 |  | | A Hendrick driver has won five of the last seven Martinsville races. Credit: Autostock |
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
October 19, 2006
09:28 AM EDT (13:28 GMT)
Who would have thought that at the halfway point of the Chase, the three Hendrick drivers would be cleaning the basement of the top 10? Jimmie Johnson, after leading nearly the entire regular season, is climbing the stairway out of the cellar and in seventh place. He's a former winner at Martinsville. Kyle Busch is in ninth and has been there or worse since the playoffs began. He's had back-to-back top-10 finishes at Martinsville. Jeff Gordon fell three spots with his third consecutive DNF last week and sits 10th. He was second in the standings just four races ago. And he may be considered the master of Martinsville. Gordon has seven victories at the paperclip, 15 top-fives and 21 top-10s, all of which rank first among full-time drivers. He's led more laps there (2,041) than anyone else racing today. He's got the second-best average start (7.3) but the best average finish (7.6). If Gordon has a pill that gets rid of hangovers from a bad fuel pump, a late-race crash and a blown engine, it's likely in the shape of Martinsville Speedway. What you didn't know
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0 -- Times Jeff Gordon has suffered four consecutive DNFs in his career. He is currently riding a three-race streak of DNFs, dropping him from second to 10th in the Chase standings. Gordon has never failed to finish in 27 Martinsville races. |
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Driver Rating: Subway 500
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136.3 -- Tony Stewart, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. Stewart has led 57.6 percent of laps in the last three Martinsville races, or 818 of 1,500 laps. The closest competitor is Jimmie Johnson, who has led the second-most laps in that span (195). |
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NASCAR's driver rating combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15s, average lead-lap running position, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps and lead-lap finish. Statistics based on current and past year at track. Maximum rating: 150 points. Numerology Sunday's Subway 500 (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC) will be the 116th race at the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway. There have been 10 season sweeps in the 57-year history of the track. Gordon has brought out the broom twice, most recently in 2005. But in 2003, he won both Bud Poles and then won both races. Nobody can do that this year, but Tony Stewart's statistics say he's a strong candidate to add a third grandfather clock to the collection and his name to the season sweep list.
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1.3 -- Average finish for Jeff Gordon in the last three Martinsville races. He won both races in 2005 and finished second to Tony Stewart in the April race this year. |
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1.7 -- Average position for Tony Stewart at the halfway mark of the last three Martinsville races. His average finish in that span is 9.7 with finishes of 26th, second and first. |
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3 -- Drivers with an average running position inside the top 10 in the last three Martinsville races: Tony Stewart (3.050), Jeff Gordon (9.744) and Jimmie Johnson (10.075). |
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4 -- Winners in the last five Martinsville races have started 15th or worse. Just five drivers have won from a starting spot outside of the top 20. |
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6 -- Races of the last seven at Martinsville have been won by Chevrolets. Rusty Wallace earned the last victory in a Dodge in April 2004. The last time a Ford won there was October 2002 with Kurt Busch. |
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6.835 -- Average starting position for Martinsville winners with the exception of four dirt races in which the winners' starting positions were unknown. |
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8 -- Consecutive top-10 finishes for Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville, including a victory in the 2004 fall race. His first career race at the track resulted in a DNF and a 35th-place finish in the spring of 2002. |
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9 -- Former Martinsville winners who will attempt to qualify for Sunday's race. Jeff Gordon (seven), Mark Martin (two) and Tony Stewart (two) are the only drivers with multiple victories. |
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9 -- Top-10 starts for Ryan Newman in nine races at Martinsville, the longest current streak. Newman's average start is 4.0 with two poles. He has never won at the track and has an average finish of 15.4. |
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40.9 -- Percent of laps during the last three Martinsville races in which Mark Martin has been running inside the top 15, or 613 of 1,500 laps. It is the worst among Chasers who have competed in all three races. |
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43.8 -- Percent of passes made on the straightaways in the last three races at Martinsville. |
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53 -- Career starts for Terry Labonte at Martinsville, tied for third on the all-time list behind Richard Petty (67) and Dave Marcis (55). Ricky Rudd also has 53. Labonte will attempt to qualify for Sunday's race. |
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69 -- Races since Ward Burton has competed in a Nextel Cup Series event. Burton will attempt to qualify for Sunday's race in the No. 4 Chevrolet. His last race was Nov. 7, 2004, at Phoenix. Burton has three top-10s in 20 starts at Martinsville. |
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92.148 -- Average green-flag speed of Tony Stewart in the last three Martinsville races, the fastest among full-time drivers. |
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153 -- Points Matt Kenseth would lead Jimmie Johnson in the standings if there was no Chase format. Current points leader Jeff Burton would be in fourth, and Jeff Gordon would be in 11th. Presently, 216 points separate the top 10 in the Chase. |
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182 -- Green-flag passes for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the last three Martinsville races. Earnhardt has an average start of 12.8 with an average finish of 14.4. |
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245 -- Laps in which Tony Stewart had the fastest car in the last three Martinsville races, or 21.1 percent. The next-closest competitor is Jeff Gordon with 131. |
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503 -- Laps led by Sterling Marlin at Martinsville, the most among full-time drivers who have not won at the track. Jeff Gordon leads all full-time drivers with 2,041 laps led. |
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1,200 -- Combined laps led by Tony Stewart (818), Jimmie Johnson (195) and Jeff Gordon (187) in the last three Martinsville races. No other driver currently racing full time has led more than 33 in that span. |
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• Ken Schrader is expected to make his 700th career start (12th all-time). As the only short track in the Chase, Martinsville represents the beating-and-banging stage of the playoffs. Beating, as in beating most of the competition -- Five Chase drivers had top-10 finishes at Martinsville in April.
• Jeff Gordon (second)
• Jimmie Johnson (third)
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fourth)
• Kyle Busch (fifth)
• Kevin Harvick (seventh) Banging, as in the track can leave drivers banging their heads for answers -- Four Chase drivers finished 24th or worse at Martinsville in April.
• Matt Kenseth (24th)
• Jeff Burton (33rd)
• Kasey Kahne (35th)
• Denny Hamlin (37th)
| Chase Watch |
| Martinsville Speedway statistics for Chase drivers |
| Rank |
Driver |
Wins |
Top-5s |
Top-10s |
Avg. Finish |
| 1. |
Jeff Burton |
1 |
9 |
12 |
14.3 |
| 2. |
Matt Kenseth |
0 |
1 |
3 |
17.2 |
| 3. |
Kevin Harvick |
0 |
0 |
3 |
19.1 |
| 4. |
Mark Martin |
2 |
11 |
21 |
13.2 |
| 5. |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
0 |
6 |
6 |
14.4 |
| 6. |
Denny Hamlin |
0 |
0 |
1 |
22.5 |
| 7. |
Jimmie Johnson |
1 |
5 |
8 |
7.9 |
| 8. |
Kasey Kahne |
0 |
1 |
1 |
17.6 |
| 9. |
Kyle Busch |
0 |
1 |
2 |
17.7 |
| 10. |
Jeff Gordon |
7 |
15 |
21 |
7.6 |
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