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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The Grandfather

The Quest to be the Best at Martinsville


By Richard Tix

**This article was before both Martinsville races in 2014. All stats do not include those races outcome which neither Gordon nor Jimmie Johnson won. For the race results to see how they did, see the link here. JJ finished second behind Kurt Busch and Gordon finished 12th**

Well as Martinsville approaches NASCAR Behind the Wall is going to take a look at two current drivers who have dominated during there time in NASCAR at Martinsville Speedway. When I say dominated this track, I truly mean it. They have been so good here that it is tough to even say one has been better then the other here, but lets be honest, we all want to know "who is the best" at everything and anything.

So lets get to it, your competitors are two Hendrick drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Since 1996 these two have paired to win 16 times (8 each) in 33 races. That means these two have combined to win almost half the time since that time (more impressive Jimmie Johnson has only been racing since 2001).

NASCAR Behind the Wall will attempt to look into these two drivers careers here at Martinsville from a few different angles to see if one has an advantage at winning there 9th Grandfather Clock.

Career Totals

Career Races at Martinsville
Driver
Races
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Pole
Avg Finish
Jeff Gordon
42
8
27
34
7
6.8
Jimmie Johnson
24
8
17
21
3
 5.3

Well, first up we may as well take a look at the whole career of both drivers at Martinsville. When it comes to Wins, Top 5's, and Top 10's Gordon starts with an obvious advantage because he has had 18 more chances at this track. So at the current pace JJ needs 10 top 5's, and 13 top 10's in his next 18 races here to match Gordon. That's a tough task, but JJ has a huge edge in the Wins category, already having tied Gordon with 8.

Last year both drivers picked up there 8th Grandfather clock of there career (JJ first and then Gordon). The fight in Gordon shows he still has the will to win at Martinsville and maybe he can notch a few more before he is done.

Last 10 Races
Last 10 Races
Driver
Races
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Pole
Avg Finish
Jeff Gordon
10
1
7
8
0
9.1
Jimmie Johnson
10
3
7
8
2
4.9

Next up, lets take a quick look at each drivers last 10 races here.  The career stats (other then wins) seemed to have edged just a bit towards Gordon, but as of late it seems to be all Johnson. Once again, both have been very good, but JJ's Average finish and wins in the last 10 can not be ignored.

Best 10 Consecutive Races

Best 10 Consecutive Races
Driver
Years
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Pole
Avg Finish
Jeff Gordon
2003-07
4
7
10
4
3.1
Jimmie Johnson
2004-09
6
9
10
2
2.4

This chart is thrown together using what NASCAR Behind the Wall think's is each drivers best 10 race run at Martinsville (Consecutive races/finishes). Jeff Gordon also had another run of 10 races that was impressive, but this one finished up better. Both are very impressive, but this article is to nit pick, and well JJ only missed the top 5 once. He also won 60% of the time during his 10 race run. Edge goes to JJ again.

Best 15 Consecutive Races

Best 15  Consecutive Races
Driver
Years
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Avg Finish
Jeff Gordon
2003-10
4
12
15
6
3.26
Jimmie Johnson
2003-10
6
13
15
2
3.06

Same thing as before except this time its 15 straight races. This time the two drivers best stretches are almost on top of each other (2003-2010). Think of how happy Rick Hendrick must have been during this stretch (well all of the time, but that besides the fact). Everytime he turned around one of his driver was winning and the other was finishing top 5, or the very least top 10. Must be a hard day huh? Well, like was said before, hard to argue against either of these guys, but once again JJ takes the slight edge.

Final Take:

In any match-up there has to be a winner and a loser right? Both drivers have been consistently good at Martinsville over their career and both can fill up huge houses with Grandfather clocks in every room, but at the end of the day Jimmie Johnson has just the slightest edge over Jeff Gordon. Gordon has had the longer career, which means JJ still has some work to do, but because JJ already has 8 wins and most likely more appearances left at Martinsville then Gordon he has the better shot to be the Modern Day Grandfather.



What do you think? Will Jimmie Johnson continue to be the Modern Day "Grandfather"? Will Gordon finish with the better career at Martinsville or will JJ's career end up passing him (as it is already arguably just as good)? Who will get #9 first? Who will win in 2014, Gordon? JJ? Both? Let me know on Twitter!


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