After taking a week off to celebrate Easter, the Nascar Sprint Cup Series returns to racing this weekend with the Goody's Cool Orange 500.  Held on the paper clip oval in Martinsville, Virginia, the Goody's Cool Orange 500 is one of those races with plenty of tight, side by side banging and bumping.  Martinsville Speedway is unlike any other track in Nascar, with its very flat and oddly shaped characteristics and patience and tempers will be tested as 43 cars attempt to navigate there way to a win.  Look for the normal short track racers with success in the COT to be near the front when the checkered flag flies.

At slightly more than a half mile, the Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track on the Nascar Sprint Cup Series.  Teams who have been successful this season and last in the COT series should shine on this track.  A drivers skill to brake and accelerate hard out of the corners will be a big factor in this race.  Because of that, it will be important for a team to take care of those tires and brakes by getting the correct setup and maintaining it during the race.  There will also be a heavy emphasis on pit crews to get there drivers in and out of the pits as quick as possible.  Because this is a short track race, track position is important and a slight error by either a driver during the race or on pit road can cost a driver not only 2 laps but the win.  Qualifying is also important as history shows that only a handful of races won at Martinsville have come from drivers outside the top 10, with the farthest winner coming from 21st in the field.

In the last 10 races run at Martinsville, there have been four different winners with two drivers winning a combined 8 of those races.  Both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have been the kings of Martinsville in recent years, with Gordon sweeping the events in '03 and '05 and Johnson winning the last 3 races at this track.  Both of these Hendrick drivers have been off so far this season and I would imagine they are both excited to see this track.  Other than the Hendrick duo, Tony Stewart and former racer Rusty Wallace have been the other two drivers to win here recently.  Expect the teams with excellent COT programs and short track success to rule on Sunday, which means that Hendrick, Gibbs and RCR will be best bets to pull off a win.

Drivers to Watch -

Jeff Gordon - Martinsville is a track dominated by the Hendrick squad, and the No. 24 team is most certainly eager to get rolling this weekend. Gordon is a top-notch pick this weekend. He has raced to 24 top 10s in 30 career starts (including a current streak of 10 consecutive top-10 runs) with seven wins and seven poles. Gordon averages a 6.8-position qualifying slot and 7.2-position finish.

Jimmie Johnson - Johnson is a three-time defending champion at the venue and has run into the top 10 in 11 consecutive Martinsville events. He's claimed top-five finishes on eight occasions. Barring an incident, Johnson and Gordon will battle for the finish line.

Kevin Harvick - Harvick's began the season with an impressive run to 14th at Daytona and hasn't looked back. The No. 29 Richard Childress Chevy has claimed four consecutive top-10 finishes, including an impressive run to second place at Bristol (he led 32 laps). Harvick has been hit-or-miss during his career at Martinsville, racing to five top 10s (six top 15s) in 13 career starts. He's claimed four of those top 15s in his past five starts.

Denny Hamlin - Hamlin has begun his ascent toward the top of the pack with two top 10s in his past three starts (all three were runs inside the top 15).  Hamlin has claimed four top-10 finishes in his five career starts at the track including two top fives. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team dominated the field last spring, as Hamlin won the pole and led 125 laps en route to a third-place finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Junior does great on this track with five Top 5 finishes here in the last 10 races. He seems to do well here in the spring races but have problems in the fall races. He has been the most consistent driver so far at Hendrick this year and since this is a Hendrick track, look for a good race out of him.

Juan Pablo Montoya - He's started poorly this season, placing just 19th in the Cup standings. However, he can put his strong short track skills to work at Martinsville. He managed to finish eighth last year at the track to clinch only one of his six top 10s in 36 starts for his rookie season last year.

My pick - Kyle Busch - Despite finishing 17th at Bristol, Busch remains in first place in the Cup standings. He's posted three top fives, including a victory at Atlanta. He's had excellent success at the short track of Martinsville Speedway, compiling four top 10s and three top fives in the past five events.

Sleeper - Jeff Burton - He hasn't finished outisde the top 13 all year long, and he's placed in the top five one third of the time he's made his way to this track in the past. Basically, he's running as well as any driver on the circuit, and he's coming to one of his best tracks.