What’s Happening?

After a debacle of an Xfinity race last night in Martinsville, it was time for the Cup pros to show the kids how it’s done. Today, the superstars of the NASCAR Cup Series took to the Paperclip of Martinsville Speedway for the first real short-track race of the season. After a relatively quiet couple of weeks, Christopher Bell sat on the pole. He was looking for his fourth win of the year here today. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott, who qualified 2nd, was looking to triumph at the legendary track for the first time since 2020. Could Elliott continue HMS’s dominance at the shortest track on the circuit?

Meanwhile, the winningest active driver at the track was looking to capture lightning in a battle for the sixth time. With all of that in mind, here are the 3 main takeaways from the Cookout 400 at Martinsville Speedway.

A Quick Recap

• Christopher Bell earned the pole for today’s race but he was surrounded by the Hendrick bowties of Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson. In the opening laps of the race, NASCAR’s most popular driver wasted little time taking the lead away from Bell as he fell into the clutches of the hard-charging Alex Bowman. Following a caution for debris, the leaders came down pit road while Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, and Brad Keselowski stayed out. We went green again only for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to spin, which caused a caution. As a result, Berry pitted, and Logano cycled to the lead. On pit road, Berry made contact with Bubba Wallace. The contact damaged Berry’s battery. He ultimately fell two laps off the pace. Meanwhile, Joey Logano took the first stage win over Alex Bowman and Brad Keselowski.
• One storyline to keep an eye on heading into today’s race was the weather. There was a 50% chance of rain today in the Martinsville area, which had many fans and industry insiders alike glancing periodically at their radars. But, as much of the rain was seen off to the northwest of the racetrack, the race went green without much of an issue. Still, NASCAR was prepared. If it were necessary, teams did have wet weather tires they could utilize.
• After different pit strategies (and issues on pit road) jumbled up the field, the cream still rose to the top to end Stage 2. Denny Hamlin won the second stage but not without Chase Elliott breathing down his neck. Considering his performance in the Clash at Bowman-Gray earlier this season, Elliott was the clear favorite amongst his Hendrick teammates to carry the tradition of the organization’s winning ways at Martinsville going forward.

The Martinsville Master Returns After A Decade Hietus

Though Chase Elliott looked fast early on, by the end, nobody had anything for Denny Hamlin in the Progressive number 11 Toyota. He assumed the lead towards the end of Stage 2 and never looked back. He led well over half this race and earned the extra point for the Xfinity Fastest Lap. With this win, Hamlin locks himself into the NASCAR Playoffs. This was Hamlin’s first win of the season and the 55th of his career. With this win, he tied Rusty Wallace for 11th all-time in Cup Series wins.

What’s Going on With Team Penske’s Power Issues?

One of the storylines early on this 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is the speed the Penske (and Penske adjacent) cars had to start the season. Namely, Ryan Blaney was extremely fast in a handful of races so far this season. He started the year off with a pair of top 10s at Daytona and Atlanta. Then, he went on to have one of the fastest cars at Phoenix (no surprise) and was in contention to win that race when he suffered an engine failure. Rinse and repeat for Homestead last week. In fact, he was the dominant car at Homestead but blew an engine running in second while quickly chasing down the leader.

Meanwhile, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry have also been pretty fast to start the year. Cindric had arguably the best car the first two weeks of the year and that speed continued throughout much of the year, particularly at Phoenix. At the same time, Josh Berry scored Wood Brothers Racing their 101st victory earlier this season at Las Vegas. The 21 Motorcraft Ford was also fast at Phoenix and Homestead before issues on the pit road put him behind, and he had to settle for a 17th-place finish. Both Berry and Cindric were fast again today. However, they started to suffer battery issues, Berry while running in the top 5. The issue came after contact between Bubba Wallace and Berry on pit road. However, it was said that the issue with Berry was not due to the contact with the 23.

Cindric had a similar issue and had to come down pit road multiple times for a battery change. Due to this, both drivers reported having issues with their cooling mechanisms inside the car. They also had to use brake fans sparingly. In the end, Austin Cindric was forced to end his race with 25 laps to go. This was due to the team simply running out of batteries.

It’s clear that the Team Penske-related cars are extremely fast when all the parts and pieces function as they’re supposed to. But that has been a hurdle in the early stages of this NASCAR season.

Toyota Dethrones Hendrick Dominance

Though a major headline going into this race was just how dominant Hendrick Motorsports has been in years past at Martinsville Speedway, today it was the Toyotas of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Bubba Wallace that took it to the Bowtie Brand. Early on in the race, it looked like Hendrick was picking up where they left off in recent years. Chase Elliott started on the outside pole and wasted little time taking the lead from Christopher Bell who faded early.

He was on track to win the opening stage until a couple of cautions came out and pit strategy came into play. Elliott pitted and the field was shuffled Alex Bowman was also strong early on in this race. However, as the day went on he faded and various issues (including pit road speeding penalties) mired him back in traffic. He ended up going a lap down.

Meanwhile, last year’s winner of the race, William Byron, had a relatively quiet day. He was around 10th to 15th for much of the day until fading late. The only two drivers who remained in contention were Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, who went on to finish 4th and 5th respectively. In the end, they just didn’t have the power that the Toyotas had.

Denny Hamlin assumed the lead late in stage two and never looked back. As the race progressed, Christopher Bell’s team was able to make some adjustments and he found himself in second. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace was solidly in the top 5 all race long. The 23XI driver ultimately finished in 3rd. Even Ty Gibbs had a comparatively good run, finishing in the 13th position.

With this win, Denny Hamlin tied Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time win list. This was his 15th career short-track victory and his 6th at Martinsville. His last win at the track came 10 years ago.

Ty Gibbs Has His Best Run of the Year

A lot has been said about just how awful the 54 car has been this year. They had a crew chief swap in the off-season and got off on the wrong foot from the jump. In 2024, though he fell off a cliff in the latter stages of the year, Gibbs was still somewhat in contention. This year, though, they’ve been abysmal and they knew it. Fans could sense Gibbs’ frustrations mounting in recent weeks as he fired off several times over the radio last week. Today, things got a little better.

Did he run a perfect race? No. And he had several run-ins with his Toyota teammate Tyler Reddick. He also had some issues with the driver of the number 38 Ford for Front Row, Zane Smith. But, all-in-all, a 13th place finish is an improvement. This marks his best finish of the year by a longshot. No doubt, Ty Gibbs will look to build on this performance going forward.

Conclusion

Another race weekend is in the books, Daily Downforce readers. What did you think of NASCAR’s first short track of the season? It certainly was a cleaner affair than yesterday’s Xfinity race, that’s for sure. On a scale from 1-100, how would you rate this race? Are you happy with the product? What do you think about the winner? Let us know!

Be sure to keep tuning in here at DailyDownforce.com all week long for all the latest news as we prepare for Throwback Weekend at the legendary Darlington Raceway!