CONCORD, N.C. -- Sunday at 1 p.m. on FOX Sports 1, the green flag will be ready to fly at Martinsville Speedway as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns from a week away from racing.
For Hendrick Motorsports, it means a return to the the track where the organization has experienced its most success.
"Martinsville is a cool track because it is so different from every other track we go to," Kasey Kahne said. "I felt a lot of extra pressure at Martinsville when I first started with Hendrick Motorsports because the team has been so dominant there.”
To Kahne's point, at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports has team records for wins (23), top-five finishes (76), top-10s (118) and laps led (8,982) at a track.
Jimmie Johnson has contributed eight of those wins, which leads all active drivers in the series.
“If it was up to me, we would race at Martinsville five times a year," Johnson said. "I love that place. It's special to me and the Lowe’s team. I’ve had a great weekend off, and I’m ready to get back into the race car.”
The organization has earned at least one win at Martinsville in each of the past four years.
Jeff Gordon took home the most recent win in 2015, Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned his first grandfather clock trophy in 2014, Johnson and Gordon made for a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the track in 2013 and Johnson also won in the second Martinsville race of 2012. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet SS is still the most recent driver to have won back-to-back races at the paperclip-shaped oval.
Chase Elliott, who made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Martinsville last season, said the trophy alone would make it special to extend the streak to five consecutive years with a trip to Victory Lane.
“The grandfather clock is one of the coolest trophies you can earn in racing, period," the rookie said. "There are a lot of guys that have a bunch of them and some guys who have been doing this for a long time and are still trying to get one. It’s a neat place and such a cool trophy and it would be very special to earn one someday.”
Kahne and Elliott will aim for the win with top-10 starts, as the teammates earned starting positions of second and 10th, respectively, in Friday's qualifying session.