After a weekend in Darlington, NASCAR now turns to Martinsville, which has made a name for itself in bump-and-run racing. The track, a 0.526-mile oval in Virginia known as the paperclip, stands as the shortest stop on the Cup Series calendar and a track where space runs out in a hurry.
The weekend will be a stage for another push from Tyler Reddick, who has his sights on a fifth win of the season for himself, for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, and for 23XI Racing. The question on the table is whether he stacks up with the best and some of the worst drivers the Cup Series has to offer at Martinsville.
The Spire Motorsports driver has 30 career starts at Martinsville over 18 years, yet a top-ten finish has eluded him. McDowell has just six finishes inside the top 20 and an average start of 24.7. Last year, he started inside the top 15 in both races, and finished 12th in the spring, his best run at the track, but fell back down with a 24th-place finish in the fall. His Martinsville rap sheet also shows eight DNFs at the paperclip, a sign of how often trouble has found him there.
Martinsville has not been kind to McDowell’s Spire teammates either, as Daniel Suárez sits in a similar spot at the track. In 18 starts over his nine seasons in the Cup Series, Suárez has only two top-ten finishes, both coming in 2018 and 2019. He has started the race from inside the top-ten five times, yet only the first two turned into top-10 results, while his most recent top-ten starts have yet to yield a finish better than 12th. Last season, Suárez finished in 21st and 22nd in the track’s two races.
The Legacy Motor Club driver has three wins in the Cup Series and a career total of 97 top-ten finishes, but Martinsville has not been a happy hunting ground. In 18 starts over ten seasons, Jones has managed in the top ten once in 2021. Last year, again, the results were lackluster, with a 38th-place finish in the spring and 34th in the fall after an accident.
The 2023 Cup Series champion has made Martinsville one of his strongholds. In 20 starts, he has two wins, 11 top-five finishes, and 13 top-tens. Over the last six races, he has an average finish of 4.5 alongside his two career wins, both of which came in the playoffs. In the Next Gen era, the No. 12 Team Penske driver has led 359 laps, keeping his name near the front whenever the Cup Series comes to town.
Hamlin leads the active drivers in wins at Martinsville with six in 40 career starts. His average finish sits at 10.4, backed by 21 top-five finishes and 27 top-tens. Hamlin returns to the track this weekend as the defending spring race winner, though an engine issue left him in 35th place in the fall last year. This season, Virginia has already won a race at Las Vegas.
Logano has made a habit of cashing in at Martinsville, even with one win in 34 career starts. His average finish stands at 10.6, with 11 top-fives and 22 finishes inside the top ten. Last year, Logano brought his car home in eighth place in both races after starting seventh and fourth. In the Next Gen era, he has led 122 laps, consistently staying in the mix at the track.
Seven drivers swept top-ten finishes in both Martinsville races last season, tying a mark for the most in a single year at the track. There are the usual suspects like Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, and Joey Logano, alongside some surprises, like Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland.
Nonetheless, the focus this weekend will be on Tyler Reddick, who leads the win column this season, but has yet to crack the code at Martinsville. In 12 starts at the track, the Daytona 500 Champion holds an average finish of 19.4 and has reached the top 10 only twice. Last year, he brought the car home in 14th and 11th after starting ninth and 14th.
On paper, Reddick’s road to a fifth win may run uphill when the series heads to Martinsville this weekend.
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