MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Tickets punched and punches thrown — it was Martinsville after all, and in Saturday’s National Debt Relief 250, Aric Almirola made Martinsville Speedway his personal playground.
Leading 150 of 250 laps in a No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that was the clear class of the field, Almirola won his second race in his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the 0.526-mile short track and earned a spot for his car in the series owners’ Championship 4.
In the process, Almirola denied JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith and JGR’s Chandler Smith a chance to advance to the Championship 4 Race for the drivers’ title.
Pulling away after a restart on Lap 235, the part-time Xfinity Series driver beat runner-up Sammy Smith to the finish line by 0.587 seconds, with Chandler Smith trailing in third.
With Almirola winning the race, Justin Allgaier (fifth Saturday) and defending series champion Cole Custer (fourth) qualified for the Nov. 9 Championship 4 Race at Phoenix on points, joining Round of 8 race winners AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill in the title bout.
Jesse Love (12th Saturday) and Sam Mayer (30th) were eliminated from the playoffs along with the two Smiths, though Chandler gave a parting shot in the form of a punch to Custer, with whom he had tangled on the race track.
For Almirola, who won at Martinsville in April in his first Xfinity attempt, the victory was the third of the season in 13 starts and the seventh of his career.
“We had an amazing car here in the spring, and we made a few tweaks to it,” said Almirola, who also swept the first and second stages. “I wasn’t totally happy with it, honestly, in the spring. And we showed up (Friday) and we were awful. I was like ‘Oh, no, what did we do?’
“They went to work last night and came up with a lot of changes to make to the car, and it was so hooked up today. It would just do everything I wanted it to. This is such a special place. This is by far my favorite race track. I’m just so thankful.”
After Chandler Smith executed a bump-and-run on Custer for a pass on Lap 220, Custer lined up behind Smith on the outside for a restart on Lap 227. In a race that produced 13 cautions for 84 laps, Custer shoved Smith’s Supra toward the wall in Turn 1, perhaps denying the latter a chance to race for the win.
After the race, Smith confronted Custer and threw a punch at the reigning champion.
“I was planning to do a lot more than that, to be completely frank with you,” Smith said. “I was extremely pissed off. I gave him five laps before that caution came out (for Brandon Jones’ spin on Lap 220). I beat his bumper off and never shipped him or anything. The laps were winding down, and I was in a must-win. The 20 (Almirola) started to drive away — he was really good all day — I can’t waste any more time with him.
“I finally had a good enough run and pushed him up the race track and went on our way. But I gave him a chance for five laps before that. I think he was the first guy all day that chose the outside lane from third place (for the Lap 227 restart). That was very interesting, and he didn’t even give me a chance to make the corner when we got to Turn 1.”
Custer thought that made the drivers all-square, though Smith disagreed.
“Obviously, he wasn’t happy, but what goes around comes around,” Custer said. “He put us in the wall a few times this year. He used the bump-and-run on me. I used the bump-and-run on him…
“I don’t know how we’re not even. And then he punched me in the face. I couldn’t really tell if he even punched me in the face, it was so soft.”
Along with Almirola, Hill and Allmendinger, Allgaier put his No. 7 Chevrolet in the Championship 4 for the owners’ title.
Allmendinger’s race ended early after completing 13 laps following a battle with Custer that sent the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet up into the outside wall. Luckily for Allmendinger, his Oct. 19 victory at Las Vegas already solidified his spot in the Championship 4.
The 2024 Xfinity Series season will conclude next Saturday at Phoenix Raceway (7 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Almirola as the Martinsville race winner.
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Martin Truex Jr. made a sweeping statement in Saturday’s on-track time, putting his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the top starting position in Busch Light Pole Qualifying, backing up his chart-topping speed from an extended NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.
Truex turned a best final-round lap of 96.190 mph in qualifying, as Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott (95.840) and William Byron (95.951) completed the top three. The 44-year-old veteran’s 24th career Cup Series pole was his second straight in Martinsville’s fall event.
Truex was also best in single-lap speed and the consecutive 10-lap averages in a 45-minute practice session, a longer tune-up to give teams more experience with a new tire combination. JGR teammate Denny Hamlin was far less fortunate in the session when his No. 11 Toyota crashed midway through practice because of a stuck throttle. Hamlin will start at the back of the 37-car field. | Full Saturday recap
Big story line
Tire twists of fate in elimination showdown
The postseason stakes are sky-high in Sunday’s Xfinity 500, where the Cup Series Playoffs field will be trimmed from eight drivers to its final four championship-eligible contenders for the Bill France Cup on Nov. 10 at Phoenix Raceway. The wrinkle to this pivotal moment in the season is a trend that continues in Sunday’s showdown, a gravitation to softer-compound Goodyear rubber on short tracks.
Tire management, uncertainty and shifts in strategy may well be on the table for the crucial last race in the postseason’s Round of 8. Teams will use Goodyear’s “option tire” as the right-side standard that was used in earlier events at North Wilkesboro and Richmond. On the left side, Goodyear officials indicated that new rubber billed as the “softest” in its portfolio will be the tire of choice.
“It’s a new tire again this time around, so there’s a lot of unknowns,” Paul Wolfe, crew chief of Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford for Joey Logano, said in a Thursday media availability. “You look at who was successful there in the spring, the Hendrick (Motorsports) cars were very good, but track conditions will likely be different, and the tire will be different as well. So it’s about the teams that can adapt to that will be the ones on top. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for strategy to mix things up and that’s the part that makes it tough, right? You can have the best car, you can have a top-five car, but all it’s going to take is one caution at the wrong time for you, and it’s going to flip things up and make it really interesting. So as a fan, I don’t think you could be more excited about going into the weekend.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
Teams were provided with extra practice time to put the new tire combination to the test, but the early hope was that the variables of wear and enhanced short-term grip could alter the race’s strategy. According to Cliff Daniels, crew chief for Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, the tire and aerodynamic packages in recent races at Martinsville haven’t necessarily placed a premium on falloff, and he suggested that a gamble for four fresh tires might not have offset the loss in track position. That could change in race conditions Sunday.
“I hope it does present options,” Daniels said. “I hope we’re able, if it’s a run of even 20 (laps) to go or whatever, I hope you get to see the mix of stay out, rights and four. I think that would be a really good environment for the sport, where you have the guys that are going to have to defend, and the guys that are going to be able to attack, and then, of course, somewhere in between.”
Only Las Vegas victor Logano and last week’s Homestead-Miami winner Tyler Reddick have playoff immunity with already-clinched berths for the Phoenix finale. Two more spots are up for grabs: Christopher Bell and William Byron are on the plus side of the bubble, and Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott face deficits.
Byron, Larson and Elliott went 1-2-3 for Hendrick Motorsports in the most recent Martinsville race back in April, but a handful of playoff crew chiefs suggested that the approach for Sunday’s 500 was to start from scratch.
“I mean, completely,” said Adam Stevens, crew chief for Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “We do have laps on this right-side (tire), but not Martinsville laps, and how will the tires behave. Even if you understand a little bit about the tire, you’re taking it to a new place. It’s a new surface, a whole different set of conditions. Obviously, the way you go fast around Martinsville is different than the way you go fast around Richmond. So you start over. It completely changes what an optimal setup will be, and once we get there, there’s not a lot we can change. So you kind of make your bed when you load that thing in the truck, and then you’re just fine-tuning. So it is a game-changer when you have a new tire.”
History tells us…
High hopes for the remaining half-dozen. Two drivers — Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick — have clinched their Phoenix finale spots by virtue of their victories earlier in the Round of 8. For the remaining playoff-eligible six, they’re all bound by a common thread besides their Championship 4 aspirations: All are former Martinsville winners.
Denny Hamlin leads the playoff pack with five Martinsville triumphs, but his winless drought here is also the longest. He last captured Martinsville’s grandfather clock trophy in 2015. For perspective, six of that day’s top 10 finishers have since retired from Cup Series competition (Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Jamie McMurray).
Hamlin’s 37th-place starting spot has some history working against it as well. Only once in Martinsville history (151 Cup Series races) has a driver started outside the top 30 and won. Kurt Busch drove from 36th to victory here in October 2002.
No single manufacturer has a clear upper hand in recent events at Martinsville, but Chevrolet boasts a strong trend of four wins here in the last six races. The automaker has the opportunity to clinch the manufacturer’s championship for the 43rd time in Sunday’s 500-lapper.
He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…
CHASE BRISCOE. Just two races remain for Briscoe’s efforts under the Stewart-Haas Racing banner, but his chances for a solid showing at Martinsville are high. The No. 14 Ford driver has scored five consecutive top-10 finishes at the 0.526-mile track, a streak shared only by Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano — both former Martinsville winners.
Briscoe’s average finish of 7.4 in that five-race span is fourth-best among all Cup Series drivers, making his 22-1 opening odds an intriguing spot on the board. He starts a commendable fourth in Sunday’s event. | Martinsville odds
Speed reads
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Fantasy Update: Hung throttle drops Denny Hamlin, Hendrick Motorsports surging | Read article
• Lasting legacy: A tribute to the SHR No. 4 team’s defining excellence | Read article • Blaney’s reflection: No. 12 driver ‘lost some sleep’ over Homestead finish | Read article • Bell’s path on points?: JGR driver says ‘nothing’s guaranteed except for wins’ | Read article • Bubble Watch: Three former Cup champs aiming to sew up spots | Photo gallery • Turning Point: Historic moments in the making at Martinsville | Read article
• Hamlin’s hindrance: Midseason setback has lasting effect on title race | Read article
• Crucial timing: Pivotal 14-minute span at Homestead tilted the playoffs | Read article • Playoff-time projections: Racing Insights predicts finishing order for Martinsville | Read article
• Clinch scenarios: Drivers’ pathways to advance in Round of 8 finale | Read article • No. 23’s new chief: Charles Denike tapped to guide Wallace in 2025 | Read article
• Power Rankings: Chase Elliott aims to churn up 2020 vibes | Photo gallery • NASCAR Betting: Big board of favorites, dark horses for Sunday | Photo gallery • 36 for 36: This week’s survivor pool picks for Martinsville | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Prime time for playoff bubble drivers to excel | Photo gallery • Memorable moments: All-timers from Martinsville’s rich history | Photo gallery • NASCAR Classics: Rewind with a three-pack of Martinsville favorites | Read article
• Paint Scheme Preview: Down to the wire with fresh designs | Pick your favorite
Fast facts ⏩
Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers have scored Martinsville wins in the last eight races here. • Kyle Larson leads the Cup Series in wins (6), stage wins (12) and laps led (1,616) this season. • Nine Cup Series drivers have broken a winless skid of 42 races or more this year, most in a single season.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. may be out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but the veteran driver still has compelling goals, as he proved with a pole-winning run on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
After a final-round lap at 96.190 mph (19.686 seconds), Truex will start from the top spot in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Behind him and next to him, six playoff drivers, led by second-place starter Chase Elliott, will begin their battle for the final two positions in the Nov. 10 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.
And at the opposite end of the spectrum, playoff driver Denny Hamlin, Truex’s teammate, will start from the rear after a bizarre wreck in practice damaged his No. 11 Toyota, preventing him from making a qualifying run.
“I feel great about our car on stickers (new tires),” said Truex, who was 0.049 seconds faster than third-place starter William Byron, who posted a lap at 95.931 mph in the final round. “You never want to get too optimistic, but I fired off really good in practice, especially that second run with the track rubbered in.
“I was like, ‘If we can just hit the balance here for qualifying, it should be really fast.'”
Earlier this season, Truex announced he will retire from full-time racing at season’s end.
“We’ve got two more chances to win,” said Truex, who earned his third pole at Martinsville, his first of the season and the 24th of his career. “We want it bad, we’re working hard, we’re not giving up, and hopefully we can get it for everyone.”
Though he was fifth fastest in the final round, Elliott starts second because he was the fastest of the five qualifiers in Group A. That left Byron in third, Chase Briscoe in fourth and Ty Gibbs in fifth.
Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon will start from positions six through 10 respectively. The three Hendrick Motorsports drivers — Elliott, Byron and Larson — are the only playoff drivers in the top 10 on the grid.
Other playoff drivers qualified as follows: Joey Logano (12th), Ryan Blaney (14th), Christopher Bell (16th) and Tyler Reddick (31st). Logano and Reddick already have qualified for the Championship 4 with respective victories at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami.
As qualifying progressed, Hamlin’s crew was trying to repair his primary car, which backed into the Turn 3 wall when the throttle stuck during practice, thanks to a chunk of rubber that found its way into the throttle body.
“We had just come back out, we had just made an adjustment to the car, and it was doing everything it needed to do,” Hamlin said. “It was maneuvering through the pack pretty well. I went into Turn 3, and the car just didn’t slow down, and the throttle hung on us. The throttle had no chance to come backwards.
“That certainly caught me off guard, but it happens. We just got unlucky.”
Truex was sympathetic to his teammate’s misfortune but wasn’t worried about a similar circumstance on his car.
“About as much as I’m concerned about getting hit by lightning,” Truex quipped. “One-in-a-million. I don’t know how — his number just came up.”
Truex tops Cup Series practice at Martinsville
With Goodyear introducing a new left-side tire compound at Martinsville, NASCAR decided to run an extended 45-minute practice session to allow teams to collect tire data.
Before snagging the pole in qualifying, Martin Truex Jr. topped the leaderboard in practice at 95.070 mph over Corey LaJoie (94.989 mph) and Denny Hamlin (94.884 mph).
Christopher Bell (94.855 mph) and Chase Elliott (94.836 mph) rounded out the top five.
Ty Gibbs (94.789 mph), Chase Briscoe (94.689 mph), Todd Gilliland (94.685 mph), Austin Dillon (94.482 mph) and Daniel Suárez (94.463 mph) completed the top 10.
Playoff driver Hamlin entered Martinsville 18 points below the elimination line, but his path to the Championship 4 got tougher as the No. 11 JGR Toyota crashed in Turn 3 during practice.
Hamlin told his crew on the radio that the throttle stuck which caused him to spin and back his car into the wall. He will start Sunday’s Xfinity 500 from the back of the field after skipping qualifying for his team to repair the rear damage.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Entering Sunday’s Round of 8 elimination Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, Christopher Bell is the only driver chasing a point total to make his third consecutive Championship 4.
The magic number? 34.
Thirty-four points will guarantee a trilogy for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver at Phoenix Raceway next weekend as he continues the quest for his maiden championship. However, having a point target has put Bell and his team in a bind as they will also be in a points battle with Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron and Kyle Larson if there’s a playoff driver beneath them who wins on Sunday.
“It’s definitely putting us in an interesting position because one thing that my team does really well is just focus on ourselves and doing the best that we can for ourselves that day,” Bell said. “But with the points situation, I think it makes a little bit of sense to kind of see what the competition is doing. Myself, William and Larson, we’re in a points battle amongst the three of us. The thing that is playing against that is I’m sure William and Larson are going to be racing for the win, so that means that we’re going to have to be racing for the win as well. If the yellow flags make the strategy wonky, maybe it’s a situation where we just do whatever they do and try to stay on the same strategy with them, and we’ll lose together or win together. What you don’t want to happen is be on the losing side of it when they’re on the winning side of it and give up a bunch of points.”
Bell hit it right on the nose. Not only have himself, Byron and Larson won at Martinsville, but every driver that’s yet to punch their ticket to the Championship 4 has won at the Virginia short track.
Despite entering the penultimate race of the season with a 29-point cushion to the elimination line, Adam Stevens, Bell’s crew chief, has tossed out the notion of it being an advantage given how good the remaining playoff drivers are at Martinsville.
“The gap to the cut doesn’t matter,” Stevens emphasized. “The gap to our nearest competitor is what matters because regardless of what happens, we know one car is going to make it on points. So the gap to the cut, you have to assume there’s going to be a winner out of our playoff cars, so it’s the gap to our closest competitor.
“There’s only going to be one winner. So if three or four of them are at the front late, there’s going to be a lot of paint being traded, and that can set up some carnage — and some carnage that you don’t want to get caught in. So it’s going to be very interesting how it all plays out. Everybody that’s not qualified yet for Phoenix is a winner at Martinsville, which is kind of remarkable, isn’t it? It doesn’t even make sense. So everybody knows what they’re looking for there. Now whether we can all find it or not, I don’t know, but I would not at all be surprised if it’s not all of us in those top four or five spots.”
Bell has been near-perfect eight races deep into the postseason. He’s finished inside the top 10 in every playoff race except for Watkins Glen International and has finished runner-up in two of the last three.
It’s a position that’s new for Bell as he built quite the resume for himself in the regular season with three race victories and 10 stage wins.
In the two prior years when the Norman, Oklahoma native made the Championship 4, he needed to pull off heroics with walk-off wins at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and Martinsville in 2022, followed by a massive shake-up at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year that opened the door for his golden ticket to Phoenix.
He won’t need a Freddie Freeman-esque moment from Game 1 of the World Series to make the Champ 4 this year, but Bell is staying mindful of the task at hand while feeling some relief being in the position he is now.
“Certainly, this is what we’ve strived for,” Bell said. “Everybody strives to have the most bonus points, and we didn’t accomplish that. We’re second, but still, second is better than the rest of them, so it has made our playoffs go extremely smooth. But we know that getting into the Round of 8, it doesn’t matter how many points you have, you’re going to have to be competing for wins. We’ve done that, and we’re in position. It was definitely a huge benefit having the points in getting through the Round of 16, the Round of 12, and yeah, it was a good head start in the Round of 8. If I didn’t have those points, I likely wouldn’t be sitting in this position today.
For Bell, near-perfect isn’t enough. What looked to be a solidified win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago was taken away by Joey Logano’s fuel management in the final green-flag run. It left Bell frustrated, knowing what could have been and that the No. 20’s title fate would’ve been set, and Martinsville wouldn’t have mattered.
But that’s not the case, and Bell isn’t taking anything for granted when the green flag drops Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
“I feel like people in the industry, they understand that, but the people outside of the industry, they didn’t understand the magnitude of that one position, right?” Bell said of his Vegas shortcoming. “And I got all week long, ‘Oh, you’re still plus-42, you’re plus-42, you’re in a great spot.’ But no, you’re not in a great spot. And nothing is guaranteed. I did everything in my power at Homestead, and that plus-42 shrinked to plus-29, and likely again this week, there’s a very good possibility that that plus-29 is going to shrink to plus-single digits depending on who wins the race. Nothing’s guaranteed except for wins, and that’s why winning is so important.”
Denny Hamlin crashed during Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Martinsville Speedway, creating a significant hurdle for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team, which will start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s Round of 8 finale.
Entering Turn 3, Hamlin carried tremendous speed before sending his Toyota into a skid, careening rear-first into the outside retaining SAFER barrier.
“(Expletive) throttle stuck,” Hamlin radioed to his crew.
Hamlin wheeled the No. 11 Toyota back to the garage area and exited the vehicle under his own power, slamming his helmet onto his roof upon exit in frustration. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center.
“I went in Turn 3, and the car just didn’t slow down, and the throttle hung on us,” Hamlin said. “So that certainly caught me off guard. But it happens, you know. We just got unlucky.”
The No. 11 crew pared away crumpled body panels from the primary car in the team’s garage stall, then sent the Toyota through inspection to determine if the wreck altered its measurements. The team worked through the afternoon to make repairs at the track, opting against unloading a reserve No. 11. Crew members went to the JGR No. 54 hauler and unloaded a massive tool cart, loaded with spare bodywork and components.
Hamlin said that No. 11 crew chief Chris Gabehart had shown him how a stray chunk of rubber had found its way under the hood, lodging into the throttle body to cause the incident. Hamlin indicated he’d had a sticking throttle before, but never one that held wide open. “I mean, if it’s a one in 100,000 chance, it’s going to fall on me,” Hamlin said of the fluke occurrence, “so I’ll probably have it again.”
The No. 11 Toyota had posted the fastest lap of Saturday afternoon’s practice at 19.957 seconds before the incident, a figure that was eclipsed only by JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Corey LaJoie later in the session. Hamlin did not participate in Cup Series qualifying and will have to start Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) from the rear of the field. The team will also be last in the pecking order for pit-stall selection and will try to make measured headway early in the 500-lap race.
“That will be the short-term goal, yeah, is certainly to try to find a way to put some cars between us and the leaders to stay on the lead lap,” Hamlin said. “It will be difficult to do that, but we’ll just give it our best shot. I mean, we’re not going to give up.”
Hamlin enters Sunday sixth in the standings, 18 points beneath the provisional elimination line. Sunday’s 500-lap affair determines the four playoff drivers who will vie for the Cup Series title in the Championship 4 on Nov. 10 at Phoenix Raceway. A win would seal Hamlin’s position in the quartet, and the 43-year-old veteran indicated that would be the most likely avenue to transfer: “Certainly, the chances of getting in on points now are done. We just have to figure out a way to win the race.”
Gabehart told NBC Sports the primary car performed well enough that it’s worth evaluating thoroughly before immediately opting for the backup.
“Most of the (rear) clip looks fine, we think,” he said. “We’re gonna go take a couple measurements here in a minute, and then it would just be replacing some body panels and a bumper and getting back to it. There was a lot of good things about this car. Obviously, it fired off really fast and then was even better yet there. And unfortunately, just swallowed a big clump of rubber and got stuck in between the throttle stop and the throttle lever and hung the throttle.
“It wasn’t anything anybody did wrong. It’s just a freak deal, and we’re going to do the best we can to get this fixed.”
Hamlin was on the brink of advancing last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, sitting second behind Ryan Blaney at the drop of the white flag. The automatic spot in the Nov. 10 final at Phoenix, however, went to Tyler Reddick, who bypassed them both in a captivating final lap to reach the Championship 4 for the first time.
Saturday at Martinsville produced a new challenge for the No. 11 team, but Gabehart had worked in the days leading up to Sunday’s 500-lapper to try to keep his team and driver from dwelling on the disappointment.
“What a moment, right? So, most any track on the circuit, you get the lead with five to go, you’re probably going to close it out. Homestead’s not one of those tracks,” Gabehart said in a Thursday morning interview. “That’s why we love it, and so it was a heck of a moment. I and the team were certainly dejected, I mean, to get so close to winning your way in and not. But to be honest with you, that’s what we love about it. That’s why we do it. It was a great moment to be a part of. You don’t always get to be a part of the winning moment. Sometimes you’re in the losing side, but it was a heck of a moment, and we’re all focused on Martinsville and trying to make another one.”
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The first 150 laps of an elimination race before the championship played out as calmly as a Martinsville Speedway showdown under the lights could play out.
Christian Eckes had the dominant truck in the penultimate event on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series calendar and was on his way to a clear berth to the Championship 4 after sweeping both stages.
As the laps wound down, however, tension began to crescendo as a string of cautions bunched the field together and split strategies.
Taylor Gray, whose only path to the Champ 4 was a victory, came down pit road after a Lap 164 caution for four tires and was able to surge to the front of the field after a pair of yellows. The No. 17 Tricon Garage driver was in prime position and left Eckes a sitting duck with under 10 to go and cleared the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgeman Racing wheelman on a restart with five to go.
However, Eckes delivered a shot to the rear bumper of Gray in Turn 3 that sent the No. 17 Toyota up the track and back into the swarm of the field as Eckes went to score his fourth victory of 2024, solidifying his Champ 4 bid.
“[Crew chief] Jeff Hensley had a great strategy call … on way fresher tires and yarded him … raced him super clean, and he ships me into the fence in [Turn 3 and 4],” said a fired-up Gray after confronting Eckes in Victory Lane. “He races like that [with] everybody. He does that all year long. He’s done it to everybody. He races [Tricon teammate] Corey [Heim] like that. He races everybody like that. But nobody cares because he’s won four races now.”
Eckes, who won the 2024 Regular Season Championship, said he wasn’t going to let a dominant truck lose the race.
“These guys work way too hard for us to lose a race regardless of the circumstances,” Eckes said. “I had to race harder than I probably would like to. But at the end of the day, I didn’t want to lose that race. We led 187 laps of 200 so it’s just kind of a situation where I don’t want to race like that, but at the same time, I wasn’t going to let us lose.”
Gray said he understood the circumstances that could unfold at short tracks in late-race situations but was left befuddled as to why Eckes felt the need to move him when Eckes’ title fate was all but decided after the first two stages.
“It’s dumb,” Gray said. “Yeah, probably because it’s Martinsville so people are going to move you out of the way. But don’t ship me to the fence whenever I raced you like that down here. Also, he has so much more to lose than I do. I’m racing to win to lock in. He’s locked in. He won both stages … like it’s just … whatever.”
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Gray added that he “can’t do anything” in next Friday’s championship race at Phoenix Raceway with the thought of possible discipline.
“No, it’s just gonna make me myself look like an idiot, and I don’t want to look like that,” Gray said. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my career, done plenty of things. I’ve tried to clean it up the past couple years. And I raced him so clean down here [in Turns 1 and 2], and he ships me off into three.”
Tricon Garage owner David Gilliland said racers “don’t forget what happened” regarding Eckes’ move as Eckes begins to prepare for a bid at the Truck title. Had Eckes allowed Gray a win, Eckes likely would have advanced on points.
“He (Eckes) would have had nothing to lose to do that,” Gilliland told NASCAR.com. “Now he’s got everything to lose. So wasn’t very smart on his end but guess we’ll see what happens.
“Eckes is racing for a championship and that’s not a very good way to do it. Maybe that’s why he’s never won one.”
Eckes shrugged off concerns about retaliation at Phoenix and emphasized the need to race hard for a win at the Virginia short track as well as why he’s in the position, and arguably the favorite, to win a championship.
“We’re just gonna go in the next week with our mind clear,” Eckes said. “Hopefully they understand that it’s just Martinsville and a product of that. I’d be mad if I was him, too, but it’s Martinsville and I feel like you have to race hard here.
“[Truck owner] Bill McAnally hired me to win races. That’s what we’re here to do, and championships. It’s definitely a risk to race like that. But you know, in the same time, I felt like our truck was was good enough, and our guys deserve to win this week.”
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Christian Eckes wasn’t about to lose a race he had dominated, even if it meant using the front bumper on his No. 19 Chevrolet — twice.
After a restart with five laps left in Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway, Eckes first moved the Toyota of Taylor Gray and then the Ford of Ben Rhodes — both of which were rolling on 40-lap fresher tires — to win the race and earn a spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Championship 4 race next week.
Six-time 2024 winner Corey Heim ran seventh and Ty Majeski came home 11th as both earned berths in the Championship 4 on points, eliminating Gray, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum and Rajah Caruth in the final event of the Round of 8.
Eckes, Heim, Majeski and Grant Enfinger will race for the title on Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
After the restart on Lap 196 of 200, Gray used his better tires to squeeze past Eckes to the outside. Eckes regained the top spot by moving Gray up the track. A lap later, Rhodes passed Eckes, who completed the fourth lead change in the final five laps by shoving the No. 99 Ford on Lap 198.
Free of his competitors, Eckes crossed the finish line two laps later, 1.191 seconds ahead of Rhodes. Chase Purdy and Gray were third and fourth, followed by Sanchez.
“Like I told everybody, I wasn’t going to lose this race — this truck was too good,” Eckes said. “The 17 (Gray) was hard racing. I feel bad about the 99 (Rhodes). I just got way too loose entering the corner.
“(Hearing boos from the crowd). Everybody’s really happy with me — but I don’t really care. I’m proud of everybody for working hard, and we’re going to Phoenix.”
The victory was Eckes’ fourth of the season, his second at Martinsville and the ninth of his career, but it came with a price.
After climbing from his truck, Gray walked angrily toward Eckes and expressed his displeasure in no uncertain terms.
A victory would have landed Gray in the Championship 4 at the expense of Majeski, who instead claimed the last spot by 28 points over Gray.
“I got sent to the fence when I raced him perfectly clean in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Gray said. “What goes around comes around. I have to race him next year all year long (when both move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series).
“The 19 (Eckes) was the class of the field, right? But it’s not my fault we had better strategy than he did. We came out on tires; we drove through the field and we drove to him. I raced him clean, and he drove me in the fence. I guess the only thing I could have done is wreck him like he wrecked me.”
Eckes swept the first two stages, his series-best 10th and 11th of the season and led 187 of the 200 laps. He held a substantial lead before a six-car accident in Turn 2 on Lap 190 caused the sixth and final caution and set up the frenetic finish.
For practical purposes, Gray, Sanchez, Ankrum and Caruth entered the race in must-win situations. Ankrum finished eighth, and Caruth came home 31st after losing 21 laps in the garage as his team repaired a brake issue on his No. 71 Chevrolet.
Despite finishing third in each of the first two stages, Sanchez was 39 points out of a Championship 4 position when the race ended.
NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue, confirming Eckes and his No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team as the winners.
This weekend, Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) offers one final opportunity in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 for the six postseason competitors not locked in to compete for the final two open positions in the Championship 4. Two of the coveted four spots are spoken for, thanks to Team Penske’s Joey Logano taking the victory at the Round of 8 opener in Las Vegas Motor Speedway and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick pocketing the win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That leaves just two spots open, and we know at least one of two spots will be claimed by a driver on points.
The following two drivers have clinched a spot in the four-driver field of the next round: Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano.
Can Clinch Via Points
If there is a repeat winner or a win by a driver who cannot advance to the next round, the following drivers could clinch by being ahead of the third winless driver in the standings. The same point requirements listed below would hold true if a new win comes from Christopher Bell or William Byron.
Christopher Bell: Would clinch with 26 points.
William Byron: Would clinch with 49 points.
Kyle Larson: Could only clinch with help.
Denny Hamlin: Could only clinch with help.
Ryan Blaney: Could only clinch with help.
Chase Elliott: Could only clinch with help.
If there is a new winner from Kyle Larson or another winless driver lower in the standings but still eligible to advance to the next round, the following drivers could clinch by being ahead of the second winless driver in the standings.
Christopher Bell: Would clinch with 34 points.
William Byron: Could only clinch with help.
Kyle Larson: Could only clinch with help.
Denny Hamlin: Could only clinch with help.
Can Clinch Via Win
The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Christopher Bell, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott.
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:
Steve Luvender: 910
r/NASCAR Community: -109
Dustin Albino: -150
Cameron Richardson: -169
Race 35 of 36: Martinsville
Last week’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was a thriller, and Tyler Reddick’s win was a great day for two of our pickers — Steve Luvender and the r/NASCAR community — who selected the No. 45. The weekend was less fortunate for Cameron Richardson, who picked 36th-place finisher Ty Gibbs, and Dustin Albino, whose Kyle Larson selection netted just 24 points after a struggle from the No. 5.
Our panel has just two races left for the season, meaning they’ve got only two drivers remaining on their boards. How will our pickers take their 50-50 chance?
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 23, Bubba Wallace
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 5, Kyle Larson (24 points)
Total season points: 760 (third place, +1 since last week)
Dustin: What an epic collapse in the postseason. Not long ago, I was battling Luvender for the championship, and now, with two races remaining, I’m desperately trying to crawl out of the cellar. Every pick seems cursed, so next on the list — I’m sorry! — is Wallace. The southern Virginia paperclip-shaped track will always have a soft spot in Wallace’s heart, scoring his first national touring series victory here in 2013. Wallace has three top-10 finishes in the last four Martinsville events, including a career-best fourth in the spring race. He’s also wearing the Xfinity colors this weekend, which is also the entitlement sponsor of the race.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 11, Denny Hamlin
Steve’s pick last week: No. 45, Tyler Reddick (57 points)
Total season points: 910 (first place)
Steve: My patience in saving Tyler Reddick for Homestead last week paid off with a win, so I’m feeling pretty good about my triple-digit points lead with two races left. Entering Martinsville this weekend, my pick Denny Hamlin needs to erase an 18-point deficit in order to advance to the championship race. With five wins at Martinsville — though his most recent came in 2015 — I think Driver No. 11 will put up some points Sunday.
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 54, Ty Gibbs (1 point)
Total season points: 741 (fourth place, -1 from last week)
Cameron: Sigh. Homestead went any way but in my favor and now it’s just hope and pray for the last two events. Going with Larson for this one because, similarly to why I picked Chase Elliott at the Roval, Larson has a single-digit deficit to the elimination line and will try to maximize points as well as go for the checkered flag at Martinsville on Sunday. Hendrick Motorsports was virtually unstoppable in the spring event, leading 238 of the 400 laps as William Byron followed by Larson and Elliott to complete the podium.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 41, Ryan Preece
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 45, Tyler Reddick (57 points)
Total season points: 801 (second place)
With only Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece left on the board, the r/NASCAR subreddit selected Preece for Sunday’s race. Here’s what Redditors had to say about their choice of the No. 41 this week in the voting thread:
u/iiRyanPreece: “My account’s namesake, Ryan Preece. Preece runs really well at the short tracks as we know. Blaney is obviously strong at Martinsville too but he is also very good at Phoenix. Preece regardless of availability is a very nice and strong pick for a short track, but especially one like Martinsville that is similar to places he grew up racing on.”
u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “This last choice is tough, but I have to go with Preece. I could see an argument for Blaney, I’ve made one myself, but Phoenix is his best track, and I doubt he wins this one. Preece probably won’t win, but a top five is likely considering how good he’s been lately. Hell, who knows. Stranger things have happened. I’m changing my answer, Blaney, if he makes the final four he won’t get stage points”
u/Joey_Logano (no relation): “Ryan Jeffrey Preece. The youngest NASCAR Whelen Modified champion gets the glorious honor of being our second to last pick of the season. I don’t even really know what else to say. Short tracks are Preece’s (Wonder) bread and butter. Preece won the pole for the spring race in 2023 along with a ninth-place finish in the fall. He also [won] the Modified race last season.”
u/notalifetextbook: “Blaney has more upside at Phoenix than Preece, even if he doesn’t win this week. If you play Preece next week then you’re gonna be burned. Play him here. He’s good at short tracks.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues. And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
