NASCAR at Martinsville 2014: Race Schedule, Live Stream Info, Drivers to Watch

The Sprint Cup Series edges one step closer to its conclusion Sunday with the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500.

This is the first race of the Eliminator Round, which trimmed the 12 drivers still alive in the Chase for the Sprint Cup to eight. With only three events until the next round begins, drivers are under the gun to perform. One mistake and any hopes of winning the title evaporate.

The new Chase system may not be perfect, but it adds so much drama to the final weeks of the season.

When: Sunday, Oct. 26, at 1:30 p.m. ET

Where: Martinsville Speedway

Watch: ESPN

Live Stream: Watch ESPN

Drivers to Watch

Jeff Gordon

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

For the last decade, some variation of this question has been asked: Is this the year Jeff Gordon wins the points title again?

After a dominant run in the mid- to late-1990s, Gordon's career stalled a bit. He hasn't won a Sprint Cup championship since 2001, with close calls in 2003, 2004 and 2007.

With the No. 24 car into the final eight, Gordon has to like his chance to break that championship duck. He's been one of the best Sprint Cup drivers all season, but the nature of the final Chase is such that one or two bad races can undo everything.

Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Although Gordon is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver still alive in the Eliminator Round, he doesn't feel that that adds any sort of boost to his title hopes; the other three drivers and crews aren't going to funnel their resources to the 24 team in order to prop up Gordon, per Fox Sports' Jay Pennell.

In addition, he doesn't foresee any sort of favorable treatment from his teammates on the track.

"I think that the only difference is that we're not racing them for the championship, so how you race one another when you race for a championship obviously, every split second counts and you race one another extremely hard," Gordon said. "And I think if those guys have a chance at winning they're still going to race hard."

The good news for Gordon is that he has been the most consistent performer over the last five races at Martinsville among the eight drivers still alive in the Chase, per Driver Averages. He owns one win and two top-five finishes during that stretch.

Joey Logano

With Martinsville Speedway the shortest track on the circuit, figuring out an optimal strategy can be extremely hard for a driver to do. The track is so unlike almost every other track that making the necessary adaptations may take years for some.

USA Today's Nate Ryan explains:

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Learning to master Martinsville often occurs with an "aha" moment of understanding the key to going fast sometimes centers on slowing down instead of charging into its sharp and flat corners. The top speed during a lap at Martinsville rarely cracks 100 mph, which can be disorienting for drivers who just spent three hours traversing 500 miles at 200 mph at Talladega Superspeedway.

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Joey Logano is one of the drivers still looking for that "'aha' moment." He's winless in 11 races, with an average finish of 14.82.

"I feel like the last couple of years especially we've been able to kind of figure out what we need to go fast here," Logano said, per Ryan. "This is definitely one of those race tracks that it's usually the same guys that run fast every single year."

Before the Geico 500, by which time Logano had already qualified for the Eliminator Round, he had five consecutive top-five finishes. He's got the hot hand, which could be a massive help as he attempts to wrangle Martinsville.

Brad Keselowski

You have to hand it to Brad Keselowski. His chances of qualifying for the Eliminator Round were hanging by a thread going into the Geico 500, so he went ahead and won the race to solidify his top-eight spot. He quite literally did everything he could to advance.

The beauty for Keselowski is that he scraped into the top eight, but now the slate is wiped clean—all of his troubles are forgotten, and he's on par with every other driver. Watching somebody go from near elimination to the top of the heap would be enthralling.

Of course, with Keselowski, you're also watching to see if any extracurricular events happen off the track. A couple of weeks ago, he got into a scrape with Matt Kenseth post-race.

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

As Viv Bernstein of The New York Times wrote, the 30-year-old has always seemed to court drama:

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Keselowski has been angering drivers ever since he won his first Cup race at Talladega in 2009, sending Edwards airborne on the way. There have been enough confrontations over the years to earn Keselowski a reputation among drivers and fans, who have taken to jeering him during driver introductions.

Over the years, he has been chastised by Nascar. He was fined for posting on Twitter and angered Nascar with criticism of penalties and a change to fuel-injection technology.

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What else could you possibly need to be captivated?