NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Martinsville Speedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
Rank Name Points Behind
T-1 Steve Luvender 284 —
T-1 Dustin Albino 284 —
3 Cameron Richardson 235 -49
4 r/NASCAR Community 219 -65
Race 8 of 36: Martinsville
Last week’s overtime thriller at Richmond delivered the first race-winning pick among our pickers all year. The r/NASCAR community swung for the fences and picked Denny Hamlin, who snatched up his fifth Richmond victory. Dustin Albino’s Ryan Preece pick went sour, earning him just 10 points and dropping him to last place in the standings. Steve Luvender’s 65-point lead nearly halved after Austin Dillon scored just 13 points, while Cameron Richardson’s bold Josh Berry selection netted 37 points — the season’s best result for both picker and driver.
Now, another short track awaits, this time in paperclip form at Martinsville. Will our pickers choose a short-track ace, or perhaps employ an opportunistic underdog?
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 14, Chase Briscoe
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 41, Ryan Preece
Points earned last week: 10 (28th-place finish)
Total season points: 131 (fourth place)
Dustin: It’s been a rough couple of races as I’ve sunk to the bottom of the standings with disappointing finishes at Bristol, COTA and Richmond in consecutive weeks. But I think — and hope — Briscoe can swing the pendulum in the opposite direction at Martinsville. The Indiana native is one of three drivers to have top 10s in all four Next Gen races at the paperclip-shaped short track — hi, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano — and last year collected a pair of top fives. The No. 14 team was good at Phoenix, another shorter track Briscoe has excelled at in recent years. I need that trend to continue this week.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 14, Chase Briscoe
Steve’s pick last week: No. 3, Austin Dillon
Points earned last week: 13 (24th-place finish)
Total season points: 199 (first place)
Steve: Richmond wasn’t pretty for me with my Austin Dillon pick — and now he’s got a new crew chief, which could spell good news for my competitors who haven’t used the No. 3 yet. Onward to Martinsville, where I’m selecting Chase Briscoe. I learned of Briscoe’s recent Martinsville success through a stat our colleague Pat DeCola shared in this week’s Power Rankings: Briscoe’s earned four straight Martinsville top 10s, including fourth-place and fifth-place finishes in last year’s races. Pat’s never steered me wrong, so I’m choosing the No. 14 this week. (Plus, I now have somebody else to blame if it goes wrong. Win-win.)
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 41, Ryan Preece
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 4, Josh Berry
Points earned last week: 37 (11th-place finish)
Total season points: 143 (third place)
Cameron: Despite not having that standout result yet, I believe Preece is determined to be out front and stay out front, unlike last year’s spring race after winning the pole. It’s going to take a great qualifying run and a perfect day on pit road to garner a quality result, but SHR has yet to let me down with Briscoe’s top 10 at Phoenix and Berry’s solid outing last Sunday at Richmond.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 4, Josh Berry
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 11, Denny Hamlin
Points earned last week: 46 (first-place finish)
Total season points: 165 (second place)
The r/NASCAR subreddit completed the Stewart-Haas Racing sweep for our pickers, selecting Josh Berry. It was a close race between Berry and teammate Ryan Preece, but the No. 4 earned the community’s nod this week.
From this week’s voting thread:
u/FridgusDomin8or: “Berry is our guy for this week. SHR has had tons of speed at Martinsville recently and Berry has been a standout in both short track races this year”
u/Boom_Confetti: “Hear me out: SHR has had a ton of speed at Martinsville over the last few years, Josh Berry had one of the best cars in the field last week, and it doesn’t hurt that his scheme for this race is incredible”
u/ChaseTheFalcon: “Right answer here. Berry is a god at this track”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared at Martinsville as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.