Brakes the key to Martinsville

Jeff Gordon, the new leader in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings, is coming off a hard-fought third-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was the debut for NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow and Gordon said his team may have found an edge.
He used more brake than he ever has in his career at Bristol. Because of that, his team will be putting together a conservative brake package for the race at Martinsville.
“I used more brakes at Bristol trying to get the car into the corner,” said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. “This new car seems to carry so much momentum, and it was pretty loose getting into the corner at Bristol. We played it conservative and upgraded our brakes for that race."
As bad as it was at Bristol, Gordon expects it to be even worse at Martinsville.
“I expect we’ll be using a lot of brake this weekend, maybe even more so than past Martinsville races," Gordon said. "We'll go ultra-conservative on our brake package – maxed-out for brakes and cooling for this weekend’s race."
Gordon has seven wins in his career at Martinsville. Four of those have come in his past eight races. Gordon said, despite the challenges he anticipates with the Car of Tomorrow, Martinsville will be easier to adapt to than Bristol.
“We don't have the loads, the banking and the drop-off transitions here like we had at Bristol," Gordon said. "But the drivers and teams face a lot of unknowns again this weeeknd.”