy went to the garage with heavy front-end damage, but eventually returned to the track with the race’s most interesting looking car.
"Somebody got checked up there. We didn’t see it, didn’t have time and knocked the radiator out of it," Earnhardt said in the garage. "It’s been a tough race. The car has been fast and we’re having fun out there, but we aren’t going to have too much fun out there the rest of the day."
Prior to the accident on Lap 228, Earnhardt struggled with shifter issues, having to replace it on three separate occasions.
"We were having some transmission or gear problems," Earnhardt said. "The engine power, torque and all that was really beating on some stuff in the drivetrain. I think we got a real bad vibration in the car and it kept breaking the shifter.
"It was so bad it would break the shifter right off there at the top of the transmission because it’s just swinging up there like a tuning fork."
Earnhardt managed to drive his modified car to a 36th-place finish.
Chase Elliott, making his first career Sprint Cup start, ran into trouble two separate times early in the race, once with Brett Moffit and another time with Cole Whitt, forcing him to the garage for repairs. However, the 19-year-old defending Xfinity Series champ returned to the track 69 laps off the lead and finished the day in 38th place.
The driver Elliott is set to replace next season, Jeff Gordon, finished the day in the top-10 with a ninth-place finish.
Danica Patrick, who finished seventh, turned in her best Martinsville finish and best overall performance since finishing sixth at last season's Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta.
"It feels good," Patrick said. "This is the kind of stuff we need with a new group together. We need these ego boosts every now and again. It was fun racing and we hope to do it more often."
After a weekend off, the Sprint Cup Series will return at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 10 for the Duck Commander 500.