Groovy Hollow Recap
Martinsville made William Byron look like a real championship contender. But not everyone left the paper clip in high spirits. So, who were the biggest losers from NASCAR’s weekend at Martinsville Speedway?
Throughout the past decade, we have seen some brutal eliminations from the playoffs, but missing out on this year’s championship four was particularly tough for Layne Riggs. If you missed out, here’s what happened.
Riggs was not a must-win, but he definitely needed a good finish at Martinsville. Near the end of Friday’s race, he was racing Kaden Honeycutt for the right to advance to the championship four; the No. 52 would finish second, while Riggs would finish third.
While Riggs has had an all-around better season than Honeycutt, the No. 34 team would not be the one to advance, as per playoff rules: the driver with the best finish of that round advances. Prior to Friday, Honeycutt’s best finish was 10th. In contrast, Riggs had a 5th place, meaning Honeycutt’s 2nd place finish broke the tie by one literal spot.
It seems this is the first time many fans have heard of this rule. While the playoffs are fun, when it comes to whatever format NASCAR devises for 2026, hopefully, things like this are taken out of the mix for a more streamlined format.
Carson Hocevar had one of the best running storylines this past Sunday at Martinsville for all the wrong reasons. This race was one of the most challenging of his young career, with the No. 77 finishing 31st and being involved in three separate incidents, all of which involved his teammates and those in the Hendrick alliance.
Notably, two of these incidents involved his future teammate, Daniel Suarez, and another involved his current teammate, Michael McDowell. Furthermore, the final wreck between current Spire teammates, a team that is so deeply tied to Hendrick Motorsports, could have cost William Byron the race with that late restart. Well, both of these situations are extremely ironic. To add even more insult to injury for Hocevar, Jeff Gordon felt the need to mention and host of our wreck three times.
What is up with Sam Mayer at Martinsville? It feels like spring or fall this year. He was at least part of the conversation after the race for something he said or did. This time, it was he and Jeb Burton, giving the driver a left rear hook after the race, a move scorned by the CW booth that led to a rather mild confrontation with No. 27 team owner Jordan Anderson.
So why was this? Why did he do this? It goes back to last week, at Talladega, with Mayer taking exception to Burton causing a “demolition derby” at Talladega, resulting in Mayer being out of the championship picture, and, during Saturday’s race, with Mayer saying Burton was an “absolute dumbass this go around and race a guy with a purple spoiler.”
Burton is not shying away from this beef, joking about it on social media.
But all jokes aside, for a driver with the talent of Sam Mayer, this is a bad blemish on your record. If you have an issue with a driver, talk to them; don’t turn them in at the end of the race, that’s just dangerous. It is times like these that we need Jimmy Spencer on national TV.
Well, did you hear the news? If you didn’t, you likely will next week.
Christopher Bell, if NASCAR were to operate under its now-disheveled full-season point system, which was utilized until the 2003 season, would lock up the championship with a somewhat meaningless finish next weekend at Phoenix. Nonetheless, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is not racing for a championship next week and, in fact, is eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Currently, not many people have noticed this fact, beyond the usual post-race post from the NASCAR Winston Cup Series standings X account. But next weekend, when the hypothetical Winston Cup points get finalized, just be ready for the barrage of people, reminding you that the should’ve been champion did not make the Championship Four.
I don’t like the playoffs, but I am exhausted of the hypotheticals and pessimism. NASCAR has likely heard out the fans and will probably make changes next year to take this in a better direction. For now, let’s enjoy one more round of chaos, folks.
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