Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
After a short break allowing everyone to catch their breath, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns this weekend, with a trip to one of the shortest tracks on the circuit, Martinsville Speedway. The paperclip always puts on a lot of action, and sometimes results in fired-up emotions as seen last year with Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth
Who will be the victor this year? Who will be stomping their feet in frustration? Here’s a couple names to keep an eye on.
Kevin Harvick enters this weekend with the most momentum of any driver as he currently tops the series standings and is coming off a runner-up finish at Auto Club Speedway a couple weeks ago. Harvick has been up front on a weekly basis thus far this season, but Martinsville Speedway hasn’t been one of his best tracks over the years. In his past six starts, he has placed in the top-10 on five occasions, but only with a best finish of sixth.
Anytime you go to Martinsville Speedway, there’s one name that you hear more than any other – Jimmie Johnson. Superman comes in with a lot of momentum as he won the race at Auto Club Speedway and has been quick on a weekly basis this year. His Martinsville Speedway stats also speak for themselves, as he leads all active drivers with an average finish of 7.5, boosting eight wins and 18 top-fives in 28 previous starts.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally broke through for his first Martinsville Speedway clock a couple years ago. It was surprising to many that took him so long given that he boosts the third best average finish of active drivers at a 12.9 with 13 top-fives and 18 top-10s in 32 starts. He has also been solid this year as since posting a DNF in the Daytona 500, the sport’s most popular driver hasn’t finished outside of the top-11 in the four following races. Given that he’s been doing good this year and Martinsville goes together with him, this could be the weekend that he locks himself into the Chase.
But enough about the Chevrolets, but they’re not the only faces to watch this weekend. Just ask Denny Hamlin, who drives a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin is right up there with Johnson on statistics at Martinsville Speedway, boosting the second best average finish at 8.0. Hamlin has five wins and 11 top-fives in 20 starts. He started this year off strong, winning the Daytona 500, but went into a bit of a slump with some not so strong finishes. However, he showed that he was ready to return back to the front of the field based on a third place finish at Auto Club Speedway.
In reality, Joe Gibbs Racing’s most consistent driver this year is Carl Edwards who currently sits third in the season standings with three top-fives in five races. However, he has yet to reach victory lane, unlike Hamlin. But let’s be honest – Martinsville and Edwards aren’t a winning combination. A glance at how he has ran through the years tells you that without much contradiction as he hasn’t posted a top-10 at Martinsville Speedway since finishing ninth in 2011. Maybe this weekend he’ll get lucky.
