Are There Any Takers At Martinsville?

Statistically, the Jimmie Johnson-Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports tandem is the clear favorite to outperform most others this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

But statistically, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin – are no slouches at the Virginia short track either.

Of the two, Earnhardt has scored top-10 finishes in three of the last four races there, and since the inception of Loop Data, ranks high in a number of key statistics.

Earnhardt has the 4th best Driver Rating of 102.4, and an Average Running Position of 10.4, which is also 4th on the list. But I'm not too worried about him this week. NBaP doesn't think he's got it together to conquer this track. At least not from the way things are looking lately.

Though Earnhardt has never won here, Martin has two Martinsville wins, but has finished out of the top 10 in his last three Martinsville races, with his last top five finish coming in the spring race of 2005.

Since 2005, he has a Driver Rating of 78.2, an Average Running Position of 17.0.

Stats say look out for Tony Stewart though.

Stewart has a Driver Rating of 113.7, and an Average Running Position of 7.4.

Stewart won in 2006, breaking up the win streek that Gordon and Johnson were buliding.

Actually, Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Rusty Wallace are the only other drivers to win since 2003.