MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The Cup Series runs its third short track race in the last four weekends today at Martinsville Speedway.
Denny Hamlin seeks to win his third consecutive short track Cup race, a feat last accomplished by Rusty Wallace in 1993.
Kyle Larson will lead the field to the green flag after winning his second consecutive pole. Bubba Wallace joins Larson on the front row.
Here are three things to watch in today’s race (3 p.m. ET on FS1):
What to do on a restart
Hamlin’s jump before reaching the restart zone on the final restart last weekend at Richmond has raised questions about what NASCAR should do.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this past week that “there’s no doubt (Hamlin) rolled early” for the final restart. But NASCAR didn’t penalize him, leaving Hamlin to celebrate the win.
Sawyer went on the say that “if this happens at Lap 10 or 50 or 300 (instead of an overtime restart), you know, the call could have been different.”
So do drivers know what’s allowed and what’s not allowed on restarts now?
“That’s clear as mud,” said Alex Bowman, who won the 2021 playoff race at Martinsville.
Martin Truex Jr., who was next to Hamlin on the final restart last week at Richmond, remains adamant that a penalty should have been issued for restarting outside the zone.
“It’s clear as day,” Truex said. “It’s not a question. You go before the line, it’s a penalty. … It’s black and white. It’s a you can or you can’t call, so I don’t really understand what the debate is all about.”
Christopher Bell said he wants NASCAR to officiate the rule as it is written. The Cup Rule Book states that “the initial start and all restarts shall be initiated within the restart zone on the racetrack.”
The restart zone is marked by a line on the track and lines on the inside and outside wall.
“If it’s a rule and we have a restart zone, it needs to be policed,” Bell said.
Drivers agree that NASCAR will be watching restarts more closely in today’s race.
2. Can Richard Childress Racing be better?
Tracks 1 mile or less have been problematic for Richard Childress Racing since last year.
Could that change today?
Kyle Busch has finished 20th or worse in nine of the last 10 points races at such tracks, dating back to last season. He has finished 20th or worse in the last six points races at tracks 1 mile or less in length.
Teammate Austin Dillon starts 28th. He has one top-20 finish in his last five races at tracks 1 mile or less in length. Today’s race marks Dillon’s first race back with Justin Alexander as crew chief after Alexander took over for Keith Rodden this week.
“The short track stuff though has, you know, been very miss,” said Busch, who starts 11th today. “We’ve had like two hits I think, so you know it’d be nice to get ... to where we have good cars that we’re able to go out there and contend and compete.
“So I think a lot of it is just the reliance on the simulation and what we’re being told in that, and making decisions based off of that — what makes you faster or better in the sim. And that is not transferring to the race track, so we’ve got to go about it a different way.”
3. Will Hendrick Motorsports be celebrating again?
Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary season this year and that is a major part of this weekend.
It was at this track where Hendrick Motorsports scored its first win in 1984 with Geoff Bodine. The victory came at a time when the team, then its first year, was looking at closing its doors because of lack of funding.
The victory helped the team survive and go on to become the winningest Cup organization with 304 victories. Twenty-eight of those wins have come at Martinsville.
Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last seven Martinsville races, including the last two spring races at this track. All four of its drivers — William Byron, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson — have won at this track.
Hendrick cars were fast in Saturday. Larson qualified first, Elliott will start third, Bowman qualified 10th and Byron will start 18th.
“We’ve all seen passing on short tracks have been really difficult in the Next Gen cars,” Larson said. “So, I think qualifying has been more important than it has ever been here these last few years. So yeah, I mean getting track position on Saturday, qualifying well, usually pays dividends as long as your team can execute on Sunday.
It’s great to get another pole on a short track, back-to-back weekends. I felt like it really helped our race out last week, and as long as we execute (today), it should help our race out, as well.”
