Qualifying Update

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Friday Mar 28 2008 6:44pm

The Points Picture - Heading into Martinsville

Biggest movers ▲ after Bristol

Clint Bowyer, No. 07: Finished 3rd, ▲ 7 spots to 9th

David Gilliland, No. 38: Finished 9th, ▲ 6 spots to 22nd

Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, J.J. Yeley, each ▲ 4 spots

Biggest movers ▼ after Bristol

Brian Vickers, No. 83: Finished 39th, ▼ 6 spots to 22nd

Jamie McMurray, No. 26: Finished 43rd, ▼ 5 spots to 36th

Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, each ▼ 4 spots

Current Top 12 (points behind leader)
1. Kyle Busch ---
2. Greg Biffle -30
3. Kevin Harvick -33
4. Jeff Burton -37
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -96
6. Kasey Kahne -108
7. Tony Stewart -126
8. Ryan Newman -147
9. Clint Bowyer -176
10. Kurt Busch -177
11. Matt Kenseth -178
12. Martin Truex Jr -187

Teams Outside the Top 35 in Owner Points
Jamie McMurray
Dave Blaney
Dario Franchitti
Regan Smith
Kyle Petty
Joe Nemechek
Ken Schrader
Mike Skinner

Fun Factoids of the Week:

More races (17 of 118) have been won from the pole position at Martinsville than any other starting spot. P2 and P3 are tied for second in this category with 14 wins a piece.

Kyle Busch leads all drivers statistically on short tracks with an average finish of 11.3 in 19 short-track starts. Denny Hamlin is second at 11.8 in 14 starts, and Jeff Gordon third at 12.0 in 67 starts.

If Jimmie Johnson wins at Martinsville this weekend, he will become only the second driver to win four in a row at Martinsville. Fred Lorenzen won four straight here in 1963-1965.

"Points Picture" Quote of the Week: "We know we are outside the top 35 and right now, the only goal we have is to get ourselves back into the top 35. We've had a really rough start to the season, and honestly, it's hard to pinpoint one exact reason. We've just had a lot of bad luck. We've spent a lot of time over the last week and a half looking at what we need to do avoid the bad luck that has followed us around since the start of the season." - Jamie McMurray, Roush-Fenway Racing No. 26, currently 36th in points.