FanHouse Warmup: Tums 500

Where: Martinsville Speedway
Time: Sunday 1:30 p.m. EST
TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mostly sunny, High 60s
Distance: 500 laps (263 miles)
Pole Winner: Ryan Newman
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson




Johnson, by his standards, had a rough day at Martinsville on Friday. The team never found speed in the car despite otherwise good handling and he wound up 15th in qualifying -- edging out a particular advantage for Gordon and Martin at the small, half-mile paperclip that is Martinsville Speedway.

Martinsviille's pit road ends off of turn two and oftentimes the shape leads to an advantage for pit stalls with an opening behind or in front of it. Otherwise, drivers can get blocked in and just a few lost seconds can translate into bunches of lost spots on pit road.

Ryan Newman, the polesitter, took the last and best stall on pit road while Gordon opted to move back to pit stall No. 11 due to the front edge of the pit stall bordered by the garage access lane. Martin, qualified fourth, chose pit stall No. 8 without any openings around it while Johnson took a stall before the start/finish line.

Most accounts would put Johnson's pit selection as a bad one, but the car in front of him is a card-carrying member of the start-and-park club in NASCAR -- meaning there's a good possibility that Johnson won't be dealing with any traffic in front of his pit stall on Martinsville's tight pit lane. His biggest problems, though, will come when he's trying to exit pit road and evade cars swinging out in front of him.

Another problem Johnson might find on Sunday -- above I'm just assuming he'll move up from 15th and be in contention for the win at some point (a risky proposition, I know) -- is the rain Martinsville had on Saturday. Not once did the No. 48 -- or any other Sprint Cup team -- get on the track for any practice on Saturday, meaning there might be some concern in Johnson's camp based on the qualifying run and him being stumped about why the car didn't run faster.

Unfortunately for the rest of the field, Chad Knaus is stll Johnson's crew chief. He's in good hands.

Johnson's lead in the points at the moment is steep -- the 90 ahead of Martin, 135 ahead of Gordon and 155 to Tony Stewart (he starts 13th) -- and there is a lot of risk for Johnson at Martinsville thanks to silly, mundane things like flat tires or brake failures. But such risk has been successfully avoided by Johnson on the way this three-straight titles.

Take, for instance, that Sunday's starting spot is Johnson's worst since April 2007 when he started 20th. That day? Johnson first sniffed the lead on lap 405 of 500 before grabbing it for good with 60 to go to take one of his many wins at Martinsville.

Need you know more?

Enjoy the race.