Martinsville Drivers Win in Many Brands

Nine of the last eleven races at the paperclip shaped track in Martinsville, Virginia have been won by drivers sporting the Chevrolet brand.

Chevy hasn’t always been the dominate nameplate. Martinsville started holding NASCAR Cup level races in 1949. In the 119 Cup races held there have been eleven different brands seeing victory circle. Even the Fabulous Hudson Hornet tasted victory there twice in 1952. Mercury also got a pair of wins; one in 1968 with Cale Yarborough and the other in 1973 with David Pearson.

Toyota picked up its lone win with Kyle Busch at the Spring race this year. Chrysler and Buick own three wins each. Chrysler’s came early on in the Fifties while the Eighties were kind to the Buicks. The General Motors brands of Pontiac and Oldsmobile were the cars to beat four and eight times respectively,

Dodge and Plymouth have combined for 26 wins over the years with twelve of those at the hands of Richard Petty. Petty had two wins in a Ford in 1969 while feuding with Chrysler. The Blue Oval boys have 24 other victories as well. The first coming with Fast Freddy Lorenzen behind the wheel in 1961 and the most recent by Kurt Busch in 2002.

Once again Chevrolet drivers have had the upper hand at a race track. Thirty-eight percent of all wins at the half miler have been with Chevy sheet metal. A total of forty-five wins greatly out numbers its nearest rival. Buck Baker was the first to taste victory and started a string of four consecutive wins beginning in 1957. Jimmy Johnson is the most recent winner, capping off seven straight Chevy wins that he began in the Fall of 2004.

So once again the numbers favor a win coming from Jimmy Johnson. This race and the championship seem to be his to lose. He has wins at the paperclip and he drives the right car.