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2010 Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway

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2010 Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway

2010 Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway

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2010 Tums Fast Relief 500:

This weekend the 2010 Chase For The Cup rolls into southern Virginia as the series visits Martinsville Speedway for the 2010 Tums Fast Relief 500. This is the only short track race in the Chase and is guaranteed to feature close-quarters racing since forty-three cars barely fit around the tight half-mile speedway.

Tickets:

Speedway ticket office (877)RACE-TIX

The Track:

Martinsville Speedway is a .526 mile true oval. Asphalt straightaways and concrete in the turns. Martinsville only has 12 degrees of banking in the turns so drivers will really use their brakes to get it slowed down for the corners. Racing at Martinsville has been described as driving down a drag strip, turning around and driving back up the other lane, 500 times.

Race Distance:

263 Miles = 500 Laps

The Big Picture:

Jimmie Johnson beat all of his closest competitors last week in Charlotte and extended his lead once again. Now only three drivers remain within 100 points of the lead halfway through the 2010 Chase for the Cup.

The top twelve are:

  1. Jimmie Johnson
  2. Denny Hamlin -41
  3. Kevin Harvick -77
  4. Jeff Gordon -156
  5. Kyle Busch -177
  6. Tony Stewart -177
  7. Carl Edwards -200
  8. Greg Biffle -225
  9. Kurt Busch -237
  10. Jeff Burton -239
  11. Matt Kenseth -256
  12. Clint Bowyer -300

Storylines:

NASCAR and ESPN met last weekend in Charlotte to discuss the disturbing flight of NASCAR fans.

Honestly, the racing on the track has been pretty good lately. Even perennial stinker California was a decent race.

So what has caused ratings for the first four Chase races to drop a staggering 27% from last year? The racing has been good, Jimmie just took over the lead so his domination wouldn't explain the poor ratings in New Hampshire, Dover and Kansas.

What's wrong and how would you fix it?

Media Coverage:

TV: ESPN Sunday, October 24th 12:00 PM Eastern

Radio: MRN and SIRIUS Satellite

Actual Race: 1:00PM

Recent Events:

2009 Winner: Denny Hamlin

2009 Polesitter: Ryan Newman

Last Year:

Martinsville Speedway's tight racing stirred up some tempers during the 2009 Tums Fast Relief 500. A.J. Allmendinger and Joey Logano provided some on-track fireworks as the two exchanged fenders a few times before Logano spun Allmendinger into the wall.

Later Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch got into it. Kyle nudged Edwards' rear quarter in turn two. Carl pulled over and let him pass on the outside but then returned the favor in turn three (and flipped him off for the move). This time there was no caution needed but clearly neither driver was happy.

Denny Hamlin survived a duel with Jimmie Johnson to claim the win.

Predictions:

I need to go with the obvious picks this weekend. Two drivers have dominated the last eight races at Martinsville Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson won five out of six Martinsville races from 2006 to 2009. In fact, Jimmie Johnson has not finished outside of the top ten at Martinsville since 2002. Jimmie is the obvious pick for yet another win this Sunday.

The driver that won the three races since 2006 that Johnson didn't is Denny Hamlin. Hamlin has been fast lately but is still losing ground to Johnson in the points. Denny needs a big win and Martinsville has been very kind to him lately. Hamlin makes a great pick this week as well.

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