Chase Briscoe Likely To Benefit From Toyota Speed At Darlington

Chase Briscoe improbably delivered Stewart-Haas Racing's last win in last year's Southern 500, the last race at Darlington Raceway. Today he starts fourth in the Goodyear 400 with a much faster Joe Gibbs Racing Team and he is coming off from back-to-back top five finishes at the track, even though he had never earned a […]

Ross Chastain Is One Of The Best DFS Options

Ross Chastain has never won at Darlington, but that does not reflect how well he has run, as he has led 134 laps at the track. Oddly, 119 of those laps led came in two races he crashed out of. More typically, Chastain qualifies poorly and gains numerous positions in the field, as he did […]

Carson Hocevar Still A Work In Progress

Although Carson Hocevar failed to replicate his second-place starting position from last year's Southern 500, his 13th-place starting position on Sunday is still pretty solid, and the speed he had last year suggests there is a chance he will have speed on Sunday, even though he fell off quickly and failed to score any stage […]

Chris Buescher Likely Motivated After Last Year's Darlington Near Miss

Although he couldn't have known it at the time, Chris Buescher's and Tyler Reddick's slight contact while battling for the lead in last year's spring Darlington race arguably knocked Buescher out of the playoffs since he was leading with nine laps left when Reddick cut his tire and was relegated to a 30th-place finish. The […]

Ty Gibbs Returns To Site Of Best Career Finish

Ty Gibbs finally stopped the bleeding somewhat in last week's race at Martinsville as he had his best run and finish in an otherwise disastrous season after his crew chief Chris Gayle was replaced by Tyler Allen. Gibbs did earn the only second-place finish of his career in last year's Darlington event, but that came […]

Michael McDowell Probably Won't Overcome Darlington Mediocrity

Michael McDowell outqualified both of his Spire Motorsports teammates on Saturday and starts 10th for Sunday's race at Darlington. His record is very close to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s in that his only two top-10 finishes came in the two attrition-heavy races in 2022, where his average running positions of 18th and 11th were substantially worse […]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Likely Needs Attrition To Earn A Good Darlington Result

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s career pretty much lives and dies on his performances on drafting tracks now, as he is never anything more than anonymous anywhere else these days. Don't expect that to change at Darlington, where he only earned a single top-10 finish in the 2022 spring race and has never led a lap. Even […]

Noah Gragson Looks To See if Xfinity Series Success At Darlington Can Carry Over

Noah Gragson has been one of the most invisible drivers in the Cup Series, and the fact that he qualified 26th for Sunday's Darlington race while his Front Row Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith start 12th and 16th, respectively, is consistent with that. Gragson did slice through the field in last year's race, […]

A.J. Allmendinger Has Never Earned A Top-10 Finish At Darlington

A.J. Allmendinger alternating between full-time and part-time status in the NASCAR Cup Series hasn't seemed to have done anything to slow him down, as he now sits six points below the playoff cut line for a not-great Kaulig Racing team after two top-10 finishes in the last three races. But Darlington is one of his […]

For Riley Herbst, Rookie Inexperience Likely To Overcome Toyota Speed Advantage

As usual, Riley Herbst was outqualified by his 23XI veteran teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick on Saturday at Darlington, with Herbst only qualifying 32nd to Wallace's fifth and Reddick's seventh. He was a slow learner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, so it is no surprise that this trend is repeating itself in the Cup […]

Cody Ware Seems Worse Than Before His Suspension

Ever since Cody Ware's return to full-time competition this season, he has seemingly been even slower than he was before his suspension in 2023 as he has a lower average start, lower average finish, and is thereby lower in points than he was at any time during his last full-time season in 2022. Since Rick […]

J.J. Yeley Qualifies Last For Third Time In 2025

J.J. Yeley qualified 38th and last at Darlington, marking the third time he has posted the slowest qualifying speed this season with the only exception being the Daytona 500, where he outqualified Cody Ware but failed to qualify because his NY Racing Team is a non-chartered team. Although Yeley gained two positions in both his […]

Denny Hamlin Silences Doubters After Crew-Chief Change

Denny Hamlin won Sunday's Cook Out 400 to take his first win at Martinsville Speedway since 2015. His 274 laps led marked the third-most he has ever led at Martinsville, and the most he has led in a win. The race removed all doubts about his ability to win without crew chief Chris Gabehart, as […]

Ty Gibbs Earns Best 2025 Finish At Martinsville Despite Failing Cool Suit

Ty Gibbs had his most competitive run of the season on Sunday at Martinsville when he both started and finished 13th despite the discomfort of a malfunctioning cool suit. Surprisingly, this was Gibbs' best result since he also finished 13th 12 races ago at Talladega, and it was one of his grittiest performances nonetheless. Gibbs […]

Ross Chastain Has A Great Day At Martinsville

Ross Chastain had an uncharacteristically quiet run at Martinsville, finishing sixth at a track that is normally not one of his best. Although the Hail Melon from 2022 will always define his Martinsville career, this was probably his best run here as he matched his best average running position from that race but had a […]

Chase Briscoe Has Solid Run At Martinsville

Chase Briscoe had a fairly generic run at Martinsville even though the Joe Gibbs Racing cars and the Toyotas in general seemed to have the most speed. He started 11th but didn't really settle into the top ten until Stage 2, a stage where he spent much of the time in the top five and […]

Erik Jones Disqualified At Martinsville For Weight Violation

Erik Jones has never been very successful at Martinsville, and Sunday might have been one of the lowest moments of his career. Not only did he start 31st and finish 24th in a race where his former crew chief Chris Gayle won his first race for Denny Hamlin -- a driver he was ordered not […]

Denny Hamlin's New Crew Chief Has Terrible Martinsville Record

Denny Hamlin is one of the greats at Martinsville with five career wins and 2,448 laps led, but his last win here came a decade ago in this race. Nonetheless, even though he hasn't won since, he's been no slouch with ten top fives and 1,136 laps led since his last win. It's a rare […]

Martinsville Is Austin Cindric's Best Short Track

Austin Cindric qualified 20th for Sunday's Martinsville race. Although he seems to be starting to become something of a weekly threat, Martinsville will probably be an exception to that. He did actually finish fourth in last fall's race, but unlike his No. 2 car predecessors Rusty Wallace, Kurt Busch, and Brad Keselowski, short tracks have […]

Kyle Busch's Short-Track Performance At Richard Childress Racing Is Pretty Dire

It took Kyle Busch seemingly forever to finally win his two Martinsville races in 2016 and 2017, but although he managed a remarkable eight straight top-five finishes (including those wins), he hasn't been so hot lately, especially with the Next Gen chassis. In the last 12 races, Busch has only led five laps at Martinsville, […]

If Brad Keselowski Has Any Speed Whatsoever, He's A Killer DFS Option

Brad Keselowski sits 30th in points and right now stands as 2025's biggest disappointment, as he has no top-10 finishes and two crashes and he hasn't even seriously contended anywhere with a best average running position this year of 20th in a year when Keselowski's teammate Chris Buescher has earned four top-10 finishes. These trends […]

Noah Gragson's Teammates Will Likely Outrun Him On Sunday

Noah Gragson qualified 24th at Martinsville. Although he lost positions in both of his first two starts here, he finished better than he qualified in both 2024 races, especially last year's fall race when he drove from 25th to 11th and unexpectedly beat all the other Stewart-Haas Racing cars. However, now he is driving for […]

Martinsville One Of Michael McDowell's Worst Tracks

Martinville is one of Michael McDowell's worst tracks, as he has never finished better than 14th, posted an average running position better than 18th, or led a lap at the paper clip. But now he has left his long-term home at Front Row Motorsports to switch to Spire Motorsports, where he qualified 15th and did […]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Consistently Slow At Martinsville

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 34th at Martinsville, worst of all the established veterans in competitive cars. However, this isn't particularly a good track for him, as he has never led a lap and has only earned three top-10 finishes with an average finish of 24.1 despite only crashing once here. He did earn his best […]

Erik Jones Has Worst Qualifying Run At A Track That Already Wasn't His Best

Erik Jones has never been particularly good at Martinsville, as he has never led a lap and has only earned one top-10 finish in the 2021 fall race. Even in his years with Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, his best finish was a mere 12th twice, and the only thing anyone remembers about […]

John Hunter Nemechek Has Fastest Legacy Car, But That's Not Saying A Lot

John Hunter Nemechek earned his best starting position at Martinsville by qualifying 16th on Saturday, but although he definitely looks a little better this year than last year, his Martinsville Cup Series performances have not been inspiring as his finishes and average running positions were actually worse last year for Legacy Motor Club than they […]

Riley Herbst Unlikely To Gain Enough Positions To Justify DFS Play

Riley Herbst qualified 35th at Martinsville, matching his car number in a race where his two 23XI Racing teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick both qualified in the top 10. Herbst has never started a NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville before, but he was fairly consistent in the Xfinity Series despite hardly ever leading […]

Cody Ware Unlikely To Contend At Martinsville

Cody Ware qualified 36th at Martinsville on Saturday, beating only Casey Mears, who is returning after a long absence, and Burt Myers, who is making his debut. He has gained a few positions in all his previous Martinsville starts except for the 2019 spring race, when he had a brake failure. But Rick Ware Racing […]

Southern Modified Legend Burt Myers Makes Cup Series Debut At Martinsville

Burt Myers makes his debut in Sunday's Martinsville race for Team AmeriVet. Myers, the grandson of Billy Myers, a two-time Cup Series winner, has been one of the most prolific modified drivers in the South in the 21st century, winning 10 track championships at Bowman Gray Stadium and numerous modified titles -- most notably the […]

Savvy Pit Strategy Helps Denny Hamlin Win Stage 2 At Homestead

Homestead has always been one of Denny Hamlin's stronger tracks, so it didn't come as much of a surprise that he eventually finished fifth in Sunday's race there, but for a while, it looked like he might finish significantly worse. Hamlin initially started 23rd and fell back as low as 30th in the early laps […]