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EDITOR'S NOTE: Dustin Long recently sat down with Kyle Petty, Jimmy Spencer and Larry McReynolds. No topic was taboo for this trio, as they chided NASCAR and dissected drivers. A new excerpt will run on Long's online blog each day through Sunday. Go to the blog at hamptonroads.com/blogs/dustin-long to see who said: "This series is in serious trouble."

Denny Hamlin is not backing off a comment he made the last time NASCAR's Sprint Cup series raced at Martinsville Speedway: He'll do to Jimmie Johnson what Johnson did to him.

Johnson and Hamlin made contact racing for the lead with 16 laps left in the March race there. Hamlin drifted high and Johnson shot past on the way to his fifth win in the last six races at Martinsville. Hamlin finished second.

Johnson said after the race he tried to avoid the contact. Hamlin didn't quite see it that way. And he still doesn't.

"If I'm in the same situation, I definitely will have that in the back of my mind and probably will do the same to him," Hamlin said. "There's been a couple of instances at the end of races — Loudon, New Hampshire (and) Chicago — where I nudged Jimmie out of the way with a few laps to go to get a position, but it's never really been for a race win.

"I'm not going to say that I owe him one or anything like that, but I'm going to race hard to try to get a win, especially in the situation that I'm at right now. I can afford to be a little bit more aggressive and just do everything I can.

"Of course, you're going to think if he's in the same situation, second behind me, he'll probably do the same thing again or maybe to someone else. Any driver to be put in the second or first position right now at Martinsville, you're going to have pretty much the same outcome no matter what, whether you owed somebody something or not."

Hamlin fell to 11th in the points standings after failing to finish Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Johnson is first and halfway to a record fourth consecutive series title.

"There's too much riding on the line to show too much emotion," Hamlin said. "You have ... a lot of big-time sponsors that put your cars on the race track and put you in the seat and they don't want their company looking bad.

"The problem with showing emotion is then the media will pick you apart and say that you're either whining or something like that. Next thing you know you're alienating your fans and everyone else because you've got the media saying this guy is whining."

OUT FOR YEAR: Tony Cardamone, jackman for Michael Waltrip's team, is out for the rest of the season after suffering a hairline fracture and torn ligaments in an ankle. He was injured when he collided with a teammate and fell during a pit stop Saturday night. Getty Cavitt will replace Cardamone.

NEW JOB: Doug Richert has been hired as Robby Gordon's crew chief. Gordon is 34th in points.

COMBINE: The Drive for Diversity program held its combinein Radford, Va., where 30 drivers are vying for 10 spots in next year's program. Ten are competing for four seats with the program's Camping World Series teams. Those 10 are: Mackena Bell (Carson City, Nev.), Jessica Brunelli (Hayward, Calif.), Michael Cherry (Valrico, Fla.), Ryan Gifford (Winchester, Tenn.), Paulie Harraka (Fair Lawn, N.J.), Rebecca Kasten (Mequon, Wis.), Sergio Pena (Catharpin, Va.), Juan Pitta (Galt, Calif.), Katie Hagar (Nobleboro, Maine) and Darrell Wallace Jr. (Mobile, Ala.).

PIT STOPS: Goodyear completed a tire test Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Marcos Ambrose, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler. ... Although he won at Martinsville in the spring, Jimmie Johnson will bring a different car this weekend. ... Johnson has 14 consecutive top-10 finishes at Martinsville.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com