Johnny Benson

NASCAR's top circuit goes short-track racing on Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in the sixth race of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

The biggest challenges to points leader Jimmie Johnson winning for the fourth time in his last five races at this half mile oval figure to come from a quartet of drivers including one of Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammates: Jeff Gordon.

Others I expect to make the strongest bids at winning are Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin.

Working in Johnson’s and Gordon’s favor
The ability of both drivers to run fast and win races at Martinsville is amazing. To go along with his four Martinsville wins (Oct. 2007, April 2007, Oct. 2006 and Oct. 2004), Johnson has finished 10th or better in all but one of his 13 Cup starts at this venue. And that one hiccup came in his very first race at Martinsville in April of 2002 when a vibration issue with his car dropped him to a 35th-place finish.

While highlighted by his four victories, the Martinsville resume of the two-time defending Cup champion shows nine top-fives and 12 top-10s. His average starting spot is 12.8 and average finish is sixth. In the spring event at Martinsville, the El Cajon, Calif. native led 135 laps and wound up finishing fourth to Hamlin.

Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus have a great relationship and work so well together. Martinsville is one of the tracks where they are the toughest to beat. Factoring in their favor on Sunday should be the primary chassis they are going with -- it's the one Johnson drove to Victory Lane at Richmond International Raceway in September.

To seriously get about winning at a track, it helps immensely if a driver can lock into the rhythm of the venue and Johnson’s aware he’s been able to do that very well at Martinsville. And as long as that keeps up for the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, it’ll be hard to keep him out of Victory Lane.

Gordon first started Cup racing at Martinsville in April 1993 and his performances at the short track have consistently been of a very high level. This will be his 32nd Cup start at a venue that has been one of his best. At Martinsville he has finished out of the top 20 only three times and out of the top 15 only four times.

The four-time Cup champion will be vying for his eighth Martinsville win. In his last 11 races at this oval he has four wins, nine top-fives and 11 top-10s. Racing this spring at Martinsville, Gordon led for 90 laps and came home runner-up to Hamlin.

What we’ve learned most of all about Gordon at Martinsville is even given the veteran he is he’ll tend to overdrive his No. 24 Chevrolet at the start of the race. It takes him a bit to settle into a groove and find a rhythm, but once he does figure on him as one to be reckoned with for the rest of the race.

A trio with title chances
The Chase is looking like it has become a three driver battle. Johnson tops the standings, 69 points ahead of Burton and 86 markers up on Greg Biffle. Edwards is fourth, 168 points off the lead and Clint Bowyer rounds out the top five, 185 points behind Johnson.

Gordon is eighth, trailing Johnson by 245 points and Hamlin rests in the 12th and final spot in the playoff field. He is 380 points off the top spot. So while I'm figuring that Gordon and Hamlin have among the best chances at getting to Victory Lane, they like Kevin Harvick (6th), Tony Stewart (7th), Kyle Busch (9th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (10th) and Matt Kenseth (11th) aren't in position to take the title. The trio of Johnson, Burton and Biffle will fight it out for the

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championship.

Burton launched himself into contention for his first ever Cup crown by pulling off a win last weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. It was his second victory of the season and it put him within striking distance of Johnson as he rose from fourth to second in the standings. With only half of the Chase races in the books, there is still a lot that can happen in the playoff but Burton could be making his move on the top spot.

The veteran driver from Richard Childress Racing has come home in the top 10 in half of his Martinsville Cup starts. In 28 races at this venue, he has a win (Sept. 1997), 10 top-fives and 14 top-10s. He comes off a third-place result at this short track in the spring having led for 37 laps in that race.

In addition to his win at Martinsville in the spring (after starting second), Hamlin sat on the pole for the spring 2007 race and led 125 laps before finishing third. He has come home out of the top 10 only once (he wrecked out of the spring event in 2006) in six Martinsville Cup starts.

Biffle blew a motor in practice and had to start in the back of the field this spring at Martinsville. He wound up 20th. He's been vocal at times in the past about his car having mechanical issues so he's hoping for a quiet Sunday with nothing to shout out about except -- he hopes -- a victory. He may be a bit anxious over Martinsville being one of the races in the Chase since at this short track he's had only one top-10 in 11 Cup starts.

Edwards will be making his ninth Cup start at Martinsville, a track that's been one of the toughest for him. In his previous eight races, Edwards has only one top-10 finish. But he seems to feel his fortunes are about to change in Virginia as he says he has never been so excited to race at Martinsville in his career.