NASCAR rolls on to Martinsville after an eventful weekend at Richmond. A weekend that saw bumpers fly (literally) and rain (for once) not delay the start of the race and a considerable amount of controversy.
Long John Silvers 200
Friday, April 5 @ 7:30PM EST
Martinsville, Virginia
200 Laps/105.2 Miles
The Craftsman Truck Series was last in action at Circuit Of The Americas where Corey Heim took the win, ending Chevrolet’s win streak in the series that began last Fall at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Heim held off teammate Taylor Gray, Ty Majeski and 17-year old Connor Zilisch for a hard fought win in Austin.
Most Recent Winner At Martinsville
Corey Heim is also the defending winner at Martinsville Speedway. Heim held off Kyle Busch and, at the time, defending series champion, Zane Smith in a race that was ultimately rain shortened.
Names To Watch
Sammy Smith: The full time Xfinity Series driver will be making just his second start in the series, Smith had previously made a start in place of Taylor Gray at Daytona a year ago, as Gray was not yet 18-years old. Smith will be driving the #7 for Spire Motorsports and will certainly be in contention for the win.
Cam Waters: The 29-year old Aussie will be making his debut in NASCAR on Friday, driving the #66 for ThorSport Racing. Waters is one of the top competitors in the Supercars Series in Australia, he has collected 11 wins as well as 2 runner-up finishes in the points.
My Pick To Win: Christian Eckes
DUDE Wipes 250
Saturday, April 6 @ 7:30PM EST
Martinsville, Virginia
250 Laps/131.5 Miles
It was an eventful weekend for the Xfinity Series at Richmond, headlined by Joey Gase ripping off his bumper and proceeding to throw said bumper at Dawson Cram, Cram being the one who turned Gase, sending him hard into the outside wall. The clip of Gase throwing the bumper amassed an impressive 3.5 million views on Twitter/X across NASCAR’s major accounts. In other news, Chandler Smith took control of the race from Aric Almirola in Stage 3 and wouldn’t relinquish it. Smith marched off to his second straight win at the track.
Most Recent Winner At Martinsville
Justin Allgaier took home the Grandfather clock last Fall in a thrilling photo finish, just beating Sheldon Creed to the line by .032 Seconds to cap off one of the most chaotic races in recent memory.
Names To Watch
Taylor Gray: Gray finished 3rd in his Series debut last weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing, Gray will be back in the #19 this weekend hoping to shock the world and grab the win at Martinsville.
Sheldon Creed: Creed returns to Martinsville after an eventful Fall race. A race where he lost by 3-hundredths of a second and got into a significant disagreement with his now former teammate, Austin Hill. Creed will undoubtedly be looking to put that behind him once and for all and get his first win in the Xfinity Series.
My Pick To Win: Aric Almirola
Cook Out 400
Sunday, April 7 @ 3:00PM EST
Martinsville, Virginia
400 Laps/210.4 Miles
At Richmond on Easter Sunday, NASCAR debuted wet weather tires in a Cup Series point race. It was a smashing success, it went flawlessly, the tires provided exciting racing through the first 30 laps of the race, before NASCAR threw a competition caution and had teams switch to slick tires. The rest of Stage 1 went widely without incident aside from a Daniel Suarez spin that was caused by Josh Berry. The wet weather tires were unfortunately the only seemingly good decision NASCAR made on Sunday. During an intriguing stretch of strategy, NASCAR threw a caution for Kyle Busch sliding up the the track and lightly brushing the wall, Busch continued on perfectly fine, and NASCAR effectively ruined the strategy that was playing out. With many drivers getting caught out by the ‘caution’, practically everyone decided to follow the same bland strategy in the final stage and it was Martin Truex Jr’s race to lose as the laps wound down. With 2 laps to go, Bubba Wallace made the slightest contact with Kyle Larson, sending him through the infield grass and sending the race into an overtime scenario. Denny Hamlin’s pit crew would get him the lead, and on the ensuing restart, Hamlin went just mere feet BEFORE the beginning of the designated restart zone. It would go uncalled however, and Hamlin would hold off Joey Logano to win his second race in three weeks. NASCAR would eventually admit their mistake, more or less, but the damage had already been done. What should have been a celebratory weekend for NASCAR, with debuting their wet weather tires in a Cup Series points race to great success, has become a PR nightmare.
Most Recent Winner At Martinsville
Ryan Blaney won last Fall to clinch his spot in the the Final Four, Blaney would follow up that win by clinching the title in a second place effort the following week at Phoenix.
Names To Watch
Josh Berry: Berry has been impressive on the short tracks this year. He got his first career Xfinity Series win here at Martinsville, 3 years ago. The short track ace will look to repeat that success this weekend.
Ryan Preece: Like Berry, Preece’s expertise lies in short tracks, he showed what he is capable of last year when he won the pole for this race and looked poised to win until he was shuffled back through pit strategy.
Kyle Larson: Larson is of course always someone to watch, but this weekend it will be hard to miss Larson, and his Hendrick teammates as they will all be running special Ruby paint schemes this weekend to commemorate Hendrick Motorsports 40 Year Anniversary in the sport.
My Pick To Win: Kyle Larson
Betting Odds
(All betting odds via DraftKings Sportsbook)
Favorites
Denny Hamlin +500
Martin Truex Jr. +600
Ryan Blaney +650
Kyle Larson +700
Christopher Bell +800
Longshots
Josh Berry +2200
Bubba Wallace +3000
Ryan Preece +5500
Header Image: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
