After three weeks of racing out west on some more modern tracks, Nascar heads to the oldest track on the Sprint Cup Circuit. Martinsville. This half mile of asphalt and concrete has been in Nascar for decades. Richard Petty, the King, raced here. Dale Earnhardt Sr., the Intimdater, raced here. Every big driver in the books drove here. And instead of winning a trophy, drivers take home a grandfather clock. Richard Petty won here fifteen times. That is a lot of clocks.

Many teams are fast here, but there is one team that is almost unbeatable. Hendrick Motorsports. They have so many wins here, that I lost count. And I usually am good at counting. The team’s main weapons are Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. The last year that Hendrick didn’t win here was 2011. Jimmie Johnson has a total of eight wins. Gordon has the exact same number. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has one win here, which came last year. Chase Elliot is making his Sprint Cup debut this weekend, so no one knows quite how he will perform. Kasey Kahne is the one driver at Hendrick who isn’t good at Martinsville, but he has the teammates to help him improve.

Stewart-Hass Racing is the next team in line. Each driver, aside from Danica Patrick, has won here. Kevin Harvick won the race here in 2011, and Kurt Busch won the Spring race here last year. Tony Stewart has won here multiple times, his most recent win was Fall 2011. As is typical with Stewart-Hass Racing, every race here they usually have at least one car at the front. Danica Patrick does have room to improve, but on the bright side, she has been paired with the crew chief who led Kurt Busch to the win here last year. So all in all this is a strong team to watch.

The last team who is a noticeable threat to win is Joe Gibbs Racing. Two of their drivers, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, have shown strength here. Carl Edwards and David Ragan are questionable.  Both have had good finishes here, but also a rather large amount of bad ones. That stated, keep an eye on this team, but they are not as strong as others.

There are several other good drivers in the field but none are as strong as the previously stated teams. However, keep an eye on Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman. Both of them have been fast this year, and their past history at Martinsville is good.

All this said, who will win the STP 500. There are four drivers who stand out most. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kurt Busch. Jimmie and Jeff have amazing amounts of success here. Dale Jr. has been very consistent over the past several years at Martinsville. And Kurt has just been so fast over the past couple weeks. However, Martinsville is a track where almost anything can happen (just read about the 2012 spring race) so there are no guarantees that any favorites will finish up front.