Hendrick teammates ones to Chase at Martinsville (cont'd)

TIER 2

Montoya

Stewart

Gordon

Juan Montoya (-1)
The other end of that Charlotte dust up wasn't so lucky. Montoya wound up spinning by himself later in the race after his contact with Martin and finished 35th, further proof that Martin's 17th was actually a good finish. I spent some time with JPM this week and the amazing part is how he is handling his worst finish of the year -- with a smile. The fiery Montoya has been walking around all week talking about how happy he is with how they 42 team has performed in the Chase, pointing out they still have four top-fives in the first five races and also the fact that he felt like he was one of the few that could keep up with the 48 at Charlotte too. So at least the mood in the 42 camp is positive headed to Martinsville.

Keeping that mood positive this weekend could be the challenge. Montoya admits Martinsville has been one of the more challenging tracks for him to master. But he is excited about the car they are bringing, the same one that finished third at New Hampshire a few weeks ago. This is likely not a points-gaining weekend for JPM; if he can just maintain his standing, they still have a shot at the title with a few of his best tracks still to come. The 195 points is a lot to overcome and this team has shown the ability to run up front and put themselves in a position to win races. They must find a way to finally win one in these final five races.

Tony Stewart (-1)
So what do we know about Tony Stewart five races into the Chase? Well, he's proven that he truly loves Whoppers and also that his team has shown an unbelievable ability to overcome mid-race challenges. Stewart's Houdini-like skills to turn poor runs into top-10 finishes ran out of steam at Charlotte when he finished 13th and failed to lead a lap. The 13th-place finish is not bad but it will not win you a championship, this season for sure.

Martinsville, though, could be the perfect track for Stewart to right the ship. Since he sat on the pole at Martinsville in his very first race this has always been one of Stewart's better tracks. With six top-10s in his past eight Martinsville races, there is hope for Stewart to gain ground, but like everybody else he will need some major help from Johnson to get back to the front of the standings. Stewart's deficit is just 155 points and he only has three people to leap frog, a big advantage of Montoya and others. Add that to the fact that Stewart truly has no weak tracks left on the schedule, all of that equals ... don't count out Smoke just yet.

Jeff Gordon (No Change)
You have to admire Steve Letarte's guts for slapping two tires on the 24 during the last stop at Charlotte. Nobody can accuse this team of not going for wins and just trying for a "good points day." The result gave "Four Time" his third consecutive top-five finish and kept him within championship range. Perhaps most important leaving Charlotte was the face that Gordon was able to take advantage of Montoya's and Stewart's issues to jump past them in the standings. Gordon is now just 135 behind his teammate but more importantly, just one driver stands between him and Johnson. The less people you have to beat, the better. Now Gordon comes to arguably his best track on the circuit, Martinsville.

If there is one driver who can boast Martinsville stats almost as good as Johnson, it's Gordon. He has just 13 consecutive Martinsville top-10s. Why, he should be ashamed! That's one shy of his teammate's current streak. But perhaps more impressive is the fact that Gordon has nine consecutive top-five finishes at Martinsville. The bad part in all of this for Gordon fans? Despite all of that success, his teammate has been just a little bit better. Story of everybody's life, eh? But at least there's hope for Gordon to gain points this weekend. (Continued)