Tums Fast Relief 500 Driver Rankings - Martinsville Speedway

I can't think of another track where a driver has dominated like Johnson has at Martinsville. He has won 5 of the last 6 races, has 6 wins since 2004, 14 straight top 10's, 8 straight top 5's, and 1,387 laps led in 15 starts.

Gordon has 7 wins at Martinsville, more than any other active driver. He has 4 wins since 2003, and is riding a streak of 13 straight top 10's and 9 straight top 5's. He has led 2,760 laps at Martinsville, 1,595 over the past 13 races there. This is the only track on the circuit where those stats would make you the second best fantasy driver for the weekend.

Hamlin just won in New Hampshire, a track that is like Martinsville in its design, but twice the size. Hamlin led 296 laps in the spring at Martinsville before finishing 2nd to Johnson. He has 7 top 10's in 8 starts at Martinsville -- including 6 straight -- and 4 top 3's in his past 6 races with one win.

Stewart has 12 top 10's in 21 starts at Martinsville, and two wins. He has 6 top 10's in his last 8 starts, and was 3rd in the spring.

Bowyer has 4 straight top 10's and 5 straight top 11's at Martinsville. He's a noticeable step down from the top drivers on this list, and because he is a class A driver he shouldn't be used this weekend.

This ranking is based more on Montoya's recent strength rather than his career history at Martinsville -- although the numbers will surprise you. He has never finished worse than 16th in 5 starts, has 1 top 10, and an average finish of 12.6 -- good enough for 7th best over the past 6 races at Martinsville.

Newman was 6th in the spring at Martinsville, and 2nd in the fall of 2007. He has always run better at Martinsville than his finishes indicate, and he isn't a bad class B option this weekend.

Earnhardt was 8th in the spring and 2nd last fall. He has 4 top 10's in his last 5 starts at Martinsville, and this is one of the best places to use him from a fantasy standpoint. His inconsistency overall drops him in the rankings this week.

Before Edwards finished 26th in the spring, he had finishes of 11th, 9th, and 3rd last fall. He was the only car on the track at the end of the race in the same league as Johnson or Earnhardt as the race consisted of very long green flag runs. He isn't a top class A choice, but he's a sleeper in that group despite his poor showing earlier this season.

Martin was 7th in the spring, even after skipping Martinsville the past couple seasons. He has a couple of wins there in his career, and has finished in the top ten 22 times (more than half of his starts). We know how good his team has been, and he should be on your radar this weekend.

Harvick is disgruntled on a pretty frequent basis these days, but Martinsville is not a bad track for him. He has had finishes of 10th, 12th, 7th, and 11th over his past 4 starts on the tight half mile.

McMurray has 8 career top 10's in 13 starts. The last 3 times he has avoided trouble and finished on the lead lap at Martinsville, he has scored a top 10. He was 8th last spring, but 38th in the fall (despite leading 37 laps) after he was bothered by mechanical trouble. He was 10th in the spring. Despite his season long inconsistency, he is not a bad class B choice this weekend.