All three of NASCAR's national touring
divisions will be in action this weekend. The Sprint Cup Series runs their
only short-track race in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship at
Martinsville Speedway. The Camping World Series joins Sprint Cup at
Martinsville, while the Nationwide Series heads to Memphis Motorsports Park.
NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series
Tums Fast Relief 500 - Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA
The 2009 championship Chase reached the halfway point last Saturday with
Jimmie Johnson winning in convincing style at Lowe's Motor Speedway and
stretching his lead to 90 points over Mark Martin and 135 ahead of Jeff
Gordon. Hendrick Motorsports currently holds the top-three spots in the Chase
standings.
Johnson is coming off a "perfect weekend" at Lowe's where he captured the
pole, led the way in practices and won the 500-mile event -- his third victory
in the first five Chase races.
This week, the Sprint Cup Series heads up the road two hours north of
Charlotte to Martinsville for 500-laps of beating and banging. Johnson also
returns to the track where he has been dominant throughout his Cup career.
Since finishing 35th in his first start at Martinsville in April 2002, Johnson
has recorded 14 straight top-10 finishes there, including victories in five of
the last six races.
Johnson is looking forward to Martinsville this time, with double-file
restarts being used for the first time at the flat 0.526-mile track.
"I think that double-file restarts are going to make it more intense and more
exciting; a lot of the same stuff we've been seeing," Johnson said. "I think
at the start of a race, you might see some guys forcing their way to the
bottom and maybe taking some unneeded risks to get down to the bottom lane.
But I think at the end of the race, you'll see guys stuck door-to-door for a
long, long time and not able to clear the other guy and take that position."
NASCAR's rule change for restarts went into effect in June at Pocono, with
lead-lap cars lining up side-by-side just before the green flag waves.
Johnson's teammate, Gordon, equally is impressive at Martinsville. Gordon
has scored 13 straight top-10 finishes there. He also leads all active drivers
with seven wins at Martinsville.
Gordon and Johnson combined have won 10 of the last 13 races there.
Virginia-native Denny Hamlin is another notable driver at Martinsville. Hamlin
has finished no worse than sixth in the last six races there. He won at
Martinsville in March 2008 and finished second to Johnson there earlier this
year.
"We've performed really well at that racetrack," Hamlin said. "The best we've
ever run there actually was this spring, so I'm looking forward to it.
Hopefully we get an opportunity to race for the win again at Martinsville."
Hamlin has tumbled in the Chase the last two weekends. After finishing 37th at
California and 42nd at Lowe's, he has dropped from sixth to 11th in the
rankings. His 372-point deficit has pretty much eliminated him as a
championship contender.
Martinsville is not only the shortest track on the current Sprint Cup
schedule, but it's the oldest facility on the series. The track held the first
NASCAR sanctioned race on July 4, 1948. Martinsville will host its 122nd
Cup race there on Sunday.
"I like the racetrack right now the way it is since it has been reworked,"
said Martin, who has won at Martinsville twice. "It's a lot better for racing,
and it's easier to race on. It used to be a very difficult racetrack. But it's
still incredibly challenging with these cars on a racetrack that small."
In March, Martin finished seventh at Martinsville, his first start there since
the 2006 fall race. He skipped Martinsville as part of his limited Cup
schedule the 2007 and '08 seasons.
Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Tums Fast Relief
500.
Camping World Truck Series
Kroger 200 - Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA
After taking the last three weekends off, the Camping World Truck Series
season resumes at Martinsville. When the series last raced on September 26
at Las Vegas, Matt Crafton finished second and trimmed 20 points off of Ron
Hornaday Jr.'s lead. Hornaday, who finished sixth, left Las Vegas 197 points
in front of Crafton with five races to go in the season.
Johnny Sauter captured his first career truck victory at Las Vegas. Sauter, a
rookie in the series this year, passed Crafton for the lead with 17 laps
remaining and then held off his ThorSport Racing teammate for the win. He
became the first rookie on the circuit to win a race since Carl Edwards did it
in 2003 at Nashville.
Hornaday has been the driver to beat this season with six victories, including
a record five straight wins during the summer. The three-time series champion
has yet to win at Martinsville. His best finish in 14 starts there is second,
which came in March.
"I've been coming here for a while now and for some reason, we just can't seem
to break through," Hornaday said. "It would mean a lot to win at Martinsville.
It's one of those tracks we've been coming to since the truck series started
in 1995, and to finally add my name to the list of legends who have won there
would mean a lot to me."
Crafton finished third at Martinsville in April 2006 for his best run in 15
starts there.
Mike Skinner, currently third in points (-255), will celebrate a career
milestone at Martinsville with his 200th series start. Skinner and Dennis
Setzer lead all drivers with three wins each at Martinsville.
"I love Martinsville," Skinner said. "It's very unique and just an awesome
place. I love the fans up there and the whole setting."
Skinner won both races at Martinsville in 2007.
Thirty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Kroger 200.
Denny Hamlin is scheduled to drive the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota
this week. Kyle Busch has driven the No.51 truck into Victory Lane five this
season, but Busch's Nationwide Series obligations at Memphis prevent him from
competing in the truck race at Martinsville.
Kevin Harvick also will compete in Saturday's race at Martinsville. Harvick
won the spring race there.
Nationwide Series
Kroger on Track for the Cure 250 - Memphis Motorsports Park - Memphis, TN
Kyle Busch gave his championship hopes in the Nationwide Series a big boost by
winning last Friday's race at Lowe's. Busch led 137 of 200 laps and easily
held off Mike Bliss at the finish to end an 11-race winless streak in the
series.
Busch padded his lead to 195 points over Carl Edwards with just four races
remaining. Busch admits he hasn't wrapped up the title just yet, with one of
Edwards' best tracks -- Memphis -- the next stop on the schedule.
"There's still a few to go," said Busch, who leads the series with seven wins
this season. "It's not over, and it's definitely any man's race right now as
far as Carl or myself or even [Brad Keselowski]."
Keselowski is a long shot for this year's title, as he currently trails Busch
by 272 points.
Edwards won last year's race at Memphis. Busch has competed there only
twice, finishing 14th in 2004 and 16th in '03.
Busch and Edwards, along with fellow Sprint Cup competitors Matt Kenseth and
David Reutimann, will do the Martinsville-Memphis combo this weekend. Memphis
is the final stand-alone race in Nationwide for the season.
Reutimann won his first career Nationwide race at Memphis in 2007 and then
finished second there last year.
Memphis also marks the fourth and final "Dash 4 Cash" event this year. A
$25,000 bonus will be awarded to the winner of the race, provided he is a
full-time series regular or a part-time/limited series-only competitor. In
July, Keselowski became the first driver to win the bonus from series title
sponsor Nationwide Insurance when he won at Iowa. Keselowski collected $75,000
since the amount rolled over after Joey Logano won Nashville and Kentucky
earlier in the year. Logano, a Sprint Cup rookie this year, was ineligible for
the bonus.
Fifty-one teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Kroger on Track for
the Cure 250.
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