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Track Facts

Venue: Martinsville Speedway
Race length: 500 miles
No. of laps: 263
Qualifying: Fri., 3:10 p.m. ET
Race: Sun., 1 p.m. ET (NBC)
Stat of the Week:

Remember when ... Jeff Gordon's Martinsville win earlier this year was one of three wins and five top-fives he collected in the season's first 10 races. He hasn't scored another of either category since.

Last Year's Race

Top 5
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jamie McMurray
3, Ryan Newman
4. Sterling Marlin
5. Kurt Busch

Recent Winners
2004: Jimmie Johnson
2003: Jeff Gordon
2002: Kurt Busch
2001: Ricky Craven
2000: Tony Stewart
1999: Jeff Gordon
1998: Ricky Rudd
1997: Jeff Burton
1996: Jeff Gordon
1995: Rusty Wallace

The NASCAR Nextel Cup series heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend for Sunday's Subway 500. The event is the second Cup race there this season and the sixth race in this year's Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Jimmie Johnson is the defending race winner, while Jeff Gordon won there earlier this season.

Who Will Win?

Busch Jerry Bonkowski: As much as my emotions say Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon, particularly since this weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic Hendrick Motorsports plane crash near Martinsville, I've got to go with Kurt Busch on Sunday. Sure, Johnson and Gordon have combined to win four of the last five races at the .526-mile track, but Busch (who won there in fall 2002) needs a strong finish if he is to have even the most remote chance of successfully defending his championship. He also will be looking for payback against Gordon, who knocked him out of the lead and motored to victory back in April. If Busch can stay out of trouble, and points co-leaders Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson struggle or wreck, he could be right back in the thick of things and potentially on his way to a Kulwickian (1992) or Johnsonian (2004) comeback. Don't count the defending champ out of it just yet.

Bob Margolis: Of the previous five Chase races, only Talladega was won by a non-Chaser (Dale Jarrett). Useless statistic? Perhaps. I prefer to think of it as an indicator. Look for another Chaser to visit victory lane in Martinsville. Defending winner Johnson, Stewart and Busch all have won there, but this week it's my sentimental side that takes over. He's got the most wins there of any active Cup driver (seven) and he's way overdue for a victory. Rusty Wallace will be the race winner, taking himself out of the still-winless-this-season column.

Jon Baum: Ryan Newman's last five race finishes: first, fifth, fourth, 23rd and seventh. Newman's last four Martinsville finishes: fifth, fifth, third, fourth. Newman's finish on Sunday: first. For a darkhorse, pay attention to Ricky Rudd. He's run well lately and has a solid resume at Martinsville.

Thomas Hocker: Jimmie Johnson is starting to regain that early-season form, as he now has collected two wins in the Chase. Martinsville has been very good to the No. 48 team, which has six consecutive top-10 finishes there including the victory last fall. The only other driver with comparable stats is teammate Jeff Gordon, but the No. 24 checked out of the 2006 season a long time ago. Let's go with Johnson for back-to-back victories, stealing the top spot in the standings from Stewart in the process.

Top Storyline

Stewart Jerry Bonkowski: This will be the last wild-card race of the season, so to speak. "Anything can happen at Martinsville, and usually does," says Wallace. A sense of normalcy will return after this week (at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami), but with the points having significantly tightened at Charlotte, the biggest question is whether Stewart and Newman can rebound at Martinsville or whether they will slip even further. Is this the race where Greg Biffle and Mark Martin make huge moves?

Bob Margolis: The points got all shook up at Charlotte – except for Kurt Busch, who still is mired in the cellar. I expect the points will undergo another big shakeup this Sunday. Short tracks bring out the best and the worst in drivers, and fans like to see both. Rain is forecast for both Friday and Saturday, which means the field may very well be set by points ... and that means a Stewart-Johnson front row. How delightful! Let's really stir things up and invert the field for the start of the race! The weather on Sunday should be dry and cool ... whioh is good, because tempers during the race will be hot.

Jon Baum: Five down, five to go. Pretty much all of the 10 Chase drivers still are in title contention, and Martinsville perhaps provides the best chance for those at the back of the pack to draw closer. While drivers like Busch will go for the win, a run-of-the-mill low-teens finish from a driver like Mayfield might be enough this weekend to keep him in the hunt.

Thomas Hocker: For a couple of drivers in the Chase, surviving Martinsville will be victory in itself. A lead-lap finish for Biffle and Carl Edwards should be enough for a top-15. Both drivers average worse than a 23rd-place finish at Martinsville, so a top-15 finish would look pretty good considering the intermediate tracks left on the schedule (Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead look like T-bone steaks for Edwards and Biffle). Johnson, Stewart and Newman should be looking in their rearview mirrors because Biffle is going to be a major factor down the stretch.

From The Source

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Short track racing is like walking through a minefield. You have to watch every move and be completely aware of what's going on around you. If you give the guy in front of you some room, you'll get booted from behind."