Sunday’s Subway 500 at venerable Martinsville Speedway marks the sixth of 10 events in the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup – time and opportunity that shrink by the day.
And with urgency palpable, is this the week that third-place Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet) and fourth-place Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet) make their lunge at the leaders?
A quick reset: Four-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) leads the Chase standings with Hendrick Motorsports teammate – and reigning series champion – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) second, 68 points behind.
Follow with Bowyer, 78 points out, and Stewart, 198 out, and the call to action is apparent.
This week’s setting is key – Martinsville’s. 526-mile surface confounds even the smoothest drivers with its tight turns, an unforgiving flatness and historic quirks (those interior concrete curbs).
Though Gordon and Johnson lead all active drivers with seven and three wins there, respectively, a weeding-out – or jumbling up – could occur.
Bowyer may have the most daunting catch-up task despite his 10-point cushion over Stewart. The first-year Chase participant and second-year driver has an average finish of 18.7 in three career series starts at Martinsville. He finished 11th in April.
“It’s so small that if something happens in front of you, there’s just no getting around it, ” Bowyer said of Martinsville. “We finished 11th at Martinsville in the spring and we need to get more out of it this time. We knew we’d have to pick up our program and finish better at all these race tracks and I think we can go there this weekend and do better than we’ve done in the past. ”
Stewart also could be poised for a major gain. He excels at Martinsville, where he’s won twice along with six top fives, 10 top 10s and three poles.
He also boasts the top pre-race Driver Rating for Martinsville, according to NASCAR Loop Data statistics – 125.5. Stewart also owns the top Average Running Position (4.382), Fastest Laps (277) and Laps Led (829).
Here’s more inspiration for both Bowyer and Stewart, courtesy of Johnson, who’s made Chase comebacks a personal trademark:
• Trailing the leader by 146 points after five races in ’06, Johnson rebounded to win his first series title;
• In ’04, Johnson trailed the leader by 227 points after five races and finished second in the final standings by only eight points to eventual champion Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge).
• In ’05, Johnson was tied for the lead with Stewart after five Chase races; Stewart went on to capture his second series title.
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