Dr. Diandra: The four closest Cup Series finishes at Martinsville

Margins of victory at Martinsville’s 148 Cup Series races have been measured from miles down to milliseconds over 75 years of NASCAR competition. Martinsville isn’t just part of NASCAR; it’s integrated into NASCAR’s DNA. Martinsville was one of eight tracks in NASCAR’s inaugural 1949 season. Red Byron won that first race — on dirt — by more than three laps on his way to becoming the first series champion.

The first recorded margins of victory measured in seconds at Martinsville are in 1987. Before that, the closest race recorded was in 1960, when Rex White beat Joe Weatherly by a car length. They were the only two cars (out of 31) to finish the race on the lead lap.

Martinsville may not leap to mind when you think about close finishes. Short tracks don’t have the millisecond margins of victory seen at superspeedways. That doesn’t mean their finishes are any less exciting.

Here are the four closest finishes at Martinsville.

The .065-second margin of victory at the 2007 race is the smallest of any Martinsville contest. It’s also the 32nd-closest finish in NASCAR regular-season races. Eleven Talladega and eight Daytona races rank above it, which makes this race the 13th-closest non-superspeedway points-paying race.

Hendrick Motorsports has the most Martinsville wins of any owner with 27. The 2007 spring race found two HMS cars battling for the win in just the second race with the Gen-5 car (aka The Car of Tomorrow).

As the laps ticked down, Jeff Gordon drew close to Jimmie Johnson entering the turns, but Johnson consistently out-accelerated Gordon leaving the turns. It wasn’t until the final lap that Gordon reached Johnson’s bumper.

Contact made Johnson’s car wiggle, allowing Gordon to pull up almost even. The two cars