Chase To Martinsville

Martinsville

  October 22, 2012

Sunday’s race at repaved and reconfigured Kansas Speedway had all the makings of post-season chaos but little changed in terms of Chase points and positioning when the checkered flag had waved. Brad Keselowski continues to hold a seven-point lead over five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson – the same margin by which he entered the Hollywood Casino 400 – with Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer remaining third and fourth in the standings.

Now the scene shifts to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup’s™ only short-track race at Martinsville Speedway, a miniature (0.526-mile) version of Talladega Superspeedway where a driver can go from the lead to 30^th in the blink of an eye. Johnson and Jeff Gordon led all but a handful of laps in the spring but finished outside the top 10 after a green-white-checker accident gave Ryan Newman the victory.

Johnson and Hamlin statistically have the upper hand this week: 10 combined Martinsville victories including six in the Chase. Keselowski and Bowyer finished ninth and 10^th, respectively in the spring. Tony Stewart is the defending winner of the TUMS Fast Relief 500.

This could be the week Dale Earnhardt Jr. returns to the seat of his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet pending medical clearance. Earnhardt suffered a concussion Oct. 7 at Talladega Superspeedway and sat out the past two races at Charlotte and Kansas.

Reigning NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. recorded his sixth victory of the season at Kansas Speedway last weekend, coming from two laps down to cut standings leader Elliott Sadler’s advantage to six points. Teams enjoy a bye week before contesting the campaign’s final three races beginning Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Camping World Truck teams begin the final, four-race push toward the 2012 championship beginning with Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway. Standings leaders Ty Dillon and James Buescher are separated by a single point and finished second and third, respectively at the 0.526-mile track in the spring. Race winner Kevin Harvick eyes a season sweep and a record, fourth Martinsville victory.

Ryan Truex will make his NCWTS debut in the No. 27 Hillman Racing Chevrolet, the third member of the Truex family to compete in a NASCAR national series race at Martinsville Speedway. His father, Martin Truex, competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series while older brother Martin Truex Jr. is a qualifier for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™.