NASCAR Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 preview
Can a Busch win a fourth Sprint Cup Series race in a row? Well, Kyle is the WagerWeb.com favorite to win his third race in the past four at Sunday’s Sprint Cup Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at short-track Martinsville Speedway.
With 517 laps led in the Cup Series, Kyle Busch has almost doubled the total of second-place Jimmie Johnson (265) and would easily be leading the points if not for a Daytona 500 wreck that took him from a possible win to 41st. Busch picked up his second win at Bristol last week. But he has been inconsistent at Martinsville — he finished fourth twice in 2007 but last year finished 38th and 29th.
Jeff Gordon holds the record for most Sprint Cup victories before the age of 25 with 15 wins. Busch, who isn’t 25 until next May, is just one win away from tying Gordon. Of the 30 tracks that will host NASCAR’s top three divisions in 2009, Busch has competed at 28 of them at least once and won at 20 of them. One of the eight venues where he has not been victorious is Martinsville.
“I’ve really struggled at Martinsville in the past,” Busch said. “Last year, we really struggled at all the flat tracks, and that’s something that Steve (Addington, crew chief) and all the guys at JGR have worked really hard on in the off-season. We feel like we’ve got that fixed.”
It is Kurt Busch who is second in points behind Jeff Gordon, and he is strong on short tracks (seven career wins) with one win at Martinsville. But his record in his past six races at the track is just an average finish of 25th, including three consecutive finishes in the 30s.
What’s up with Johnson and Carl Edwards? Those two are the WagerWeb.com favorites to win the Sprint Cup points title, but neither has reached Victory Lane while slumping to fifth and ninth in the standings, respectively.
But Johnson enters Sunday’s race with four victories in his past five starts on the .526-mile track and could supplant Gordon (seven wins, seven poles) as the winningest active driver there.
“Coming off of (third place at) Bristol, we’re all walking with our chests out and going to one of our best tracks,” Johnson said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. also is struggling with only one top-10 finish in the first five races. But since experiencing an engine failure and finishing 39th at Auto Club Speedway, dropping to 35th in the standings, Earnhardt has finished 10th, 11th and 14th to move to 19th in the point standings. Junior likes Martinsville having finished second at Martinsville last fall and with eight top-five finishes in 17 races.
Don’t overlook Denny Hamlin. His win at Martinsville last spring broke Johnson’s three-race win streak and Chevrolet’s seven-race streak at the Virginia track.
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