AUCTIONS

Bid Now

Learn More | Sign Up

Auto Service | Angels

QUICK LINKS

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Johnny Benson will have to avoid his March problems if he hopes to stay in the title hunt.

By the Numbers: M'ville

Setzer hoping to continue his Martinsville dominance

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
October 16, 2008
10:16 AM EDT

type size: + -

• Kroger 200 at Martinsville: Entry List | Tickets | Travel

Martinsville Speedway is the first of three tracks among the final five events of the season at which the Craftsman Truck Series races twice a year. The first race was way back in March, just the fourth event of the season.

By the Numbers will revisit that race, named the Kroger 250, by analyzing the statistics and trends of the top-10 finishers that day and look at other notable drivers who didn't make the grade but could be expected to fare better the second time around in this week's Kroger 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, SPEED).

Five drivers in the top 10 in points didn't finish in the top 10 at Martinsville in March including Johnny Benson, who is second in the standings. Benson finished 25th, ending a string of three consecutive top-10s at the track. In 10 starts there overall, he has two top-fives and four top-10s.

Todd Bodine finished 12th, the fourth time in the past five races at Martinsville he has failed to post a top-10. That after top-10s in his first four starts there. Overall, he has eight top-15s in nine starts and an average finish of 9.7. Mike Skinner came into the race with back-to-back wins at Martinsville and three overall, but finished 29th. Still, he has five top-fives and eight top-10s in 11 starts there.

Jack Sprague started from the pole but finished 24th in Kevin Harvick Inc.'s No. 2 Chevrolet. Sprague has been relieved of his duties in that truck but returns to the No. 60 Toyota of Wyler Racing, for which he has a win and a runner-up finish in five starts at Martinsville. Overall, in 16 starts, Sprague has five top-fives and eight top-10s. Sprague replaces Terry Cook, who finished 13th in March, his best finish there in the past five races.

And now, the drivers who made up the top 10:

1.Dennis Setzer matched Mike Skinner for most wins at Martinsville with three. Setzer also has the most top-fives (seven) and top-10s (10) of any driver at Martinsville. He led 126 laps in the March race to give Dodge its only win of the season. It also was the first victory for Bobby Hamilton Racing since the late owner won in 2005.

2.Matt Crafton posted his best finish at Martinsville in 13 starts and just his second top-five there overall. It's one of nine top-fives Crafton has in 2008, a career-high for a single season. Crafton has five top-10s at Martinsville, but has never led a lap there.

3.Rick Crawford has finished third at Martinsville in two of the past three races, and overall is riding a streak of three consecutive top-fives and four consecutive top-10s there. Overall, he has one win, six top-fives and nine top-10s in 17 starts.

4.Ken Schrader posted his first top-five at Martinsville in 12 starts and just his second top-10 there overall. Driving his own No. 52 Toyota, Schrader rallied from a 28th-place starting position. It's just one of three Truck races he has run this season.

5.Erik Darnell finished with his second top-five at Martinsville in five starts, accounting for both his top-10s there. In fact, Martinsville mirrors his 2008 season: 10 top-10s of which nine are top-fives. Darnell is ranked fifth in points.

6.David Starr posted his second consecutive top-10 at Martinsville and fourth in the past five races there in which his worst finish has been 11th. In 17 starts he has one win, three top-fives and seven top-10s at Martinsville.

7.Travis Kvapil recorded his first top-10 in the past seven races at Martinsville. Kvapil finished second and seventh in his first two starts there, but hadn't finished better than 13th since. He didn't compete in any Martinsville races in 2005 and 2006, however.

8.Ron Hornaday led for just the second time in 12 starts at Martinsville, albeit for just three laps that gives him a total of seven. Still, Hornaday posted his third consecutive top-10 and has seven overall, with four top-fives. His average finish is 10.3.

9.Donny Lia posted his first career top-10, in just his fifth start in the series. It was one of three top-10s Lia recorded in the No. 71 of TRG Motorsports, with which he parted ways in August. He has made two starts since, with a 10th-place finish his last time out at Las Vegas.

10.Scott Speed needed two starts to post his first top-10. In 11 starts overall in the series, he has one win, three top-fives and five top-10s.

Also

POPULAR ALERTS

Create Your Own

Martinsville Speedway

2008 Kroger 250

Pos.	Start	Driver	Make	Led

1.	10	D. Setzer	Dodge	126
2.	24	M. Crafton	Chevrolet	0
3.	5	R. Crawford	Ford	0
4.	28	K. Schrader	Toyota	0
5.	18	E. Darnell	Ford	0
6.	9	D. Starr	Toyota	0
7.	14	T. Kvapil	Ford	0
8.	3	R. Hornaday	Chevrolet	3
9.	25	D. Lia	Chevrolet	0
10.	17.	S. Speed	Chevrolet	0