DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park have postponed this weekend’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event due to a forecast of continued rain and cold temperatures forecasted for Sunday. The race has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 5. The start time will be announced at a later date.
The Icebreaker 150 was originally scheduled for this Sunday, March 30.
The Saturday portion of the 51st Icebreaker at Thompson Speedway is still on as scheduled for Saturday, March 29, as is Friday’s planned Practice Day. However, the entire Sunday schedule of divisions and events have been moved to Saturday, April 5.
For updated event information as available, fans may go to nascar.com/regional.
On Friday night, Toyota will mark its 500th race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
In 499 previous races, Toyota drivers have claimed 236 combined victories, led by Kyle Busch with 56, Todd Bodine with 22 and Johnny Benson with 14.
That prolific winning record, which began with Travis Kvapil’s victory at Michigan on July 31, 2004, has led to nine drivers’ championships and 13 manufacturers’ titles.
Driving the flagship Tundra for Toyota on Friday is Corey Heim of Tricon Garage, who has contributed 13 victories to the manufacturer’s total since his series debut in 2021.
Heim has two wins in four starts this season and leads the series standings by eight points over reigning champion Ty Majeski.
Heim won at Martinsville in 2023 and has posted three top 10s in four starts there.
Chevrolet driver Grant Enfinger, however, may be a strong candidate to spoil the Toyota party. Enfinger comes to Martinsville with a career-best streak of nine straight top 10s, dating back to last season.
In addition, Cup Series regular William Byron returns to the Truck Series in the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Byron gave Spire its first win in the series at Martinsville in 2022.
Also, the Craftsman Truck Series’ Triple Truck Challenge gets underway this Friday at Martinsville with the highest finishing Truck Series regular taking home a $50,000 bonus in prize money.
Ty Majeski begins the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season proudly displaying a new patch on his ThorSport Racing firesuit — “Champion.” The driver from Wisconsin secured the series’ top honor in 2024, following footsteps of his teammate, Ben Rhodes, who achieved the title the previous season.
“ThorSport’s coming off of, you know, two consecutive championships now,” Majeski said in an interview with NASCAR.com. “Which is pretty special. It’s hard to get one and really hard to go back to back. And so we’re pretty proud of that. You know, our race team out of Ohio is a little bit of an anomaly to NASCAR, being outside of the Charlotte area. So we’re pretty proud to do that.
“Just very thankful to have the opportunity to race for them and have a great group around me with my No. 98 guys, and yeah, just give us more drive to want to repeat. You know, we had a really good season last year.”
That championship “drive” for back-to-back titles is something that can be seen throughout the opening four races of this year’s Truck campaign.
With just one finish outside of the top 10 — 11th-place result at Homestead-Miami Speedway — and several upcoming race tracks that align well with Majeski’s short-track experience, it is almost reasonable to assume the race team based in Sandusky, Ohio, could be on the verge of a win.
“Looking at the schedule, this is a really good area in the schedule for us,” Majeski continued in the interview. “Martinsville, Bristol, then we go to Rockingham and then, I think, to Texas, Kansas, North Wilkesboro, Charlotte. So all tracks that that we’ve ran well at with the No. 98 team.
“This is kind of the heart of the season here. So this is where we need to keep some trucks together because the schedule gets incredibly brutal. Truck teams don’t have the infrastructures to just go and, you know, wreck trucks every week and be able to get them turned back around. So we need to be smart and take calculated risks these next few weeks. Try and keep trucks intact so we can just fluff on them instead of trying to rebuild them just to get to the next race.”
Calculated risks are something to keep in the front of mind in this stretch of racing, not only the wildcard nature that presents itself at Martinsville and Bristol but the spotlight that is cast onto these tracks in the postseason.
Valuable data to be mined in the coming weeks as teams with eyes set on championship glory start to prepare for when the series returns to Bristol on Sept. 11 for the second Round of 10 race and Martinsville on Oct. 24 for the Round of 8 finale.
“It’s a big deal, Majeski said. “We’ve been working on sim incredibly hard to try and get everything as realistic as we can possibly make it because we know this is our one shot to maybe experiment.
“We’re using this weekend to step outside of our comfort zone a little bit and come up with something a little bit different to try to be a little bit better for the for the fall race. So yeah, a little bit of an R&D type weekend. I mean, we’re confident it’s going to be good, but, like I said, stepping outside of our comfort zone in hopes of being better for the playoffs, that obviously is the is the cutoff race. Hopefully, we’re locked in by then. But if we’re not, we want to make sure we’re prepared.”
Not only are the next few events crucial in the success later down the road, the Truck Series has some new additions that bring a refreshed challenge for competitors. With the return to Rockingham on the horizon slated for April 18, the series also welcomes Lime Rock Park (June 28) and the familiar Charlotte Roval (Oct. 3) to the schedule.
Challenges the defending series champion approaches with a positive outlook.
“I like road-course racing. It’s fun, Majeski said. “It’s a change of pace, something a little bit different. Yeah, there’s a lot of short-tracks on the schedule, you know, with Wilkesboro being added, you know, a couple of years ago. You know, New Hampshire is back. So there’s really the a lot of the races that we go to are probably considered short-tracks, which is, you know, obviously at my wheelhouse. So I think the schedule is headed a great direction.
“Glad to see it expand a little bit and go to some different areas, some different areas of the country. I’ve never been to New Hampshire and Lime Rock. I’ve never even been up to the northeast yet. So happy to get up there a couple of times this year. And, yeah, step outside of our comfort zone a little bit.”
Ty Majeski will continue his quest to notch his first win of 2025 as he joins the other Truck Series competitors at Martinsville Speedway on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (March 27, 2025) – Christopher Bell will celebrate Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway by honoring his racing mentor, Rick Ferkel, with a pair of throwback schemes designed to replicate Rick’s most recognizable car designs from his racing career. Bell will pilot the No. 19 Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra in Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race before sporting a vintage Ferkel Sprint Car look on his No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Track Too Tough to Tame.
Bell credits Ferkel with giving him his introduction and break into the sprint car racing world. As Bell continued his climb up the ranks, he continued to rely on Ferkel’s guidance along the way. Ferkel is best known as the “Ohio Traveler” after winning more than 400 feature events. He was also an original member of the World of Outlaws. Ferkel passed away on Jan. 1, 2024, at the age of 84. Bell honors Ferkel on a regular basis with a special decal on the dash of his No. 20 car every weekend.
“Rick really helped put me on the national scene by giving me my first opportunity in a full-blown sprint car,” said Bell. “He hired me to drive a sprint car when I was a 16-year-old kid. I moved in with him and his family for a while. After I left Rick Ferkel Racing, he became a life mentor, a driver coach, and someone that I would lean on every week for advice, and he’d check in to see how I was doing. Rick always preached to me to make sure I drove as hard as I could at all times, and I’m honored to get to pay tribute to Rick at Darlington.”
Both of Bell’s Darlington car designs will feature a silver greenhouse area to mimic the look and feel of a sprint car wing. Rick’s name will ride above the name rail and each car will emphasize the number “0” in honor of the man who made it legendary in sprint car racing. Cathy Ferkel, Rick’s wife of over 49 years, will be in attendance Darlington race weekend along with several of Rick’s children and grandchildren.
Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway may only be the seventh race on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar, but it marks an important pivot point nonetheless.
Much like Phoenix and Las Vegas earlier this month, Martinsville will be the site of a crucial late-playoffs race in the fall, so any information gleaned here will be important for planning for the final transfer race to determine the Championship 4. And just like Homestead last week, Martinsville will also give us clues about contenders over the rest of the schedule because it marks the first of six short-track races (not counting the exhibitions at Bowman Gray and North Wilkesboro).
So those are the big-picture stakes for Sunday afternoon. But there are also personal stakes for each driver — and perhaps none more than for the drivers we expect to do well at Martinsville. These drivers need to live up to projections to keep pace with their own expectations for the season … or maybe even just to salvage something good from a rough start.
As we head into the first short track race of the season, let’s take a look at the top 12 drivers in my current predicted Driver Rating rankings for these types of tracks — grouping them by what’s at stake for each, and what they’ll be aiming to accomplish on race day.
Tier 1: Keep it rolling
There isn’t much to complain about with the seasons of Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron. Bell and Byron combined to win each of the season’s first four races, and Larson just scored what was probably an overdue first win of the season at Homestead to re-establish his place in the pecking order of title favorites. All have good previous records on short tracks, with Bell posting a 95.1 career Driver Rating on the track type (fourth-best among active Cup regulars, behind Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott), Larson riding a streak of three straight years with an average rating of 103.0 or better and Byron improving from an average rating of 85.7 in 2023 to a 93.4 in 2024.
The interesting thing for Bell is that his recent performance on short tracks is carried by his performance pretty much everywhere except Martinsville, despite his clutch win there in 2022. While Larson has an elite rating at any short track, and Byron is markedly better at Martinsville than elsewhere, Bell has a huge split in the opposite direction:
Surely, Bell would love to see a reversal in that trend, given how important Martinsville is to making the Championship 4 — remember, his 22nd-place finish there last fall cost him a spot by just one place. But otherwise, these guys won’t feel pressure aside from keeping the momentum going and gathering more data for playoff prep.
Tier 2: Solid, seeking a breakthrough
No active driver has been better at short tracks over the years than Denny Hamlin, according to Driver Rating — and he’s been especially dominant at Martinsville, where his five grandfather clocks are the most among active drivers. At No. 8 in the standings, he’s not exactly in desperation mode, though an 81.3 average Driver Rating this season is less dominant than we’re used to seeing from him. In a place where track position has been at a premium in the Next Gen era, we may not get to see Denny try to improve on his 15th-place ranking in Racing Insights’ new passing metric, but he will certainly put his No. 12 ranking on restarts to the test.
We’re also on the lookout for big days from Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney, two of the top projected short-track drivers, particularly at Martinsville. The pair come to Virginia having had mirror-image seasons of sorts: Elliott consistently grinding out a very solid 12.8 average finish despite a lack of dominance (80.3 average Driver Rating, just one top five and zero wins), while Blaney has shown tremendous speed (fourth per Racing Insights) and passing ability (first) but has also blown two engines already and was running at the finish of only half the races so far. Blaney sits 10th in the standings and has more urgency for a strong day — or really just a clean race — but this is a golden opportunity for both drivers to ignite a title chase.
And finally, Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace are a pair of interesting names for this tier: On the one hand, neither is a Martinsville master, despite Bowman having a win from 2021. Both have been inconsistent at short tracks over the years — Bowman and Wallace own fairly unspectacular career Driver Ratings of 73.5 and 69.2, respectively, although both have improved in recent years — so they are not especially high on the list of favorites for this weekend. However, Bowman is third in the standings with an average finish (9.5) that ranks second only to Byron. And while Wallace hasn’t had quite that same consistency of finishes (his average is 19.7), he ranks ninth in Driver Rating and No. 7 in points. These guys may not be looking at a checker, but any kind of good finish for either would be gravy, given their points placement early this year.
Tier 3: Time to make some noise
Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain all rank outside the Top 10 in points, even though they’ve landed there for a few different reasons. But the common thread is that this group is starting to feel urgency for results — with a good chance to get them this weekend.
For Chastain and Briscoe, they’ve lacked speed and have finagled some halfway-decent finishes (three combined top fives, four top 10s) almost purely on the strength of their racecraft. But their average running positions this season are 17.8 and 19.2, respectively, and they’ve both spent around only 50% of laps running in the Top 15 on average (Chastain 56.8%, Briscoe 44.9%). It’s still nice to make something out of nothing when you don’t have the horses to gallop to the front, and Martinsville is where savvy matters more than the average track. Briscoe is especially good at this: his average career Driver Rating is far higher on short tracks (77.7) than it is overall (67.2).
As for Logano, the pace hasn’t been an issue — he ranks seventh in Racing Insights’ new speed metric, to go with ranking sixth in passing and third in defense. (You think the latter two skills might come in handy at a track where bump-and-run maneuvers, like the one Joey did to Martin Truex Jr. in 2018, are an art form?) But the finishes haven’t followed, as the No. 22 car has a grand total of zero wins, zero top fives and zero top 10s in six starts this year. Logano still ranks 11th in points, but he needs some strong finishes. Why not get that started at the place where he’s won before and has a career Driver Rating of 96.8?
Tier 4: Desperate for signs of life
To say Brad Keselowski isn’t enjoying a vintage start to 2025 would be the season’s biggest understatement.
Just like Logano, Brad K. has zero top 10s – but unlike his longtime former Penske teammate, Keselowski’s underlying numbers do not suggest a process that will eventually yield results. He currently ranks 27th out of 36 Cup regulars in average Driver Rating (58.7, sandwiched between Todd Gilliland and Justin Haley), 32nd in average finish (25.0) and 33rd in Adjusted Points+ Index (52, or 48% worse than average). While he ranks 12th on defense, Keselowski is outside the Top 20 in each of Racing Insights’ other performance metrics.
And because of all this, he also ranks an unthinkably distant (and career-worst as a regular) 30th in points, far from the playoff cutline.
With all of the other drivers above, it’s far too early to call Martinsville a make-or-break race. But for Keselowski, that might actually be true. As a two-time winner there, and one of the sport’s top short track racers, he must drive to a respectable finish just to keep pace with any kind of expectations for a turnaround. Without a good run at what has traditionally been his best track type, what hope is there for Keselowski to perform well elsewhere?
SALISBURY, N.C. — There’s a new Busch blooming in the dirt-racing world — and he’s giving the older Busch a run for his money.
At just 9 years old, Brexton Busch raced his father, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, head-to-head for the first time in competition Wednesday at Millbridge Speedway. The duo raced nose-to-tail with Kyle Busch fifth and Brexton Busch sixth for much of the night’s 20-lap feature in the 600cc Winged Micros class, but the elder Busch escaped to a third-place finish on the final restart with six laps to go while Brexton earned an impressive sixth-place result in the 20-car field.
The scoreboard offered slim bragging rights for the veteran 39-year-old dad, but Kyle Busch’s experience competing straight-up against his son is one he sincerely cherishes.
“It was cool,” Kyle Busch said. “One of these days, we’ll get to battling it out and swapping back and forth, hopefully. But for a first-nighter, that’s definitely impressive for a 9-year-old to come on out here.”
The Busch brigade was quick all night, but not as quick as Kyle Busch hoped for. On the final restart, Kyle, a 63-race winner in Cup competition and defending track champion of the 600cc Winged Micros class, charged the outside to nab second before Nathan Meendering shot back to the runner-up spot on the bottom. Watching his dad take the high side, Brexton Busch decided to follow suit from fifth place but didn’t find the same momentum, allowing Kolson Nelson to storm to his inside, make slight contact in Turns 3 and 4 and take away the top-five spot.
Kyle Busch then had a front-seat for a thrilling photo finish between race-winner Joey Robinson and Meendering for the win.
“Our run was OK,” Kyle Busch said. “Just felt like we needed a little bit more there. It was just kind of fighting that bottom groove, everybody running the bottom. And then I jumped to the outside for the restart, and that seemed to pick me off one spot, I guess. But I was hoping there’d be more lanes than that when we got to traffic, and I never really found traffic.”
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media
In qualifying, both Busches flashed speed with Kyle qualifying third and Brexton seventh. Kyle then charged from fourth to second in Heat 2 and Brexton placing third in Heat 1. On the starting grid for the A Main, Kyle lined up fifth and Brexton seventh — just behind his dad. The first 13 laps ran without incident until race leader Tyler Lupton spun in Turn 2. The relatively long run resulted in Brexton settling into sixth place, following in his father’s tire tracks.
Under caution, the Busches advanced to fourth and fifth, respectively, before the final restart that allowed Kyle’s charge to third while Brexton fell to sixth.
“He did a great job, though,” Kyle Busch said. “I wasn’t very good, so I wasn’t making time going to the front, passing guys or getting closer to those in front of me to make a move. So I was just kind of holding my own riding, but trying as hard as I could. And if he was right there, then that’s pretty good. We’ve just got to work on our stuff.”
Wednesday night won’t mark the only time the father-and-son duo will compete against one another, but the next is yet to be determined. The opportunity to battle each other in a full-fledged competition is one Kyle has had in mind for years. Even so, the chance to do so now “kind of popped up” for the family.
“The other day, the guys were all like, ‘Are you racing too on Wednesday?'” Kyle Busch recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Well, yeah, why?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, you guys are going to be together.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, we are. Let’s go! Here it is.'”
Brexton Busch has been racing significantly more in recent years, competing in over 150 races in 2024, his mom and Kyle’s wife, Samantha Busch, told NASCAR.com. His love of the sport is evident, and the chance to compete against his dad was one he was excited about, too.
“I don’t know that there’s ever a right time, but obviously, he’s 9, and it’s just that he’s old enough to run in this class,” Kyle Busch said. “We thought that it would probably be another year until he was, but Millbridge here obviously has seen his racing, his craft, his development over the last year. And so they believe he’s experienced enough and good enough to be able to go out there and race with all the big guys tonight.”
John-Michael Shenette has long dreamed of competing in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at his home track, Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
That dream becomes a reality on Wednesday, April 16, when Shenette makes the trip from his home in North Carolina back to his old stomping grounds to compete in the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com (live on FloRacing).
“I have done, through my time in high school and college, more business plans, more letters to sponsors, major sponsors already in the sport, just trying to find people to put a program together to go (race at Thompson),” the 38-year-old said. “All I ever thought about doing was racing on the Whelen Modified Tour (at Thompson).
“Never once did I actually think it would happen.”
Shenette, who is from Thompson, Connecticut, grew up attending races at the 0.625-mile oval. He can remember watching drivers like Donny Lia, Keith Rocco, Bo Gunning, Ted Christopher and more battle for supremacy at the track considered one of the series’ most traditional venues.
Shenette began his own driving career when he was 7 at Little T Speedway, a quarter midget track located on the same property. He later became an employee at the big track, where he ran the scoreboard during races.
“Russ Dowd (the former announcer and general manager at Thompson who passed away on Feb. 16) was the first person to hire me to do any job,” Shenette recalled. “Russ hired me to run the scoreboard for $150 a night. Some nights were short, and my God some nights were long.
“Walking in the pit gate to go up to the scoring tower or wherever we were going that day and seeing all those Modifieds lined up in the center row in that pit area, man, all I ever wanted was one of those damn race cars.”
John-Michael Shenette during the FaithFest Evangelistic Ministries 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina on May 18, 2025. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Eventually, Shenette went from racing at Little T Speedway to competing at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. He got to race in a few different divisions at Thompson in his 20s, but he never got the chance to compete in a Modified Tour event.
For years, it appeared that dream would likely go unfulfilled.
“My last race at Thompson was the Icebreaker in 2016, and I just remember being so in my head and emotional about it,” Shenette said. “I was in a crate car, and I basically went out and almost won my heat race. I started fourth in the race and ended up having a guy tear a fender off the car because I went to the outside three-wide down in Turn 4 to pass two cars in fifth and sixth.
“I get excited about that place, but in 2016, that was the last time I thought I was ever going to be able to race at home. It was a big deal for me.”
After racing Late Models for several years and moving to North Carolina with his wife Nicole, Shenette gave up racing in 2019 to focus on building a business and spending time with his family.
It wasn’t until 2023 when Shenette rejoined the racing ranks. Thanks to his successful general contracting company Eighty-Two Services, Shenette was able to form his own team to pursue his racing dreams.
Since then, Shenette has raced sporadically as his work and family schedule has allowed. He’s also begun working with 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, who has raced Shenette’s Modified to finishes of fifth and eighth in a pair of Modified Tour races at Martinsville Speedway and Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, respectively.
Now, after two years of work building his program, Shenette will finally be able to check off his goal of racing in a Modified Tour event at his home track.
“I quit corporate America in 2020 because I didn’t want to be in corporate America anymore,” Shenette said. “Never once when I started Eighty-Two Services did I think it would generate enough income to start a Modified Tour team.”
Shenette hopes his story of perseverance can help motivate others to chase their own dreams, be it in the racing industry or elsewhere.
After all, if you’re going to dream, you may as well make your dreams epic.
“I never once thought it would happen, man,” Shenette said. “I’m so grateful for it.”
1. Will all four Hendrick drivers sit atop standings after Martinsville?
Kyle Larson’s battle with teammate Alex Bowman to capture the second win in six races for Hendrick Motorsports continued to show the team’s dominance as the championship organization takes control of the Cup Series standings.
The last time Hendrick Motorsports raced at Martinsville Speedway in the spring, it left the Virginia short track with a 1-2-3 on the results sheet. Come Sunday night, the winningest team in NASCAR history might be looking at a 1-2-3-4 sweep of its driver corps atop the Cup Series standings.
With fellow top-tier organizations Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing shining in spots but struggling to maintain consistent footing throughout the season’s first month and a half, the power vacuum has been enthusiastically filled by Hendrick’s quartet. The core four of Daytona 500 winner William Byron and Homestead winner Kyle Larson, alongside Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, have established a tier of dominance atop the Cup Series standings, currently occupying spots 1-2-3-6, respectively.
The 2020 champ Elliott is the low man there in sixth, but he’s just nine points short of being fourth on the board — as the series now heads to a track type he arguably had a better handle on than any other driver in 2024. No. 9 is currently riding a career-best, seven-race top-10 streak on short tracks, with the next closest drivers (Larson and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin) only at three apiece. He’s particularly great at Martinsville, with his 1,233 laps led there being the most he has at any track and more than double the amount at No. 2 (Phoenix, 553).
Elliott also owns the distinction of having run the most laps in the top five at Martinsville in the Next Gen (1,645) by a healthy margin (Hamlin, 1,485). It’s not just him who dominates, though; Larson has run the most laps in the top 10 in the Next Gen (2,125) and sports a bonkers 2.8 average finish in the last five Martinsville races after averaging a 20.5 in the 15 previous races. Something has clicked for him there, and it’s bad news for everybody else.
The two drivers separating the Hendrick contingent in spots four and five — Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell — are both capable of winning this weekend, but notably have combined for just five top 10s across 20 Martinsville starts. It feels safe to predict Elliott is likely to make up those nine points on them this Sunday; it’s then more just a matter of whether the other three maintain their pace.
Hendrick has won five of the last nine Martinsville races, with all four of its drivers winning at least once. Perhaps even more crucially, the team has yet to lose a spring race there in the Next Gen era.
Heading into the weekend, every other team in the garage must feel like they’re standing at the base of Mount Everest, just staring up in bewilderment at the journey ahead. Toppling Hendrick Motorsports this weekend won’t be impossible, but it’ll be a heck of a climb for anybody who wants to get there.
2. Where and when will Team Penske capitalize on early speed?
A winless team with just four top 10s across 18 combined starts among its trio of drivers might actually be … the strongest of anybody? Let’s analyze how soon Team Penske’s results will match its speed.
They say “it’s better to be lucky than good,” and in the case of Team Penske’s first six races of 2025, truer words have never been spoken.
The trio of Fords driven by three-time and defending champ Joey Logano, 2023 title winner Ryan Blaney and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric have shown exceptional front-of-the-field potential this year, topping the series with 247, 147 and 159 laps led, respectively, each being a 2025 stage winner for four total among them.
And what do they have to show for it? Next to nothing, with exactly zero race wins and Blaney the highest among them in the standings in 10th. Logano, fresh off locking up and throwing away the key on his Hall of Fame case with a third Cup title, doesn’t even have a top 10 yet. Blaney, first in passing and fourth in speed for the season per NASCAR Insights, is riding the longest DNF-streak of his career after retiring early in each of the last three weeks.
All of that is about to be flipped on its head, with Penske being perhaps so good that luck doesn’t even enter the equation.
While the team obviously, as alluded to above, will likely have its hands full working on ways to outcompete Hendrick on Sunday, it does have arguably the driver to beat at the track in its stable in Blaney, who has outclassed the field under an intense amount of pressure with clutch wins there to make the Championship 4 each of the past two seasons. Despite Hendrick winning each spring race in the Next Gen era, Blaney has the best average finish overall there in this car (3.5), and it’s easy to see him whittling that down further on Sunday, given how fast he’s been. Also worth noting: He’s always been good there, with his 8.3 average Martinsville finish in his Cup career best among active drivers.
Assuming no calamity — which you shouldn’t do for Martinsville, of course, but for the sake of the analysis here, we will — all three of them will have a shot at finally harnessing the speed that continues to show up on Saturdays and for half of Sundays before they’re left collectively scratching their heads by Sunday evening.
Logano’s 11 straight top 10s at Martinsville is the longest active top 10 streak at the track and his longest streak anywhere. He’s also finished sixth or better in five of the last six races there, and the first top-10 run of the year for a driver who has finished all 32 of his Martinsville starts feels like a near-certainty this weekend.
The 26-year-old Cindric’s Martinsville history obviously is not as deep as his veteran teammates, but he did turn in his best run there yet (fourth) in his sixth start last November, with both of his two career short-track top 10s coming there and each in the last three races.
The first stretch of the season has undoubtedly been a frustrating one for the back-to-back-to-back Cup championship-winning organization, but with that amount of speed on a consistent basis, it’s only a matter of time before things take a turn for the better and the sun starts shining again.
And it’s looking like it’ll finally be a bright, sunshiney day for Team Penske this weekend in Virginia.
Jeff Gordon describes the fast start that Hendrick Motorsports has had to the 2025 season but acknowledges there is still more work to be done.
4. Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin among best ever at Martinsville
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, both with close family ties to the area, always seem to excel at the Virginia short track. Turns out, they’re two of the best to ever do it at NASCAR’s oldest racing venue. (Credit: Racing Insights; minimum 10 starts)
Driver
Average finish
Starts
Wins
Lee Petty
5.54
24
3
Jeff Gordon
6.74
47
9
Ryan Blaney
8.33
18
2
Cale Yarborough
8.74
31
6
Clyde Minter
8.80
10
0
Rex White
9.19
16
2
Joe Weatherly
9.69
13
1
Jimmie Johnson
9.87
38
9
Denny Hamlin
10.03
38
5
David Pearson
10.07
28
1
5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage
On March 31, 1985, six-time NASCAR Modified champion Jerry Cook saw his relentless mission to build a series for the discipline finally come to fruition.
Nearly three dozen of the best Modified competitors converged at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for NASCAR’s inaugural Modified Tour event. After decades of weekly events around the northeast, Thompson served as the launch point for Modified veterans to battle for their own championship.
The Icebreaker 150 at Thompson on April 16 coincides with the 40th anniversary of that first race, a milestone Cook finds difficult to believe. The process of assembling everything for the Modified Tour’s maiden venture remains fresh in his mind, from outlining the rules to ensuring communication remained steady and effective.
With the trust of the competitors, Thompson and NASCAR officials on his side, Cook was confident the debut for the Modified Tour would be a successful one.
He was right.
Jerry Cook at Martinsville Speedway in 1975 (Photo: ISC Images via Getty Images)
“There was a whole lot going through my mind,” Cook said. “I was just trying to put a group together, but the racers knew me, and I knew all of them, so that helped a lot. They all wanted it to go, too, but the biggest thing was to be sure we put it all together and that everything went good.
“We got through that whole day.”
For Cook, the basis of establishing the Modified Tour was simple. As costs continued to appreciate for Modified competitors during the early 1980s, they needed a streamlined outlet separate from weekly racing that was both competitive and affordable.
Cook needed time to coordinate with drivers, tracks and NASCAR to enact upon his vision, which materialized in time for 1985. The first schedule comprised of 29 events featuring recognizable venues such as Martinsville Speedway and New York’s Riverhead Raceway, along with other tracks like Pocono Raceway’s short oval.
Thompson provided Cook a solid first challenge as series director. The track’s rich history, including Modifieds and the NASCAR Cup Series, meant high expectations were placed on everyone to have a clean, professional outing.
Cook enlisted the help of Thompson officials Dick Brooks, Bob Slade and Paul Cokley to help oversee inspection and enforce series rules. Any insight and knowledge by track officials during Year 1 was invaluable to Cook while he sorted through the resources at his disposal.
“I had been around for a little bit, so I knew what I had to do, but [the challenge] was doing it with a bunch of different situations,” Cook said. “There was working with track officials to coordinate tour procedures, which were more structured than track procedures. I had a small group of tour officials, but also utilized local track officials when I started out. We didn’t have all the people then that we have now.”
Prior to hosting the first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event in 1985, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park already boasted a proud racing history. (Photo: Getty Images)
With officiating squared away, Cook turned his attention to what he knew would be a stacked entry list. Headlining the group was Richie Evans, a legend in the discipline whose accomplishments at that point included eight national championships and four Thompson track titles.
Joining Evans in the field were other notables like Tom Baldwin, Jan Leaty, Charlie Jarzombek, Mike McLaughlin, Brian Ross and Jeff Fuller.
The idea of a year-long NASCAR Modified series was enticing to Fuller, who possessed championships at Westboro Speedway in 1979 and 1981. With strong equipment and plenty of experience, Fuller believed he could be a contender for the inaugural Modified Tour title despite the challenge of dethroning Evans atop the pedestal.
Jeff Fuller entered the inaugural Modified Tour event at Thompson confident he could contend for the victory. (Photo: ISC Images via Getty Images)
“I had positioned myself at that time in my career with a guy by the name of Jack Neusner,” Fuller said. “He did everything he said he was going to do, and I was really excited when the tour came together, so I couldn’t wait.
“In my opinion, it was really good we had that. Jerry Cook did a great job getting it off its feet.”
Fuller’s confidence proved to be founded. Evans remained a significant hurdle to clear, but Fuller got an early advantage over the Modified stalwart by starting on pole while Evans lined up fourth.
Once the green flag waved, Fuller was tasked with fending off Evans for the 47-lap feature. The two engaged in an intense battle for the lead throughout the race, but Evans was the driver who parked his iconic orange No. 61 Modified in Thompson’s Victory Lane. Despite leading one more lap than Evans, Fuller settled for second.
The distinction of being the first Modified Tour winner would have been a tremendous honor for Fuller, but he found solace in placing behind Evans that day. Fuller knew the standard Evans had established for Modified competition, and that any opportunity to battle him for a win was an enthralling experience.
“There was a race I remember where I brought Richie high in I think [turns] one and two,” Fuller said. “We were battling, but when you run people clean, [you’re shown] the respect you want to be shown. I kind of knew that was a little bit too high, and probably a lap or two later, he hit the back bumper.
“Richie Evans was the man. If you could run with Richie, you could run with anybody.”
Cook could only pay so much attention to how the inaugural race unfolded; directing the event and keeping everything on schedule were his primary objectives.
Once he had time to compartmentalize the race itself, Cook could not help but be satisfied with the Tour’s first showing. Certain aspects of the maiden event could have been more refined, but Cook departed Thompson knowing the Modified Tour was only going to improve.
He exuded that confidence thanks to the existing chemistry with drivers and teams.
“We needed to move forward with consistency,” Cook said. “Every time you had a problem, you dealt with it right away. You didn’t wait a week or two. Everyone wanted [the Modified Tour] to work, so it’s a plus when you’ve got people working with you, and you could believe them when they told you we needed to do this or adjust that.
“That’s how we moved forward with it.”
As the Modified Tour proceeded through the rest of 1985, nobody could consistently match Evans. With 15 victories, Evans had the championship secured by the time the series reached its penultimate race of the season, also at Thompson.
Richie Evans dominated the inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season by earning 15 wins and the championship before passing away in a practice crash at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Evans was never able to properly celebrate that milestone. He passed away in a practice accident at Martinsville three days before the Modified Tour finale at the same track.
The Modified Tour persevered through the tragedy that was Evans’ passing. Over the past 40 years, names like Mike Stefanik, Justin Bonsignore, Reggie Ruggiero, Ted Christopher and Doug Coby have become synonymous with success on the platform.
For Fuller, who would go on to win 31 Modified Tour events and the 1992 championship, nothing came easy during the first year. Going up against Evans, Jarzombek, Jimmy Spencer and more brought out the best in Fuller, who had to stay resolute to battle for victory.
Fuller sees the same respectful on-track principles from 1985 in the group of drivers today that includes Bonsignore, Ron Silk and Hirschman’s son, Matt.
“The first season I did [the Modified Tour], there were a lot of cars trying to make the show,” Fuller said. “When you showed up, you had to have your game face on. You knew you were racing the best of the best. [Even today], unless you’ve driven one of these beasts, nobody understands how hard it is to show each other that much respect.
“From when it started up to now, I still believe the cream rises to the top.”
On April 16, the current class of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers return to Thompson, which remains a fixture on the schedule 40 years after it hosted the series’ first race. In that timeframe, Thompson has been the site of 155 Modified Tour events, an average of almost four races a season.
Everything Cook set out to accomplish with the Modified Tour began on that first weekend at Thompson, where he sought to prove the discipline could become its own affordable, successful series on the NASCAR platform.
With hundreds of events and countless memorable moments in the record book, Cook’s belief in Modified racing was validated.
“When I started that tour, there were the naysayers that said it won’t last a year or two, and then it’ll be over,” Cook said. “Most of the people I remember telling me that are gone now, and the tour is still going.
“40 years later, this is still the best show, in my opinion.”
Six races into the NASCAR season, William Byron holds an early edge in the Cup Series standings. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has been in that No. 1 perch the last four weeks … and has another Daytona 500 trophy already in his season’s souvenir case.
Multiple factors have put the No. 24 Chevrolet team and its 27-year-old star in such a prime early position, but it’s difficult to overlook just how stellar Byron has been so far in several crucial performance metrics.
Byron ranks first in three of four key performance categories this season, according to NASCAR Insights data. The Racing Insights-powered analysis shows Byron leading the Cup Series in speed rating, defense rating and restart performance; the only category he isn’t heading is passer rating, where he’s a respectable eighth in the field.
Those top-rated metrics in the speed rating category stem from his overall pace relative to the rest of the field, with NASCAR Insights calculating short- and long-run speed and his efforts in both clean and dirty air. Byron’s defense rating measures his ability to hold position when under pressure, and his restart rating weighs his positions gained or lost and consistency after the green flag flies. The only other driver with top-10 ratings in all four categories is Tyler Reddick — third in both speed and passer rating, sixth in defense rating and 10th on restarts.
The Daytona win is one of four top-six finishes this year for Byron, who carries a healthy 36-point lead over Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson in the standings into Sunday’s Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway. Two of his 14 career Cup Series wins have come at the Virginia short track, and he is the 400-lap race’s defending winner. He is also the only driver to lead at least one lap in all six Cup Series events this season.
Byron’s only blips on his results this year include a 27th-place run last month at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where late-race contact at the front foiled his bid for back-to-back wins. He was also in contention for a solid finish last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, when a pit-road speeding penalty late in the race knocked Byron from the top 10; he still wound up 12th.
Byron ended up third in last year’s championship race, behind Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney in the Phoenix Raceway finale. But momentum was squarely on his side during the season’s home stretch; he was among the top six finishers in each of the final seven races of 2024.
