CUP: Hendrick Trio, Biffle, Bowyer Lead 5 To Watch

Sprint Cup

CUP: Hendrick Trio, Biffle, Bowyer Lead 5 To Watch

Can Mark Martin stay hot for another week? Signs point to yes...

Tom Jensen | Posted October 01, 2009 Kansas City, KS

Mark Martin is leading the NASCAR Chase For The Sprint Cup as the series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Price Chopper 400 Presented By Kraft Foods. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to reason that the triple-threat tandem of drivers from Hendrick Motorsports will be among the favorites as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits Kansas Speedway this weekend.

But don’t overlook the Prodigal Son or the determined underdog from Roush Fenway Racing in Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway, race No. 3 of 10 in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The track the drivers will tackle is a 1.5-mile, D-shaped circuit with 15 degrees of banking in the corners. Sunday’s race will be the ninth time that the Sprint Cup boys have raced here, with Jeff Gordon winning the first two races, and Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle the last two.

Fuel mileage can be a factor at Kansas, and the biggest trouble spot seems to be at the exit of Turn 2 and onto the long, flat backstretch.

Here’s this week’s five to watch list:

1. MARK MARTIN, Hendrick Motorsports — Over the last five races, the Cup series has run at tracks of 0.533, 0.75, 1.0, 1.058 and 1.5 miles in length. In those five races, Martin piled up one victory, two runner-up finishes and five top fives. In July, he won convincingly at Chicagoland Speedway, the one track on the circuit most like Kansas.

Martin won the Kansas race in 2005, and he and his Alan Gustafson-led crew ought to be good this time, too. “I'm real excited to get back to Kansas,” said Martin. “I like intermediate racetracks, and we've run really well on them this year. Kansas is a lot like Chicagoland. They're almost mirrors of each other, actually. And we had a great weekend at Chicago, so I can see where we could think that will happen again. But I don't think that way. I've never run well at Loudon (N.H.), and we went and won that race. So you just can't expect things.”

2. GREG BIFFLE, Roush Fenway Racing — One victory, one runner-up finish and two third places in the last five Kansas races certainly bode well for Biffle, who typically is almost always good at intermediate tracks. The team is bringing a new car for him in hopes of improving cornering speed, the downfall of RFR so far in the Chase.

“Kansas is a unique track that I have always enjoyed racing at,” said Biffle. “I think I enjoy it because I’ve run well there for whatever reason. We finished third there last year and had a win there in 2007 so we know we can get to victory lane there. We’re only lacking in corner speed but that is what is keeping us from a win so until we figure that out, it’s going to be a battle. Last weekend in Dover looked like we had a solid top-five finish ahead of us and it just didn’t work out that way so we really need to figure it out this weekend.”

3. JIMMIE JOHNSON, Hendrick Motorsports — Last year, you’ll recall, Johnson survived a banzai last-lap pass attempt by Carl Edwards to win his first race at Kansas in one of the wildest finishes of the year. So far, it looks as if Johnson is rounding into Chase form nicely, with a fourth-place run at New Hampshire and a dominating victory at Dover. He was also third here in 2007.

“I think we have a really good plan in place,” said Johnson, who is seeking a record fourth straight Cup title. “Last week and really the last couple of weeks we've been talking about our strategy and the tracks, directions with setup, and things that we're going to try, things for certain tracks and not other tracks. I feel very confident with the approach we have and the set-ups we're going to be taking, the cars we're going to be taking. We're pretty well organized, so hopefully it pays off.”

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Tom Jensen

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