MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY (0.526-MILE OVAL)
LOCATION: RIDGEWAY, VIRGINIA
EVENT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 33 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 1:15 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, NOV. 1 (NBCSN/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne
Driver Kasey Kahne Hometown Enumclaw, Washington
Age 35 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2015 Season
18th in standings
32 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
9 top-10 finishes
66 laps led
Career
428 starts
17 wins
27 pole positions
86 top-five finishes
155 top-10 finishes
4,607 laps led
Track Career
23 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
4 top-10 finishes
60 laps led
GREAT CLIPS ON THE NO. 5 CHEVROLET SS: Great Clips will adorn the hood of Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet SS this weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the 11th time this season. Great Clips will be the primary sponsor on the car for one additional NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this year: Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 22).
STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER: Kahne has partnered with Chevrolet and General Motors employees, dealers and customers to fight breast cancer this October. Since 2011, Chevrolet’s efforts have raised more than $4.4 million for its programs to Find New Roads in the fight against breast cancer. This Friday after qualifying at Martinsville, Kahne will drive breast cancer survivors around the track for hot laps in Chevrolet’s pink pace car supporting breast cancer research. Kahne will also hold a Q&A with the survivors as well as take time for photos and autographs.
#IDRIVEFOR CAMPAIGN: In addition to the pace car program, Chevrolet will support the partnership through a social media engagement program in October 2015 that encourages people to share who they drive in support of using #IDriveFor. Chevrolet will contribute $5 for every social post (up to $500,000) on Twitter or Instagram using #IDriveFor. Kahne has actively been promoting the #IDriveFor campaign on his personal Twitter account.
MARTINSVILLE LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR loop data, in the last 10 years at Martinsville Speedway, Kahne ranks sixth in closers gaining an average of 1.0 spots and moving up 22 positions total at the 0.526-mile oval. He also ranks seventh in average speed late in a run (90.221 miles per hour) and ninth in fastest laps run (2.6 percent and 269 laps).
No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet SS / Jeff Gordon
Driver Jeff Gordon Hometown Pittsboro, Indiana
Age 44 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 Season
3rd in standings
32 starts
0 wins
4 pole positions
4 top-five finishes
17 top-10 finishes
217 laps led
Career
793 starts
92 wins
81 pole positions
324 top-five finishes
471 top-10 finishes
24,881 laps led
Track Career
45 starts
8 wins
7 pole positions
28 top-five finishes
36 top-10 finishes
3,744 laps led
Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet SS, is scheduled to visit the Martinsville Speedway media center at 2 p.m. local time Friday.
CONTENDER ROUND RECAP: Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet SS, finished in the top 10 in each of the three Contender Round events – scoring the third-highest points total during that span – to advance to the Eliminator Round.
TOPS AT MARTINSVILLE AMONG ACTIVE DRIVERS: The four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion leads active drivers in several statistical categories at the paper-clip track. Gordon has the most pole positions (four more than any active competitor), top-five finishes (10 more than second), top-10s (14 more than second), laps led, and he has the best average start (7.2) and best average finish (6.9). The driver of the No. 24 Chevy SS is tied for most wins among active drivers with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.
FIVE OUTSIDE TOP DOZEN AT MARTINSVILLE: Gordon has finished outside of the top 12 only five times in 45 Cup starts at the 0.526-mile track – once in 1994, twice in 2002, once in 2010 and once in 2012.
NEARING 25K: Gordon is 119 shy of 25,000 career laps led. He has led at least 119 laps on 13 occasions at Martinsville.
MEMBER ADVANTAGES AT MARTINSVILLE: AARP Member Advantages will sponsor four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS to spread awareness about the many benefits available to AARP members. The special AARP Member Advantages paint scheme – which debuted at Sonoma Raceway on June 28 – will be featured in six Sprint Cup Series events in 2015 and is part of Hendrick Motorsports’ existing partnership with Drive to End Hunger, which is AARP and AARP Foundation’s multi-year effort to raise awareness of and support for the fight against older adult hunger. AARP Member Advantages is a collection of discounts, products, services and insurance programs available to AARP’s millions of members through third party providers. The provider offers include a variety of health products, financial products, travel and leisure products, and life event services.
No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 40 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 Season
13th in standings
32 starts
4 wins
0 pole positions
12 top-five finishes
19 top-10 finishes
508 laps led
Career
503 starts
74 wins
33 pole positions
205 top-five finishes
311 top-10 finishes
17,659 laps led
Track Career
27 starts
8 wins
3 pole positions
18 top-five finishes
22 top-10 finishes
2,746 laps led
EIGHT CLOCKS AND COUNTING: In 27 starts at the paper clip-shaped half-mile at Martinsville, Johnson has won eight of the prestigious grandfather clock trophies. His first win came on Oct. 24, 2004. In addition to an average finish of 7.3, Johnson has managed to complete 99.1 percent of all laps attempted in his career at the track.
MASTERING THE PAPERCLIP: According to NASCAR statistics, 48 different drivers have won at Martinsville Speedway, led by Richard Petty with 15 victories. Johnson and Gordon lead the series among active drivers with eight wins apiece. Johnson is also the most recent driver to win consecutive races (Fall 2012/Spring 2013) at Martinsville.
CLOSE FINISH ON A SHORT TRACK: Since the advent of electronic scoring, the closest margin of victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway is the April 1, 2007, race won by Johnson by 0.065 seconds over teammate Gordon.
MARTINSVILLE DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Johnson has the series-best driver rating at Martinsville with a score of 119.4 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
KOBALT FOR MARTINSVILLE: For the final time this season, Johnson will pilot a flat-black and white No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS. The paint scheme appeared earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kobalt’s heavy-duty tools are exclusive to Lowe’s and have been tested and approved by the No. 48 team.
#IDRIVEFOR: From Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, Chevrolet is encouraging the community to honor loved ones who have been affected by breast cancer and tell their stories using #IDriveFor on Instagram and Twitter. For every tweet, retweet and Instagram post using #IDriveFor in the month of October, Chevrolet will contribute $5 to the American Cancer Society (up to $500,000). Click here to RT Johnson’s tweet sharing what he drives for.
MIAMI TICKET PACKAGE: Johnson will host a Q&A with kids and their parents on Championship Sunday — Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Package price is $148, which includes two tickets, pit passes and a Q&A with the six-time champion. To purchase, click here.
No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS / Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hometown Kannapolis, North Carolina
Age 41 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2015 Season
12th in standings
32 starts
2 wins
0 pole positions
14 top-five finishes
19 top-10 finishes
265 laps led
Career
573 starts
25 wins
13 pole positions
141 top-five finishes
243 top-10 finishes
8,112 laps led
Track Career
31 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
12 top-five finishes
17 top-10 finishes
972 laps led
‘ALMOST PERFECT’ AT ‘DEGA: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet SS, finished an agonizingly close second to Joey Logano at Talladega Superspeedway last week after leading 61 laps during what he described as an “almost perfect” day. Earnhardt was just shy of earning the win and securing a spot in the eight-driver Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but with the second-place finish, he earned his 16th top-10 finish in 32 races at Talladega and his 19th top-10 finish in 2015. Earnhardt ranks 12th in the standings after his runner-up finish at Talladega, which unfortunately eliminates him from championship contention. Only eight drivers remain in the Chase, which continues this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
SUCCESS AT THE PAPER CLIP: In this race last year, Earnhardt scored his first victory at the 0.526-mile, paper clip-shaped oval, in what he described as an “emotional win.” Earlier this year, Earnhardt and the No. 88 Nationwide team encountered a variety of issues during the 500-lap event, but he’ll be eyeing Martinsville Speedway’s famed grandfather clock trophy once again this weekend. It’s a track where the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native has been successful, earning 12 top-five finishes and 17 top-10s for a career average finish of 13.2.
MARTINSVILLE LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt has the fourth-best box score during the last 10 years among active drivers, a summary that shows key statistics to give a complete picture of the driver’s performance throughout the race. The No. 88 Nationwide Chevy SS driver leads the green-flag passes category with 1,236. He also ranks in the top five in almost every other loop data category from Martinsville, including driver rating (fourth – 99.5), average running position (fifth – 11.473), average speed early in a run (fourth – 92.604 mph), average speed late in a run (fourth – 90.292 mph), fastest laps run (fourth – 544), fastest on restarts (fourth – 90.095 mph), laps led (fifth – 521) and quality passes (second – 737).
NATIONWIDE’S RACE TO VEGAS SWEEPSTAKES: Fans can enter to win a VIP trip to the 2016 Las Vegas race weekend, where they will attend the race and meet Earnhardt. Visit here for offer and program details. The sweepstakes is just one example of how Nationwide is leveraging sponsorship of Earnhardt and the No. 88 Chevy SS to promote key initiatives that are important to growing its business and delivering tangible, distinct benefits to its members.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT MARTINSVILLE: Hendrick Motorsports has recorded its most wins, top-five finishes and top-10s — and tied for the most pole positions — at Martinsville. The organization has 22 victories there, with Earnhardt most recently reaching Victory Lane for the first time at the short track last season and Gordon just behind him in second.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 237 victories, 205 pole positions, 975 top-five finishes and 1,626 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 64,897 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
“I enjoy racing there. There’s a lot of bumping and pushing around at Martinsville. It’s definitely one of those places where you have to keep your car together.”
Kasey Kahne on racing at Martinsville
“I’m giving some of the survivors rides around the track Friday before the race – that’s pretty neat. We did it last year and it was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to being a part of it. It’s also neat to see the pink pace car leading the race under caution and know we are raising money for breast cancer awareness.”
Kahne on Chevrolet’s Strides Against Breast Cancer Weekend
“Not a lot has changed at Martinsville over the years. I was able to find something early on and have been able to maintain it. I don’t think I do anything super special other than I just don’t overdrive the corners.
“Every time you go there you find yourself wanting to drive so deep into the corners. As soon as you take a step back and tell yourself not to overdrive the corner, the corner starts to ‘connect.’ If you slow down a little, you actually go faster.”
Jeff Gordon on racing at Martinsville
“We need another win before this year is out. Martinsville is the perfect place for that to happen. (No. 48 team crew chief) Chad (Knaus) and I look forward to this racetrack for many reasons. I joke around sometimes that we should race at Martinsville more than twice a year. It’s a good track for the No. 48 – its special.”
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Martinsville
“We’ve got to try to win another race before the year is out, have some fun. Martinsville is coming up. I’m excited about that. We’ve got a great team. This is my first year with (No. 88 team crew chief) Greg (Ives) and we are just going to get better. He is just going to get better. We’ve got a lot to look forward to.
“The best thing that could happen for us is the same thing that happened last year — go win. We’re disappointed. We were disappointed last year when we left Talladega, but we went to Martinsville and sort of surprised ourselves with our first win there. You know, when I look at that video of all of us jumping up and down on that trailer like idiots, that’s a team that’s not too bothered being knocked out of the Chase right there. If we can go to the racetrack and win, it certainly makes our situation much more bearable.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Chase elimination and moving on to Martinsville
