Drivers and Storylines to Watch at Martinsville
By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series heads to the second short track in a row this week, Martinsville, for the running of the DIRECTV 500. For some Martinsville is paradise, for others it’s a nightmare realized.
Storylines to watch:
-Starting Up Front is Not Important at Martinsville Speedway. The last four races at Martinsville Speedway have each been won from starting positions of 15th or lower
-Will the Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus reunion pay off with a good finish this week? Last week Johnson’s 30th place finish at Bristol, the first race since Knaus returned after being suspended since Daytona, didn’t bode well for the reunited duo.
-Will this be the week Petty finally wins? Petty Enterprises has won 19 of the 114 races at Martinsville Speedway, the most of any car owner. They’ve looked strong with new driver, Bobby Labonte on several occasions so far this year.
-Will emotions run high again? Last weeks Bristol bump fest resulted in some bad blood and there may be a driver or two looking for revenge.
Here are your drivers to watch when the green flag drops Sunday at 1:30 PM.
Jeff Gordon has become the master of the .526-mile D-shaped oval. He rolls in here looking to revenge his to 21st finish at Bristol after a much-publicized altercation with points leader Matt Kenseth. That dropped from sixth to seventh in the standings. But don’t look for the four-time champion to take out his frustrations by using his bumpers. Instead he’ll do his talking on the track.
Gordon has competed in 26 races at Martinsville, scoring seven victories and 20 top-10 finishes. He has won four of the last six races at Martinsville, including both events last year, and was in the top 10 in the other two races. His 7.85 average finish is the best among all drivers with more than one start here.
"Emotions were high last week, but I won't carry any of that into Martinsville," Gordon said. "We have to race the same guys week in and week out, and you can't be concentrating on paybacks. I go into each race with no enemies, and I hope not to create any during the race."
.
Jimmie Johnson, Gordon’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports suffered his own woes at Bristol. He finished 30th and dropped from first to third in the standings.
Johnson has competed in eight races at Martinsville, scoring one victory (October 2004) and seven top-10 finishes. His only Martinsville finish outside the top 10 came in April 2002, in his first race at Martinsville. He has an 8.5 average finish at Martinsville, second only to Jeff Gordon (7.85) among drivers with more than one start there. Johnson finished eighth at Martinsville in this race one year ago and third there last October.
"Martinsville is a demanding track, “Johnson said.” Your equipment takes a beating. The demands on your brakes and your equipment is unbelievable. If you listen to our radio on Sunday you will hear Chad remind me to take care of my brakes about every 50 laps. At Martinsville, it isn’t just the car that takes a beating. It's tough for the drivers as well. Think about it. Five hundred laps with two very difficult turns means you make a thousand turns. That's a lot.
Tony Stewart had the dominant car at Bristol, leading 244 laps in the first half of the race before fading late for a 12th-place finish. The defending series champion can take some solace from that fact that he climbed to ninth in the standing.
Stewart scored his first career pole at Martinsville in just his eighth Nextel Cup start. He now has 10 career poles, the last one coming at last fall's Martinsville race, when he set a track record. In fact Stewart's only Nextel Cup win at Martinsville — the 2000 NAPA AutoCare 500 — he started from the pole. Overall here Stewart has registered four top-five finishes and seven top-10s. Stewart will drive chassis No. 103, which got its first track time of any kind last fall at Richmond. Stewart came from 25th to as high as third before finishing seventh in that race.
One of the keys this Sunday will be patience says Stewart.
"You learn how to protect the car. You learn how to not beat it up,” Stewart said. “You learn it's a lot more fun racing when you use a lot more patience.
Patience seems to be the biggest variable that can hold you up at a place like Martinsville. Needless to say, after going there a couple of times, I've learned how to be patient - out of necessity, basically."
Kasey Kahne finished 10th at Bristol last week to remain second in the standings, just eight points behind leader Matt Kenseth; it’s a position he earned after scoring his second career win at Atlanta a few weeks ago. One year ago Kahne ranked 24th in the point standings. Overall Kahne is one of three drivers to have scored five top-15 finishes in the first five races in 2006 tying Johnson and Mark Martin for the series lead.
Kahne’s maturity as a second year driver is beginning to show as he’s tried to keep his fast start in perspective. "We're off to a good start this season, but it's only the start," Kahne said. "We're five races into the season."
Kahne may have has just one top-10 finish in four races at Martinsville, but he was second in this race one year ago. He finished 17th there last October, and his average finish is 13.25. Most importantly Kahne has been running at the finish in all four of his races here.
"We know we can run up front at Martinsville," Kahne said, adding, "Finding the right setup is critical."
Kurt Busch used the bump-and-run tactic to score his fifth win at Bristol and his first since joining the Penske team driving the famous blue deuce, the No. 2 Dodge. The win propelled Busch from 27th to 16th in the point standings.
Busch has four top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Martinsville; one of them was a victory in the fall race in 2002. Busch said his feelings for the track have "gone full circle because it's back to feeling it truly is such a unique and fun track to race on. I've really grown to appreciate the place and enjoy going there to race."
Busch was in the spotlight this week after bump-and-run tactic last week at Bristol. Busch said though that he wouldn’t have a problem with it if Kenseth returns the favor this weekend.
"If we're leading and he's running second and he bumps me out of the way, I'd understand," Busch said. "If I had flat-out dumped him, then there would have been a problem. I would have felt bad about it. He was able to continue on."
Matt Kenseth had the victory at Bristol in his grasp before being bumped by Kurt Busch on lap 495 and settling for a third-place finish. That finish was his fifth top-15 finish of the season though and put him atop the Nextel Cup point standings for the first time in 71 races, since April 4, 2004. One year ago Kenseth ranked 28th in the point standings and in 2003 and 2004, Kenseth also held the top spot in the point standings after five races.
Kenseth has three top-10 finishes in 12 races at Martinsville and like Kahne has been running at the finish in all but one race here. He finished 11th in this race one year ago and 12th there last October. He has completed more laps at Martinsville in the past eight Cup races than any other active driver (3,998 of 4,000).
“We have a different car we take to Martinsville,” Kenseth said. “We usually take the car I like the least to Martinsville, but we’re taking a decent car to Martinsville that we’ve ran good on the flat tracks with.
At Bristol we’ve just got one car that we’ve run here the last six or seven races that seems to like this place alright, so we’ve got a different car that we only use at Bristol.”
Mark Martin finished sixth at Bristol and remained fourth in points. The consistent veteran driver is off to a great start in this his final season in the Nextel Cup series. He has placed in the top 12 in each of the first five races this season including a runner-up to Kahne at Atlanta.
Martin has competed in 40 races at Martinsville, scoring two victories (April 1992 and 2000). His 21 top-10 Martinsville finishes are the most among active full-time drivers here. He finished third in this race one year ago and 34th there last October but still has a 13.175 average finish here.
"Pat (Tryson) and the team have been outstanding this season, “Martin said referring to his crew chief. “We've been a top-10 car every week, and we've been able to run up front, lead laps and contend.
We've won at Martinsville before and we had a strong run there in the spring last year, so if we can expand on that, hopefully we can be in good shape."
Kyle Busch finished eighth last week at Bristol his third top-10 finish of the season. His only finish outside the top-15 this season was his 23rd at Daytona. Another second year driver the reigning Raybestos Rookie of the Year is fifth in the points standings.
Kyle scored a 39th in this race last season after completing just 304 laps but ran ninth at this track in the Subway 500 in the fall. He’s also coming here after scoring a win in last Saturday’s snow delayed Busch series race. With his brother Kurt winning Sunday's Cup event, they became the first brothers to sweep a Busch/Cup weekend since the Burton brothers at Darlington in the fall of 2001.
Busch feels fortunate to have some mentors on his Hendrick Motorsports team that he can lean on this weekend.
"Jeff Gordon is the man at Martinsville and, lately, Jimmie Johnson has been the man, too, “Busch said. “So, in just my second year, I'm lucky to have those guys to lean on. Even though I'm not a rookie anymore, I've only raced a handful of times there and I'm still learning. Martinsville is still tough."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th at Bristol last Sunday, that followed a third at the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20. Dale Jr. has placed in the top 11 in four of the first five races this season and is sixth in the standings; he ranked 17th in the point standings one year ago. His only finish outside the top-15 this season was his 27th at Las Vegas
Earnhardt Jr. has competed in 12 races at Martinsville, scoring five top-10 finishes, all top-fives. He scored a third-place finish in this event in 2004 and ran 13th in this race last season.
The team prepared for Martinsville this week by heading to Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, S.C. Monday, to test a brand new short-track car that will most likely be the primary chassis for this weekend's race.
“Even though we've never won at Martinsville, I've always felt like our chances are as good as anyone else's, “Earnhardt said.” We went awhile there where we did everything but win. That gave me a lot of confidence, and I've always considered our short-track program to be one of the best."
Ryan Newman staged a late race rally to finish ninth at Bristol and jump five places in the point standings. "It was a good comeback from being almost a lap down, getting spun out and being the last car on the lead lap," said Newman.
Newman has five straight top-10 finishes at Martinsville, including four top-fives.
"We're knocking on the door to score out first win at the track," he said. "We're definitely close." Newman adds that the key to winning is "track position at the end of the race. That is crucial. It's not easy to pass at Martinsville, so in those final laps, you want your car to be in a winning track position."
Newman also admits, "I used to hate Martinsville. But I don't anymore. I really had to adapt to Martinsville over the years. The Alltel team has gotten its mechanical problems worked out; mostly these were brake problems because I abused them."
OTHERS:
Dale Jarrett has scored two top-10 finishes in 2006, and all five of his finishes have been top-20s. He has competed in 39 races at Martinsville, posting one victory (April 2001) and 18 top-10 finishes.
Elliott Sadler hopes for another top-10 run like his ninth a year ago in the spring race at Martinsville. He knows a repeat performance could vault him back into the top 10 in the point race.
Denny Hamlin says he has had Martinsville "circled on the calendar from the get-go. That's one place that I feel at home. Martinsville is one of my favorite tracks, both because I know it well and because it fits my driving style." In his Nextel Cup debut at the track last fall, Hamlin qualified fifth and finished eighth.
Jeff Burton boasts one win, nine top-fives and 12 top-10s in 23 starts at Martinsville. "I really enjoy Martinsville," he said. "It's a fun race track. I enjoy the challenge. It's a difficult racetrack. It's hard to get the car handling the way you want it. I like the fact that it is similar to the way Richard Petty had to drive it, and I think that's really cool."
Kyle Petty, who will be making his 51st start at Martinsville, has five top-five and 14 top-10 finishes at the .526-mile track. His 14th-place finish last fall was his best run at the Virginia facility in 12 races.
By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series heads to the second short track in a row this week, Martinsville, for the running of the DIRECTV 500. For some Martinsville is paradise, for others it’s a nightmare realized.
Storylines to watch:
-Starting Up Front is Not Important at Martinsville Speedway. The last four races at Martinsville Speedway have each been won from starting positions of 15th or lower
-Will the Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus reunion pay off with a good finish this week? Last week Johnson’s 30th place finish at Bristol, the first race since Knaus returned after being suspended since Daytona, didn’t bode well for the reunited duo.
-Will this be the week Petty finally wins? Petty Enterprises has won 19 of the 114 races at Martinsville Speedway, the most of any car owner. They’ve looked strong with new driver, Bobby Labonte on several occasions so far this year.
-Will emotions run high again? Last weeks Bristol bump fest resulted in some bad blood and there may be a driver or two looking for revenge.
Here are your drivers to watch when the green flag drops Sunday at 1:30 PM.
Jeff Gordon has become the master of the .526-mile D-shaped oval. He rolls in here looking to revenge his to 21st finish at Bristol after a much-publicized altercation with points leader Matt Kenseth. That dropped from sixth to seventh in the standings. But don’t look for the four-time champion to take out his frustrations by using his bumpers. Instead he’ll do his talking on the track.
Gordon has competed in 26 races at Martinsville, scoring seven victories and 20 top-10 finishes. He has won four of the last six races at Martinsville, including both events last year, and was in the top 10 in the other two races. His 7.85 average finish is the best among all drivers with more than one start here.
"Emotions were high last week, but I won't carry any of that into Martinsville," Gordon said. "We have to race the same guys week in and week out, and you can't be concentrating on paybacks. I go into each race with no enemies, and I hope not to create any during the race."
.
Jimmie Johnson, Gordon’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports suffered his own woes at Bristol. He finished 30th and dropped from first to third in the standings.
Johnson has competed in eight races at Martinsville, scoring one victory (October 2004) and seven top-10 finishes. His only Martinsville finish outside the top 10 came in April 2002, in his first race at Martinsville. He has an 8.5 average finish at Martinsville, second only to Jeff Gordon (7.85) among drivers with more than one start there. Johnson finished eighth at Martinsville in this race one year ago and third there last October.
"Martinsville is a demanding track, “Johnson said.” Your equipment takes a beating. The demands on your brakes and your equipment is unbelievable. If you listen to our radio on Sunday you will hear Chad remind me to take care of my brakes about every 50 laps. At Martinsville, it isn’t just the car that takes a beating. It's tough for the drivers as well. Think about it. Five hundred laps with two very difficult turns means you make a thousand turns. That's a lot.
Tony Stewart had the dominant car at Bristol, leading 244 laps in the first half of the race before fading late for a 12th-place finish. The defending series champion can take some solace from that fact that he climbed to ninth in the standing.
Stewart scored his first career pole at Martinsville in just his eighth Nextel Cup start. He now has 10 career poles, the last one coming at last fall's Martinsville race, when he set a track record. In fact Stewart's only Nextel Cup win at Martinsville — the 2000 NAPA AutoCare 500 — he started from the pole. Overall here Stewart has registered four top-five finishes and seven top-10s. Stewart will drive chassis No. 103, which got its first track time of any kind last fall at Richmond. Stewart came from 25th to as high as third before finishing seventh in that race.
One of the keys this Sunday will be patience says Stewart.
"You learn how to protect the car. You learn how to not beat it up,” Stewart said. “You learn it's a lot more fun racing when you use a lot more patience.
Patience seems to be the biggest variable that can hold you up at a place like Martinsville. Needless to say, after going there a couple of times, I've learned how to be patient - out of necessity, basically."
Kasey Kahne finished 10th at Bristol last week to remain second in the standings, just eight points behind leader Matt Kenseth; it’s a position he earned after scoring his second career win at Atlanta a few weeks ago. One year ago Kahne ranked 24th in the point standings. Overall Kahne is one of three drivers to have scored five top-15 finishes in the first five races in 2006 tying Johnson and Mark Martin for the series lead.
Kahne’s maturity as a second year driver is beginning to show as he’s tried to keep his fast start in perspective. "We're off to a good start this season, but it's only the start," Kahne said. "We're five races into the season."
Kahne may have has just one top-10 finish in four races at Martinsville, but he was second in this race one year ago. He finished 17th there last October, and his average finish is 13.25. Most importantly Kahne has been running at the finish in all four of his races here.
"We know we can run up front at Martinsville," Kahne said, adding, "Finding the right setup is critical."
Kurt Busch used the bump-and-run tactic to score his fifth win at Bristol and his first since joining the Penske team driving the famous blue deuce, the No. 2 Dodge. The win propelled Busch from 27th to 16th in the point standings.
Busch has four top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Martinsville; one of them was a victory in the fall race in 2002. Busch said his feelings for the track have "gone full circle because it's back to feeling it truly is such a unique and fun track to race on. I've really grown to appreciate the place and enjoy going there to race."
Busch was in the spotlight this week after bump-and-run tactic last week at Bristol. Busch said though that he wouldn’t have a problem with it if Kenseth returns the favor this weekend.
"If we're leading and he's running second and he bumps me out of the way, I'd understand," Busch said. "If I had flat-out dumped him, then there would have been a problem. I would have felt bad about it. He was able to continue on."
Matt Kenseth had the victory at Bristol in his grasp before being bumped by Kurt Busch on lap 495 and settling for a third-place finish. That finish was his fifth top-15 finish of the season though and put him atop the Nextel Cup point standings for the first time in 71 races, since April 4, 2004. One year ago Kenseth ranked 28th in the point standings and in 2003 and 2004, Kenseth also held the top spot in the point standings after five races.
Kenseth has three top-10 finishes in 12 races at Martinsville and like Kahne has been running at the finish in all but one race here. He finished 11th in this race one year ago and 12th there last October. He has completed more laps at Martinsville in the past eight Cup races than any other active driver (3,998 of 4,000).
“We have a different car we take to Martinsville,” Kenseth said. “We usually take the car I like the least to Martinsville, but we’re taking a decent car to Martinsville that we’ve ran good on the flat tracks with.
At Bristol we’ve just got one car that we’ve run here the last six or seven races that seems to like this place alright, so we’ve got a different car that we only use at Bristol.”
Mark Martin finished sixth at Bristol and remained fourth in points. The consistent veteran driver is off to a great start in this his final season in the Nextel Cup series. He has placed in the top 12 in each of the first five races this season including a runner-up to Kahne at Atlanta.
Martin has competed in 40 races at Martinsville, scoring two victories (April 1992 and 2000). His 21 top-10 Martinsville finishes are the most among active full-time drivers here. He finished third in this race one year ago and 34th there last October but still has a 13.175 average finish here.
"Pat (Tryson) and the team have been outstanding this season, “Martin said referring to his crew chief. “We've been a top-10 car every week, and we've been able to run up front, lead laps and contend.
We've won at Martinsville before and we had a strong run there in the spring last year, so if we can expand on that, hopefully we can be in good shape."
Kyle Busch finished eighth last week at Bristol his third top-10 finish of the season. His only finish outside the top-15 this season was his 23rd at Daytona. Another second year driver the reigning Raybestos Rookie of the Year is fifth in the points standings.
Kyle scored a 39th in this race last season after completing just 304 laps but ran ninth at this track in the Subway 500 in the fall. He’s also coming here after scoring a win in last Saturday’s snow delayed Busch series race. With his brother Kurt winning Sunday's Cup event, they became the first brothers to sweep a Busch/Cup weekend since the Burton brothers at Darlington in the fall of 2001.
Busch feels fortunate to have some mentors on his Hendrick Motorsports team that he can lean on this weekend.
"Jeff Gordon is the man at Martinsville and, lately, Jimmie Johnson has been the man, too, “Busch said. “So, in just my second year, I'm lucky to have those guys to lean on. Even though I'm not a rookie anymore, I've only raced a handful of times there and I'm still learning. Martinsville is still tough."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th at Bristol last Sunday, that followed a third at the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20. Dale Jr. has placed in the top 11 in four of the first five races this season and is sixth in the standings; he ranked 17th in the point standings one year ago. His only finish outside the top-15 this season was his 27th at Las Vegas
Earnhardt Jr. has competed in 12 races at Martinsville, scoring five top-10 finishes, all top-fives. He scored a third-place finish in this event in 2004 and ran 13th in this race last season.
The team prepared for Martinsville this week by heading to Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, S.C. Monday, to test a brand new short-track car that will most likely be the primary chassis for this weekend's race.
“Even though we've never won at Martinsville, I've always felt like our chances are as good as anyone else's, “Earnhardt said.” We went awhile there where we did everything but win. That gave me a lot of confidence, and I've always considered our short-track program to be one of the best."
Ryan Newman staged a late race rally to finish ninth at Bristol and jump five places in the point standings. "It was a good comeback from being almost a lap down, getting spun out and being the last car on the lead lap," said Newman.
Newman has five straight top-10 finishes at Martinsville, including four top-fives.
"We're knocking on the door to score out first win at the track," he said. "We're definitely close." Newman adds that the key to winning is "track position at the end of the race. That is crucial. It's not easy to pass at Martinsville, so in those final laps, you want your car to be in a winning track position."
Newman also admits, "I used to hate Martinsville. But I don't anymore. I really had to adapt to Martinsville over the years. The Alltel team has gotten its mechanical problems worked out; mostly these were brake problems because I abused them."
OTHERS:
Dale Jarrett has scored two top-10 finishes in 2006, and all five of his finishes have been top-20s. He has competed in 39 races at Martinsville, posting one victory (April 2001) and 18 top-10 finishes.
Elliott Sadler hopes for another top-10 run like his ninth a year ago in the spring race at Martinsville. He knows a repeat performance could vault him back into the top 10 in the point race.
Denny Hamlin says he has had Martinsville "circled on the calendar from the get-go. That's one place that I feel at home. Martinsville is one of my favorite tracks, both because I know it well and because it fits my driving style." In his Nextel Cup debut at the track last fall, Hamlin qualified fifth and finished eighth.
Jeff Burton boasts one win, nine top-fives and 12 top-10s in 23 starts at Martinsville. "I really enjoy Martinsville," he said. "It's a fun race track. I enjoy the challenge. It's a difficult racetrack. It's hard to get the car handling the way you want it. I like the fact that it is similar to the way Richard Petty had to drive it, and I think that's really cool."
Kyle Petty, who will be making his 51st start at Martinsville, has five top-five and 14 top-10 finishes at the .526-mile track. His 14th-place finish last fall was his best run at the Virginia facility in 12 races.