Sunday's race at Martinsville saw a record number of cautions, 21 in all, accounting for an astonishing 127 laps run under caution. The combination of a short track and short green-flag runs led to even shorter tempers, but in the end Jimmie Johnson prevailed, scoring his series-leading 7th victory of the 2007 season.

Although there was no change in position among the top six Chase drivers, Johnson did gain a little ground on points leader Jeff Gordon. Prior to Martinsville, Johnson was 68 points out of first; now that gap is just 53 points.

Both Gordon and Johnson will be drivers to watch as the series heads to Georgia for Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Ask a NASCAR driver to describe this 1.54-mile quad-oval track with 24-degrees of banking in the turns, and you are likely to get a one-word response: Fast.

This will be race number 33 of 36 in the Nextel Cup season and the 6th of 10 in the Chase for the Championship. The event is a 325 lap, 500 miler, that will see speeds topping 200 miles per hour on the straight-aways with plenty of two- and three-wide racing. Take it from Dale Earnhardt Jr., who frequently cites Atlanta as one of his favorite tracks: "It's one of my favorite places to go because it's so damn fast. It really takes a lot of courage to keep that right foot planted when you go into turn one at more than 200 miles per hour. But it's a place where you can pick and choose your line, and that means two things: a fun race for the drivers, and a very entertaining show for the fans."

As this is not a COT race, it is easier to look back at how drivers have performed here in the past and apply those numbers to this weekend's race. And guess who the most recent winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway is? None other than Jimmie Johnson, currently the betting favorite at +430.

Johnson started 3rd here in the spring and led the most laps (135) en route to his second win of the young 2007 season, his first coming at Las Vegas one week prior. The 48 team is bringing chassis 363 to Atlanta, one of Johnson's favorite cars, which won at California and Las Vegas earlier this year and also won in the 2006 All-Star Challenge. Johnson has the second-highest average finish at Atlanta among active drivers with more than one start: 10.1.

The only driver ahead of Johnson in the average-finish stat is Carl Edwards (+800), who has been quite impressive here with 2 wins, 3 top fives and 5 top 10s, including the Atlanta sweep in 2005, for an average finish of 9.8 in six starts. But fans were left scratching their heads after Edwards' post-race altercation Sunday with teammate Matt Kenseth, in which Carl shoved Matt several times before feigning a punch at his face. NASCAR plans no punitive action, but you can be sure team owner Jack Roush was none too pleased with Edwards' behavior, and the incident begs the question of whether there is more unrest in the Roush-Fenway stable than we know about.

Of course these days, it's almost impossible to mention Jimmie Johnson without discussing his teammate Jeff Gordon. The two seem to be joined at the hip this year, matching each other's milestones on the track as they battle for wins and the title itself. Despite leading the most laps at Martinsville, Gordon was hurt by cautions at the end and couldn't get his car going well enough on the short runs to catch Johnson.

But Gordon (+560) has a record at Atlanta that can't be ignored, including 4 wins, 12 top 5s, and 18 top 10s in 30 races, with an average finish of 13.3. Gordon was hurt at Martinsville by two pit road problems and crew chief Steve Letarte will be working with the team this week to make sure those mistakes don't happen again.

Several other Chase contenders have posted wins at Atlanta previously, including Tony Stewart (+650), who has 2 wins here, most recently in the fall '06 race. Something seems to be amiss on the 20 team right now and Stewart hasn't won a race since Watkins Glen in August. But if he is going to rebound, Atlanta might be the track where we see that happen.

Chasers Kevin Harvick (+2200) and Kurt Busch (+1100) also have one victory each at Atlanta, though those wins came in 2001 and 2002, respectively.

One other driver to keep an eye on this weekend is Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+950), who as mentioned has a particular fondness for this track. If his engine holds up - he's had 7 DNFs due to engine failures this year - Junior could contend for the win. He boasts the 3rd-highest average finish at Atlanta (behind Edwards and Johnson) at 11.4, with 1 win (2004), 7 top 5s and 9 top 10s in 16 starts.

Clint Bowyer (+1450), the only driver with any real chance to catch Gordon and Johnson in the title hunt, has made only three starts at Atlanta, finishing 27th and 25th in 2006, though he did post a 6th-place finish here in the spring. But this is certainly not the same No. 07 team that was here last year, and Bowyer's 9th-place finish at Martinsville proves that he is capable of running well on tracks where he previously struggled.

Overall, the last 10 races at Atlanta have been won by 6 Chevys, 3 Fords, and a Dodge - Kasey Kahne (+3200) in March of 2006.