NASCAR preview: Tums Fast Relief 500
Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville, the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit, begins the homestretch of the Chase for the Championship, as it is the first of five races remaining.
And if you bet on anyone else at WagerWeb.com other than Jimmie Johnson, you might be wasting your money. How good has Johnson been? He has won the past two races in the Chase and three of the first five. His record at Martinsville is almost unfair: He is the defending champion here (winning the March race) and has won five of the past six events at the track known as the “Paperclip.” He has six wins overall here and an average finish of 5.3 — his best at any speedway on the circuit. Since making his debut here in 2002, Johnson has finished outside the top 10 only once in his Martinsville career.
With a 90-point lead over Mark Martin in the points standings, it appears a record fourth Cup title in a row is inevitable.
“I’m not trying to downplay where we’re at,” Johnson said. “I’m very, very, very happy where we’re at. But there’s five races left. There’s a lot of racing left.”
As for Martin, he has not had a lot of recent success at the .526- mile speedway. He has just one top-five finish in his last 14 starts at the track. His average finish is 13.3 in 43 starts.
Johnson stole the “King of the Paperclip” nickname from Jeff Gordon, who is the second-favorite on WagerWeb.com this week. Gordon trails Johnson by 135 points and is sitting third; has won at Martinsville seven times. He has 27 top-10 finishes in 33 career starts and is rolling right now with seven consecutive finishes in the top 15.
“Our job is the same as always: Go there, make the car go through the corners as fast as we can, make sure we’re not burning up the brakes, and get the car up off the corner and down the straightaways the best we possibly can against the competition,” Gordon said.
Only Johnson and Gordon have a better average finish at Martinsville than Denny Hamlin, who calls the “Paperclip” his home track. Hamlin won the 2008 spring race there and has finished sixth or better in his past six starts. He’ll race the same car that won at Pocono in August.
Martinsville always produces bumper-car-style banging. It’s hard to pass, which makes track position so vital. Thus it stops also will be important, because it’s hard to make up ground here. With its 12-degree banking, there’s always the chance for a field-altering wreck.
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