| | MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Based on recent history, the winner of
the NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville Speedway is likely to be a
surprise.
Sunday's race over the .533-mile, paperclip-shaped oval is the
last of eight short track races this season. It is likely to be
unpredictable considering that the last 11 Winston Cup races on
tracks shorter than one mile have produced 11 different winners.
|  | | John Andretti drove to victory earlier this year at Martinsville, becoming the 11th different winner in as many short-track races. |
That list includes Ricky Rudd, the defending champion in the
fall race at Martinsville, as well as Jeff Gordon, Bobby Hamilton,
Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, John
Andretti, Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt and rookie Tony Stewart.
"It's just that the competition is that good now," said
Jarrett, who enters the opening of practice and qualifying Friday
with a 257-point lead over Martin in the season standings.
The second-generation NASCAR star says there are so many drivers
so close in competition these days that when "somebody hits on
something for a particular race and gets good track position at the
end of the race" he can get an advantage.
"Maybe they weren't the best all day, but I think there are
just so many people who can get the job done on a given day,"
Jarrett added.
Jarrett says that isn't true just on the short tracks, either.
He notes there have been 11 different winners in the first 27 races
this season.
"You talk about parity in other sports," he said. "I think we
have that much here that when you get on short tracks where
handling is the total key, that you don't have too many other
things. (Aerodynamics) don't matter that much. The engine
combination or having a lot of horsepower doesn't come into play
that much, so you bring more people into the mix."
Rudd, winless since last year at Martinsville, needs a victory
in the final seven events of this season to extend his string of 16
straight years with at least one triumph.
The three-time Martinsville winner, who runs his own team, says
that having a one-car operation is a handicap at most tracks in
this day of rich, multicar teams. But not at the short ovals.
"Some of these teams are putting millions of dollars a year in
an aerodynamic program, and those millions spent make a big
difference at tracks like Dover or Charlotte or Atlanta or
Michigan," Rudd said. "But that does absolutely no good for
Martinsville or Bristol. At those type of tracks, that money is not
money wisely spent because you can just about rule out
aerodynamics."
Martin has a simple explanation for the procession of winners
here.
"Martinsville is really tough," he said. "When you put 43
cars on that track, that's about 10 cars more than what you'd like
to see out there."
Each of the four short tracks remaining on the NASCAR schedule
is unique. Martinsville has been described as two drag strips
connected at each end by two narrow turns.
Earnhardt, a five-time winner at Martinsville, said, "This is a
finesse track. You have to calculate your moves. You can't go into
the turns and expect to make time by scrubbing your tires. You have
to accelerate, brake, turn and be smooth on the steering wheel for
500 laps, and at the same time avoid trouble while running in
traffic all day. That isn't easy."
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