NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
CUP: Martinsville Key To Johnson Rally
Jimmie Johnson is a six-time Martinsville winner…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 25, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Jimmie Johnson is a master of Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Tiny Martinsville Speedway is the shortest and slowest oval in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at just 0.526 miles. It’s also a key battleground in Jimmie Johnson’s attempt to win a sixth series championship in seven years.

When the 26-race Sprint Cup regular season ended, Johnson and Brad Keselowski were tied in points. Now, six races into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Keselowski leads Johnson by 7 points and third-place Denny Hamlin by 20 points.

Now, 7 points doesn’t sound like a lot, and it isn’t, really.

But Johnson’s been 7 points back for the last two races, and with only four races left in the season, the five-time champion needs to start making up ground now or he’s going to run out of time.

Why has it been so hard for Johnson to gain on Keselowski?

It’s all in the finishes.

In the last 16 races, Keselowski has been unbelievably consistent, finishing worse than 11th just once. During that stretch, he’s accumulated three race victories, eight top fives and 14 top 10s.

That said, Johnson has six victories and 14 top fives in 21 career Cup starts at Martinsville, while Keselowski has just two top 10s, with a best finish of ninth earlier this year. If Johnson is to cut into Keselowski’s points lead, this would appear to be the weekend to do it.

Johnson knows it, too.

“It's go time,” he said during NASCAR’s weekly teleconference. “It's tough to live it because it's stressful, but this is what we grew up wanting to be part of as kids, racing for a championship and duking it out.”

Last time out at Martinsville, Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon were indeed duking it out for the win when David Reutimann stalled to bring out a caution on Lap 498 of the scheduled 500-lap race.

On the restart, Clint Bowyer made an ill-advised dive under Johnson and Gordon in Turn 1, wrecking all three cars and allowing Ryan Newman to slide by for the victory.

Ultimately, Johnson finished 12th, which cost him 10 points had he finished second or 14 had he won. He can ill-afford another problem like that this weekend.

Johnson needs to either win in the Tums Fast Relief 500 on Sunday or at least finish in the top five and hope Keselowski finishes outside the top 10 if he’s to gain any meaningful ground this weekend. Johnson is confident about his chances to do just that.

“It should be a good track for us,” he said. “We did the 2013 test a month or so ago, so we’ve been on the track recently; and granted the cars aren’t the same so it will be different, but at least we’ve had some laps on the track. We’ve done a little short track testing that should pay off and make us more competitive.”

Still, Johnson expects stiff competition from Virginia native Hamlin, a four-time Martinsville winner, and teammate Gordon, who has seven victories here.

“As excited as I am, I know also that the No. 11 (Hamlin) is and I have to assume the No. 24 (Gordon) is pretty charged-up to go,” said Johnson. “But either way, I feel like it’s a good opportunity for us to get points and hopefully if we’re not in the points lead, we can get awfully close to it or take it there.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.