This weekend two of NASCAR’s three national series are in action at Martinsville Speedway with the Camping World Truck Series on Saturday and the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday. The XFINITY Series is off until November 5 at Texas Motor Speedway. This weekend’s storylines follow… The Race: Goody’s Fast Relief 500 The Place: Martinsville Speedway The Date: Sunday, Oct. 30 The Time: 1 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN, 12:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 263 miles (500 laps) Six-Time Can Change Nickname To Seven-Time Known as “Six-time” for his six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, Jimmie Johnson is four races away from potentially tying NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with a record seventh premier series title. Johnson continues his quest for crown No. 7 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Round of 8 opener – Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Johnson leads all full-time active drivers with eight wins at Martinsville. Jeff Gordon, who is racing in Sunday’s event boasts nine. In 29 career starts at Martinsville, Johnson owns eight wins, 18 top fives, 23 top 10s and an average finish of 7.5. His average running position (8.0) and driver rating 117.8 rank second among active drivers at the .526-mile track. The Californian is the last driver to win consecutive races at Martinsville (fall 2012/spring 2013). Busch Goes For Martinsville Sweep Kyle Busch will attempt to clock the competition at Martinsville when he goes for a season sweep of “The Paperclip.” The No. 18 Toyota wheelman earned his first career victory at the .526-mile track in April and will try to become the first driver to sweep a venue this season. More importantly, he’ll try to earn a spot in the Championship 4 as he pursues his second consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Busch led 352 of 500 laps in the April race and registered a driver rating of 148.2 on his way to Victory Lane. For his career, Busch claims one win, 10 top fives, 11 top 10s and a 14.5 average finish in 22 starts at Martinsville. Pride Of Virginia: Hamlin Hopes To Add Another Win In Home State Chesterfield, Virginia’s Denny Hamlin hopes to capture his sixth victory at Martinsville Speedway this weekend and the ninth in his hometown state (he also owns three victories at Richmond). After beating Kurt Busch to the stripe by .006 seconds (appx. two feet) in last Sunday’s Hellman’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway to earn the final spot in the Round of 8, Hamlin can make the Championship 4 with a win at Martinsville. In 21 starts at “NASCAR’s Wrigley Field,” Hamlin claims five wins, 11 top fives and 16 top 10s. His 9.5 average finish, 9.7 average running position and 108.1 driver rating all rank third-best among active drivers at Martinsville. Hamlin is the winningest Virginian in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history with 29 victories. The list of drivers from the Old Dominion State includes NASCAR Hall of Famers Joe Weatherly, Curtis Turner, Glen Wood and Wendell Scott, as well as former NASCAR iron man Ricky Rudd. Martinsville Spoilers With only eight drivers left in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the number of competitors who can spoil a bid for the Chase-eligible drivers gets larger. Still, the remaining Chase drivers have accounted for 54.8 percent of the wins among active drivers at Martinsville Speedway (Jimmie Johnson, 9 wins; Denny Hamlin, 5 wins; Kurt Busch, 2 wins and Kevin Harvick, 1 win). Among active full-time drivers, the win percentage increases to 77.2 percent. The non-Chase drivers starting in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500, who have won at Martinsville are Jeff Gordon (9 wins), Tony Stewart (3) and Ryan Newman (1). And Then There Were 8: Combined Wins, Average Finishes And Driver Ratings Of Chase Drivers At Round Of 8 Tracks Below are the combined wins, average finish and driver ratings at the three Round of 8 tracks – Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway: Jimmie Johnson – 18 wins, 7.9 avg. finish, 112.5 driver rating Kevin Harvick – Nine wins, 12.9 avg. finish, 98.6 driver rating Denny Hamlin – Eight wins, 10.9 avg. finish, 97.9 driver rating Carl Edwards – Five wins, 13.8 avg. finish, 93.2 driver rating Kyle Busch – Four wins, 13.3 avg. finish, 100.0 driver rating Kurt Busch – Four wins, 16.8 avg. finish, 89.1 driver rating Matt Kenseth – Three wins, 13.7 avg. finish, 93.3 driver rating Joey Logano – One win, 15.4 avg. finish, 86.5 driver rating Gordon’s Last Ride? Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway is likely Jeff Gordon’s last NASCAR race ever. If it is Gordon’s last race, there is a good chance he goes out with a strong finish, if not a victory. The four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion is the defending winner at Martinsville and has more wins (nine), top fives (29), top 10s (37) and laps led (3,779) there than he does at any other track. Another top-five finish would tie him with Richard Petty for the track record in that category, while a top-10 finish would break his tie with Petty for the track record in that statistic. If Gordon racks up another 72 laps led at Martinsville, he will surpass Petty for first in laps led there. Gordon leads active drivers at Martinsville in not only wins, top fives and top 10s, but also average finish (6.8) and driver rating (119.5). If Gordon leads 64 laps on Sunday, he will become only the sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver all-time to lead 25,000 or more laps, joining NASCAR Hall of Famers Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Etc. At The Paperclip, It’s Good To Be Up Front – The Coors Light Pole is the most proficient starting spot in the field at Martinsville, producing more wins (21) than any other starting position. Only seven of the 135 races (5.2%) at the southern Virginia track have been won from a starting position outside the top 20 – two of these occurred in 2015 (Denny Hamlin, spring; Jeff Gordon, fall). Ninety-seven of the 135 races (71.9%) have been won from a top-10 starting position. Chaser Kurt Busch holds the Martinsville record for lowest starting positon by a race winner – 36th in fall of 2002…. Next Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge The Place: Texas Motor Speedway The Date: Saturday, Nov. 5 The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET TV: NBC, 3:30 p.m. ET Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 300 miles (200 laps) The Race: Texas Roadhouse 200 presented by Alpha Energy Solutions The Place: Martinsville Speedway The Date: Saturday, Oct. 29 The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 1 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 105.2 miles (200 laps) Round Of 6 Kicks Off At Martinsville The inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase’s Round of 6 kicks off Saturday with the Texas Roadhouse 200 presented by Alpha Energy Solutions at Martinsville Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1). Here’s how the remaining six Chase drivers have fared in their careers at the .526-mile track: William Byron – Byron made his lone start at Martinsville in the spring, finishing third in his fourth career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Christopher Bell – Bell finished 19th in his only start at Martinsville this spring. Matt Crafton – In 29 career starts at Martinsville, Crafton claims two wins, eight top fives, 17 top 10s and a 10.6 average finish. The defending fall race winner, Crafton led 63 laps on his way to Victory Lane at “The Paperclip” last year. Ben Kennedy – Kennedy posted finishes of fourth and third in his first two starts at Martinsville, but hasn’t registered a top-10 showing in his six races since. Timothy Peters – Peters won his first career race in 2009 at Martinsville – his hometown track. In 21 career starts at the southern Virginia oval, he has one victory, seven top fives, 14 top 10s and a 12.0 average finish. Johnny Sauter – In 17 career starts at Martinsville, Sauter boasts two wins, five top fives and eight top 10s. Chase Elliott Back In A Truck For First Time Since 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year frontrunner Chase Elliott, 20, will pilot a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series truck for the first time since 2013 in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 presented by Alpha Energy Solutions at Martinsville Speedway. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native is scheduled to take the wheel of the No. 71 for Carlos Contreras. In nine NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts – all in 2013 – Elliott boasts one win, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes. At the time of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory in 2013, Elliott was the youngest race winner in NASCAR national series history (17 years, nine months four days). The record has since been broken by Erik Jones and Cole Custer. From Fan To Driver – Martinsville Brings Back Childhood Memories For Byron Long before he stepped into a race car as a 14-year-old in 2011, William Byron avidly watched as many NASCAR races as he could on television. When he was 8 years old, Byron attended his first NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway. On that day – April 2, 2006 – he saw the victorious Tony Stewart climbing the fence, and forced his father to stay late so they could watch Stewart’s burnout. Byron, now 18, has made a meteoric rise through the stock car racing ranks and will try to do his own burnout at Martinsville in Sunday’s Texas Roadhouse 200. On the season he leads the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in wins (6), top fives (10), average running position (8.0), laps led (572) and driver rating (105.8). One of the six drivers remaining in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, Byron is trying to join Erik Jones as the second consecutive Kyle Busch Motorsports driver to win the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in the same season. Byron won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship last year in his first and only season on the circuit. Martinsville Flashback – What Happened In The Spring Race In this year’s spring race at Martinsville, three of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase drivers finished in the top 10: William Byron (third), Timothy Peters (fifth) and Matt Crafton (seventh). Ben Kennedy finished just outside the top 10 in 11th, while Christopher Bell came in 19th. An accident relegated Johnny Sauter to 32nd. Kyle Busch won the race, but will not be competing on Saturday. NASCAR Next member Harrison Burton will drive the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota, while Daniel Suarez will take the seat of the KBM No. 51 truck. Burton Set For NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Debut NASCAR Next member Harrison Burton will make his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 in the No. 18 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Burton, who turned 16 on Oct. 9, raced full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this year, earning one top five, five top 10s and a pole in 14 starts. Burton is the son of 21-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner and NBC Sports NASCAR Analyst Jeff Burton. His career accomplishments include: three-time USAC Quarter Midget national champion, youngest NASCAR Whelen Super Late Model event winner and youngest competitor in a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race. “Obviously, everyone wants to go out and win, but I think if I can have a good qualifying result, have good restarts and keep the fenders on my DEX Imaging Tundra through the whole race, I can be in good position with 20 to go and then anything can happen,” Burton said. “My focus is learning the truck, the track and the guys I am racing with and then applying that as the race comes to the finish.” source – NASCAR communications
