1. Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin: The three-time defending Sprint Cup champion has looked dominant this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, leading every practice and winning the pole. And his teammate has finished second in every practice and in qualifying. Still, few in the garage on Friday were willing to just hand Hendrick Motorsports a victory. As Steve Hmiel of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing pointed out, Juan Pablo Montoya did the same thing at New Hampshire four weeks ago—dominating practices and winning the pole—but it was Martin who won the Chase opener. Can Hendrick’s mastery continue Saturday night?

2. Denny Hamlin: Barring a miracle, the former Chesterfield resident’s title hopes are gone, but he looks as though he could be one to watch tonight. He finished third in Happy Hour, and—according to NASCAR—his average time over 44 laps in that practice was 29.83 seconds, just off Johnson’s time of 29.82. This hasn’t been one of his strongest tracks—he’s averaged a finish of 15.6 in eight career Cup starts—but he’s run well the past few weeks on similar types of tracks, minus the wreck last week.

3. Kyle Busch: Hamlin’s teammate looks as though he’s put last week’s bout with walking pneumonia behind him. Although he says he’s still feeling the effects of the flu, he led 137 laps in the Nationwide race Friday night as he increased his lead to 195 points over runner-up Carl Edwards. And he tied Martin for the fastest average lap time in the Cup Happy Hour (29.80 seconds) as he looks to increase his streak of four consecutive top-six finishes in Concord.

DENNY HAMLIN INTERVIEW AT CONCORD

Hamlin took a few minutes to speak about a variety of subjects, including his disappointing crash at Fontana, what he thinks of the Chase format and how he deals with his competitors on and off the track. You can see those by clicking the Youtube links below.

————————————————-

No surprise: Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin should be strong on Saturday night. Also, see an interview with Denny Hamlin, as he talks about last weekend’s disappointment at Fontana, his opinion of the Chase format, how he deals with his competitors on and off the track and more.