When the dust settled on a chaotic Richmond race that featured wet tires and debates over the restart zone, it was Virginia driver Denny Hamlin who ended up in victory lane. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is now looking to back it up in his home state as the series heads to Martinsville for the Cook Out 400 on Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
The odds are very much in his favor, but that’s no surprise. Besides Richmond, Hamlin won at Bristol the last time the series visited a short track, and he won the non-points exhibition race at the quarter mile LA Coliseum to start the season. The only short track Hamlin has missed out on so far this season is Phoenix, and he still led the most laps and was in contention to win before spinning.
Moreover, Hamlin knows how to win at Martinsville, with five career wins at the 0.526-mile paperclip-shaped track, the most of any active driver.
Odds via BetMGM
+250 – Denny Hamlin
+750 – Martin Truex Jr.
+750 – Ryan Blaney
+750 – Kyle Larson
+900 – Christopher Bell
+900 – Ty Gibbs
+1200 – Joey Logano
+1200 – Chase Elliott
+1400 – William Byron
+1600 – Chase Briscoe
The biggest pressure for Hamlin might come from his teammate, who’s not happy with him after Richmond. Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps at Richmond and was en route to victory before a late Overtime caution. Hamlin managed to get out of pit road first and control the restart, which gave him the lead. However, Truex was adamant he jumped the restart, and angry at losing the win, he bumped into Hamlin hard on the cool down lap.
Truex will have to try to make up for Richmond by reaching victory lane at Martinsville. Like his teammate, he knows how to do that. His three wins at the track is the second-most of any active driver, only trailing his teammate, but they’re all much more recent than Hamlin’s.
“Definitely high confidence going into Martinsville,” Truex said. “To be able to go run like we did at Richmond, it gives me a lot of confidence going forward that our Martinsville stuff should be good. I love going there, it’s been a really good track for us over the years, aside from the first year of the NextGen. Hopefully we can continue that and use that going forward with our Bass Pro Shops Camry.”
For Truex, the biggest challenge is keeping his emotions under control. The veteran driver has plenty of experience, but definitely let his feelings get the better of him after the Richmond race.
“The biggest thing is just the beating and banging that happens there and getting knocked out of the way,” he explained. “For me, I’ve really only had one issue there, which was getting taken out of the race at the end in 2018.
“It gets like that at Martinsville, it’s just a tough track. When it comes down to a few laps to go, you can go down there and blow the corner and run into somebody and can get the spot. That’s where the frustration comes from there, from a lot of drivers over the years.”
Christopher Bell, another Joe Gibbs Racing driver, might get overlooked at times, and some of his Martinsville results excuse that. But Bell is hit-or-miss at the track, and managed to win there two years ago.
The final JGR driver, Ty Gibbs, who’s in his sophomore year in the Cup Series, finished eighteen both times the series visited Martinsville his rookie years. Those results might not be inspiring, but Gibbs has had something of a sophomore renaissance, leading laps and notching three top-five finishes so far this season. It’s just a matter of time before Gibbs breaks through for his first win, and Martinsville might be the place.
The new Camry XSE body might have won every short track this season, but Ford is hoping the new Mustang Dark Horse is finally ready to challenge.
The brand has struggled to find results so far this season, but two Penske drivers have been the exception. Ryan Blaney was the points leader at one point for his consistently good results, and Joey Logano impressed with a second-place finish at Richmond last week. Logano has the most poles of any active driver at the track, but he and Blaney both only have one win: Penske will be hoping to bring consistent speed all weekend.
One team that’s hoping for success more than any other is Hendrick Motorsports. The team is celebrating its 40th anniversary with owner Rick Hendrick as honorary pace car driver and former drivers Jeff Gordon Geoff Bodine as Grand Marshals. The team has won more races at Martinsville than other organization.
Right now, it’s William Byron carrying the torch for the team. He backed up his first-ever Daytona 500 win with a win at Circuit of The Americas, while Kyle Larson won at Las Vegas. The team’s other drivers haven’t done quite as well. Alex Bowman hasn’t won in two years, while Elliott got his first top-five after a sixteen-race absence at Richmond.
If there’s any track for Hendrick drivers to break through, it’s Martinsville. Fans will be able to recognize all of the Hendrick cars for their ruby red paint schemes on the track to celebrate the team’s ruby anniversary.
$100,000 is a sweet incentive for Xfinity drivers at Martinsville
A new wrinkle is getting added to the Xfinity Series when drivers hit the track for Saturday night’s DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. For four drivers, there’s the chance to race for a $100,000 prize.
It’s all part of the Dash 4 Cash, a program in four races this year. To enter, you have to be one of the top four eligible finishers in the previous race. That means Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Chandler Smith and Aric Almirola, Richard Childress’ Jesse Love, and Parker Kligerman for Big Machine Racing are all eligible for the first round of the season. The highest finisher will take home the prize.
But that bonus doesn’t take away from the rest of the field, going for the win as usual. One driver to focus on is defending series champion Cole Custer. He won two road courses last season to lock himself into the Playoffs then won the finale at Phoenix, but he’s yet to win anything this year.
Lessons learnt last week at Richmond will be helpful for another short track, but Custer is hoping for a more exciting result than tenth.
“There’s some things you can take away just on how to run a short track and not use up the brakes, but overall Richmond and Martinsville are two very different short tracks. Richmond is a little larger with higher banking, where Martinsville is so short and flat,” Custer explained.
“Strategy is always key at Richmond, where sometimes Martinsville is just about surviving and staying out of trouble. Our guys are working hard to give us the best car for Martinsville, but it’s also on me to keep my head cool and take Martinsville one lap at a time. I’m confident that we can be in contention to win this weekend.”
His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Riley Herbst earned a breakthrough first Xfinity win last season at Las Vegas, and followed that up with a top-five the last time the series visited Martinsville. For Herbst, success at the track involves embracing the challenge.
“Martinsville has always been a tough one for me to tackle, but it’s like that for every driver in the field,” Herbst acknowledged.”
“You can have the best of days there and the worst. I’ve been on both sides of it, but overall, I really do enjoy going to that track. Short-track racing is always fun for me, but Martinsville is where you’re really beating and banging to try and get a win. At the end of the day, it’s about staying out of trouble and being there at the end.”
Cam Waters is hoping that supercars magic can strike again in the Truck Series
Last season’s biggest storyline came from an Australian Supercars driver, when Shane van Gisbergen won on his debut driving for Trackhouse at the Chicago Street Course. That’s put the series on NASCAR fans’ radar.
Another Supercars star is hoping to repeat the feat, but he’s stepping outside of his comfort zone for his first attempt. 11-time series winner Cam Waters will be driving the No. 66 truck for ThorSport Racing in Friday night’s Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Waters is enthusiastic for his long-awaited NASCAR debut.
“I’m absolutely pumped, so I’m super excited to be finally having a race over here in a truck,” Waters said. “I’ve always followed NASCAR and done a little valuable stuff myself on dirt in Australia, so to do a pavement oval is pretty cool for me and something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Waters has put the hours in at ThorSport headquarters in Sandusky, Ohio to prepare for his debut.
“We flew into Cleveland and then drove to Sandusky and did a seat fit and met the team. That was amazing. I got blown away by how big ThorSport was and their whole operation,” he admitted. “I’ve been at the Tech Center and doing a little bit of sim stuff today, so we’re ramping up the efforts for the weekend and trying to learn as much as I can in a short period of time.”
For Waters, the dream is to follow in van Gisbergen’s footsteps and one day move to NASCAR full-time from Supercars. For now, though, he’s happy with his Tickford Racing team Down Under.
“I definitely have a dream to one day get over here and race full-time NASCAR, but to get there it’s such a long journey and I’ve got a pretty cool thing going on in Australia racing Supercars,” Waters said. “For me to do the odd NASCAR race like we’re doing this weekend is pretty cool, so we’ll go through this weekend and have a bit of fun and work out what NASCAR is all about and see what happens in the future.”
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Cook Out 400
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Sunday, April 7
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
The Purse: $7,669,028
TV: FS1, 2 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 210.4 miles (400 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 180), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 400)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: DUDE Wipes 250
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Saturday, April 6
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,507,074
TV: FS1, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 131.5 miles (250 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 250)
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Next Race: Long John Silver’s 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Friday, April 5
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $746,572
TV: FS1, 6:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 105.2 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 50),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 100), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
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