Jimmie Johnson will be looking to make it four wins at Martinsville Speedway in the past five races on Sunday afternoon when he hits the track in the TUMS QuikPak 500. However, those that did any NASCAR betting on Johnson last weekend weren\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n
The series standings leader started from the top spot on the grid last time out in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe\u2019s Motor Speedway, but he then had to settle for a sixth-place result. Sprint Cup Championship rival Carl Edwards started from the second spot on the grid at that event but he fared even worse, crossing the finish line in 33rd place.<\/p>\n
Your winner at Lowe\u2019s was Jeff Burton, and the victory allowed him to move into second place in the driver standings. Burton trails Johnson by 69 points for top spot, while Greg Biffle (who was seventh at Lowe\u2019s) is now 86 points back in third place. Edwards had been second before racing at Lowe\u2019s, but he\u2019s now 168 points behind Johnson in fourth.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how the driver standings look heading into the sixth race of the Chase schedule<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Jimmie Johnson — 5878 Along with Burton, the only other Chase contender who rose in the standings at Lowe\u2019s was Kyle Busch, as he turned in a fourth-place result. That pushed Busch up from 11th to ninth in the driver standings, but he\u2019s out of contention at 326 points behind top spot.<\/p>\n The other Busch brother, Kurt, isn\u2019t involved in the Chase this season, but he\u2019s coming off a third-place result at Lowe\u2019s. As well, Kurt Busch has won at Martinsville Speedway before; he visited victory lane there in the Old Dominion 500 back in October of 2002.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s Johnson who has been the master of Martinsville lately; he won the Subway 500 there in 2004, 2006, and 2007, and the Goody\u2019s Cool Orange 500 in 2007. Denny Hamlin broke up Johnson\u2019s winning streak at Martinsville back in March at the \u201808 Goody\u2019s Cool Orange 500; Johnson was fourth, behind Jeff Gordon and Burton too.<\/p>\n Burton won at Martinsville back in 1997, while Gordon picked up wins there in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003 (twice), and 2005 (twice). Tony Stewart won Martinsville events in each of \u201800 and \u201806, Bobby Labonte won there in \u201802, and Mark Martin won there in \u201900.<\/p>\n Johnson was still pegged as the -150 favorite to win the Sprint Cup Championship earlier this week; that line was unchanged from last week. If you picked up Burton at +1000 to win the championship last week you would have enjoyed seeing him win on Saturday; those odds will get less lucrative if he finishes ahead of Johnson again this weekend. Edwards (+200) and Biffle (+325) were the other top contenders for the Cup.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where the Sprint Cup Series drivers will be for the final four races of the season<\/strong>:<\/p>\n 10\/26\/08 – Pep Boys Auto 500 – Atlanta Motor Speedway Check the BetUS Sportsbook online NASCAR odds section for all the latest lines for this weekend\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
\nJeff Burton — 5809
\nGreg Biffle — 5792
\nCarl Edwards — 5710
\nClint Bowyer — 5693
\nKevin Harvick — 5671
\nTony Stewart — 5650
\nJeff Gordon — 5633
\nKyle Busch — 5552
\nDale Earnhardt Jr. — 5524
\nMatt Kenseth — 5518
\nDenny Hamlin — 5498<\/p>\n
\n11\/02\/08 – Dickies 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
\n11\/09\/08 – Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 – Phoenix International Raceway
\n11\/16\/08 – Ford 400 – Homestead-Miami Speedway<\/p>\n