The 2018 Winston Cup Series: Bowyer snaps his winless streak

Clint Bowyer burns it down after winning the STP 500 at Martinsville.

     Finally, the stars aligned for Clint Bowyer. After 190 winless starts, Bowyer returned to victory lane, winning Monday's STP 500 at Martinsville. It's his first win since the fall race at Charlotte in 2012. Bowyer led 215 of 500 laps, dominating stage 3 of the event. His main challenger, Kyle Busch, finished 2nd, followed by Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick... AJ Allmendinger had a great run, finishing 8th, and Alex Bowman got his first top-10 of the year, finishing 7th... Stewart Haas Racing has won 4 of the season's first 6 races...

Snow blanketed Martinsville Speedway and southern Virginia Saturday night, leading to a delay that bumped both the Truck and Cup races to Monday.

     The race was delayed due to snow over the weekend in southern Virginia, but it was well worth the wait. This set up a doubleheader, with an exciting Truck series race starting in the morning, followed by the Cup drivers. In the Truck race, 21-year-old Ben Rhodes had the fastest truck early on, but a poor pit stop shuffled him back to an eventual 12th place finish. John Hunter Nemechek took the lead late from Kyle Benjamin, and held on to pick up his first win of the season. The action was great to wake up to, before the Cup drivers hit the track...

Clint Bowyer leads over Kyle Busch in the late stages of the STP 500. Bowyer led 215 of 500 laps.

     Monday's STP 500 had only four cautions, the fewest at Martinsville since 1978. This helped Bowyer drive away from the pack, during a 109-lap green flag run to the finish. His 190-race drought between wins is one of the longest ever. Only Bill Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. had longer droughts between wins, at 226 and 218...
     Taking a look at the standings, not much changed up top, with the same drivers making up the top-5. Truex Jr. now leads Busch by 8 points, and Hamlin by 14... Bowyer's win helps him jump to 6th overall, and Bowman has entered the top-10 after a good Martinsville run. Kevin Harvick sits just outside the top-10 in 11th... Jimmie Johnson is 18th, and Chase Elliott has some work to do, currently back in 22nd.

     Up next, NASCAR takes this coming weekend off for Easter, before heading to Texas Motor Speedway. If there's any track for Jimmie Johnson to make his triumphant return to victory lane, this is it. Johnson holds a record 7 wins at Texas, including last year's spring race. Other drivers to watch include Truex Jr., and Chase Elliott...