Published: October 23, 2007 11:13 pm            

de la BASTIDE: Hendrick domination evident at Martinsville

Columnist says track’s layout is a nightmare

The Hendrick Motorsports team probably wishes NASCAR would schedule more than two races each year at Martinsville, a track that in my opinion should be eliminated from the chase for the championship.

Drivers for Rick Hendrick have won seven of the last 10 races at Martinsville, which is a paper clip disguised as a race track. Jimmie Johnson has won three Martinsville races in a row.

How dominate was Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville on Sunday. Of the 500 laps, Jeff Gordon, Johnson and Kyle Busch led 421 of them in an event slowed a record 21 times for a total of 126 laps by caution flags.

Short track racing is supposed to be exciting with side by side battles for position.

That is not the case at Martinsville. The only way a driver could pass was to bump his way under another competitor and knock him out of the way. In most instances, it resulted in a spin and the throwing of the caution flag.

The Subway 500 was a boring race, there is no other way to describe it. The race took over four hours to run, as a comparison it took less than three hours to run the Winchester 400 earlier this month.

During the pre-race program, Jimmy Spencer made the comment that a second racing groove would develop. Spencer must have been sipping some adult beverages before the broadcast, because there has never been more than one racing groove at Martinsville.

If NASCAR officials insist on including a short track in the mix of facilities for the 10-race chase for the championship, it should be contacting Andy Hillenberg. Hillenberg recently purchased the “Rock” (Rockingham) and intends to continue racing at the one-mile oval.

The “Rock” would be a much better venue for a Cup race than Martinsville.

A reason given for the removal of Rockingham from the schedule was a downturn in attendance.

That argument doesn’t hold water. Martinsville wasn’t a sellout. If Rockingham had a chase race, there would be at least a chance of a near sellout.

There should be little doubt that either Gordon or Johnson will be crowned champion. The two Hendrick drivers are separated by 53 points with four races remaining. Clint Bowyer remains third, but is now 115 points back.

The remaining 10 drivers are basically battling for positions 4-12 to try and gain a few more dollars at the end of the season.

The Craftsman Truck race on Saturday was no better. There were 13 caution periods for 70 of the 250 laps and there were only three lead changes between two drivers.

• Some things never change. Ron Hornady continues to drive like a bull in a china shop trying to crash as many trucks as possible. Had Matt Crafton been a little more practiced, his effort to spin Hornady late in the race would have been successful.

Rookie contender Joey Clanton continues to wear his helmet too tight no matter what he appears to be driving. There was a big crash late in the race with most of the narrow front straight blocked. Television replays show most of the drivers slowing to avoid the wreckage, all except Clanton who entered the accident scene at race speed and demolished the truck of Tim Sauter.

In other racing news: Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti will make an attempt to start the Busch Series race this weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park. Franchitti competed in the truck race last weekend but parked his ride with a rearend problem.

• Joey Logano, a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, captured the Toyota All Star challenge Saturday at Irwindale Speedway. Logano, 17, was the Busch East champion and once he turns 18 in 2008, will be competing in the Craftsman Truck Series.

• I was saddened to hear that Shav Glick, a longtime reporter for the Los Angeles Times passed away last weekend. I met Glick several years ago during the American Speed Association’s annual visits to Irwindale. Glick said when he used to attend the Indy 500 he would always make it a point to travel to Anderson Speedway for the Little 500 and make an annual trip to Kokomo to visit the Hip Hugger.

Ken de la Bastide can be reached at

(765) 454 -8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com

        

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