Please tell me that I am dreaming! I cannot believe that Jeff Gordon won the pole for the Subway 500 at The Martinsville Speedway this Sunday with a lap time of 19.938 seconds and a speed of 94.974 miles an hour. Why don’t they just give the Nextel Cup Trophy to him now and get it over with. Then we could add the rest of this years races to next season and get an early start. This is Jeff’s 63rd career pole and his seventh this season. It is also his sixth pole position at Martinsville and his seventh this year alone. Gordon is also the top man on the totem pole when it comes to wins by active drivers at Martinsville, he has seven wins there.

THE TRACK

Martinsville speedway is a flat track that looks like the shape of a giant paper clip. It is notoriously hard on brake systems and brake blowers are at a premium at this track. The winner of Sunday’s race will be from the crowd that manages the brakes the best. They run a much bigger rotor and pads at Martinsville than they do at say Atlanta. The difference in size would be very noticeable if you set both systems next to each other on a table. This is a track where tempers can get the best of just about any driver and probably will get the best of more than a couple. There will be some nasty hand gestures and maybe some equipment thrown at the offending cars to boot.


Besides hot tempers at Martinsville, there will be the Famous Martinsville Hotdogs! Wrapped in wax paper, the bright red Jesse Jones hot dog come covered in chili, mustard, onions and slaw. For only $2.00 you can treat yourself to the world famous hot dog from the world famous track. I guarantee that on the race broadcast Sunday you will hear about the Martinsville Hot dogs! One year, I think it was two or three years ago, the track stopped putting the hot dogs in the wax paper and put them in the foam hot dog clam shells. The fans almost revolted over the whole deal. Not just the fans but the drivers and crew also hated that move. The track owner was trying to keep the wax paper off the track and in turn, off the grills of the race cars. The teams told him that they would deal with the trash on the track, if he would stop messing with the hot dogs. I have never had a Martinsville Speedway Hot Dog but I would love to try one after hearing about it from year to year.

How they will take the green flag

Jeff Gordon is on the pole with Martin Truex Jr on the outside of row one. Row two see’s Kevin Harvick and Jimmy Johnson in third and fourth. Kasey Kahne and Kyle busch are 5th and 6th in row three and Dale Earnhardt Jr.,J.J. Yeley,Jamie McMurray,and Tony Raines make up the rest of the top ten. Here is the full starting grid for Sunday’s Subway 500.

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 94.974 19.938 Leader
2 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 94.737 19.988 -0.050
3 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 94.685 19.999 -0.061
4 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 94.618 20.013 -0.075
5 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 94.585 20.020 -0.082
6 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Kellogg’s / CARQUEST 94.562 20.025 -0.087
7 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 94.557 20.026 -0.088
8 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 94.496 20.039 -0.101
9 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 94.444 20.050 -0.112
10 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet DLP HDTV 94.369 20.066 -0.128
11 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 94.359 20.068 -0.130
12 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 94.340 20.072 -0.134
13 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Haas Automation 94.284 20.084 -0.146
14 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 94.223 20.097 -0.159
15 49 John Andretti Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 94.204 20.101 -0.163
16 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Goody’s Headache Powders 94.148 20.113 -0.175
17 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 94.115 20.120 -0.182
18 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 94.087 20.126 -0.188
19 00 David Reutimann* Toyota Dominos.com 94.083 20.127 -0.189
20 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 94.069 20.130 -0.192
21 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 94.031 20.138 -0.200
22 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 93.975 20.150 -0.212
23 88 Ricky Rudd Ford Combos 93.975 20.150 -0.212
24 17 Matt Kenseth Ford R+L Carriers 93.882 20.170 -0.232
25 84 A.J. Allmendinger* Toyota Red Bull 93.859 20.175 -0.237
26 42 Juan Montoya* Dodge Texaco / Havoline 93.826 20.182 -0.244
27 01 Aric Almirola Chevrolet U.S. Army 93.817 20.184 -0.246
28 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target / Breast Cancer Awareness 93.817 20.184 -0.246
29 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 93.817 20.184 -0.246
30 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Freight 93.812 20.185 -0.247
31 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Haas Automation 93.719 20.205 -0.267
32 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Valvoline / Stanley Tools 93.715 20.206 -0.268
33 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 93.627 20.225 -0.287
34 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 93.553 20.241 -0.303
35 15 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 93.451 20.263 -0.325
36 4 Ward Burton Chevrolet Lucas / ITT Night Vision / State Water Heaters 93.414 20.271 -0.333
37 16 Greg Biffle Ford Dish Network 93.354 20.284 -0.346
38 40 David Stremme Dodge Target House 92.988 20.364 -0.426
39 7 Robby Gordon Ford MAC Tools 92.869 20.390 -0.452
40 38 David Gilliland Ford M&M’s 92.801 20.405 -0.467
41 6 David Ragan+* Ford AAA 92.615 20.446 -0.508
42 45 Kyle Petty+ Dodge Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 92.429 20.487 -0.549
43 21 Bill Elliott Ford Little Debbie Champion’s Provisional

Did Not Qualify
44 06 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 93.065 20.347 -0.409
45 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 92.933 20.376 -0.438
46 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 92.601 20.449 -0.511
47 36 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota 360 OTC 91.744 20.640 -0.702
48 37 Kevin Lepage Dodge Front Row Motorsports 91.152 20.774 -0.836

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie

Time To Put Up Or Shut Up

Its make it or break it for some drivers in the chase at this point though. With only five races left in the chase, Tony Stewart is 198 points behind the leader Jeff Gordon. Tony needs to win and win now. Behind Tony Stewart is Carl Edwards. Carl is 240 points back and would really have to win two or three of the last five races and have the top three teams of Gordon, Johnson and Bowyer all have trouble in each race. At this point I believe that Carl Edwards is out of it and If Tony Stewart does not just plain dominate these next few races then he too will be out of the running and it will be between Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson and Clint Bowyer. The points gap is just getting farther and farther away for Stewart and Edwards. Remember when Kevin Harvick won with an insurmountable lead of over 300 points in the busch series? Its getting that way now, or is real close to it.

Television coverage starts at 1 P.M. Sunday on ABC and as usual, I will be here after the race to wrap it up and tell you that Jeff Gordon won again. Ok, I don’t know that he is going to win again. It just feels that way. So chin up Fans of the “24″ car, Your boy wonder is smoking hot and looking at the trophy drooling all over himself already. Hell they are probably chiseling his name on it as we speak. All I can say is wait till next year when Dale Jr. is in a Hendrick Motorsports car.

Stay safe out there and keep America moving.

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