The race last weekend at the repaved Kansas Speedway was a case-study for championship-caliber effort. In both Saturday’s Nationwide Series event and Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race, former champions in contention this year overcame potentially devastating mistakes. On Saturday, it was Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. all but wrecking himself and Joey Logano, then recovering from two laps down to win. On Sunday, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson spun out and backed into the wall. His team would do a masterful job of fixing the damage without losing a lap. Johnson would go on to record a top-ten finish and not lose any ground to points leader Brad Keselowski.

Sunday’s race also gave some fans what they’ve been clamoring for: cautions. The repaved track was low on grip and very treacherous. 14 cautions interrupted the race, creating a very stop-and-go type of race, frustrating yours truly. Johnson wasn’t the only great driver to get in trouble, either. Last year’s champion Tony Stewart spun out on the backstretch, regular season points leader Greg Biffle wrecked in Turn Four, Kyle Busch spun twice. Add a myriad of right-front tire failures, and you get a season-high number of caution periods.

Kasey Kahne took the pole with a new track record speed of 191.360 mph. The early part of the race was dominated, however, by Aric Almirola, showing surprisingly good pace. But despite leading a majority of the first 100 laps, he would be knocked from real contention by a blown right-front tire on Lap 122. Incidentally, it was the caution brought out by debris from his car that would pin Johnson deep in the field, factoring into his subsequent spin.

With both Almirola and Johnson out of contention for the victory, Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth would inherit the lead, which he would hold until pitting on lap 157. Mark Martin moved his very strong car to the front by staying out during that break in the action. He would lead through a series of spins and cautions until being forced to pit for fuel under green with 55 laps to go. Another caution would fly shortly thereafter, with Kenseth reassuming the lead after a good pit stop. It was a lead he would not relinquish.

Kenseth led the most laps en route to his third win of the season and second of the Chase. Chase contender Martin Truex, Jr. finished behind Kenseth, his 2nd second-place finish at Kansas this season. Another Wisconsin native, Paul Menard finished a strong 3rd. Kahne took 4th with Stewart recovering for a solid 5th. Clint Bowyer backed up his win at Charlotte with a 6th, while Regan Smith, subbing for the sidelined Dale Earnhardt, Jr., drove through the field to notch 7th. Rounding out the top-10 were Keselowski, Johnson, and Jeff Gordon.

The top of the points standings remain largely unchanged following good runs by almost everyone still in contention.

This week, the series moves to the first short-track of the Chase, Martinsville Speedway. At 0.526 miles, it is the shortest track the Sprint Cup Series visits. In April, Ryan Newman won there following a wild and chaotic finish.

Historically, Gordon, Johnson, and Denny Hamlin have been the best at Martinsville. In fact, over the 14 races there since Hamlin ran his first race in 2005, each driver has recorded only two finishes outside the top-10. They have combined for 10 victories across that span as well. In total, they have 17 Martinsville wins between them. Expect all three to be strong again this week, especially Hamlin. He needs to start picking up points on the guys ahead of him if he wants to be a threat at the end of the year in Homestead.

This week’s race also represents the biggest hurdle for the points leader. Keselowski has not finished higher than 9th in his five career races at Martinsville. He’ll need to stay out of trouble and do his best to limit the potential damage to his lead over Johnson and the others. At the other end of the points spectrum, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be returning from injury this week. His symptoms are gone and he’s been cleared to return by NASCAR. He was strong in April, so don’t be surprised by a great run in his first week back.

Coverage of the Tums Fast Relief 500 from Martinsville Speedway begins Sunday at noon on ESPN.