Posted on by Holly Cain

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Chandler Smith muscled to the lead on a restart with 12 laps remaining to take the trophy in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 200 Presented by Down East Heating & Air Conditioning at Martinsville Speedway.

The 24-year old Georgia-native pulled ahead of his Front Row Motorsports teammate and the night’s most dominant driver, Layne Riggs, who started alongside him on the front row for that final green-flag run. And while Smith went on to earn his first famous Martinsville grandfather clock trophy – by 0.574 seconds over ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes – the outcome ultimately made his teammate Riggs’ title hopes just a bit harder heading into next week’s championship finale.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Martinsville

Riggs, who finished third, now trails Tricon Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt by 20 points with one race remaining to settle the title. Had Riggs, who swept both stage wins and led a race best 156 of the 200 laps, won, he would have taken the points lead by one point.

Honeycutt finished 14th after some jostling of his own with 16-year-old rookie pole-winner Tristan McKee in typically tight Martinsville traffic during those closing laps.

“Just God’s plan,’’ said Smith, who now has three wins in the No. 38 Front Row Ford this season. “We’ve been through a very rough patch since the Chase started and we’ve kept our heads down and we’ve stayed faithful. I’m truly humbled right now for this experience. Martinsville’s been one on my bucket list to win for quite a while.”

Riggs was immediately congratulatory to his teammate despite the obvious disappointment after having turned in such a strong showing on the famed 0.526-mile track.

“First off, congratulations to Chandler Smith, my teammate; he drove a really good race and won, so really happy for those guys – it’s been a little while for them, so happy for them,’’ said Riggs, who conceded having to take the bottom line beside his teammate on the final restart did not work out.

“Just too free to fire off on restarts when the rubber got picked up and really free up under Chandler and really free up under the 99 [Rhodes], just could not get going on that last restart’’ he continued. “I did the best I could, just didn’t have the clean air like on those other runs. Believe it or not, clean air means more here than so many other tracks.

“But hey, we’ve still got a shot and gained more [points] than we were down, so happy about that … Wanted that clock so bad, but the way it looks, I think it’s going to be me or the 11 [Honeycutt] wins at Homestead, winner takes all.’’

Honeycutt ran top-10 most of the night but did not lead a lap. He was frustrated with the outcome, but as with Riggs, ready to take this championship to the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval next week.

READ: Honeycutt, Riggs set for title duel at Homestead

“It’s a sucky deal, but I got bailed out there, especially with Chandler winning that race. I’m really surprised he went and did that,’’ Honeycutt said, acknowledging the contact and tight quarters were just part of hard-racing in the final laps at a short track.

“It’s 20 points [his lead], but definitely not comfortable. We’ve got to go win Homestead next week and just focus on winning. That’s all we can do.’’

Rhodes’ ThorSport teammate Ty Majeski finished fourth, completing the four-Ford sweep out front. McKee was fifth after becoming the youngest driver in history to win a pole position in the Truck Series.

Andrés Pérez was sixth, with Tyler Ankrum, Gio Ruggiero, William Sawalich and Christian Eckes rounding out the top 10.

There were only four race leaders and seven lead changes on the evening that was dominated by Riggs.

Teams head to South Florida for next Friday’s season finale, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson won the last Truck race there in March 2025.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Smith as the Martinsville winner. The No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota will lose pit stall selection for Homestead due to one lug nut not safe and secure. There were no other issues. 

Posted on by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers will pit this weekend in a Chase tripleheader at Martinsville Speedway — the penultimate race weekend of the 2026 season.

NASCAR Cup Series

A graphic depicting the pit-road layout for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Martinsville weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on NBC

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

View of pit road stalls at Martinsville.

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: How to watch NASCAR on The CW

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Truck Series pit stalls for Martinsville.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Love’s Black’s Tire 200 presented by Down East Heating & Air Conditioning at Martinsville Speedway on Friday (6 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: How to watch NASCAR on FS1

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR heads to Martinsville Speedway for the penultimate race weekend of the 2026 season as The Chase presented by Mobil 1 enters its final two races across all three divisions. The Craftsman Truck Series opens the action Friday evening, followed by the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday afternoon and the Cup Series Sunday. Martinsville marks the fourth of five straight tripleheader weekends to close the season. At just 0.526 miles in length, NASCAR’s shortest track presents a stark contrast to Talladega Superspeedway, with championship contenders facing the tight turns and close-quarters racing of “The Paperclip” before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Bookmark this page and return often for your race-week essentials, from qualifying orders and starting lineups to pit stalls, stage results and more.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | TV listings | Goodyear tire setup

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. The categories listed below will be updated with results as the information becomes available.

Tires: Twelve total sets — nine new sets for the race, two for practice and one for qualifying that transfers to the race.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Race day: Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be updated with results as the information becomes available.

Tires: Five total sets — three new sets for the race, one for practice and one for qualifying that transfers to the race.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Race day: Friday at 6 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be updated with results as the information becomes available.

Tires: Four total sets — two new sets for the race, one for practice and one for qualifying that transfers to the race.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

Posted on by Nathan Solomon

Chase Briscoe watched the final lap of last weekend’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway just like everyone else.

Kyle Larson exited Turn 2 with the lead. By the end of the backstretch, he had dropped to 11th. Some 20 seconds later, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver miraculously crossed the start/finish line first.

“It was the craziest range of emotions I feel like I’ve ever experienced,” Briscoe told reporters in a Thursday teleconference. “It was definitely not an ideal situation with the 5 car winning, for sure.”

RELATED: Cup Series standings | Martinsville weekend schedule

Briscoe entered the antepenultimate race of the 2026 season just 24 points behind Larson for the series lead. He earned 12 stage points with top-10 finishes in both segments and seemed destined to stay within at least a stone’s throw of Larson after Sunday’s scheduled 188-lapper. But running fourth in the top lane with six laps to go, Joey Logano crashed in front of him after a push from Carson Hocevar, leaving Briscoe with no room to escape.

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota suffered heavy front-end damage that sidelined the team for the rest of the race, marking its third DNF of The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

At that point, Briscoe’s best scenario was hoping that Larson would plummet late. When Larson fell to 11th in NASCAR Overtime, Briscoe was 50 points back. By the time Larson secured the checkered flag for his first drafting-track victory in 59 starts, he was 79 markers – more than a race’s worth of points – behind the postseason’s most dominant driver.

Briscoe’s fellow championship-eligible teammates, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, also dropped to 73 and 74 points back, respectively.

“I’d be lying if I felt like all of us didn’t have the wind let out of our sails a little bit,” Briscoe said, recalling the mood from this week’s JGR competition meeting. “Look, it’s still very much possible, but you are going to have to do something pretty extraordinary. Even if you do go have two amazing days, you still have to have some help from the 5 car.”

Martinsville Speedway lies ahead on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Larson can all but seal the deal on the 2026 Cup Series championship. If he scores 59 points in the Xfinity 500, no matter how the other title-eligible Chasers perform, Larson will be coronated with his second consecutive Bill France Cup as long as he starts next Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

According to Racing Insights, Briscoe has a 1.3% chance of winning the championship. If he wins both races, his odds increase to 49.8% – but he would still need help from Larson.

That task sounds Herculean. But don’t forget that Briscoe already has back-to-back victories in The Chase, winning Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway just a week after saying he’d need a 2011 Tony Stewart-esque run.

Briscoe idolized Stewart growing up and drove four seasons at Stewart-Haas Racing before joining JGR after the organization’s disbandment. In that legendary Chase run, Stewart won five times – including back-to-back races twice – to eke past Carl Edwards in a tiebreaker.

Is that just more fuel to the fire? Briscoe certainly believes he isn’t out of the title conversation.

Chase Briscoe drives in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville.
David Jensen | Getty Images

“I still very much feel like the championship is in reach,” Briscoe explained. “Now, is it way harder? Yes, but when we were able to win two races back-to-back earlier in The Chase, I basically cut that deficit off in two races, and that’s with the 5 car having two top-(six) runs. So yeah, I don’t think it’s out of the question. And even in those two races we won back-to-back, the second one, we didn’t even have a clean-sweep day.

“It’s just – you have to win this weekend. That’s the big thing. If you don’t win this weekend, it obviously gets way harder to do that. I’m still going in with the approach that I can definitely win the championship … if I was 20 points back going into this weekend, like, it’s not an absolute must-win, where now it definitely is a must-win, so it just changes your approach a little bit.”

Among that approach change is how he’ll tackle the 0.526-mile short track tucked into the hills of Southern Virginia. Briscoe believes Martinsville is one of his best tracks, referring to six straight top 10s during his SHR days, but hasn’t found the same statistical success since pivoting to Toyota. In three JGR races, Brisoce’s finished no better than ninth. He’s working to conserve tire wear for increased speed on long runs – the opposite of his typical short-run driving style.

Briscoe said he turned nearly 400 laps in the simulator on Wednesday, hoping that slowing means going faster.

“It was hard in the sim. I was telling our group, I don’t think it’s going to be this difficult in real life to kind of find that feel and find that rhythm,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is just trying to slow everything down, truthfully, and let the car do more of the work instead of trying to really hustle it and force it to do things it doesn’t want to do, which I think that’s why at Martinsville, I’ve been able to be fast when tires are new, and you’re not slipping and sliding around all over the place.

“This is the most different approach I’ve ever had for any of the race tracks we’ve gone to, so just trying to replicate things of guys that have been really successful there. It’s definitely a different driving style than how I drive naturally.”

If that translates to a career-high fourth victory – and if Larson slips as he did at Phoenix just two weeks ago – it could be a completely different ballgame … again.

“The points can be flipped upside down at any moment,” Briscoe said. “People talked about, oh, the 5 car could have a bad day at Phoenix. Nobody thought a bad day was (three points); they thought it was going to be 15 or 20 points. I even think about Martinsville for us last year; (Denny and I) blew engines … so the same thing could happen to the 5.

“You just never know in pro sports in general, whether it’s racing, or football, or baseball or basketball. Anything can happen.”

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.

Fantasy Update: Five of the 10 drivers in my lineup entering the weekend qualified inside the top 10 for Sunday’s Xfinity 500. The lone exception was Ryan Blaney, who will start 13th but is known for his strength over longer runs, particularly at Martinsville Speedway. Tire fall-off was a major factor during practice, with Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain emerging as some of the biggest surprises over a 30-lap run. Ryan Preece also showed ample speed for RFK Racing, posting the fastest single-lap time in practice before expressing confidence in the No. 60 Ford’s performance over the long haul. With the normal Martinsville frontrunners largely dominating qualifying, I won’t be making any changes to my lineup. 

Starting five: Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, William Byron.
Garage: Josh Berry.

After a 71-point haul at Talladega Superspeedway, Kyle Larson has taken another step toward becoming the first driver since Jimmie Johnson to win consecutive Cup Series championships, a feat the seven-time champion accomplished with five straight titles from 2006-2010. However, despite the No. 5 team’s strength at Martinsville Speedway, several of Larson’s closest challengers have been more consistent, leaving the door open to extend the title fight another week.

Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can come play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 where strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.

MUST START
Driver: Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, No. 12 Ford
Selections remaining: 2
Comment: Nobody has been better at Martinsville in recent years than Blaney. He won the fall event at the 0.526-mile paperclip in two of the last three seasons, placing seventh or better in eight of the last nine attempts. His 8.0 average finish here is the best among tracks with at least four starts.

Driver: Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 11 Toyota
Selections remaining: 1
Comment: A distant 73 points behind Larson sits Hamlin in second place. Martinsville is among his best circuits on the schedule, leading active drivers in wins (six), top fives (22), top 10s (28) and laps led (3,014). This is nearly a must-win weekend for the No. 11 bunch.

Driver: Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 9 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: It was Elliott who dethroned Hamlin late in the spring race at Martinsville, leading the final 69 laps en route to victory. Elliott has been a Martinsville menace with 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 22 starts, finishing fourth or better in five straight races in the Commonwealth. Since that March victory, the No. 9 team has just four top-five efforts in the last 27 races.

Ryan Blaney and crew at Phoenix
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

DRIVERS TO AVOID
Driver: Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, No. 45 Toyota
Selections remaining: 1
Comment: As Reddick nears the end of his seventh full-time season, he is still searching for answers on short tracks, particularly at Martinsville. He has a best finish of seventh in 13 starts at the historic venue, making it the only track where he has made at least 10 starts without recording a top-five finish.

Driver: Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports, No. 77 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 4
Comment: Hocevar completed an unwanted trifecta in last year’s postseason race at Martinsville, getting spun three times. He hasn’t exactly made many new friends in the last calendar year, making the tight confines of the Virginia bullring an opportunity for a rival to make his life difficult. Through six starts at Martinsville, Hocevar’s best finish is 17th.

Tyler Reddick at Talladega
Karl Anderson | Getty Images

SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK
Driver: Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing, No. 21 Ford
Selections remaining: 3
Comment: Don’t be surprised if Berry factors into the fight for the win at Martinsville. He finished 10th in each of his last two trips here and recorded top-10 finishes in three consecutive short-track races, becoming the first Wood Brothers Racing driver to accomplish the feat since Neil Bonnett in 1989.

Driver: Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, No. 97 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: Martinsville has historically been a strong venue for road-course standouts, with AJ Allmendinger, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose all delivering solid performances at the Virginia oval. SVG is following suit, recording three top-15 finishes in his first four starts.

Josh Berry at Darlington
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

FEATURED MATCHUPS
Kyle Larson vs. Denny Hamlin
Pick: Hamlin
Comment: If Hamlin wants any chance at Homestead for the 2026 title, the No. 11 team needs to take care of business at Martinsville and run ahead of Larson. The numbers, historically, favor Hamlin, though Larson has been steady at the venue since joining Hendrick Motorsports, finishing ninth or better in the last eight visits.

Chase Elliott vs. William Byron
Pick: Elliott
Comment: Neither driver has enjoyed a season to remember. While Byron led 304 of 500 laps in this race last year, he’s still searching for a way back to the Winner’s Circle. Elliott gets the nod, though neither team has been particularly consistent in 2026. Byron has recorded seven top-five finishes and led 670 laps at this track, both career highs at any venue.

Ryan Blaney vs. Joey Logano
Pick: Blaney
Comment: On long runs, Blaney excels here, as he can wrap the curb like no other in the series. However, Logano is on a streak of 14 straight top 10s at Martinsville, tied with Lee Petty for the third longest streak in track history. He’s also the first driver to win at least three short-track races in the same season since Martin Truex Jr. in 2019.

Chase Briscoe vs. Ryan Preece
Pick: Briscoe
Comment: Preece should be considered for lineups this weekend, as he has finished 14th or better in his last five trips to Martinsville. But like Hamlin, Briscoe needs a huge day at Martinsville, sitting 79 points behind Larson. He has six top-10 efforts at Martinsville, his most at any track.

MY LINEUP
Starting five: Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, William Byron.
Garage: Josh Berry.

36 FOR 36
Pick: Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 9 Chevrolet
Comment: For all the reasons outlined above, Elliott is a strong pick this weekend. The 2020 Cup Series champion has amassed 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 22 Martinsville starts, along with 1,359 laps led, his most at any track. The No. 9 team has also tallied three top-five finishes in the last seven short-track races, including a victory in March.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Tricon Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt takes a strong 43-point advantage over Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs into Friday night’s Black’s Tire 200 presented by Down East Heating & Air Conditioning at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but neither driver is calling this title run done with two races remaining to settle the trophy honors.

Honeycutt rallied to a fifth-place effort at Talladega Superspeedway last week in the kind of thrilling overtime finish that fans and competitors have come to expect at the big track. Riggs was eighth in his No. 34 Ford. And now the series transitions from the sport’s largest track to one of its smallest at 0.526 mile.

RELATED: Martinsville schedule | Truck standings

“Looking forward to Martinsville, and got a good cushion, but you never say it is over till it is over,” Honeycutt said after the Talladega checkered flag. “I’m sure we will be racing hard for the win next week.”

Riggs has four finishes of 15th or better at Martinsville and remains optimistic despite the points deficit he faces.

“We set as a goal that if I was 45 [points] or worse back, we’re not gonna have a shot,” said Riggs, whose father Scott won at Martinsville in 2001.

“Obviously, I think the 11 [Honeycutt] can’t be as good as us. We’re gonna have to go dominate the next two races. I know this team can do it. We’ve done it all year long. I’m excited. This is gonna be fun.”

Defending series champion Corey Heim is also the defending race winner, having claimed the trophy for Tricon Garage last October — finishing just ahead of Honeycutt, whose runner-up showing is his best finish and only his second top-10 in six starts at the track.

Riggs started from pole position, led 27 laps, and also turned in his career-best effort at the track with a third-place finish in the fall 2025 race.

Last week’s Talladega race winner, Sammy Smith, who announced his new contract to team with Honeycutt next year at Tricon, will be in the field again keeping the title contenders honest.

The winningest Chase-eligible driver at Martinsville that’s in Friday night’s field is actually Christian Eckes, who swept the 2024 races at the track. The only other Chase drivers with past wins at Martinsville are Eckes’ McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate Daniel Hemric (spring 2025) and CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger (fall 2020). Hemric and Enfinger have been mathematically eliminated from title contention, while Eckes remains mathematically eligible despite trailing Honeycutt by 144 points.

There is a lot to race for in these final two races of the year. Eckes dropped two positions after Talladega to fifth place in the standings, but is only three points out of third place. Hemric dropped four spots to seventh at Talladega but is 17 points behind sixth place Gio Ruggiero. Enfinger shows up at Martinsville ranked last among the 10 Chase drivers, but is 25 points behind Hemric in seventh.

Practice is at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 1:35 p.m. ET — both televised on FS2. Riggs is the defending pole winner.

Posted on by Staff Report

At long last, Kyle Larson! The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver claimed the NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway in breathtaking fashion, overtaking seven cars over the last quarter-mile on the last lap to claim his first career superspeedway win.

With the triumph, Larson — who entered the contest just five points clear in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 standings — swelled his cushion to 73, a 68-point increase in his championship lead. Swift speed certainly did the trick. So did avoiding major incidents, with a collection of Chasers not as lucky in that regard. Larson now has one hand on the Bill France Cup with two Chase contests remaining, with the ball clearly in the two-time champion’s court.

RELATED: Talladega results | Cup Series standings

That said, Larson isn’t across the start/finish line yet in terms of the championship crown. For one, he’d still need to start the race next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway in order to be officially crowned the champion. But first, Martinsville Speedway is on deck (Sun., 2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and while Larson has impressive numbers at “The Paperclip,” plenty of other drivers do, too. Which driver could spoil the early Clinchmas party for Larson at the half-mile is this week’s “Last Call” question.

Which driver could spoil Kyle Larson’s early title clinch pursuit at Martinsville?

Zack Albert: There’s still a window of opportunity for the field to forestall Kyle Larson’s bid for a repeat Cup Series crown, and the best candidate to head that off is Ryan Blaney. The Team Penske pro has finished top three in every fall race at Martinsville in the Next Gen era, with two clutch victories (2023, 2024) during that stretch and a series-best average finish of 5.1 in the last 10 Martinsville events. While a 107-point deficit and sixth-place rank in the standings make the prospects of another title charge an uphill task, Blaney has reliable performance at the 0.526-mile track and the best shot at forcing the championship fight to a Homestead crescendo.

Dustin Albino: At the midway point of the 2026 season, Joey Logano sat 20th in the regular-season standings, on the verge of missing the postseason entirely. Since then, the No. 22 team has found its stride, capturing victories at North Wilkesboro Speedway and Richmond Raceway before adding another at Bristol Motor Speedway — all short tracks — during The Chase. Logano became the first driver since Martin Truex Jr. in 2019 to win three short-track events in the same season. Sitting fifth on The Chase grid, 100 points behind Larson with two races remaining, Logano could improve his own standing with a victory at Martinsville. The three-time Cup Series champion has recorded 14 consecutive top-10 finishes at “The Paperclip,” tying Lee Petty for the third-longest streak in track history. Overall, Logano has 23 top-10 finishes in 35 Martinsville starts, his most at any track.

Cameron Richardson: Team Penske is always tough to beat in the fall Martinsville race, but last year in this contest, William Byron fended off a hard challenge from Ryan Blaney and won his way into the Championship 4. The 2026 season has been disappointing for the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports camp, which is two races away from its first winless season since 2019. Byron also sits 11th in points, which could land him with his worst result in the final standings since 2020. With three top fives and two wins in the last five events at the Virginia short track, Byron could be in a position to set up Larson for his clinching moment — a trade-off after Byron played a massive role in Larson’s first superspeedway victory and got a runner-up result out of it. However, Larson finished ninth in the spring, and based on the results from that race, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell can keep their title hopes alive if the Hendrick driver winning Sunday isn’t Larson.

Zach Sturniolo: Let’s not forget about the home-state hero, Denny Hamlin. If anyone can still steal the championship away from Larson, it’s the man in second place — 73 points out — with one hell of a track record at “The Paperclip.” With six Martinsville wins on the resume, Hamlin is the Cup Series’ winningest active driver by double over William Byron’s three. That includes a monstrous performance by the No. 11 Toyota in the spring of 2025 that led to his first Martinsville victory since 2015. And while that gap between wins is a decade long, Hamlin has finished inside the top five in six of the last eight Martinsville races, one thwarted only by an engine failure. Hamlin also leads nearly every time the series lands in Martinsville, leading over 100 laps in six of his last 11 starts there. It is hard to ignore the lack of excellence we have seen from the No. 11 team through The Chase despite entering as the No. 1 seed, but it’s also hard to ignore some numbers lining up for him this weekend.

Pat DeCola: Martinsville has already propelled one Chase Elliott championship run — and it could be the place he delays Kyle Larson’s next one. Elliott won the fall race here in 2020 to punch his ticket to the Championship 4, then won the title a week later. And this spring, Alan Gustafson’s bold strategy call helped the No. 9 steal another grandfather clock from Denny Hamlin, who led a whopping 292 laps. Elliott’s championship hopes are over this year, but his ability to win in Hot Dog Heaven certainly isn’t. Larson needs 59 points Sunday to clinch regardless of what anybody else does, which requires a victory. An Elliott win would take that scenario off the table, even if Larson could still clinch otherwise with some help. Funny how Hendrick could leave Martinsville with another clock, yet still walk away feeling like it left something for the taking.

Posted on by Neil Paine

Moving away from the previous iteration of NASCAR Playoffs, with its wild chaos around cut-off races each round, one of the concerns around (re-)introducing The Chase presented by Mobil 1 might have been its relative stability — what happens when a single race can no longer completely upend the championship picture by explicitly eliminating certain drivers?

Well, if the past two weeks have proven anything, it’s that the new/current system can also provide plenty of dramatic reversals of fortune on its own.

A week after a disastrous run at Phoenix had Kyle Larson in a real title-race fight for the first time in many weeks, The Chase showed it could giveth as well as taketh away. While many of Larson’s chief rivals were getting caught up in big wrecks and/or finding other ways to ruin their days, Larson showcased the perseverance to survive dropping back to 11th place on the final lap, the drafting skills to work his way back toward the front of the field along the backstretch, and the split-second instincts to make the winning move through the tri-oval and secure his third victory in the eight-race span of The Chase thus far. 

It was the kind of brilliant win that made you wonder why Larson had never won at a superspeedway before this past weekend. But it also put his competitors in a very tight spot, with only two races to go on the 2026 Chase calendar.

Not only does Larson currently lead the standings again — as has been the case each of the past six weeks, since Bristol — but his 73-point cushion over second-ranked Denny Hamlin is the largest lead he (or anyone else) has held at any point during the 2026 Chase.

That’s bad news for the rest of the field, because there’s less time than ever — just two remaining races — in which to potentially catch Larson. It’s not mathematically impossible to do so; Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick are not eliminated from championship consideration yet. But their paths are getting more and more narrow.

If Larson scores 27 points over the next two races, for instance, Reddick cannot possibly beat him even if the No. 45 team scores maximum points (across stages, race finishes and the fastest lap). That figure is 46 points for Larson versus Blaney, and 53 for Larson versus Logano. Seeing as how Larson averaged about 65 points per every two races this season, and 76 points at a combination of short flat tracks (like Martinsville) and high tire-wear intermediate tracks (like Homestead), even perfect performances from the Nos. 12 and 22 Penske teams probably won’t be enough to avoid elimination.

That leaves Hamlin, Bell and possibly Briscoe as the only drivers with a realistic shot at pulling off the comeback and outdueling Larson down The Chase’s stretch run. So what can each do to keep their championship hopes alive?

Chase Briscoe (-79 points):

Briscoe could have a shot if things come down to Homestead-Miami, given his recent surge at intermediate tracks — as we just saw him rattle off back-to-back wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte, which are mile-and-a-half tracks in the same family as Homestead. In fact, almost all of his championship-winning simulations (91%) in my forecast model featured a Homestead victory.

But to get the chance to make that scenario happen, Briscoe needs much better results at Martinsville than he’s gotten recently. Over the past five Cup races at “The Paperclip,” Briscoe has finished better than 10th just once — a ninth-place run in March 2025. If Briscoe scores his average of 27 points per Martinsville race from over that span, Larson would need to score only 24 to eliminate the No. 19 from title eligibility.

Christopher Bell (-74 points):

With a real shot to take down Larson within his grasp at Talladega, an early unforced error on pit road effectively squandered any hopes Bell had to capitalize on that opportunity. Now down 74 points, he must have near-perfect drives for two consecutive races and hope Larson suffers the same kind of mistakes that derailed the No. 20 car a week ago.

Working in Bell’s favor is, as we highlighted last week, his success on short and/or flat tracks like Martinsville. He has an average finish of 8.0 in eight races on that category of track this season, with six top 10s and four top fives. (At Martinsville specifically, his past three finishes are second, seventh and seventh.) And his performance on intermediate ovals this season — including a Southern 500 victory, a runner-up finish at Chicagoland and second-place runs at both Charlotte races — offers reason to believe he could deliver a big result at Homestead.

Denny Hamlin (-73 points):

For most of the summer and into the opening weeks of The Chase, it seemed like this was finally the year for Hamlin to win his first-ever championship. But as The Chase schedule has worn on, the shine has worn off of Denny’s title hopes. It isn’t like he’s necessarily driven poorly in The Chase; his average finish is 11.9 over those eight races — with five top 10s and an average Driver Rating of 93.2, totally respectable numbers. But “respectable” isn’t what wins championships, and Hamlin seemed to know that in the wake of Talladega.

“Truthfully, [Larson has] done a lot of things right, and a lot of things have really gone right, and we’ve not done that,” Hamlin said.

Certainly, two merely solid Hamlin weekends won’t erase a 73-point deficit — he needs wins, and he needs them right now. If Hamlin wins twice at the average points per race from his wins this season (64.3), Larson would need to score at least 57 points across Martinsville and Homestead in order to clinch the championship. That’s not an impossibly high bar regardless — Larson has scored at least 29 points in 21 of 34 races this season, or 61.8% — but it would put pressure on the No. 5 team to summon a baseline level of performance to hold off Hamlin.

But does Denny have that kind of run left in the tank? Maybe Martinsville, where he’s won more of those iconic grandfather clocks than any other active full-time driver, is the start of one last, improbable comeback. 

Posted on by Holly Cain

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series arrives at Martinsville Speedway with the most competitive battle atop the standings — seven drivers still eligible to hoist the championship trophy next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Reigning series champion and Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love leads the standings by 19 points over 2024 champion, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier. Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day is 29 points off the pace with Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed (minus-50), JRM’s Carson Kvapil (minus-59), Creed’s HFT teammate Sam Mayer (minus-96) and last week’s Talladega winner, JRM’s Sammy Smith (minus-108), still eligible to earn the title.

RELATED: O’Reilly Series standings | Martinsville weekend schedule

Five drivers in the series have previous wins at Martinsville, including Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Austin Hill and Taylor Gray, who claimed his first career win in this race last year. Allgaier is the only full-time driver with multiple wins, earning his second iconic Martinsville clock trophies — just this spring.

Points leader Love conceded last week that the Martinsville half-miler may be his biggest challenge in closing out the season and becoming the series’ first back-to-back champ since Tyler Reddick in 2018-2019. The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has a best finish of 12th in the last six short-track races and is averaging an 18.6 finish at Martinsville — worst among the seven drivers still championship eligible.

Creed, meanwhile, boasts the best average finish (4.0) on short tracks this season. Allgaier has been second best (8.3), followed by the defending race winner Gray (9.0).

“I can’t wait to get to Martinsville this weekend,” Allgaier said. “We are still in this fight, and Martinsville is a great place to continue to gain ground on the points lead. We had an unbelievable car here in the spring, and I know that [crew chief] Andrew [Overstreet] and all the guys on this No. 7 team will give me a car just as strong when we hit the track on Friday. We just need to execute like we did earlier this year here and keep the fenders clean.”

Nine different drivers have won the last nine short-track races on the schedule. Specific to Martinsville, the last six fall races have been won by six different drivers.

The last three short-track races have featured winning passes in the closing 10 laps of the race, and seven of the last 10 Martinsville races have gone to overtime.

Practice starts at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 4:05 p.m. ET. Harrison Burton is the defending pole winner.

Posted on by Staff Report

And then there were two. It’s time for the penultimate race weekend of the 2026 season, with all three NASCAR national series making the short trip north to Martinsville Speedway for a Chase presented by Mobil 1 tripleheader. The Craftsman Truck Series is slated to race Friday evening, with the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series going to battle Saturday afternoon and the Cup Series capping off the weekend with matinee action on Sunday. See qualifying orders for all three races in Virginia.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on TV

Cup Series
Single-car qualifying will occur at 2:05 p.m. ET on Saturday (truTV). 

POSITIONNUMBERDRIVERMETRIC
142John Hunter Nemechek36.300
288Connor Zilisch #30.800
316AJ Allmendinger29.200
466* Gray Gaulding27.500
535Riley Herbst26.900
697Shane van Gisbergen26.100
743Erik Jones25.900
84Noah Gragson23.300
96Brad Keselowski22.500
1051Cody Ware22.300
1138Zane Smith21.400
1210Ty Dillon20.700
1333Austin Hill(i)19.400
143Austin Dillon15.500
1521Josh Berry15.300
1648Alex Bowman13.500
1741Cole Custer13.400
1871Michael McDowell13.000
1934Todd Gilliland11.500
2047Ricky Stenhouse Jr.10.500
211Ross Chastain8.200
229Chase Elliott (C)28.800
2312Ryan Blaney (C)28.400
2445Tyler Reddick (C)28.000
2517Chris Buescher (C)27.200
2620Christopher Bell (C)25.400
2722Joey Logano (C)25.300
2819Chase Briscoe (C)24.300
292Austin Cindric (C)21.600
3023Bubba Wallace (C)19.300
317Daniel Suarez (C)16.800
3254Ty Gibbs (C)14.300
3360Ryan Preece (C)13.600
3477Carson Hocevar (C)7.200
3511Denny Hamlin (C)6.200
3624William Byron (C)4.700
375Kyle Larson (C)1.000

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Single-car qualifying will occur at 4:05 p.m. ET on Friday (ESPN Unlimited). 

POSITIONNUMBERDRIVERMETRIC
135Justin Carroll(i)58.700
247Dawson Cram40.100
338Patrick Emerling(i)39.800
445Lavar Scott38.600
502Ryan Ellis31.200
648Patrick Staropoli30.800
732Daniel Dye(i)29.100
853Carson Ware28.300
928Kyle Sieg28.300
100Garrett Smithley26.700
1192Alex Labbe25.700
1255Joey Gase24.500
1318William Sawalich24.500
1444Brennan Poole23.900
1524Harrison Burton23.400
1687Lee Pulliam22.600
1707Josh Bilicki20.200
1842Baltazar Leguizamón19.800
1951Jeremy Clements18.900
2091Mason Maggio16.500
2127Jeb Burton14.600
2239Ryan Sieg14.300
2331Blaine Perkins12.400
2496Anthony Alfredo11.800
2526Dean Thompson11.000
2621Austin Hill (C)27.200
2719Brent Crews (C)26.200
2899Parker Retzlaff (C)25.300
2954Taylor Gray (C)18.600
3088Rajah Caruth (C)14.900
3141Sam Mayer (C)10.900
3220Brandon Jones (C)9.600
3317Corey Day (C)5.100
3400Sheldon Creed (C)4.700
357Justin Allgaier (C)3.400
361Carson Kvapil (C)2.900
378Sammy Smith (C)2.800
382Jesse Love (C)2.400

Craftsman Truck Series
Single-truck qualifying will occur at 1:35 p.m. ET on Friday (FS2).

POSITIONNUMBERDRIVERMETRIC
169Tyler Tomassi(i)43.400
290Justin Carroll41.600
34Conner Jones35.100
425Carson Ferguson31.600
581Kris Wright31.400
610Corey LaJoie30.000
713Cole Butcher28.400
844Andrés Pérez28.300
914Mini Tyrrell28.000
1042Tyler Reif26.400
1152Stewart Friesen26.400
1222Josh Reaume25.600
1398Jake Garcia23.000
1456Timmy Hill22.000
1516Justin Haley20.000
165William Sawalich(i)19.700
172Monty Tipton18.700
1833Frankie Muniz17.100
1962Kasey Kleyn17.100
2076Spencer Boyd15.600
2115Tanner Gray13.400
2212Brenden Queen11.200
2319Daniel Hemric (C)27.800
249Grant Enfinger (C)21.000
2517Gio Ruggiero (C)19.900
2691Christian Eckes (C)15.900
2799Ben Rhodes (C)15.800
2838Chandler Smith (C)10.700
291Gavan Boschele (C)9.700
3045Landen Lewis (C)7.200
3118Tyler Ankrum (C)6.500
3234Layne Riggs (C)6.200
3388Ty Majeski (C)4.300
3477Tristan McKee (C)3.900
3511Kaden Honeycutt (C)3.800
367Sammy Smith(i) (C)2.800

* Required to qualify on time
# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points
(C) denotes Chase driver or participant