3 weeks agoErik Jones will start P17 in Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. After starting 27th in last weekend's race at Richmond, Jones finished 14th and earned 42 DraftKings points, exceeding value on his $6,600 salary for the 13.94% that rostered him. Heading into this weekend, things appear
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3 weeks agoOn Saturday evening, Justin Haley qualified 27th for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Saturday's disappointing qualifying effort, which was preceded by an underwhelming practice session where he posted the fifth slowest speed (20.402), has become a theme for the 24-year-old this year. In the seven races
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3 weeks agoNoah Gragson will start 26th in Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. To say that 2024 has been a wild and inconsistent season for the Stewart-Haas Racing star would be an understatement. In the seven races this season, Gragson has four top-12 finishes and three finishes of
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3 weeks agoAfter posting the seventh fastest practice time (20.141), Todd Gilliland improved slightly during qualifying by posting a time of 19.921, which was fast enough to earn the 16th starting position for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Entering this weekend, Gilliland has just one top-20 finish this season and currently sits 26th in the NASCAR playoff standings. While fans of the second-generation Cup driver are waiting anxiously for a breakthrough performance from the young driver, don't expect that performance to come this weekend at Martinsville. Although he won the 2019 Truck Series race at this track, his DFS numbers over his four Cup starts are not impressive, and this is with a top-10 in one of these races. In his four Cup starts, Gilliland has averaged just 19.24 DraftKings points, which ranks 24th among full-time drivers in the series. Even with a 50% increase in production, which would place him at 28.86 points, he would still fall below value on his $6,200 salary, making it hard to justify playing him in DFS this weekend.
--Adam Erhardt - RotoBallerSource: Racing-Reference.info
3 weeks agoOn Sunday afternoon, Ty Gibbs will start 15th in the Cook Out 400, in what will be just his fourth Cup start at Martinsville Speedway. In his three previous Cup starts at "The Paperclip" the second-generation driver has struggled, averaging 18.3 for his finishes and a -5 in
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3 weeks agoWilliam Byron, fresh off a seventh-place finish at Richmond Raceway, will start 18th in Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Byron, who is in his seventh season in the Cup Series, is off to a hot start in 2024. Not only does he have two wins and
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3 weeks agoOn Saturday evening, Josh Berry qualified seventh for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Despite having struggled throughout most of his first full season in the Cup Series, Berry has done well on the two short tracks NASCAR has raced on this season, finishing 12th at Bristol and 11th at Richmond. While some may argue that you can't read too much into Bristol considering how much steeper the banking is at that track (ranging between 24-28 degrees), the banking at Richmond (14 degrees) and Martinsville (12 degrees) is comparable. Given that this will be his first Cup start at "The Paperclip," Berry's two starts at Richmond, where he is averaging 75.73 DraftKings points, may be our best indicator of how he will perform this weekend. His success on short tracks, the fact he has one Xfinity win at this venue (2021), and that his salary is just $7,400 makes the No. 4 a driver you will want to have exposure to this weekend in DFS.
--Adam Erhardt - RotoBallerSource: Racing-Reference.info
3 weeks agoRicky Stenhouse Jr. is plodding through quite a rough patch right now. His current speed percentile of 29.42 ranks fourth from last in the NASCAR Cup Series this year. Stenhouse has had below-average speed in every race except the Daytona 500 and it raises the question whether Chevrolet shifted some of its investment away from the JTG/Daugherty team to invest more into teams like Spire Motorsports. Although his 23rd-place qualifying run was better than he managed at either Bristol or Richmond, he finished 33rd in both of those races and at Richmond, he was the second-slowest driver in the field. When considering Stenhouse has never finished better than eighth or led a lap at Martinsville, he seems poised for a long day on Sunday.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoAfter Richmond, Zane Smith overtook Daniel Hemric to become the slowest full-time driver of 2024 with a speed percentile of 16.93. However, he will start 24th at Martinsville. The Spire Motorsports driver ranked higher in his round of qualifying. Smith has never competed at Martinsville in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he did win here in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2021 to lock his way into the championship round of the playoffs that year. Smith completed too few laps to have a reliable speed percentile at Bristol, but he and both of his teammates were extremely slow at Richmond. His slow pace this year probably means Smith could struggle again as the laps count down on Sunday.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoMichael McDowell qualified 35th for Sunday's Martinsville race and this is one of his worst tracks historically. McDowell's average finish stands at 28.4 and he has never finished better than 14th at Martinsville. Front Row Sports' top driver and short tracks have not mixed. Although he usually outruns his teammate Todd Gilliland, short tracks are the exception as Gilliland definitely tends to have the advantage. His practice speed was even 30th on Saturday. When you also consider that his current speed percentile stands at 35.32 (his worst measure in this category since 2019), it seems unlikely that Sunday will be the day where he will reverse this trend.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoCarson Hocevar was the fastest qualifier of the three Spire Motorsports drivers for Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville. However, he will be starting one position behind his teammate Zane Smith because Smith finished higher in his qualifying group. Hocevar had an extremely mediocre run at Martinsville last year, finishing 31st four laps down and ranked a miserable 34th in driver rating. When you further consider that he had a speed percentile lower than 30% at both Bristol and Richmond, it seems like it'll still take more time for Hocevar to figure out this track. He's young enough that he could suddenly have a good run at Martinsville. However, Hocevar could again slide in terms of place differential.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoDaniel Hemric overtook Zane Smith to not be in last place in speed percentile this year at Richmond last weekend, but his speed percentile of 17.87 still ranks second worst in the Cup Series and even at Richmond, he was only faster than 20% of the other cars in that race. Hemric was solid at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series with an average finish of 6.7 and 46 laps led, but his only laps led came for Joe Gibbs Racing. For Kaulig, he was competent but never really a race factor and in the Cup Series. Couple that with a 36th place starting position (slowest of all the full-time entries) and it's hard to imagine him being competitive.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoKaz Grala makes his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Martinsville. While the Rick Ware Racing driver had decent speed at Richmond, don't expect him to repeat that feat at Martinsville. This is because his average finish of 21.5 in the Xfinity Series and an average finish of 17.0 in the Craftsman Truck Series. Short tracks have been his greatest strength to date this year as his two highest races in terms of speed percentile were Bristol (where he actually was above average in speed) and Richmond, but again Grala qualified a mere 31st at Martinsville. Grala will probably run a little better than usual but not come close to contending.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoHarrison Burton starts 34th at Martinsville on Sunday, far off his three de facto Penske teammates who all qualified in the top fifteen. Like Austin Cindric, Burton has been much closer to his stronger 2022 speed than his weaker 2023 speed this year, but short tracks remain Burton's Achilles' heel. He has never finished better than 11th on a short track, although his best short track start and finish did come here in the 2022 fall event. Richmond last week was both his worst finish and slowest race of the season amongst races he finished. Since he finished outside the top 30 in both short track races this season and qualified significantly worse for this one, it's hard to imagine anything changing this weekend.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoAustin Cindric qualified 14th for tomorrow's Martinsville race. Although he was generally much faster in 2022 than in 2023, he did have his best ever Martinsville finish in the 2023 fall event when he finished 9th. However, he is not particularly known for his short track prowess. Cindric had below average speed at both Bristol and Martinsville. During the 2024 season, he has consistently qualified better than he has finished. Cindric improved his position once this year. Short tracks were Cindric's worst track type in 2023 as he only had a speed percentile of 23.38 on them last year. Given the body of work, it could be a struggle for the Team Penske driver on Sunday.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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