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//  Friday, September 10, 2010

Goody's Cool Orange 500 Preview

Friday, March 27, 2009
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Couldn’t get enough of the short track racing from last week? Well good news for you as NASCAR will go to a .5 mile track for the second week in a row, this week the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

This week 47 cars will make the trip with 14 cars not locked into the race via owner’s points. Those would be Aric Almirola (8), Sterling Marlin (09), Scott Riggs (38), Tony Raines (37), Jeremy Mayfield (41), Dennis Setzer (46), Todd Bodine (64), Dave Blaney (66), Derrick Cope (75), Scott Speed (82), Joe Nemecheck (87), and Paul Menard (98). Mike Garvey was also entered in the race but backed out as of Wednesday.

Ever since 2002, when he made his debut at Martinsville, Jimmie Johnson has owned this track. In 14 starts he has two poles, five wins, and 13 top 10’s! Also to throw in he has an average finish of 5th. To add to the Hendrick dominance of this track Jeff Gordon has seven wins, 20 top fives and 26 top 10’s, for an average finish of 7th in 32 career starts.

Sleepers:

Ryan Newman: When you think short-track racing Ryan Newman usually doesn’t come to mind, however he is usually strong at Martinsville. In 14 starts he has six top 10’s which include five top fives, including a second here in 2007. It still remains to be seen how he strong he is with his new team as his has just one top 10 this year and that was a seventh last week at Bristol.

Bobby Labonte: Similar to Newman in that he is not considered a great short track racer, but some recent success at this track combined with a strong start to this season could equal a strong run this week. In 32 career starts at Martinsville Labonte has one win, in 2002, and six top fives and 13 top 10’s at the track. Also with his new Hall of Fame/Yates Racing team he has found some success, with a top five at Las Vegas and only one finish worse than 25, that was 40th at Atlanta. Look for Labonte to have a strong run on Sunday.

Winner- Denny Hamlin

So far in eight career starts at his hometown track he has six top 10’s and four top fives, and won this race one year ago. Hamlin also has been rather inconsistent this year and a trip to his home track could solve that. Also add in he was the fastest in Friday morning’s practice, no reason Hamlin can’t win this race for the second straight year.

Top 12 in drivers points:

1. Jeff Gordon: 794

2. Kurt Busch -76

3. Clint Bowyer -79

4. Kyle Busch -85

5. Carl Edwards -129

6. Kasey Kahne -155

7. Tony Stewart -161

8. Denny Hamlin -163

9. Jimmie Johnson -167

10. Matt Kenseth -184

11. David Reuitmann -187

12. Kevin Harvick -210

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