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.

Kyle Busch Still Has To Beat The Paperclip

Kyle Busch won last week at the mini-superspeedway called Bristol. He's now fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. But Martinsville looms over him like Jason from Friday the 13th does over most of his victims.

Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota has had three top fives and four top 10s in eight Cup starts there.

NASCAR Loop Data statistics for Martinsville says Busch has an Average Running Position of 14.9, with his best finishes a pair of fourths in 2007.

He finished 38th there last spring and 29th last fall, both due to brake problems. They've done some testing over at Little Rock to "get our brakes squared away" and they believe they ahve fixed the problem.

THat's bad news for the rest of the field.

If he masters this place, and NBaP has no doubt he will, then we be headed for trouble.

Who Is Mr. Martinsville

So do you think is Mr Martinsville? Jimmy Johnson, the reigning three-time series champion or Jeff Gordon, the four-time series champion.

They both love the place and both have fond memories of the place.

NBaP thinks that they should have a 25 lap trophy dash with just those two on track. Hmm, maybe even mix in a little Kyle Busch and see who wrecks who!

But seriously, more than likely we'll see any of these three up front at Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500.

Gordon and Johnson have won the last 9 of 12 races here at Martinsville. I don't think we'll ever forget that finish in the spring of 2007. I mean how can we, we see it every week in ads.

They rank one-two in the NASCAR Loop Data category, Driver Ratings.
Johnson is ranked at 124.7.
Gordon is ranked at 124.0.

But Gordon leads all active drivers with seven wins and seven poles at Martinsville.

Do you dare hit the betting window on this one?