Jeff Gordon was strong in the qualifying - will that lead to another winning Sunday?

Martinsville is the shortest track on the circuit and is tucked away just outside the small town it is named after in Virginia. No major interstate is nearby and the biggest cities are almost an hour's drive away. The seating capacity is small in comparison to other tracks – 65,000, where others boast 75,000 to well over 100,000 seats. It is a small track that has managed to stay steady throughout all the changes in NASCAR and not get its races taken away; I doubt that will remain unchanged in the next few years.

This small track is a paper clip-shaped oval and is just barely over a half a mile long. It has a short track feel to it due to only twelve degrees of banking in the tight turns. The front and back stretch are two 800-feet drag strips. The brakes will get a lot of usage this weekend with drivers going fast down the stretches and braking hard for the tight, flat turns. Expect to see some ‘chicken’ playing when it comes to the race for the preferred lane into the turns.

As at most tracks, track position will be very important, but I think at smaller tracks like Martinsville and Bristol, it plays a bigger part. It does not take too long to get lapped here, and I would always cross my fingers that my driver qualified in the top fifteen. There are ways to overcome the deficit and there are quite a few drivers who are good at doing so, but it’s much easier on a driver and his car if he starts closer to the front here.

In April, we saw Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson battle it out and bump each other in a fight to the finish. I wonder if that same instance happened again just how ‘considerate’ they’ll be of each other this time. If push came to shove, I have a feeling Jeff would come out ahead, and for this reason I am picking him for the win, his eighth win at Martinsville. While I would love to pick someone else, I just don’t see it happening. This has been and very likely will continue to be Jeff’s year.

Kevin Harvick is a driver I don’t pick too often, but he caught my eye this week. He qualified third and has the right amount of aggressiveness needed to come out on top at this track, where knocking and bumping is the order of the day.

I believe Jamie McMurray was my dark horse pick for this race in April, but I’m making him a ‘pick’ this week. He qualified in the top ten and finished ninth here in April. He’s coming into his own and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the Chase next year.

The red number eight, driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., needs to make one last trip into victory lane, especially after its plethora of blown engines this year. Dale Jr. qualified seventh, and while he has never won here, he does well at short tracks.

Kyle Busch starts sixth and has a good chance of finishing first. Hendrick cars dominate at this track, and this is his last time to drive one here. If he can keep his head and not do anything stupid and rash, he should have a solid finish.

My dark horse pick this week is a driver I have always liked. Dave Blaney is a solid driver and after a fairly good qualifying run of seventeenth, I think with a little luck he could put in a top five finish.

Starting Grid

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