Past and present unite when the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend.
Martinsville is the only track that has hosted a Cup race every season. Since the Next Gen car debuted in 2022, William Byron and Ryan Blaney have each won twice at Martinsville and Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have each won there once.
Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading to Martinsville.
23XI Racing — Good news: Bubba Wallace’s 61 stage points are his most through six races in his Cup career. … Wallace ranks third in the series in stage points scored this season. … Wallace’s third-place finish at Homestead moved him up to seventh in the points, the highest he’s been six races into a season in his Cup career. ... Riley Herbst is making his first Cup start at Martinsville. He finished in the top 10 in five of nine Xfinity races at the track. Bad news: Tyler Reddick has two top-15 finishes in 10 Martinsville starts.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Noah Gragson has won in the Xfinity and Truck Series at Martinsville. … Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland each have a Truck win at Martinsville. … Gragson finished 11th at Martinsville in last fall’s race, his best Cup finish there. … Smith has finished 11th or better in three of the first six races this year. Bad news: Gilliland has finished 29th and 30th the past two races, dropping him from 17th in points to 26th.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer is making his first Cup start at Martinsville since 2022 when he started in the top five for both of those races. Bad News: Custer’s average finish through the first six races of the season is 27.7, the worst of his Cup career.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Hendrick Motorpsorts finished 1-2-3 in last spring’s Martinsville race with William Byron winning, Kyle Larson second and Chase Elliott third. … Hendrick drivers have won five of the last nine Martinsville races. All four of the team’s active drivers have won at Martinsville in that stretch. … Elliott was the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all the Cup short track races last season. … Byron, who leads the points, is the only driver to lead in each of the first six races of the season. … Byron has scored a series-best 70 stage points this season. … Kyle Larson’s average finish in the last five Martinsville races is 2.8. … Larson has placed in the top 10 in eight of the last nine short track races. … Alex Bowman is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in five of the first six races this year. Bad news: Bowman has one top 10 in his last five Martinsville starts.
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Organization is one of three full-time Cup teams not to have a DNF this season, joining Hendrick Motorsports and Legacy Motor Club. Bad news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has one top-10 finish in his last 14 Martinsville starts.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Chase Briscoe has five top 10s at Martinsville, his most at any track. … Briscoe scored his first stage points of the season last weekend at Homestead. … Denny Hamlin has five Martinsville wins to lead active drivers. Bad news: Hamlin last won at Martinsville in March 2015. … Ty Gibbs’ average finish in the first six races of the season is 25.7. His average finish at this time last year was 7.8. … Christopher Bell finished outside the top 20 in both Martinsville races last year. … Bell has more finishes of 20th or worse at Martinsville (four) than he does top-10 finishes there (three).
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has had back-to-back top 10s this season. Bad news: Allmendinger has not finished in the top 20 in the last four Martinsville races. … Ty Dillon has not finished better than 13th in 12 Martinsville starts.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek has finished on the lead lap in each of the first six races of the season, his longest streak in Cup. … Nemechek won at Martinsville in both the Xfinity and Truck Series. … Erik Jones has qualified in the top five in three of the seasons first six races. Bad news: Nemechek has fallen from 13th to 18th in points the past two races.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Austin Dillon placed seventh at Martinsville last fall. Bad news: Kyle Busch has not finished better than 16th in the last five Martinsville races. … Busch has 16 short track wins, most among active drivers, but his most recent short track victory came in April 2019 at Bristol.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: The organization’s best finish at Martinsville is 22nd by James Davison in the April 2021 race. Bad news: Cody Ware has finished 34th or worse in each of the past two races this season.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has four top 10s in the season’s first six races. … Buescher’s average finish of 11.8 is his best through the first six races of the season. … Ryan Preece enters Martinsville off back-to-back top-10 finishes. … Preece has started in the top 10, including winning a pole, in three of the last four Martinsville races. Bad news: Brad Keselowski has placed outside the top 25 in four of the first six races of the season.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Justin Haley scored his first top 10 of the season last weekend at Homestead, placing 10th. Bad news: Carson Hocevar has finished 30th or worse in the last three races. He has had two DNFs in those three races. … Michael McDowell has not finished better than 14th in 28 career starts at Martinsville.
Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney has won two of the last three races at Martinsville. … Blaney has 10 top-five finishes at Martinsville, his most at any track. … Blaney has led 554 laps at Martinsville, the most laps he’s led at any track in Cup. … Joey Logano has scored 11 consecutive top-10 finishes at Martinsville, his longest streak at any track and tied with Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson for sixth on the track’s all-time list. … Logano, Austin Cindric and Blaney rank 1-2-3 in laps led this season. … Logano has been running at the finish in all 32 Martinsville starts. … Austin Cindric finished fourth at Martinsville last fall, his best result at the track. Bad news: Blaney has failed to finish the past three races, the first time in his career he’s had such a streak. He has been eliminated by a blown engine twice and an accident the other time.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen finished 12th in last fall’s playoff race at Martinsville, his first Cup start there. … Ross Chastain has finished in the top 10 in the last three short track races. Bad news: The last top 10 at Martinsville for Daniel Suarez came in March 2019. … Chastain has qualified no better than 19th in the last three races this season.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry accounts for two of Ford’s five top-five finishes this season, including his Las Vegas victory. … Berry scored his first career Xfinity win in April 2021 at Martinsville. Bad news: Berry has finished 17th or worse in four of the first six races this year.
