The NASCAR Sprint Cup series is heading to the short track of Martinsville Speedway Sunday. Which driver will survive the mêlée to win the STP 500?
The 2015 NASCAR season has spent the first five weeks on tracks with plenty of room to race. Now the Sprint Cup series is going short trackin’ on the track nicknamed “The Paperclip” due to the size and shape.
Martinsville Speedway is a 0.526-mile track with 12 degrees of banking through the turns. Drivers will have little room to keep their cars moving straight let alone try to pass another car. That means that during the 500 laps (263 miles) of racing a driver that is being held-up by a slower car will likely use the bumper to make room to pass.
The result could be a car getting sideways in front of many other cars and causing a crash that ends the day of not only the car being moved, but also other drivers that were not even part of the initial situation. Drivers will need all of their abilities to not only drive their cars but also keep their tempers in check during the race.
With that in mind, let’s look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers that have managed to control their cars and tempers the best over the past 20 races at Martinsville to achieve a top ten driver rating at the track.
1 – Jimmie Johnson – 122.5 driver rating – 8 career wins
2 – Jeff Gordon – 119.8 driver rating – 8 career wins
3 – Denny Hamlin – 110.1 driver rating – 4 career wins
4 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 101.2 driver rating – 1 career win
5 – Tony Stewart – 97.6 driver rating – 3 career wins
6 – Kyle Busch – 96.2 driver rating – 0 career wins
7 – Clint Bowyer – 95.0 driver rating – 0 career wins
8 – Kevin Harvick – 91.8 driver rating – 1 career win
9 – Ryan Newman – 87.4 driver rating – 1 career win
10 – Joey Logano – 85.1 – 0 career wins
Obviously Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are pretty good bets to be around at the end of the STP 500 with a chance to win. The drivers are rank #1 and #2 in driver ratings respectively and each have eight Grandfather Clocks to prove their driving ability at Martinsville. Jimmie already has a win for 2015 and a second would lock him on the Chase Grid. Jeff had a rough start to his final full-time Sprint Cup season and could use the win to get his name on the Chase Grid.
Denny Hamlin has made a strong showing to start the 2015 NASCAR season. However, it has not been strong enough to be firmly on the Chase Grid yet as he is currently in the 14th place on the 16 driver grid. He could get his fifth career win at Martinsville this week which would vault him up to the fifth place on the Chase Grid.
My not obvious picks for the win at Martinsville this week are Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch. Dale Jr. is the fourth highest on the driver rating list above. He only has one win at Martinsville, but it came the last time the Sprint Cup series was at “The Paperclip” in the fall of 2014. With the exception of the blown tire at Phoenix, Dale Jr. has had a stellar start to his 2015 Sprint Cup season. The #88 Chevrolet could be the car driving to Victory Lane Sunday.
Kurt Busch is the defending winner of this race from 2014. He is not on the top ten driver rating above, however I think he will be a factor at Martinsville this week. Kurt missed the first three races of the year. With only two races he has managed to acquire enough points to sit in the 28th place in the point standings. I think Kurt could easily add a win to his two top five finishes in his third race of the season.
No matter which car gets to do a burnout in celebration at the end of the race this week, it is likely that it will have some damage to it as Kurt’s did in the picture above from last year’s race. Fans love to watch all the beatin’ and bangin’ when NASCAR goes short trackin’. I am sure this weekend’s Sprint Cup race will not disappoint on that level. The STP 500 will get started at 12 noon central time Sunday, March 29th from Martinsville Speedway.
By: Buck Stevens
