Backstretch Motorsports

Mark Martin’s experience in battles for a title hunt are legendary. The Man from Batesville, Ark. has just about seen and done it all in the modern era of NASCAR racing.

Include in that experience seeing the tracks at Martinsville, Virginia and Talladega, Alabama seal some deals in some pretty definitive fashions.

“It’s not over.” says the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports livery, “I still say, like I’ve said all along, we’ve got to get through Martinsville and Talladega. Then we’ll have a clear view of what’s going to happen here with this championship. Give us those two more races to see.”

For the next two venues in the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. consider them “Wild-Card” weeks, with plenty of potential for disaster looming at every corner, every straightaway.

The next two races will set the “who’s who”, as in the chances to be the series champion.

NASCAR’s smallest and largest tracks – Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively – are combining for a potentially active two weeks in and out of the Chase standings.

Martinsville, tiny in comparison to Talladega, nevertheless is the big track’s equal in difficulty.

One of the country’s oldest racing facilities, .526-mile Martinsville hosted events during NASCAR’s debut season of 1949 and still poses problems for today’s drivers.

Hairpin turns, a flat surface and a unique combination of concrete and asphalt make Martinsville a tough venue in any era. Contact is a given, with priority given to keeping one’s car clean.

Heard of “boiling the brakes?”

Drivers do it regularly at Martinsville, punishing pads, fluid and pedal because they’re constantly on and off them heading into and out of the tight corners.

At 2.66-mile Talladega, which hosts the seventh Chase event next week, brakes often are an afterthought. It’s the season’s final restrictor-plate race and Talladega’s high-banked layout and unpredictability often lead to surprise winners and jumbled finishes and standings.

With two consecutive victories and three overall during the past five weeks, reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has established himself as the frontrunner in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Heading into Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Johnson leads Hendrick Motorsports teammates Martin and Jeff Gordon , by 90 and 135 points, respectively.

That said, half of the Chase remains, and so do its possibilities. A synopsis of top-line storylines thus far:

Martin, the four-time series runner-up and renaissance man at age 50, began the Chase as its top seed and promptly won the first event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He remained at the top of the standings for the Chase’s first three weeks, finally dropping to second place two weeks ago, yet still a championship contender.

First-time Chase participant Juan Pablo Montoya not only proved he belonged in the title hunt, he pressured Martin and other front-runners through the Chase’s first four events. Damage from a spin last Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway finally dropped Montoya from third in the Chase standings to sixth entering Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500.

Gordon, the four-time series champion, also remains a contender thanks to three top-five finishes in the last three events. He’s in third place in the Chase standings heading to Martinsville where he has has seven victories, more than any other active driver.

“I’m excited about Martinsville.” says Gordon. “It’s going to be a great weekend, especially because of the double-file restarts. In the past, we’ve always had double-file restarts but you’ve got the lapped cars on the inside and just the challenge that creates in itself is exciting enough. Now you put in lead-lap cars double-file and it’s really going to make things interesting because there certainly is a preferred line there. Anytime you go to a short track where there is a lot of rubbing and banging, what’s going to happen is if the outside lane is not the preferred lane, then those guys in the outside lane are going to be working really hard to get in the inside lane, and vice-versa.”

It’s all or nothing at Martinsville Speedway when analyzing the statistics of this season’s Chase field.

Either the championship competitors excel highly at Martinsville, or struggle mightily.

Four drivers in the top 12 have a Martinsville Driver Rating over 100.0: Jimmie Johnson (124.3), Jeff Gordon (124.3), Tony Stewart (114.1) and Denny Hamlin (106.3).

For each of those drivers, Martinsville – a track notorious for its unpredictability – ranks at or near the top of their personal best list.

Martinsville ranks No. 1 for both Gordon and Johnson. In fact, it’s by far the best track in terms of Driver Rating for Gordon. Second-best for the four-time series champion is Darlington at 114.4.

Johnson’s second-best track in terms of Driver Rating is Kansas Speedway, at 122.6 – 1.7 points off his Martinsville rating.

Martinsville is Tony Stewart’s third-best track, behind Watkins Glen (135.0) and New Hampshire (114.9). It’s also Denny Hamlin’s third-best track, behind Richmond (121.0) and Pocono (115.9).

On the other side of the statistical spectrum sits Kurt Busch (81.1), Greg Biffle (65.5), Carl Edwards (80.0) and Kasey Kahne (76.1). Martinsville ranks near the bottom for all four.

In terms of Driver Rating, it’s Busch’s fourth-worst track; Biffle’s worst; Edwards’ third-worst; and Kahne’s seventh-worst.

Biffle has track tested ammunition going to the famed ‘paper-clip’ shaped track.

The car the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing team is taking was recently tested at the small track facility at Rockingham.

“We were pretty happy with the test.” says crew chief Greg Erwin. “Greg was happy with the car there and I think we picked up a few things that will help us at Martinsville.

Martinsville and the little track at Rockingham are obviously different track surfaces but it was good to get this car out there.

The key this weekend will be to get the car to rotate through the center so the driver can get into the gas as soon as possible coming off of the corner.”

Busch – at least – has been one of the strongest drivers on short tracks this season.

Busch ranks sixth in short track Driver Rating with a 103.1, and has an Average Running Position of 8.5 and 131 Fastest Laps Run. There have been five short track races thus far this season: Two at Bristol, two at Richmond and one at Martinsville.

Busch is quick to tell you that of all the trophies he has received from his 19 career NASCAR Sprint Cup victories, none carries more sentimental value than the one he received for winning the Oct. 20, 2002 race at Martinsville Speedway.

That trophy is the special grandfather clock that Martinsville Speedway has been awarding its race winners for more than 40 years. But for Kurt, his clock is much more than just another piece of furniture.

“It’s always a special perk and a bonus because that’s what (me) and most drivers shoot for – that piece of hardware at the end of the day. It could be a small $5 piece that somebody made or an extravagant grandfather clock (like at Martinsville),” Kurt said of the treasured heirloom. “I think that I won at Martinsville a bit too early in my career because I had no idea that they gave away grandfather clocks when you won there.”

The statistical rundown of short-track performance is one list at where Johnson fails to sit at the very top. He is close, though.

In the five short-track races this season, Johnson has two top fives, three top 10s, a Driver Rating of 106.2 (fifth-best), an Average Running Position of 9.4 and 131 Fastest Laps Run.

Ahead of Johnson in short track Driver Rating are the two drivers closest in the points standings: Gordon and Mark Martin.

Gordon has a Driver Rating of 109.3 and an Average Running Position of 7.4 in the five short track races. Martin, the only driver to score a top-10 finish in each of the five races, has a Driver Rating of 114.6, an Average Running Position of 5.8 and 168 Fastest Laps Run.

Wild Card No. 1 will be incredible fun to watch… short track racing always breeds some temper, some rubbin’.. and racin’

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