Winning the last two races and claiming three wins in the five Chase races thus far, Jimmie Johnson has made himself the frontrunner in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, and he’s on a mission to make history by becoming the first driver to claim four-straight Cup titles.
As of right now, not that the Chase is over by any means and not that anyone should start carving a Hendrick Motorsports driver’s name on the trophy just yet, the top-three positions in the Chase points standings are occupied by Hendrick Motorsports drivers, with Mark Martin, who has finished second in points four times and is still looking for that elusive title, in second, 90 points out, and four-time champion Jeff Gordon in third, 135 points behind Johnson. Things look good for team owner Rick Hendrick to claim his ninth Cup title as an owner.
The Chase has, after all, been dominated by Hendrick, or at least victory lane has. All five races completed in the Chase so far have ended with a driver somehow associated with Hendrick Motorsports celebrating in victory lane. HMS drivers have claimed wins in four (Martin one and Johnson three), and Tony Stewart has the other win in his Stewart-Haas entry that is aligned with the Hendrick organization.
Martinsville Speedway, this host of this weekend’s Tums Fast Relief 500, has historically been a good track for HMS drivers, too. According to NASCAR’s driver rating system, the top-three Chase drivers with the best rating at Martinsville are Johnson, Gordon, and Stewart. Judging by the same rating system, Martinsville is the best Chase track for both Gordon and Johnson.
"I'm excited about Martinsville," Gordon said. "It's going to be a great weekend."
However, Martinsville’s a “wild card” of sorts. Brake overheating and the difficulty of hairpin turns usually result in a lot of contact, and some of that contact ends up collecting additional cars -- cars that could be driven by Chasers.
"Anything can happen to any of the teams at Martinsville," Stewart said.
Sunday’s Martinsville race is the first of two consecutive “wild card” races for the Chasers, the other being Talladega Superspeedway on Halloween weekend. This two-week stretch has the potential to turn the points standings and the Chase race upside down.
Television coverage for Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 is slated for a 1 p.m. ET start on ABC.
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