Snapshot: Martinsville

To The Rear
Casey Mears, Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet (transmission); Regan Smith, Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet (driver change, subbing for Kyle Larson); Justin Allgaier, HScott Motorsports No. 51 Chevrolet (backup)

Failed To Qualify
Brendan Gaughan, Premium Motorsports No. 62 Chevrolet; Ron Hornaday Jr., TMG No. 30 Chevrolet.

Fastest In Practice
First practice: Ryan Newman, Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet (97.835 mph) | Full results
Second practice: Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota (97.113 mph) | Full results
Final Practice: Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (97.098 mph) | Full results

It’s Not Where You Start
After qualifying first or second in two of the last three races, defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick will roll off from the No. 17 position at Martinsville. He’s qualified worse this season, starting 18th at Las Vegas. For the record, he won Las Vegas.

Remember When?
A Ford team has not finished first or second at Martinsville since 2002, going 0-for 24 since Kurt Busch won the fall race here while driving for Roush Fenway Racing. Chevrolet teams have won the last eight races at the 0.526-mile track.

Hey Buddy, Move It
“There is a lot of blocking that goes on (at Martinsville) and nobody wants go give up the inside, but the guy behind can control that a little bit. You can just get to their bumper and move them. … The guy that chops your nose off a lot going into say, Turn 3, you are just going to move him. … It is frustrating at times, but you definitely want to be on the offensive here rather than the defensive.” – Paul Menard, RCR No. 27 Chevrolet

He Can See The Front
Tony Stewart will start sixth at Martinsville, his best starting spot since the fall race at Texas last year. He’s also coming off his best finish of the season, a 14th-place result last week at Auto Club Speedway. The three-time Martinsville winner says earning a good starting spot “is half the battle” on the tiny track. “If you can just get a good pit spot and … a decent starting spot to where you do not have to beat the thing to death trying to get to the front, that’s half the battle,” he said.

Pole or Bust
Pole winners have won two of the last five Martinsville races, which might be good news for No. 1 qualifier Joey Logano. But drivers starting outside the top-20 have won the last two – Kurt Busch won from 22nd last spring while Dale Earnhardt Jr. won from 23rd in the fall race.

Winless and counting
Yes, it’s been quite a while since a Toyota team won a Sprint Cup Series points races, 31 races in fact, and while Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin says a victory at Martinsville would be a big boost, it wouldn’t be a cure-all. “It’s been tough and it’s been a hard year for the organization and the manufacturer,” he said. “Not that a win here would just satisfy all those needs — we still know that realistically we’ve got a lot of work to do, but it definitely would take a lot of pressure off because right now we’re all in that hornets’ nest of the bubble spot if this thing comes down to points.”

An Off-Weekend? Let’s Go Racing
Chase Elliott, the defending XFINITY Series champion and the son of NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott, is making his Sprint Cup Series debut today. Elliott will start 27th in the No. 25 Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports. “You just want to put together 500 solid laps on Sunday and try to run all the laps and hope we can have a good day,” Elliott, 19, said. The XFINITY Series has the weekend off, returning to action Friday, April 10 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Defending STP 500 Champion
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet

Driver Rating
Best driver rating average at Martinsville Speedway based on past 10 years:
Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet (122.5)
Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet (119.8)
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota (110.1)

Former Martinsville Speedway Winners In Field
Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson 8; Denny Hamlin 4; Tony Stewart 3; Kurt Busch 2; Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman 1

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