Doc's Picks for Martinsville

The third round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Sprint Cup begins this weekend at the smallest track on the circuit, Martinsville Speedway.

The series enters the Eliminator Round of the Chase at Martinsville. The eight drivers that are in the Eliminator Round are -- Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon. Teams will do anything possible to get these drivers to the front.

Martinsville Speedway is a half mile paperclip shaped track with intermediate 12 degree banking on the turns. It is a smaller version of New Hampshire Motor Speedway so teams often use the same car and a similar setup at both tracks. Drivers that are successful at NHMS often run well at Martinsville.

Here's a look at the favorites and drivers to watch in the Goody's Headache 500:

The Winner: Jeff Gordon (4 to 1)

An eight time winner at Martinsville, Gordon won this race last year. He has had as good of luck as anyone at the short track with finishes of 20th or better dating back to 2003. During that span 22 of his 25 starts have resulted in a finish inside the top 10.

Top 3 Finish: Jimmie Johnson (5 to 1)

He has seven wins at the track in the last 14 races and eight for his career. Only seven times has he failed to finish worse than fifth. Johnson dominated the spring race by leading 346 laps and averaging a running position of first. He never crossed the start/finish line worse than fifth during the 500-lap race.

Stay Away: Kurt Busch (30 to 1)

Busch is going for a season sweep at Martinsville after a surprising win in the March event earlier this year. He ran down and passed Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps to secure the victory. However, the win was his first Top-10 at Martinsville since 2005 so Busch is far from a safe bet to deliver a great finish this weekend.

2014's NASCAR Selections

• $100 bettors up +$5,132 on the season

• 73-47 (61%) on the season with our driver match-up selections

Read more articles by Josh Schonwald