Chasing on a Short Track: Martinsville Speedway hosts the only short track race of the 2005 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup as the NASCAR stars invade the flat half-mile paperclip this weekend. Can Jimmie Johnson keep his winning streak alive? Will Tony Stewart get his Championship dreams back on track? Will tire problems rear their ugly heads again?
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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: After last week's debacle at Lowes the points are extremely tight. Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson are tied with four more drivers within 54 points. Of those six, the one who can be mistake-free over the last five races will win it all.
The current points top ten are: 1. Tony Stewart 5,777. 2. Jimmie Johnson 5,777. 3. Greg Biffle 5,766. 4. Ryan Newman 5,760. 5. Mark Martin 5,726. 6. Carl Edwards 5,723. 7. Rusty Wallace 5,685. 8. Jeremy Mayfield 5,662. 9. Matt Kenseth 5,653. 10. Kurt Busch 5,635.
Storylines: Brakes and tires! Drivers accelerate hard off the corners and then have to really slow down to make the corners. Drivers will have to be gentle early in the race and save some brakes for the mad dash at the end.
Plus, we haven't heard the last of last week's tire problems at Lowes. It has come out this week that NASCAR seriously discussed stopping the race in the middle, just throwing the checkers and calling it a day. Incredible! That by itself speaks to what a mess last week's race was.
Media Coverage: TV: NBC Sunday, October 23rd, 12:30 PM Eastern
Radio: MRN and XM Satellite
Actual Race: 1:10PM
Posted Awards: $4,705,474
Last Year: Rocket Man Ryan Newman took the pole on the freshly re-paved speedway and brought his Alltel Dodge home in third. It was Jimmie Johnson who backed up his win at Lowes the week before with another victory.
The post-race celebration was cancelled as word came that a Hendrick Motorsports airplane had crashed near Martinsville. The crash took the lives of eight people including team owner Rick Hendricks' brother, John Hendrick, Rick's son Ricky Hendrick and engine builder Randy Dorton.
Predictions: This is crunch time in The Chase and momentum is everything. Last year Jimmie Johnson backed up his win at Lowes Motor Speedway with a win at Martinsville. I don't see any reason to believe that Johnson can't do it again. At this point he must be considered the favorite to win, not only the race but also the Championship.
For my backup pick I'll go with the driver that won here in the Spring and swept both races here in 2003. He also happens to be Jimmie Johnson's teammate: Jeff Gordon. Jeff has six NEXTEL Cup victories at Martinsville Speedway and is a strong candidate to add number seven this weekend.
