#1- Jamie McMurray - Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion and the No.1 Belkin team will bring Chassis #1210 to Martinsville Speedway this weekend. This is a brand new chassis.
#2- Brad Keselowski - The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-818 during Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. This is a new chassis to the No. 2 fleet.
#5- Kasey Kahne - For the April 1 race, crew chief Kenny Francis has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-651. Built in 2011, Mark Martin drove this car in both Martinsville races last year, collecting a top-10 finish in April.
#9- Marcos Ambrose - The No. 9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 754 for the 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway. This DEWALT Ford Fusion ran in both Martinsville races last season.
#10- David reutimann - CHASSIS NO. 297 – Reutimann will pilot the No. 297 chassis, which he also drove at Phoenix International Raceway this season. TBR debuted chassis No. 297 with Blaney at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2011. Blaney also piloted the chassis at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the 2011 NSCS Season Finale where he finished 28th. TBR purchased the chassis from Richard Childress Racing during the 2011 season.
#14-Tony Stewart - Chassis No. 14-587: This car made its debut in March 2010 at Martinsville, where it qualified fifth and finished 26th . Prior to Martinsville, Chassis No. 14-587 never turned a wheel on the racetrack. With a new body honed in the wind tunnel, it was tested at The Milwaukee Mile June 1 in preparation for its second career start in June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. There, Chassis No. 14-587 earned a hard-fought second-place finish, for after starting 25th, it fell to 33rd after a lap-36 pit miscue on the team’s first stop. Two late-race cautions allowed Stewart to regain his lost track position, and with a savvy two-tire pit call, Stewart wheeled Chassis No. 14-587 to pass second-place Kurt Busch on the penultimate lap. The car returned to New Hampshire for the first event of the 10-race Chase for the Championship, where in its third career start, it qualified third before leading three times for 100 laps. But while leading with less than two laps to go, it ran out of fuel. Stewart coasted around the 1.058-mile oval for the final circuit of the 300-lap race and finished 24th, the last driver on the lead lap. Clint Bowyer, who served as Stewart’s primary competition for much of the race, wound up with the victory. Chassis No. 14-587 revisited Martinsville for round six of the Chase, where it qualified sixth and rallied back from two pitroad miscues during the race, but a flat right-front tire with less than 10 laps remaining relegated it to a 24th-place finish. With another new body, this car made its first start of 2011 and fifth overall at Phoenix International Raceway in February. It started 18th and led four times for 59 laps before an ill-timed caution period late in the race jettisoned solid pit strategy and left it with a seventh-place finish. Chassis No. 14-587’s second start of 2011 came at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway back in April, where it qualified 31st and rallied its way to a ninth-place finish. The car sat idle until returning to Richmond in early September for it seventh career start, where it logged its third straight top-10 finish. In its final start of 2011, Chassis No. 14-587 went out on top. The site was Martinsville in late October, where it started fourth, nearly fell off the lead lap midway through the 500-lap race, and overcame an unscheduled pit stop on lap 415 to replace a perceived flat tire. Stewart used Chassis No. 14-587 to rally his way from 20th to take the lead from five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps to go. When the checkered flag dropped, Stewart had his third Sprint Cup win at Martinsville and was on his way to his third career Sprint Cup Championship. This weekend, Chassis No. 14-587 makes its ninth career start, its fourth at Martinsville and first of 2012 in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500.
#15- Clint Bowyer - The No. 15 5-hour ENERGY team will race chassis No. 701 at Martinsville. Chassis No. 693 will serve as the backup. Both chassis are new in 2012.
#16- Greg Biffle - Primary: RK-807 Brand new chassis; Backup: RK-759 Last ran Phoenix as the No. 6 – finished 33rd.
#17- Matt Kenseth - No. 17 Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation/Gary Sinise Foundation Ford Fusion team and Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig will unload chassis RK-790 (Last ran at Martinsville, Oct. 2011)
#22- A J Allmendinger - Allmendinger, Gordon and crew will be racing their new "PRS-819" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger this weekend at Martinsville. The "PRS-807" is the backup Dodge Charger for the "Double-Deuce" team. It was in the transporter serving as the backup at Phoenix and at Bristol, but has never seen any track time.
#24-Jeff Gordon - The No. 24 Drive To End Hunger team will be using chassis No. 24-652. It finished third and fifth at Martinsville in 2011.
#27- Paul Menard - Paul Menard will pilot Chassis No. 349 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This No. 27 Chevrolet was last seen on track at Martinsville in October 2011 where Menard finished 24th after starting in the 21st position.
#29- Kevin Harvick - Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 320 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500. This former No. 33 racer was transformed to a No. 29 entry during the off-season and will turn its first competitive laps as a Budweiser is Back Chevrolet during Friday’s opening practice session.
#31- Jeff Burton - Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 329 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend. This No. 31 Chevrolet, originally built in 2010, has seen significant track time over the last two seasons including Texas Motor Speedway in Nov. 2010 (started-16th, finished-36th), Bristol Motor Speedway in Aug. 2011 (started-21st, finished-15th) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Sept. 2011 (started-18th, finished-13th). Burton also tallied a top-five finish at Phoenix International Raceway last November, finishing fourth after starting 14th.
#36- Dave Blaney - CHASSIS NO. 78 – Blaney will pilot chassis No. 78 this weekend. In the 2011 season, he drove the chassis in the Martinsville fall event where he finished 23rd and at six other events. His best finish in the chassis was 19th at Richmond International Raceway last fall.
#39- Ryan Newman - Chassis No. 39-645: This will be the fifth start for Chassis No. 39-645, its first this season and its third start at Martinsville Speedway. The chassis made its first start last April at Martinsville, where Newman started second and finished 20th, two laps down. Newman led three laps and was in the top-10 for much of the first 300 laps of the 500-lap race, but a broken header pipe and a flat left-rear tire caused him to lose two laps. The next start for Chassis 39-645 was in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, where Newman started on the pole and led 119 of 301 laps en route to his 15th career Sprint
Cup Series victory. The chassis returned to Loudon in September, when Newman again started on the pole and then led the first 62 laps before finishing a disappointing 25th. A cut tire with less than five laps remaining dropped Newman from 11th to 25th. The last on-track action for this chassis came at Martinsville last fall. Newman led 41 laps and recovered from a late-race spin and made up 10 spots in the race’s final 25 laps to finish in the top-10. The car has been updated for the 2012 season and returns to action for the first time this weekend at Martinsville.
#42- Juan Pablo Montoya - Crew Chief Chris Heroy and the No.42 Target team will bring Chassis #1207 to Martinsville Speedway this weekend. This is a brand new chassis.
#43- Aric Almirola - The No. 43 Smithfield Ford will be chassis number 736. The chassis was last used at Phoenix last November and the team finished sixth.
#48- Jimmie Johnson - Jimmie Johnson will return in the same car, No. 653 that he finished 11th and 2nd with, respectively, last season at Martinsville.
#55-Brian Vickers - Vickers will drive chassis 703 and chassis 694 will serve as a backup car. Neither has raced in 2012.
#88- Dale Earnhardt Jr - Crew chief Steve Letarte will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-654 for this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway. This will be the third time that Earnhardt has raced this car, which he drove last season to a second-place finish at Martinsville in April and a seventh-place finish in October at Martinsville.
#99- Carl Edwards - The No. 99 Fastenal Blue Team will unload RK-791 for the weekend. Edwards raced this car at Martinsville last October and finished ninth
- Reported in Team News/Press Releases
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