Five to Watch: Martinsville Round of 8 cutoff race

Martinsville Speedway will host the penultimate race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the first time with Sunday's running of the Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) that will set the Championship 4. For the previous nine seasons, the .526-mile track held the seventh race in the postseason, which has been the Round of 8 opener since the elimination format began in 2014.

Joey Logano, who is already locked into the Championship 4 by virtue of his win at Kansas, is one of six Round of 8 drivers that has won at Martinsville in a list that includes Denny Hamlin (5 wins), Kurt Busch (2), Brad Keselowski (2), Martin Truex Jr. (2) and Kevin Harvick (1). Jimmie Johnson (9 wins), Kyle Busch (2), Clint Bowyer (1) and Ryan Newman (1) are the non-playoff drivers that have gone to Victory Lane at Martinsville. Harvick (+42), Hamlin (+27) and Keselowski (+25) are the three drivers currently in on points.

BELOW THE CUTLINE: Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch each head to Martinsville with their hopes of racing for a championship on the line. Both Bowman and Elliott are 25 points below the cutline followed by Martin Truex Jr., 36 back. Kurt Busch, who scored his last of two Martinsville wins in the 2014 spring race, is 81 points out and is in a must-win situation. Only twice in the elimination format has a driver below the cutline advanced to the Championship 4. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin accomplished the feat by winning the race (Phoenix) in 2014 and 2019, respectively.
 
"Obviously, we’re going to do everything we can to try to make that final round," said Bowman, who finished sixth in June at Martinsville. "Right now, it kind of looks like that everything we can is going to mean a win. So, hopefully we can go try and make that happen. But, regardless, we want to finish the season strong and do the best we can. I’m definitely proud of where we are as a race team right now."

TRUEX JR. SEEKS THREE-PEAT: Martin Truex Jr. is seeking his third consecutive win at Martinsville Speedway in hopes of making the Championship 4 for the fifth time and fourth consecutive season. Truex has combined to lead 596 laps en route to the victories at the Virginia short track and leads all drivers with a 3.2 average finish in the last six races. Truex, who will start second, has had to start at the rear of the field in the last two playoff races because of inspection issues and also incurred a 20-point penalty last weekend at Texas when NASCAR confiscated the spoiler on the No. 19 Toyota.
 
"Any time we are going into a track where we have had past success, it’s good," Truex Jr. said. "We’ve got notes to work off of from the spring race. It’s been good to us lately, but anything can happen at a short track. Just trying to be as prepared as we can, I think. The guys are ready, and we are going to do the best job we can and hopefully continue the success we have had there."

FOCUS ON THE BUBBLE: Brad Keselowski is on the pole for the Xfinity 500 and on the bubble heading into the Round of 8 finale. Keselowski leads all drivers in wins (2), top fives (3) and laps led (394) in the four short-track races (Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond) this season.
 
“I plan on making it miserable for everyone," Keselowski said. "I’m an opportunist. I’d like to just win it and not worry about it. I think it’s very dangerous for me to focus on one car. I want to focus on my car if I’m gonna focus on any cars."

BACK TO 750: Martinsville will mark the return of the 750 horsepower, reduced downforce package on an oval since the final two races of the Round of 16 at Richmond and Bristol. Overall, there have been eight races on oval tracks this season with the package and Brad Keselowski leads all drivers with three wins in that span. The other drivers with a victory are Kevin Harvick (2 wins), Denny Hamlin (1), Joey Logano (1) and Martin Truex Jr. (1). Chase Elliott joins Harvick, Keselowski and Logano with six top 10s each in the eight races. The rules package will be used again in the season finale at Phoenix.
 
"I definitely think it’s great that we’re ending the season on two 750 tracks," said Elliott, who won at the Charlotte road course with this rules package. "I’m a bigger fan of that, I think, in deciding our champion in the final two races. So, that has my vote; not that I get one, but I really like it a lot. And I’m looking forward to seeing that too. Could you potentially take your Martinsville car to Phoenix? Maybe. You might. Yeah, that might be a good thing from the car-side and performance-side as well. That would be kind of a toss-up and one of those decisions you have to make pretty fast."

MARTINSVILLE MASTER: Jimmie Johnson will compete at Martinsville - a track he's won at nine times - for the final time as a full-time driver. In 37 starts at the .526-mile track, Johnson has led a total of 2,932 laps, including 70 in June when he went on to post his 25th top 10 there. Six of Johnson’s Martinsville wins came in a streak of 17 consecutive top 10s that started in the fall race of his rookie season in 2002. 
 
"Hands down one of my favorite tracks of all time," said Johnson, who will start 27th. "I love racing there and will miss it so much. We had a great run last time there in the No. 48 Ally Chevy, and with just two more races this season I really want to win. It’s a big weekend for the sport as this sets the final four for Phoenix. It will be tough starting so deep in the field but I’m confident Cliff (Daniels) will have a good car and we can make our way to the front."