Ryan Blaney (No. 12 Team Penske Discount Tire Ford) and Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing FedEx … [+]
Nascar heads to Martinsville Speedway with plenty of drama entering the penultimate race of the season.
Six of eight drivers who are eligible to compete in the Championship 4 are seeking a way to lock their spot into the title battle this weekend. Only 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Team Penske’s Joey Logano have locked their way into the Championship 4 via wins the last two weeks.
The drama is exactly what the doctor ordered for Nascar, as the championship battle heats up. To make things even crazier, all six drivers who are on the outside looking-in have previously won at the .5-mile short track.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell currently has the largest points advantage, sitting 29 points ahead of the fourth-place cutoff with William Byron 22 points behind him, holding the final position. If none of the remaining six drivers in the playoffs wins Sunday’s Xfinity 500, then the final two positions in the Championship 4 will go to those highest in the standings (currently Bell and Byron).
Byron captured the victory at Martinsville earlier this year, two months after winning the Daytona 500. But Kyle Larson won at the “Paper Clip” last year, as did Ryan Blaney, who won the championship a week later at Phoenix Raceway.
And Larson enters the penultimate event of the season seven points behind Byron for the final spot in the Championship 4. The 2021 Cup Series champion has six wins this year and finished second in the regular season battle, even after missing the Coca-Cola 600 because he stuck around to compete in the Indianapolis 500.
Denny Hamlin, who has experienced a rocky playoff stretch, has won five times at Martinsville. However, his last victory at his home track was in 2015. The veteran racer and co-owner of 23XI Racing has been stellar at the track, though, leading 100-plus laps in five races since 2018. Last year, he finished third in this race after leading 156 laps and the year before, he was fifth after leading 203 circuits. But it will take a win this weekend to lock Hamlin into the Championship 4, as he enters Martinsville 18 points behind the cutoff.
Reigning champion Blaney enters Martinsville in hot water for the second straight year. But Martinsville is one of his best circuits. Besides winning this race a year ago prior to capturing his first Cup Series title, he has 11 straight top-11 finishes (nine top 10s) at Martinsville.
2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott is the lowest-seeded driver entering Martinsville. While Elliott won earlier this year at Texas to end his dry spell, he has admitted he is still getting adjusted to the Next Gen car. Now, he enters artinsville, one of his best tracks, ready to pounce and compete for a title again. In 18 Martinsville starts, he has a win in 2020 and has led 1,104 laps
The Xfinity 500 is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
