The four crew chiefs still bringing a reasonable chance of leading a team to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship met with the media Saturday morning at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in advance of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And even though three of them go into the race as “longshots,” the competitive vibe was still strong and unmistakable.
Cliff Daniels, the crew chief for the championship-leading No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by reigning series champ Kyle Larson, conceded the 73-point advantage his team takes into the season’s final two-race swing looks hard to beat. But the team is taking nothing for granted.
“Really, our game plan hasn’t changed a lot the last handful of weeks, even with the ups and downs, and I think that that’s probably true for all of us sitting here,’’ Daniels insisted. “We’ve all seen and we’re all very aware of how quickly the points can swing, so every week you’ve just got to be focused on maximizing your day and whatever that’s going to take.
“This is certainly a race where the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) could go lead all 500 laps and we’ve still got to have a strong day, so our game plan really hasn’t changed much.”
Certainly the points gap plays into the level of comfort, but all four crew chiefs – Daniels, Chris Gayle (No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin), Adam Stevens (No. 20 Toyota of Christopher Bell) and James Small (No. 19 JGR Toyota of Chase Briscoe) – go into Sunday’s race with a fighting chance.
Going into last week’s race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Larson only had a five-point advantage on Bell, but tough luck – some of their own making, some not – have turned the standings into a dramatically different situation. Larson’s Talladega win and disappointing finishes for the other three have vaulted the reigning champ into a 73-point lead over Hamlin, 74-point advantage on Bell and 79 points on Briscoe heading into Martinsville’s 500-lapper and then the season finale at 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway next week.
“This is a 10-race playoff, it’s not a not a nine-race playoff,’’ Stevens reiterated. “So, you got to bring your best every week. It’s going to be tough for anybody to make up 70 or however many points we have to make up, but it’s not mathematically impossible. I think it’s going to take some special circumstances, but we’ve been a victim to special circumstances plenty this year. Stuff like that can happen.’’
Three of the four drivers – Larson, Hamlin and Bell – have previous wins at both Martinsville and Homestead.
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