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The 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is off to a competitive start as we have seen five different winners in the first five races. That trend could continue Sunday.
There are three drivers who dominate Martinsville Speedway, and have yet to win this year.
Jeff Gordon has won at Martinsville eight times in his career, the most of any track he has raced on. Gordon has recorded 27 top-fives and 34 top-10’s at the track nicknamed the “paper clip”. Gordon also has yet to fail to finish a race there, which is pretty remarkable considering that he ran over 20,000 laps. Not even the track itself could end Gordon’s day in 2004. Gordon looks to make it back-to-back wins at Martinsville.
Jimmie Johnson also has eight wins at Martinsville, and he only has 24 starts at the track. In other words, Johnson wins one out of every three races at this track. He also has 17 top-fives and 21 top-10’s. Unlike Gordon, Johnson does has failed to finish a race, but that does not prevent him from being a threat to win on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin is the other member of Martinsville’s big three. He has gone to victory lane four times here, including three of the last nine races he has competed in. Hamlin has a career average finish of 8.1 at Martinsville. Only Johnson and Gordon have better average finishes, 5.3 and 6.8 respectively. Hamlin also has been in the spotlight all week after he missed last week’s race at Auto Club Raceway. He had a piece of metal in his eye that blurred his vision. Hamlin will return behind the wheel this week.
The Pace Car 