A glance at the 12 drivers competing in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship heading into this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway (in order of points):

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DRIVER: Jimmie Johnson

CHASE POINTS: First, 5,923

CAR: No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 15

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 5.3 (six wins)

LAST WEEK: Johnson is doing his best to take all the drama out of the Chase. Again. He had a perfect weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway, winning from the pole to extend his points lead and move closer to a record fourth straight title.

CHASE CHATTER: "I'm not trying to downplay where we're at," Johnson said. "I'm very, very, very happy where we're at. But there's five races left. There's a lot of racing left."

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DRIVER: Mark Martin

CHASE POINTS: Second, -90

CAR: No. 5 Carquest/Kellogg's Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 43

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 13.3 (two wins)

LAST WEEK: Is the glass slipper starting to get a little too snug? Martin finished 17th at Lowe's, the first real crack in the pursuit of his first points title.

CHASE CHATTER: "We had a lot of issues and we could have given up and (nobody) did," Martin said. "We had a really good effort. I got really tight at the end."

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DRIVER: Jeff Gordon

CHASE POINTS: Third, -135

CAR: No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: +2

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 33

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 6.8 (seven wins)

LAST WEEK: Gordon has been nearly the equal of Johnson the last two weeks. He finished fourth at Lowe's and led late for the second straight week. Good, just not good enough.

CHASE CHATTER: "All you really want to do is get maximum points and finish ahead of the guys you're racing in points," Gordon said. "Other than Jimmie, we're doing that."

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DRIVER: Tony Stewart

CHASE POINTS: Fourth, -155

CAR: No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet

TEAM: Stewart/Haas Racing

POSITION CHANGE: None.

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 21

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 12.1 (two wins)

LAST WEEK: Couldn't quite find the right combination at Lowe's, finishing 13th to slip a little further back of Johnson in the standings.

CHASE CHATTER: "It was just one of those nights where we couldn't really hit the balance of it," Stewart said. "Where we got hurt the most was on starts and restarts when we were all packed up there."

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DRIVER: Kurt Busch

CHASE POINTS: Fifth, -177

CAR: No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

TEAM: Penske Racing

POSITION CHANGE: +1

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 18

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 21.8 (one win)

LAST WEEK: Busch is very quietly hanging around while finishing 10th last week. He's been steady and hardly seems bothered by crew chief Pat Tryson's imminent departure.

CHASE CHATTER: "We just can't finish races off like we need to in the Chase," Busch said. "We led a lap and got some bonus points, but that 48 team was awful tough tonight."

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DRIVER: Juan Pablo Montoya

CHASE POINTS: Sixth, -195

CAR: No. 42

Target Chevrolet

TEAM: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

POSITION CHANGE: -3

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 5

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 12.6 (8th in 2007)

LAST WEEK: Montoya's surprising run through the Chase came to a screeching halt at Charlotte, where a bump with Mark Martin and serious handling problems dropped him to 35th, his worst finish of the year.

CHASE CHATTER: "It's racing," Montoya said. "If you're expecting to have 10 clean races (in the Chase), you're dreaming. We knew it could happen."

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DRIVER: Greg Biffle

CHASE POINTS: Seventh, -268

CAR: No. 16 3M Scotch Brand Ford

TEAM: Roush Fenway Racing

POSITION CHANGE: None.

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 13

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 23.1 (7th in 2007)

LAST WEEK: Biffle a good night spoiled when he bumped into Ryan Newman, eventually finishing 16th in Charlotte.

CHASE CHATTER: "We're just fighting for the highest spot in points we can finish, which isn't looking bad for us right now," Biffle said.

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DRIVER: Ryan Newman

CHASE POINTS: Eighth, -288

CAR: No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet

TEAM: Stewart/Haas Racing

POSITION CHANGE: +2

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 15

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 14.4 (2nd in 2007)

LAST WEEK: Newman ended up 11th last week, a finish that could have been better if he didn't lose track position while his pit crew had problems.

CHASE CHATTER: "We really struggled in the pits," Newman said. "It's just disappointing. I thought we should've finished better than that. We had a better car than that."

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DRIVER: Kasey Kahne

CHASE POINTS: Ninth, -331

CAR: No. 9 Budweiser Dodge

TEAM: Richard Petty Motorsports

POSITION CHANGE: +2

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 11

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 18.5 (2nd in 2005)

LAST WEEK: Kahne put together his strongest race of the Chase, leading twice late in the race at Charlotte before ending up third.

CHASE CHATTER: "We just weren't good enough that final run," Kahne said. "We were one of the best, but the final run when it counted, we weren't and Jimmie showed up and beat us all."

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DRIVER: Carl Edwards

CHASE POINTS: 10th, -341

CAR: No. 99 Aflac Ford

TEAM: Roush Fenway Racing

POSITION CHANGE: -2

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 10

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 18.2 (3rd in 2008)

LAST WEEK: Edwards battled to stay on the track all night before his engine gave out shortly before the finish. He ended up 39th.

CHASE CHATTER: "It was bad," Edwards said. "We had everything kind of go bad all in one night, which, in a way I guess, you can say that's fortunate. The engine was probably going to blow whether or not we were running bad."

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DRIVER: Denny Hamlin

CHASE POINTS: 11th, -372

CAR: No. 11 FedEx Toyota

TEAM: Joe Gibbs Racing

POSITION CHANGE: -2

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 8

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 8.0 (one win)

LAST WEEK: Hamlin's luck went from bad to worse at Lowe's. A valve broke while he was running with the leaders, sending him to a 42nd-place finish.

CHASE CHATTER: "We're definitely done as far as the championship is concerned," Hamlin said. "We're going to just keep fighting to stay in that top 10. That's what's important to us now."

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DRIVER: Brian Vickers

CHASE POINTS: 12th, -485

CAR: No. 83 Red Bull Toyota

TEAM: Red Bull Racing

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAREER MARTINSVILLE STARTS: 9

AVERAGE MARTINSVILLE FINISH: 22.6 (8th in 2006)

LAST WEEK: Vickers continued his free-fall during the Chase with a 34th-place finish last week, when he got caught up in a restart.

CHASE CHATTER: "I don't know how the car got so messed up," Vickers said. "I saw them checking up in front of me, but it seemed like they almost came to a stop."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.