Associated Press

Jeff Gordon (left) and Jimmie Johnson have won eight of the last 10 races at Martinsville.

Charlotte is NASCAR's home, Daytona the sport's Mecca, but Martinsville is as important to team owner Rick Hendrick.

The car salesman from Virginia won his first NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway but wasn't there because he was in a Greensboro church that day. That's OK, his teams have won 16 Cup races at Martinsville, more than at any other track.

This week, Hendrick turns to the historic half-mile to remedy his teams' ills. Not since 2003 has Hendrick Motorsports arrived at this spring stop seeking its first Cup win of the season. Hendrick won that day five years ago, starting a stretch of three wins in four races.

Should his four-car team not fare well Sunday at Martinsville, the questions of what's wrong grows louder and harder to ignore.

It's obvious his teams are not as strong as other teams on 1.5 to 2-mile tracks, but even in down times, Martinsville has been Hendrick's rock.

Jeff Gordon's average finish there is 7.2. Yet, that can't compare to teammate Jimmie Johnson, who has won the track's last three races. Johnson's average finish is 6.1. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr., who joined the team this season, has seven top-10 finishes in his last 10 Martinsville starts.

With such success as a backdrop, Martinsville will show just how good Hendrick is. Or isn't.

This race is important because Bristol -- a race where Hendrick typically does well -- didn't produce strong results for that group. Earnhardt was the only Hendrick driver to place in the top 10, finishing fifth. Johnson appeared headed for such a finish until a late tire problem relegated him to 18th. Gordon struggled with an ill-handling car and placed 11th. He failed to lead a lap at Bristol for the first time in four years.

Questions about Hendrick's team started at Las Vegas last month when Johnson, who had won three races in a row there, finished 29th with a car he couldn't drive. He struggled at Atlanta, fell a lap down, got it back and finished 13th, the last car on the lead lap. Gordon ran better at those tracks. A late crash while racing at the front dropped him to 35th at Las Vegas, and he was fifth at Atlanta.

Still, Gordon faced questions about his team at Bristol two weeks ago and he said that his cars aren't as strong as others.

"We have had really good cars, but I don't feel like we have had the car to beat yet,'' he said before the Bristol race. "A few little things here and there, we could have maybe pulled one off, but we weren't the car to beat. We've done our homework with our team and we're doing good, but some other teams have stepped up.

"To me the Roush teams have really stepped up. Toyota, especially Toyota Gibbs combination has been strong.''

And Richard Childress Racing proved with its 1-2-3 finish at Bristol it can't be forgotten either.

After his Bristol win, Jeff Burton wouldn't declare that his team, or any other, has surpassed Hendrick Motorsports.

"We can answer that question in late November,'' Burton said.

True, but what happens now can dictate what happens then. Both Johnson (13th in points) and Gordon (14th) are outside the top 12 that will compete for the title chase beginning in September. While both drivers are less than 25 points from that last spot, it is worth noting that more than 75 percent of the drivers who were in the transfer spots after five races made it into the Chase since 2004.

"You wake the sleeping giant,'' Burton warned of Hendrick's team, "they're going to be hard to beat.''

The question is if the giant awakes Sunday.