NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 500 Race Preview

Martinsville Speedway -- 10/19/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Oct 18 2008 7:57pm

Quick … name the `wildcard` race in the Chase for the Championship.

Talladega? Atlanta?

Well, according to some Chase contenders, this weekend's Martinsville race would be a good choice.

`It's going to be a track that is somewhat of a wild card,` said Denny Hamlin (+650), who won here back in March. `I think it's just that you have some guys that are in the Chase that don't particularly run well at Martinsville, and some guys that do.`

Kyle Busch (+650) added, `It's hard to have a good car there with the field as tight as it is. Qualifying up front seems to help out a little bit. We know who the guys that are going to be tough there are. Really, there's nothing that you can change about that race track to stay out of trouble. Basically, you can be leading the race and have a wreck in front of you while you are trying to lap some guys.`

Martinsville Speedway, the Virginia racetrack with the self-described `paperclip` shape, is just over a half-mile in length (0.526 miles to be exact), with only 12 degrees of banking in the turns and flat straightaways.

Perhaps the best description of Martinsville came from Chase contender Matt Kenseth (+3250), who once described it as `nascar racing around two light poles in a mall parking lot.` Kenseth has made little secret about his dislike for nascar racing here.

Stock car nascar racing at Martinsville is as old as NASCAR itself, dating back to 1949 and a race won by Red Byron. The series has been visiting the historic track twice a year ever since, making a total of 119 Cup races on the books.

Though Hamlin won the March Martinsville race for his only victory this season, you can't really discuss this track without thinking foremost of Hendrick Motorsports. Prior to Hamlin's win, Jimmie Johnson (+400) had won three straight here, including the sweep in 2007, and also won the October race in '04 for a total of four victories.

Johnson's teammate Jeff Gordon (+485), meanwhile, leads all active drivers with seven Martinsville wins - the first in 1996 and the most recent in October of 2005.

Tony Stewart (+850) has two Martinsville victories, while single race winners include Hamlin, Kurt Busch (+2050), Jeff Burton (+1500), and Bobby Labonte.

Not surprisingly, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon lead all active drivers in
the average finish category, Johnson with a 6.0 and Gordon with a 7.0. Following the duo are Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya, though Hamlin and JPM have significantly fewer starts than the other three.

In terms of total points earned at Martinsville over the last five races, the leading drivers (once again) are Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, followed by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1000) - though Junior's name would fall out of that grouping if you narrowed the criteria to just the last two Martinsville races. In that case, he would be replaced by last week's Charlotte winner, Jeff Burton.

Dale Jr. actually has an interesting history at Martinsville if you compare his results in the March race versus October. In the last three March races, for example, he has finishes of 4th, 5th and 6th, while the last three fall races have resulted in finishes of 18th, 22nd and 23rd. Of course, this year's early race was his first as a member of Hendrick Motorsports.

Martinsville is a track frequently associated with the NASCAR adage that sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. Trying to make up ground here too quickly with aggressive moves is likely to backfire. Drivers consider this one of the most physically and mentally challenging courses on the circuit, but patience is the key to winning.

As I noted last week, Jimmie Johnson remains the presumptive favorite in the series until proven otherwise - not only for a win this week, but for the championship itself.

By the way, in case you missed it, this race had been known as the Subway 500 for the past several years, but the name this year is the `Tums QuikPak 500.`

Some other betting nascar odds of note:

Greg Biffle +1650
Carl Edwards +1850
Kevin Harvick +1850
Jamie McMurray +2550
Clint Bowyer + 3050
Kasey Kahne +3050
Matt Kenseth +3250