This is an all-NASCAR weekend of racing; the NHRA and Formula One — the other “major” series still racing — are off.
The Cup and trucks are at Martinsville, Va., with the top series going on Sunday in the TUMS Fast Relief 500 (10:30 a.m., ABC/Ch. 4) and the always-fun trucks racing on Saturday in the Kroger 200 (10 a.m., SPEED). The Nationwide Series is at Memphis, Tenn., for its final stand-alone race of the season: Saturday’s Kroger On Track For The Cure 250 (12:30 p.m., ESPN2).
I’ve been fighting a bug all week, so here’s a look at all three races provided by my good friends at NASCAR media services. The picks at the bottom, however, will be mine.
Three-time defending Cup champion — and current Chase leader — Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon both own a series-best 124.3 Driver Rating at Martinsville, according to prerace Loop Data.
Johnson has an average finish of 5.3 in 15 starts there. He also has six wins, 11 top fives, 14 top 10s and one pole, and leads two other pre-race Loop Data categories – Laps Led (1,216) and Quality Passes (214, of cars in the top 15 under green-flag conditions). He ranks second in several categories – Average Running Position (6.6), Fastest Laps Run (482), Average Green Flag Speed (91.403 mph) and Laps in the Top 15 (4,001 or 88.7 %).
Before Johnson assumed the title, there was another Mr. Martinsville – Jeff Gordon. And smart observers shouldn’t overlook the four-time series champion in either Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 or the second half of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Gordon leads all active drivers with seven Martinsville victories. He’s also within striking distance of Johnson in the Chase standings, only 135 points back, in third place. Gordon’s last win at Martinsville came in 2005, when he swept both races there. He has an average finish of 6.8 in 33 Martinsville starts, plus 21 top fives, 27 top 10s and seven poles.
Gordon leads four important pre-race Loop Data categories for Martinsville – Average Running Position (6.3), Fastest Laps Run (539), Average Green Flag Speed (91.463 mph), and Laps in the Top 15 (4,039 or 89.6%).
Lurking even closer to Johnson is another Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Mark Martin, who’s second in the Chase standings, 90 points behind Johnson. Martin has two wins, three poles, 11 top fives, 22 top 10s and an average running position of 13.3 in 43 career starts at Martinsville.
He may lead the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, but Kyle Busch (No. 18 FedEx Toyota) made it known that Memphis is a track at which his closest rival, Carl Edwards (No. 60 Save-A-Lot Ford), excels.
Busch would be correct. Edwards, the 2007 series champion, used Memphis as a springboard in his attempt to capture last year’s title, winning the race from the 34th starting position. It was the second time a Memphis winner has come from outside the top 20 starting positions.
“Next week, we go to one of Carl’s best tracks, which is Memphis,” said Busch, now fourth alltime in NASCAR Nationwide Series wins (28), following his victory last Friday night at Lowe’s
Not only are Busch and Edwards, separated by 195 points, battling for the championship trophy, they are also seeking the Elvis Presley trophy, given to the race winner. It will be the final time the track will present the trophy as the mold will be broken following Saturday’s race.
The last time Busch ran at Memphis was in 2004, where he finished 14th and led 59 laps. But Edwards has competed at Memphis in each of the last four years, including a win last season.
Over that span, Edwards has a Driver Rating of 106.5, an Average Running Position of 11.6, 100 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 72.4%.
As impressive as they are, those numbers probably don’t do Edwards’ success complete justice. He had an uncharacteristic 25th-place finish at Memphis in 2007, and his numbers at that race drag down an otherwise stellar Memphis tenure. In that event, he had a Driver Rating of 68.9 and an Average Running Position of 18.6.
Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway marks Mike Skinner’s (No. 5 PC*MILER Navigator Toyota) 200th series start. Chances are pretty good the veteran driver could end that milestone start in a place he knows quite well: Victory Lane.
Skinner has three wins at Martinsville, tying him with Dennis Setzer (No. 8 Chevrolet) for the most victories at the track. Skinner’s first win came back in 1996. In 2007, he swept both races.
“I love Martinsville. It’s very, very unique and just an awesome place. I love the fans up there and the whole setting,” said Skinner. “Short-track racing is like drag racing with two hard, sharp corners, so I always enjoy going to Martinsville.”
For the 1995 series champion, three appears to be his magic number these days. In addition to his three wins, in 13 starts at the .526-mile track Skinner has collected three top-five and three top-10 finishes.
With three wins so far this season, Skinner sits third in points behind No. 1 Ron Hornaday Jr and Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet) as the trucks return to action this weekend.
Hornaday (No. 33 VFW Chevrolet) has been the driver to beat this season. He has six wins so far and if trouble doesn’t strike his team, Hornaday could very well be on his way to claiming a record fourth series championship.
If you ask him right now what he really wants, his answer may be a win at Martinsville Speedway.
In 14 starts at the historic short track which has hosted the series in all 15 seasons since 1995, Hornaday has never made it to Victory Lane. The current points leader has five top-five and three top-10 finishes. He had to settle for second in March in the Kroger 250, his best finish out of the 14 starts. The race winner, by the way, was his boss, Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Bounty Chevrolet).
“I’ve been coming here for a while now and for some reason, we just can’t seem to break through,” said Hornaday. “It would mean a lot to win at Martinsville. It’s one of those tracks we’ve been coming to since the truck series started in 1995, and to finally add my name to the list of legends who have won there would mean a lot to me.”
A repeat of this race a year ago is something the driver and his crew chief, Rick Ren, are definitely looking to avoid. After starting from the pole, Hornaday led 154 laps before he ran out of fuel. It was a tough break for the driver and his team who were left with a 29th-place finish.
OK, me again. Despite the teeth-gnashing and tears of the national media, the Chase is not over yet. That’s right, Jimmie Johnson — although he is certainly in the best position — has not won a historic fourth Cup title, yet. The next two races, Martinsville and Talladega — NASCAR’s smallest and largest tracks, respectively — could play a big part in derailing JJ’s chances.
One of the country’s oldest racing facilities, .526-mile Martinsville hosted events during NASCAR’s debut season of 1949. Martinsville’s unusual layout — drivers say it’s like two drag strips connected by hairpin turns — a flat surface and a unique combination of concrete and asphalt make the Clip a tough place to race. Contact is a given.
At 2.66-mile Talladega, which hosts the seventh Chase event next week, the winner is often the driver who gets shoved to the front coming out of turn 4 of the white-flag lap. Long freight trains of cars speed around the high banked track at unbelievable speeds — we’ll see how well the smaller restrictor plate works — and big crashes don’t discriminate between big names and small.
Yes, I know Johnson has all the right numbers for Martinsville. But I’ve got a feeling (Ed: Ha!) Sunday’s race won’t be going his way. I’m not going to bet against the House (Hendrick), though, so let’s say that wily veteran Jeff Gordon pulls a win out of his Dupont 24 hat.
For the Nationwide race, I’m going to throw a spotlight on a guy who’s been grossly overlooked: Mike Bliss.
Bliss was dumped from his ride in the No. 1 earlier this season, but he’s been able to stay in the top 10 in the points standings while hopping between five different cars over the past 10 races. He’ll be in the No. 11 again — he finished second both previous starts in the No. 11 — this Saturday at Memphis, a track where he has top-10 finishes in each of his past four Nationwide races.
For the Camping World Truck Series race at the Clip, I’m going to say Ron Hornaday gets that monkey off his back.
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