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Mike Skinner (5) races along side Ron Hornaday in February.

Hornaday, Skinner return to comfortable short track

1995 series champion will make 200th start on Saturday

By Chris Stanfield, NASCAR.COM
October 22, 2009
12:50 PM EDT
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Ron Hornaday is no stranger to Victory Lane and is well on his way to a record fourth series championship. As impressive as his six wins are this season, Hornaday's goals for his 15th start around the short track at Martinsville probably don't include a repeat of last year's events where he ran out of gas after leading 154 laps after starting from the pole.

Martinsville Speedway

For Hornaday to continue his run toward the championship he'll need to overcome the usual suspects of competition, including Mike Skinner, who makes his 200th series start at Saturday's Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway (12:30 p.m. ET, SPEED). Skinner sits in third place in points with three wins this season, winning at Kansas, Iowa and Gateway.

Martinsville is one of four tracks that remain on the schedule since the series' inaugural 1995 season and will bookend the season's short-track races, having played host to the first in March and marking the last one for the season when the checkered flag drops on Saturday.

2Drivers that have back-to-back wins at Martinsville. Dennis Setzer did it in 2002-03 and Mike Skinner accomplished the same feat in 2007.
2Drivers, among the 37 drivers entered in this weekend’s race, that list hometowns somewhere other than the United States. Derek White is from Kahnawake, Quebec, and Max Papis is from Como, Italy.
3Track-leading number of victories for Mike Skinner and Dennis Setzer. Skinner has started on the pole just once but has led 593 laps at the short track throughout his career. Through 19 career races at Martinsville, Setzer’s average finish is 10.3.
6.4Average running position of Johnny Sauter during his past five races, which include five top-five finishes, a win at Las Vegas and 96.9 percent of Laps in the Top 15.
8Average starting position of the race winner at Martinsville. Kevin Harvick won earlier this year starting in the sixth position.
18Number of Chevrolets competing for a spot, followed by 13 Toyotas, four Fords and two Dodges rounding out the field of 37 qualifiers. Chevrolet leads in wins with seven, followed by Dodge and Toyota (5) and Ford (4).
33Worse starting position to produce a win. Dennis Setzer accomplished the feat in 2002 and went on to defend his title the following year, starting in the fifth position.
75.296Fastest average speed of the 21 races held at Martinsville. Rich Bickle recorded the win in 1997, which included 42 laps under caution. He qualified and took the pole position with a speed of 92.796 mph.
593Record for career laps led at Martinsville. Mike Skinner holds the title, followed by Dennis Setzer (458), Kyle Busch (200), Rick Crawford (197), Terry Cook (190) and Ron Hornaday (177). All but Busch are competing this weekend.
$349,742Career earnings at Martinsville for Dennis Setzer -- the best of anyone. No one has completed more laps around the track, either. With 4,221 laps around the short track, Setzer is averaging $82.86 with each completion.

The End

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