Fantasy preview: Tips for Martinsville

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Staff Report

It’s getting down to crunch time in NASCAR Fantasy Live, with only four races remaining this season.

What to do for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway? So glad you asked. Make sure to set your lineup, using the information below to guide your picks. All stats listed — place differential, fastest laps run and laps led — are used in Fantasy Live scoring and are specific to the .526-mile track. We’re also offering some sleeper picks and value plays.

Good luck this weekend!

Sleeper picks

Martin Truex Jr.: Truex remains one of the only Eliminator 8 drivers with reasonable price value at Martinsville. He led 23 laps and posted a sixth-place finish there earlier this year. Truex has also posted the sixth most Average Fantasy Points (47.8) over the last three weeks.

Kasey Kahne: Outside of his crash at Charlotte, Kahne has been racing exceedingly well as of late for his asking price. He’s set to be a solid sleeper at Martinsville, although one reason for concern is Kahne starting from the rear in a backup car after a qualifying wreck.

Value picks

Tony Stewart: ‘Smoke’ is an intriguing option as a value play. In his last three Martinsville Chase starts, Stewart has a win and two top-five finishes. However, a wreck in practice forced him to a backup car, and he’ll need to start from the rear.

Austin Dillon: Dillon may be this week’s bargain. He owns a +2.3 place differential and an average finish of 22.7 in three career Martinsville races. He could be a steal for owners playing a high-dollar lineup.

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Staff Report

Members of the NASCAR.com editorial team make their predictions for the first race of the Eliminator Round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Martinsville Speedway (Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, 1:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra, MRN, SiriusXM).

Zack Albert

Denny Hamlin: Expect the No. 11 to prevail in his home state for Hamlin’s sixth grandfather clock, denying the remaining Chasers an automatic berth in the Homestead championship finale.

Kenny Bruce

Jimmie Johnson: Johnson shares win record (eight) for active drivers at Martinsville with teammate Jeff Gordon. Bad fast in practice. No Chase pressure. In other words, everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Brad Norman

Joey Logano: Because why not? He’s starting from the pole and has won three consecutive races. Make it four.

George Winkler

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have more history on their side, but Junior will use the disappointment from last weekend as motivation to get his second grandfather clock (first for crew chief Greg Ives).

Kathy Sheldon

Jeff Gordon: The intensity is there, and so is the confidence at Martinsville, where he has eight career wins and a runner-up finish in this race last year. The four-time champion is serious about chasing down title number five.

Jessica Ruffin

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Having just missed the next round of the Chase with a runner-up result at Talladega Sunday, Junior heads to Martinsville with something to prove — and a fast race car, to boot. He’s also the reigning race winner and calls the paperclip oval one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.

Taylor Starer

Jeff Gordon: Martinsville’s fall race is what Gordon has been waiting for. The four-time Sprint Cup champ doesn’t plan on ending his lengthy career with a winless season or without scoring one more win at a track where he’s had eight victories.

Maggie MacKenzie

Carl Edwards: With the recent Joe Gibbs Racing difficulties, Edwards is the team’s biggest hope to snag the 2015 championship. He may not have a win at Martinsville, but the driver of the No. 19 Toyota has finished outside the top 10 only once thus far in the Chase.

RJ Kraft

Denny Hamlin: Yes, Hamlin is out of the Chase, but that doesn’t mean he can’t go out and get another win. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has one of the best cars this weekend as he eyes a sweep of the Martinsville races for the second time in his career.

Pat DeCola

Jeff Gordon: A winless final season just doesn’t seem to fit the four-time champion’s style. With more career victories at “The Paperclip” (eight) than any other track on his resume, you can book Gordon’s trip to Victory Lane this weekend — along with his spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead.

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Zack Albert

John Hunter Nemechek and Cameron Hayley were each pleased with their top-three efforts Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. With each other? Not so much.

As far as post-race confrontations go in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the face-to-face meeting between the NASCAR Next products on pit road was fairly mild, short though not so sweet. Nemechek came away with a runner-up finish behind winner Matt Crafton, and Hayley enjoyed a career-best third place in the Kroger 200, but there were indications that their late-race contact could have implications later in the season.

“The racing got really rough out there. John Hunter’s got it coming to him here later in Phoenix,” Hayley said after emerging from his ThorSport Racing No. 13 Toyota. “There’s no reason why he should just drive into someone that hard, but I guess it’s short-track racing and just great run for us.”

Nemechek bulled past Hayley on a restart with two laps to go, nudging to the inside groove in Turn 3 just before the white flag unfurled. Nemechek said he received Hayley’s warning loud and clear in their brief post-race talk, but indicated that watching a replay would help him understand the contact.

“It’s part of racing. It’s good, hard racing and good, hard battling,” said Nemechek, who added that he was being pushed from behind during the two-lap dash to the end. “Earlier in the race, he moved me, so he had one coming back to him.”

Aside from the abbreviated dust-up, there were plenty of shared positives. Hayley started second alongside pole-sitter Cole Custer, and Nemechek started third. Both spent the duration of the day in the top five, within sight of early leader Custer and late-race dominator Crafton.

For Nemechek, it marked his fourth top-five finish in his last five races, including his breakthrough win in Chicagoland. For Hayley, his third straight top-10 in his rookie campaign kept him sixth in the series standings.

“It just seemed like the one truck in front of us was just a little bit faster when it counted, and we’d be faster over those long runs, and we just could never quite get there, but I couldn’t be happier to run top-three all weekend,” Hayley said. “It’s something I’ve only dreamed about, so I’m really proud of this team.”

Said Nemechek: “Everyone was hitting each other, moving each other. It’s great to come home second, and I can’t thank all my guys enough.”

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Zack Albert

Race day info

What: 67th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500.

Where: Martinsville Speedway, .526-mile oval in Martinsville, Virginia. | Learn more about the track

Green flag time: 1:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Forecast: Cloudy, high of 64 degrees, 60 percent chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service

National anthem: N.C. State Marching Band, “The Power Sound of the South”

Grand marshals: Richard Petty, seven-time NASCAR premier-series champion; Tom Harman, Circle K Southeast director of marketing.

Distance: 500 laps, 263 miles.

Pit road speed: 30 mph. Caution car speed: 35 mph.

On the front row

1. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (98.548 mph)

2. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet (98.487 mph)

RELATED: See the full lineup

Fastest in practice

First practice: Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (98.826 mph) | Results

Second practice: Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (96.998 mph) | Results

Final practice: Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (97.108 mph) | Results

Key story lines

1. Four consecutive wins a rarity within Logano’s reach | Read more

2. Plenty of incentive for Gordon, seeking ninth clock in Martinsville finale | Read more

3. Martinsville adds SAFER barrier, making tight track even cozier | Read more

4. Ford to debut new-look NASCAR Fusion in 2016 | Read more

Former winners in the field

Jeff Gordon (8), Jimmie Johnson (8), Denny Hamlin (5), Tony Stewart (3), Kurt Busch (2), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1), Kevin Harvick (1), Ryan Newman (1).

He said it

“I think about that one hot dog that I ate in an attempt to go faster in the spring. It didn’t work.” — Carl Edwards

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Zack Albert

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jeff Gordon‘s career will always be closely linked to Martinsville Speedway‘s tight confines, the site of many early successes and the provider of eight trophy timepieces. The remembrances are fond, the fan appreciation off the charts and the rhythm at an ever-finicky track seems to have never left.

It’s a double-edged blade for the four-time champion — familiar like a well-worn chair, but with pitfalls lurking for a misstep outside the comfort zone.

“It seems like no matter what changes in the sport, with the rules and the engine package, we always seem to be able to come here and find speed,” Gordon said after Friday’s opening practice. “So, we certainly have that kind of confidence within our program. But at the same time, going over the debrief this week and the planning and all the things we’re looking at for this race, we are also reminded of how tough this place can be.”

Should a ninth grandfather clock come his way Sunday, the bonus that comes with Victory Lane laurels could give Gordon the memory of a lifetime.

Gordon, in the final season of his Hall of Fame career, enters Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 (1:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) as a pre-race favorite for what likely will be his final event at the historic .526-mile track. He’ll start fifth in the 43-car field, landing him a strategic spot near the front and a favorable pit stall on an often-treacherous pit road.

Martinsville hosts the kickoff event in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs’ Eliminator Round, the final three-race series that will determine the four-driver championship field in the Homestead-Miami Speedway finale. With Gordon among the eight title-eligible drivers remaining, an automatic berth into the final round would be Martinsville’s ultimate parting gift.

“That would be pretty amazing,” Gordon said. “There is nobody that has any more motivation and reasons to get that ninth victory than our race team this weekend.”

FROM THE VAULT: Gordon holds off Stewart for Martinsville win

If experience counts, Gordon possesses a clear edge with 45 career Martinsville starts and eight wins — Gordon’s highest total at any track on the circuit. Among the remaining seven Chase drivers, only Kurt Busch (30 Martinsville starts) and Kevin Harvick (28) come close. Busch has won here twice and Harvick once; the other five Chasers have yet to scratch the win column at the paper-clip-shaped layout.

There’s also a chance for more history to be written. If Gordon leads 23 laps on Sunday, he’ll break Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough’s all-time record for the most laps led (3,766) at Martinsville.

There hasn’t been one clear-cut secret to success at Martinsville, a track that Gordon says “goes against all of the normal instincts that you have as a race car driver.” Instead, it’s a delicate balance of several factors — keeping composure, maintaining rhythm and trying not to overdrive the car in often-maddening gridlock for 500 laps.

“It takes a lot of patience here,” Gordon said. “I think that not only suited my style, but it also allowed me to communicate really well with the teams so that they could just fine-tune that set-up. It didn’t hurt that I’ve always had really good race cars here, as well.”

Though the 44-year-old veteran has enjoyed a warm reception from fans as he visits tracks for a final time as a driver, Gordon said the greeting from the No. 24 faithful has been among the most enthusiastic at Martinsville. Gordon was present for a Thursday night autograph session at a local Wal-Mart, with many fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite in the twilight of his career.

“The interactions, conversations and the memorabilia they brought out rivals the biggest fans that I have throughout the country,” Gordon said. “That is what stands out to me is the loyal support that I have here. Obviously winning here eight times helps, but still, these folks have a lot of choices as far as drivers that they can pull for and how avid that they pull for that driver. I saw it at the height of it all (Thursday) night during that event.”

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Those who were delivering a post-mortem to Matt Crafton‘s hopes for a third straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title after last weekend’s race at Talladega learned on Saturday that the lid on the coffin is far from nailed shut.

Crafton survived five restarts in the final 50 laps of Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway and won the race by .396 seconds over John Hunter Nemechek, who shoved third-place finisher Cameron Hayley out of the way after a restart with two laps left to secure the runner-up position.

With his fifth victory of the season, his second at the .526-mile short track and the 10th of his career, Crafton chopped 13 points off the series lead of Erik Jones, who struggled throughout the afternoon and came home 10th.

Crafton moved into second place in the standings, 10 points behind Jones with three races left in the season. Fifth-place finisher Tyler Reddick is third in points, 13 behind Jones.

Crafton grabbed the lead from Nemechek after a restart on Lap 137 of 200 and held it the rest of the way. Polesitter Cole Custer, who ran fourth, led a race-high 96 laps but wasn’t able to regain the top spot after suffering a pit road speeding penalty under caution on Lap 124.

For Crafton, though, the race was a dramatic turnaround after a late wreck a week earlier at Talladega dropped him to 24th at the finish, third in the standings and seemingly out of touch with Jones. But the misfortune at NASCAR’s longest oval turned on a dime at one of the sport’s shortest.

“We’ve had a very trying last two months, but to get back to Victory Lane is awesome,” Crafton said. “These guys (his No. 88 ThorSport Toyota team) just never give up. We weren’t that great on the short run, but like I said, I never give up on these guys. They keep fine-tuning and fine-tuning.

“The second-to-last run, we just got really tight, for whatever reason, but (crew chief) Junior (Joiner) called an audible, made a little change there, and the thing was good. I just had to pace myself and save enough tires for the end of the race.”

Jones felt his Kyle Busch Motorsports team simply missed the setup for the race.

“It was just a fight all day,” said Jones, whose handling issues were compounded by a soft brake pedal. “We missed it a little bit as an organization. I think it showed we were off most of the day for the three trucks (including the Toyotas of 16th-place Daniel Suarez and 21st-place Gray Gaulding).

“We’ll work on it and get it better.”

Ross Kenseth, son of 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, finished 17th in his Truck Series debut. Austin Cindric, son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric, had a strong top-10 run going in his maiden race in the series before running afoul of a three-wide wreck on the backstretch with eight laps left.

After the crash, Cindric came home 25th, the last driver on the lead lap.

The race featured 12 cautions, four short of the event record.

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Nascar

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joey Logano, riding a clean sweep of the Eliminator Round of this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, will attempt to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson to win four consecutive races in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series when the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 gets underway Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

He’ll begin that quest from a prime position, having won his sixth Coors Light Pole Award pole of the season on Friday. Logano, who was fifth fastest in the opening round and fastest overall in the second and third rounds, also won the pole here in the spring event.

Four wins in a row might be a tall order, but it is not an impossible task. Johnson wheeled his way to four straight during the 2007 Chase, a decade after teammate Jeff Gordon went 4-0 during the summer of ’98.

It happened as early as 1964 when driver Billy Wade won four in a row while teamed with Hall of Fame team owner Bud Moore. Twelve drivers have enjoyed such a run of success, with only David Pearson, the Silver Fox, and Richard Petty, the King, doing so twice.

Two drivers on the list, Dale Earnhardt and Harry Gant, scored their fourth wins here at Martinsville.

“Our ultimate goal is to win the championship, and if we can win four in a row, great,” Logano said Friday prior to practice at the .526-mile track. “We’ve been on an amazing roll here lately, which has been pretty spectacular.”

Logano, 25, won the season-opening Daytona 500, then didn’t win again until Watkins Glen in August. Before the month had ended, however, he was back in Victory Lane at Bristol.

He had finishes of sixth, third and 10th in the opening round of the Chase to advance into the Contender Round. The Team Penske driver has not been beaten since, winning at Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega and setting himself up to add his name to an impressive NASCAR list.

“This race track has been another good … track for us,” said Logano, who has finishes of fourth, fifth and third in his last three Martinsville races. “We haven’t won here yet (he finished second in ’10) but it’s been a good track for us the last few times we’ve been here. We’ve qualified well and ran up front here in the spring, just didn’t quite have the car good enough to win.”

Fellow driver Kyle Busch nearly pulled off the four-win trick earlier this year, winning at Kentucky, Loudon and Indianapolis. In his attempt at four straight, he finished 21st at Pocono.

“It’s definitely a zone,” Gordon, a four-time series champion, said earlier this week. “I’m pretty sure that Joey probably said, ‘I didn’t anticipate going to Talladega and winning at Talladega.’ Sometimes when you’re in that zone, you’re fighting hard to win … you have the car to be able to win it, the team to win it.

WATCH: Gordon’s competitive fire burns

“You go to another one, you don’t think you have it, you’re still finding your way into Victory Lane. Next thing you know, you feel like you can win every race.

“It’s amazing how hard it is to get yourself to that level of confidence. When you get there, it can carry you for a long way.”

The potential fallout from on-track contact/conduct — Logano and Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) seem to have a budding feud after incidents at Kansas and Talladega — isn’t a concern, Logano said, although the tight confines of Martinsville make it a choice stop for settling differences on the race track.

“We’re focused in on winning the race,” he said. “That’s what we can control. We can’t control anybody else’s thinking or what’s in their mind.

“We have to think about how we advance and how we win this weekend, in particular. That’s what we’ve been focused on all week. We’re not going to change that.”

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Staff Report

Practice 2 recap | Practice 2 results

Timothy Peters led the final Camping World Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, sweeping the series’ practice sessions for the weekend’s event.

The Red Horse Racing driver closed out the Truck practice sessions with a high speed of 96.083 mph.

Cameron Hayley came in as second-fastest at 96.063 mph.

Tyler Young (95.453 mph), Daniel Suarez (95.319 mph) and Cole Custer (95.285 mph) completed the top-five fastest on the leaderboard.

Peters, Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter are the only previous Martinsville winners in this weekend’s field. Sauter was ninth-fastest (95.180 mph) and two-time Truck champ Crafton was 21st-fastest (94.073).

Austin Cindric and Ross Kenseth are both attempting to make their Truck Series debuts at Martinsville. Kenseth was 11th-fastest (95.084 mph) and Cindric was 15th-fastest (94.675 mph).

The Camping World Truck Series returns to the track for qualifying at 10:15 a.m. ET Saturday on FS1 ahead of the Kroger 200 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Practice 1 recap | Practice 1 results

Timothy Peters led the opening Camping World Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway on Friday.

The Red Horse Racing driver started off the first session with a high speed of 96.020 mph. Peters also won last weekend’s event at Talladega Superspeedway.

Two-time Truck Series champ Matt Crafton came in as second-fastest at 95.752 mph.

Cameron Hayley (95.612 mph), Spencer Gallagher (95.218) and Brandon Jones (94.775 mph) completed the top-five fastest on the leaderboard.

Defending race winner Darrell Wallace Jr. is not running in this year’s race, as he is now a regular in the XFINITY Series.

Peters, Crafton and Johnny Sauter are the only previous Martinsville winners in this weekend’s field. Sauter was sixth-fastest (94.397 mph).

The Camping World Truck Series returns to the track for the final practice session at 2:30 p.m. ET before Saturday’s Kroger 200 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice results

Propelling his No. 22 Team Penske Ford at 98.826 mph around Martinsville Speedway, Joey Logano earned the top spot on the leaderboard during Friday’s opening practice. Logano, who is riding a three-race win streak, ran qualifying trim to earn the top spot.

Jeff Gordon was second on the charts, posting the second-fastest speed with a fast lap of 98.364 mph. Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has earned eight wins at the paperclip oval, tying teammate Jimmie Johnson for the all-time track winner in the modern era.

Team Penske‘s Brad Keselowski (98.338 mph), Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Kevin Harvick (98.328 mph) and Germain Racing‘s Casey Mears (98.195 mph) rounded out the top five. Mears was the only non-Chase contender in the top five.

Kurt Busch was the slowest of the eight Chase drivers, ranking 22nd on the speed charts with a fast lap of 97.754 mph in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

Reigning race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. wheeled his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports ride at 97.598 mph to snag the 24th position.

Denny Hamlin, who earned his Chase-clinching victory at the Virgina short track in March, was 12th-fastest on the charts with a top speed of 98.053 mph.

The Sprint Cup Series is back on track at Martinsville at 4:20 p.m. ET for Coors Light Pole qualifying (NBCSN/Live Extra).

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Staff Report

The following are team press releases previewing the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway (1:15 p.m. ET, Sunday, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

Joe Gibbs Racing:
Kyle Busch | Team preview
Carl Edwards | Team preview

Stewart-Haas Racing:
Kevin Harvick | Team preview
Kurt Busch | Team preview

Hendrick Motorsports:
Jeff Gordon | Team preview

Team Penske:
Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano | Team preview

Furniture Row Racing:
Martin Truex Jr. | Team preview