Martin, who drives a part-time Sprint Cup schedule for Michael Waltrip Racing, will drive only at Martinsville on April 7 in JGR’s No. 11 Sprint Cup Toyota. Hamlin is expected to need six weeks to recover from the injury, suffered in a last-lap crash last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

Brian Vickers, who drives a full-time Nationwide Series schedule for JGR, will assume Hamlin’s schedule starting April 13 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin is likely to return for the May 11 race at Darlington but could be back a week earlier at Talladega.

“Obviously having to find someone to fill in for Denny is not an ideal situation to have to be in, and when you start a process like this you obviously begin to look at the drivers that are not only available but also able to drive for your race team and manufacturer. We were a bit premature in determining Mark’s status past Martinsville, however,” JGR president J.D. Gibbs said in a statement. “We’re real happy to have the opportunity to get Brian in our Cup cars and with him driving Nationwide for us we think we have some continuity there that is beneficial.

“We really appreciate everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota for working with us through this process. The good thing for us is that we have drivers the caliber of Mark and Brian to help fill in until Denny comes back.”

Martin and Vickers split driving duties for the No. 55 Toyota Sprint Cup car.

JGR had released a statement Thursday saying Martin was “to drive the No. 11 FedEx Toyota until Hamlin returns.”

“Obviously, we’re not exactly sure how long that is going to take, but Mark’s career speaks for itself and our team knows it will have the opportunity to compete for a win every week,” Gibbs said in the release.

Soon after the release went out, sources said, JGR officials were contacted by MWR officials to say Martin would be in the No. 11 at Martinsville and then return to the No. 55 at Texas to resume his part-time MWR schedule. Martin was not scheduled to drive the No. 55 at Martinsville.

Michael Waltrip told ESPN.com that his team was trying to help its Toyota partner by offering Martin for Martinsville.

“We said that we wanted to help, and by helping we would offer up Mark for Martinsville because Brian was racing there [in the No. 55],” Waltrip said. “I guess we just never had the whole deal done when the [JGR] press release went out.

“All we were doing was offering help. We agreed that Mark was driving at Martinsville, and we were working through what it looked like after that. Before we got it all figured out, a press release was put out. I guess it said Mark would drive it until Denny was better, and that was just not what we agreed to yet.”

MWR put out a release late Friday afternoon stating its plans.

“Mark is a big part of our organization and is committed to our sponsors, especially Aaron’s and Toyota,” Waltrip said in the release. “We have a lot of goals yet to reach this year and we are very focused on accomplishing them.”

Multiple sources said Aaron’s, the primary sponsor on the No. 55, preferred Martin in the car for his scheduled races because the company has activated sponsorship around the 54-year-old driver.

Vickers has recorded two top-10 finishes through the first five races of the Nationwide season. He has 264 career Sprint Cup starts over his 11-year career, posting two wins, 24 top-5 finishes and 63 top-10s.

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Seattle at Washington
When: 4:30 PM ET, Sunday, January 6, 2013
Where: FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland
Oddsmakers currently have the Seahawks listed as 1-point favorites versus the Redskins, while the game’s total is sitting at 45½.
TV: 4:30 p.m.ET, FOX. LINE: Seahawks -3, O/U 46
Prediction: Redskins 23, Seahawks 20

Seattle closed the season with a 20-13 victory over St. Louis, but it was a dominating three-game stretch prior to that victory that opened eyes coast-to-coast. The Seahawks annihilated San Francisco, Buffalo and Arizona by a combined 150-30, becoming the first team in 62 years to amass that many points in a three-game stretch. Wilson threw 16 touchdown passes and only two interceptions over the final eight games and running back Marshawn Lynch churned out ten 100-yard games – including four straight to close the season – to finish third in the league with 1,590 yards. Seattle was equally impressive on the other side of the ball, surrendering a league-low 15.3 points per game. The Seahawks will get a boost in the secondary when starting CB Brandon Browner returns from a four-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy.

Seattle was a 20-13 winner in its last match at home against the Rams. They failed to cover the 11-point spread as favorites, while the total score of 33 sent UNDER bettors to the payout window.

Team records:
Seattle: 11-5 SU, 11-5 ATS
Washington: 10-6 SU, 11-5 ATS

Seattle most recently:
When playing in January are 5-5
When playing on grass are 3-7
After outgaining opponent are 9-1
When playing outside the division are 8-2

Griffin set a rookie record with 815 rushing yards but is still dealing with a sprained knee ligament that caused him to sit out a game and limited his mobility in season-ending wins over Philadelphia and Dallas. He threw for only 100 yards against the Cowboys, although he still managed to run for 63 yards and a score. Like Wilson, Griffin has a hard-charging running back to lean on in fellow rookie Alfred Morris, a sixth-round pick out of Florida Atlantic. Morris finished second in the league with 1,613 yards and capped off the regular season by running over the Cowboys for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Washington’s defense is vulnerable against the pass (281.9 yards), ranking 30th in the league, but was fifth against the run (95.8). It has steadily improved in the second half, allowing an average of eight fewer points over the final eight games.

In their last action, Washington was a 28-18 winner at home against the Cowboys. They covered the 3.5-point spread as favorites, while the combined score (46) was profitable news for UNDER bettors.

Washington most recently:
When playing in January are 4-6
When playing on grass are 7-3
After outgaining opponent are 5-5
When playing outside the division are 5-5

A few trends to consider:
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Seattle’s last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games when playing on the road against Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games on the road
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Washington is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington’s last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington’s last 5 games when playing at home against Seattle

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