Top 10 - Bottom 10 Drivers

at THE Martinsville Speedway 

by Skip Jefferson

Last week the Sprint Cup series visited Lowe's Motor Speedway for the 31st race of the season and the 5th race in the 2009 version of the Chase to the Championship, the NASCAR Banking 500. At the top of our Top 10 list for Lowe's sat Jimmie Johnson and it came as no surprise that Johnson will remain there for our next Top 10 list for Lowe's. Johnson won by a pretty good margin, his third win in the five races that have been held so far in the Chase. His win also meant that he not only held onto his lead in the points standings but increased that margin to the largest in the history of the Chase after the first five races. Johnson is on a roll and he brings his freight train to the 2009 Championship to Martinsville this week. The series moves to Martinsville Speedway for the 32nd race of the season and the 6th race in the Chase, the Tum's Fast Relief  500.  The Martinsville track is perhaps one of the most unique tracks in the series with it's 526-mile "Paper-clip"-shaped oval. It has tight turns and short straight-aways. The turns are banked at 12 degrees and are flat on straight-aways. That makes it a pretty slow track speed wise with the cars going in the area of  95 to 100 mph thru the straight away's and then having to jam on the brakes to make it thru the turns. The drivers will jam on those brakes over 1000 times in this race, so they better be able to hold up to the abuse. We should see qualifying speeds that are in the 95 to 97 mile per hour range, while the race record is 82 miles per hour. This race will go 500 laps or 263 miles. This week we will examine who are the 10 best drivers at this track and the 10 drivers at the bottom of the list, who just haven't had any luck there. With that in mind lets look at the last ten (10) races that have been held at the Martinsville Speedway. 

There have been seven ( 7 ) different pole sitters at Martinsville in the last ten races with Jeff Gordon being the king of the pole, having won two poles in the last ten races. Other pole winners include Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Scott Riggs and Kurt Busch. Weather has cancelled qualifying in the last two races. The qualifying record is held by Tony Stewart at a speed of 98.083. Taking the pole at Martinsville is not a bad place to start either with the pole winner actually winning a race and finishing in the Top 10 in eight of the last ten races. That's a little bit higher odds then we see at most tracks. Historically, 85% of the race winners have started in the Top 15 and only five times in the history of this track has a race winner started worst then 20th. The furthest back someone has won this race was 36th. The starting average of the race winner in the last 10 races is 9.70 and the average finishing position of the pole winner has been 7.00. Jeff Gordon has the best starting average at Martinsville, with a 7.00 average start in his last ten races there. Tony Stewart is right behind Gordon with a 9.30 average, followed by Kurt Busch at 10.40. Then comes Ryan Newman with 10.50 average and rounding out the Top 5 is Jimmie Johnson with a 11.50 average start.

For what has to be bright news for our top two drivers this week at Martinsville and bad news for the rest of the field, they are coming back to a track that between the two of them, they have won eight of the last ten races at Martinsville. Neither has finished outside the top 10 either in those last ten races. So who are they? Well they are two Hendrick drivers, who are also competing for the 2009 Championship. At the top of the list this week for Martinsville is the guy that is sitting in 1st place in the points standings and that is none other then Jimmie Johnson. The 3 time Sprint Cup Champion has a chance to bury the rest of the Chase field this week if he maintains what has been an incredible pace at Martinsville. He has the best finishing average of all drivers at Martinsville with an incredible finishing average of 2.40. Not surprising either is the fact that he is one of the best qualifiers at Martinsville, checking in with a 11.50 average start. Once the races get under way he is one of those drivers that moves forward extremely well, picking off another nine positions by the time the race comes to an end. He has won six races at this track, including five of the last six races that have been run here. He also has nine Top 5's and an incredible ten Top 10's in the last ten races at Martinsville. So knowing that it would be tough to bet against Johnson this weekend and the odds are strong that he will win his fourth race in the six races that will have been run in the Chase and he could very well have a lead that may be insurmountable by the rest of the field. Next is Jeff Gordon, who himself has won multiple races at Martinsville; two in the last ten races. He has put together a mind boggling, 3.30 finishing average in his last ten races at Martinsville. With qualifying at a premium at this track, Gordon has risen to the challenge, posting the series best qualifying average of 7.00 and that includes winning the pole in two of the ten races that we are looking at in this weeks Top 10 list. Even when he qualifies that well, he still is able to pick up an average of about four positions per race. Gordon has converted that starting position into two wins, nine Top 5 finishes and ten Top 10 finishes there in the last ten races. Jeff has run well all year and has finished second in a number of races this year. Look for him to be right on Jimmie Johnson's bumper for the entire race and battle it out for another win at Martinsville.

The 3rd best average in our Top 10 this week for Martinsville belongs to Denny Hamlin. Hamlin has been able to establish a 8.00 finishing average and he qualifies well here also at Martinsville, checking in with a starting average 12.75, which includes a pole. Hamlin has been in just eight races at the Martinsville track but he has a win there last spring, five Top 5 finishes and seven Top 10 finishes to his credit. In the last two races this year, Hamlin saw his chances of competing for the Championship go astray and there is little chance that he can claw his way back in. However, his luck is due to change and considering his past record here at Martinsville,  I am looking for a great run this weekend at Martinsville. I think Hamlin would be a good pick as a dark horse to win this race on Sunday. When hasn't Tony Stewart been in the Top 10 list of the best drivers at any track in the past couple of years or so?? He cracks this Top 10 list as the fourth best driver at Martinsville with a 10.20 average finish. Tony also is one of the best qualifiers at Martinsville with a 9.30 starting average. Tony has proven in his career that he can start just about anywhere and be a contender but starting up front gives him a edge at Martinsville. At Martinsville he finishes the races off by losing about a position a race. He is one of two non-Hendrick drivers that have won a race here in the last ten races; he won the spring race there in 2006. During this span, he also has added four Top 5's and six Top 10's on his resume in the those last ten races at Martinsville. He has been up and down as far as finishes lately and he will need to finish what he starts this weekend in Martinsville. I will be looking for a stellar finish this weekend and I am willing to bet some good money, that Tony will be up there in front this week competing for the win.

The fifth best driver at Martinsville over the past ten races has been Stewart's teammate, Ryan Newman. In his last ten races at Martinsville, Newman has parleyed a Top 5 average start of 10.70 into an average finish of 11.20. Newman stays about where he starts in races at Martinsville, losing just under a position a race on average. Newman has never won a race but has been able to pick up three Top 5's and five Top 10's. Many of those finishes came midway thru his career and considering how much he has seemed to struggle to find consistency this year, it will be hard to gauge how he may do Sunday. Considering how well Hendrick cars have performed here, I would have to say since he is driving one, that he should have a decent day on Sunday and am looking for a Top 10 finish anyway. The 6th best driver in our Top 10 list for Martinsville is a guy who will be racing in only his six race at Martinsville and that guy is Juan Montoya. Montoya checks in at Martinsville with a 12.60 average finish to go along with a so-so starting average of 23.50. So he is averaging picking up just over 11 positions per race on average. In his five races here, Montoya has been able to finish in the Top 10 just once and that was an 8th place finish. He has been really competitive on the track since Indianapolis this year and has finished in the Top 5 in four of the last five races this year. His outlook for Sunday?? Well, I think he will have his hands full trying to keep up with the Hendrick and Gibbs crowd and I think any finish in the Top 10 on Sunday would be a victory for Montoya. 

Pulling up with the seventh best average is an RCR driver that will has been looking better and better as the 2009 progresses and that guy is Clint Bowyer. In his seven race history at Martinsville, Bowyer has managed to put together a finishing average of 12.71 after having a starting average 20.14 so he gains about eight positions per race. Bowyer has been in just seven races at Martinsville and in those seven races he has a Top 5 finish and four Top 10's to his credit. He finished 5th in the spring race this year which was one of his better finishes of the year. Given the way he has rebounded as the season has progressed and looking at his history at Martinsville, he should be able to compete for a Top 10 finish on Sunday. The eighth best average in the Top 10 belongs to yet another guy that makes a lot of these top 10 lists and but has struggled nearly all year and that guy is Dale Earnhardt Jr.. In the last ten races Dale Jr. has put together a finishing average of 13.40. Part of the reason he has been so successful at Martinsville is the fact that he has been a good qualifier on this track, checking in with a starting average in the series of 15.10. He picks up a little ground over the course of a race on average, an average of two positions per race. In his last ten races at Martinsville, Dale Jr has put together a resume that includes five Top 10 finishes; three in the Top 5 and five finishes outside the Top 10. In looking at his record here in the last ten races, it appears that he is either really good or just doesn't have it in some races. He did manage to finish 8th in the spring race this year, one of his brighter races this year. Dale Jr has great equipment with Hendrick Motorsports and considering his record at Martinsville, Sunday could bring a long overdue big day for Dale Jr..

The final two drivers to crack the Top 10 list are Marcos Ambrose and Matt Kenseth.  The 9th best driver in our Top 10 list for Martinsville is Marcos Ambrose, who has not made a lot of our Top 10 lists in the past  but cracks it at Martinsville. Ambrose has a finishing average of 14.00 and has a starting average of 24.00 in his only race here. I think it would be great to see him improve on that finish and maybe crack the top 10 this weekend but he will have his hands full trying to do that against the Hendrick and Gibbs crowd.  The 10th best driver in our Top 10 list for Martinsville is a Ford and a Roush driver and that guy is Matt Kenseth. Kenseth checks in at Martinsville with a 15.00 average finish to go along with a not too spectacular, 21.00 average start. So Matt on average picks up about six positions a race. Kenseth is a solid driver at Martinsville but not as spectacular as he is on other tracks. In fact, in the last ten races Kenseth has had just one Top 5 finish and has just three Top 10 finishes. His best finish here in the last 10 races actually came in the fall race last year when he managed to finish that race in 5th place. Kenseth looked good last week and I for one and hoping that he can continue that trend this weekend. It should be interesting to see how well that Kenseth can finish this weekend but feel that any finish in the Top 15 on Sunday may seem like a victory for Kenseth and the Roush crowd.

THE 10 BEST DRIVERS AT MARTINSVILLE

Now that was the 10 best drivers at Martinsville in the last ten races held there, now lets look at the 10 drivers that just don't have real good records there. 

I normally don't spend a lot of time going over the drivers who are flops at certain tracks and you can pretty much see for yourself who the are. Some make the list every week and other make a rare appearance in the Bottom 10. Let's just hope all the guys that are in the 10 Worst Driver list have a little better race there this weekend then they have in the past if they qualify for this weekends race. 

THE 10 WORST DRIVERS AT MARTINSVILLE

So there you have the best and the worst drivers over the last 10 races held at the Martinsville Speedway. How well they do this Sunday is anybodies guess but this is a good barometer. I hope all these drivers will have better luck in the Tum's Fast Relief 500 on Sunday afternoon. 

THE REST OF THE DRIVERS AT MARTINSVILLE

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