CONCORD, N.C.— This Sunday, the Round of 8 in The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup kicks off at Martinsville Speedway.
And Jimmie Johnson, who advanced to the Round of 8 as a result of his Bank of America 500 win at Charlotte Motor Speedway, is ready to compete at the paperclip-shaped track in hopes to bring home a win.
“We would like to become a dominant car again and use that to cash our ticket to Homestead-Miami early in this round,” Johnson said. “We’ve had a lot of success there because Martinsville is one of those consistent tracks that doesn’t change too much.”
Martinsville Speedway is where Hendrick Motorsports boasts its most wins (23), top-five finishes (76), top-10s (119) and laps led (8,982) at a single track. The organization has earned at least one win there in each of the past four years.
Before watching the first Cup Series race in the Round of 8, take a look at some of the key notes below.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Sunday’s race will air live on NBC Sports Network at 1 p.m. ET. Can’t make it to the television? Listen to the race live on MRN and SiriusXM to catch the radio coverage. Here is the full broadcast schedule:
Friday, Oct. 28:
11 a.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, NBC Sports Network
4:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Final Qualifying, NBC Sports Network
Saturday, Oct. 29:
9 a.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, CNBC
Noon ET: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice, NBC Sports Network
Sunday, Oct. 30:
1 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Race, NBC Sports Network
THIS WEEKEND’S PAINT SCHEMES: This weekend at Martinsville, Kasey Kahne will pilot the No. 5 UniFirst Chevrolet SS for the second consecutive race. This will be the 23rd and penultimate primary paint scheme weekend of the year for NAPA AUTO PARTS on board Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS. Johnson will race the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and Jeff Gordon will be driving the blue-and-silver No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS at the Virginia track.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 243 victories, 209 pole positions, 1,006 top-five finishes and 1,687 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 66,067 laps since 1984.
KAHNE AT MARTINSVILLE: The Enumclaw, Washington, native has earned one pole award at Martinsville Speedway – April 2012. He most recently earned the outside pole position in this year’s spring race after laying down a lap time of 19.515 seconds, just 0.002 seconds shy of the pole-winning time. While Kahne is still looking for a win at 0.526-mile track, he came close to taking the checkered flag in April 2005 but Jeff Gordon edged him out by .593 seconds.
ROUNDING OUT THE ROUND OF 12: Elliott and the No. 24 team gave it all they had, but a win at Talladega Superspeedway eluded them Sunday. With that, the rookie’s run in the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup comes to an end. Elliott was one of four drivers eliminated at Talladega as the Chase moves to the Round of 8. While Elliott’s bid for a championship ended, he still had an impressive run in NASCAR’s postseason, leading laps in all but one of the six races after becoming one of only three rookies to ever make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.
ROUND OF 8: Johnson is now in the Round of 8 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and is seeded second in the point standings. Johnson’s performance at Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway will determine if he will be in the final four at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 22 and will be able to compete for his seventh championship.
MASTERING THE PAPERCLIP: Forty-nine different Sprint Cup drivers have won at Martinsville Speedway, led by Richard Petty with 15 victories. Johnson has the second-most wins among active drivers with eight victories. He is second to teammate Gordon, who has nine wins. He is also the most recent driver to win consecutive races (fall 2012 and spring 2013) at Martinsville.
GORDON’S FINAL RACE 2.0: Sunday will mark four-time champion Gordon’s final scheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start. His career began on Nov. 15, 1992, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Richard Petty’s final start. From 1992 through 2015, Gordon made 797 consecutive starts and racked up 93 wins, 325 top-five and 475 top-10 finishes in addition to his four championships. This weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway will be his eighth race filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2016. Earnhardt is out for the remainder of the season as he continues to recover from a concussion.
TELEVISION, TAKE TWO: After making his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series broadcasting debut on NBCSN last Sunday at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will again join the NASCAR on NBC group in the booth during a portion of this Sunday’s race in Martinsville. Earlier this year, he made his first foray into the broadcast booth at the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Michigan International Speedway in June. Check out the social recap from his time in the booth at Talladega.