William Byron Tentatively In Championship 4 Pending Ruling On Manufacturer Orders

William Byron didn't necessarily need to win at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4, but if a driver below the cutline won, Byron needed to overcome a 22-point deficit to Christopher Bell, which seemed unlikely. Byron ran well and led 51 laps but got overtaken by Kyle Larson on the lap 406 restart and […]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Too Slow To Contend At Martinsville

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has had a low-key bad season in the NASCAR Cup Series despite his win at Talladega, and it's hard to envision that changing at Martinsville, a track where he starts 28th, has never led a lap, and has never finished better than eighth. About the only good thing about Stenhouse's career at […]

John Hunter Nemechek May Be More Motivated At Martinsville If His Ride Is At Stake

There are unconfirmed rumors swirling that John Hunter Nemechek will be replaced for 2025 even though he is technically still signed for next year. While Corey Heim's Craftsman Truck Series success does suggest this could be a real possibility, the sources of the rumors don't seem very reliable. If Nemechek is on the hotseat, however, […]

Short Tracks Remain Michael McDowell's Achilles Heel

Although Michael McDowell is fast on drafting tracks and road courses, short tracks are consistently his Achilles heel. Darlington, Bristol, and Martinsville are the only tracks that have been on the schedule his entire career where he has not led a lap, and of those Martinsville is the only track where he has never earned […]

Corey LaJoie Unexpectedly Fast In Practice At Martinsville

Corey LaJoie first attracted serious attention when he feuded with Denny Hamlin in the spring of 2020 and argued that he would outrun Hamlin in his No. 11 car before proceeding to outrun him in the next race at Martinsville, widely regarded to be Hamlin's best track. Now that the entire fanbase has turned against […]

Erik Jones Ran Well At Martinsville In The Spring

Erik Jones has had a season to forget with only two top-10 finishes in drafting races where he only finished well because he avoided big crashes. Nonetheless, the spring Martinsville race was arguably his best run of the season, as he finished 12th (better than on any non-drafting oval this season) and also had his […]

Daniel Hemric Qualifying Better But Still Slow In Races

As Daniel Hemric acclimates himself more to the Next Gen chassis, he does seem to be qualifying better in the second half of the season than he did in the first, but it hasn't led to much better race performance. Martinsville marks a good example, as he qualified 15th for today's race, which is better […]

Martinsville A Mediocre Track For Justin Haley

Justin Haley starts 30th at Martinsville, which is definitely not one of his better tracks. In seven previous races, he has never finished 27th and has never finished fewer than two laps down. Although Spire Motorsports is admittedly a lot faster now than it was in 2021 when he previously drove for the team, Spire […]

Lame-Duck Noah Gragson Seems Anonymous Lately

Although Noah Gragson looked like he was building to something in the first half of the season, he has almost been entirely invisible in the second half, particularly after it became clear that Stewart-Haas Racing would not be returning in its current form in 2025. Since he has already signed with Front Row Motorsports for […]

Austin Dillon Qualifies Well At Martinsville

Although Austin Dillon utilized the dirtiest move of the year to win at Richmond, he has had some solid runs at Martinsville in the past and is starting 10th. Don't count on him seriously contending in Sunday's race, though. While he did finish third in the 2022 spring race with the Next Gen chassis and […]

Ross Chastain Unlikely To Make The Highlight Reels At Martinsville This Time

Ross Chastain became one of the closest things to a household name among millennial NASCAR drivers when his wall ride on the last lap at Martinsville two years ago unexpectedly locked himself into the Championship 4. After having missed the playoffs this year, he has much lower stakes this time. However, Trackhouse Racing has had […]

Kyle Busch Looks To Extend Consecutive Winning Seasons Streak

Since Kyle Busch is 114 points behind Ross Chastain for 19th and 86 points ahead of Carson Hocevar for 20th in points, he essentially has nothing at stake besides winning, but he will definitely want to salvage his season by extending his record streak of consecutive winning seasons to 20. Busch has won twice at […]

Christopher Bell Looks To Cement Third Straight Championship 4 Bid

Christopher Bell, the only driver to make the Championship 4 round of the NASCAR Playoffs in both 2022 and 2023, looks to become the first driver since Chase Elliott in 2020-2022 to make the Championship 4 three consecutive years. He is probably going to do it since he is 29 points above Kyle Larson for […]

Joey Logano Intentionally Sleepwalked Through Homestead to Focus on Phoenix

Just like in 2022, Joey Logano had a subpar day at Homestead by design after locking himself into the Championship 4 at Las Vegas. Logano's team is obviously primarily focused on going all in on Phoenix to maximize his chances for a championship, a strategy which proved effective that year. As a result, he went […]

Denny Hamlin Advances to Championship 4 as Owner but Not as Driver

Denny Hamlin had a near-miss in yesterday's Homestead race that greatly diminishes his chances of making the Championship Four at Phoenix. He ultimately finished third despite taking the lead from his driver Tyler Reddick on the final restart with seven laps remaining. On the penultimate lap, Ryan Blaney took the lead from Hamlin as Reddick […]

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Earns Best Qualifying Run in Over a Year at Homestead

Despite the fact that Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. is currently having one of the slowest seasons of his career, he shocked the world with a fifth-place qualifying run yesterday at Homestead, his best since the spring Darlington race of 2023 when he qualified third. However, Homestead has not been a good track for him as in […]

Expect Zane Smith's Steady Consistency to Continue at Homestead

Although Zane Smith had a miserable first half of the season, he has definitely picked it up in the second half even if all his top ten finishes came in races where he was running considerably worse than that. Astonishingly, he actually has a better average finish than Joey Logano over the second half of […]

Both Ryan Preece and Stewart-Haas Racing Seem Ill-Suited to Intermediates

In a qualifying session where all the Fords looked miserable, lame-duck Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Preece qualified 35th at Homestead and was the slowest full-time Ford driver. The SHR cars are typically slow on flat 1.5-mile ovals and Preece is arguably slower still as in 90 races on tracks between 1 and 2 miles in […]

Michael McDowell Couldn't Overcome Ford's Intermediate Speed Deficit in Homestead Qualifying

Despite winning a season-high six poles thanks to his dominant qualifying on drafting tracks, McDowell has definitely been hit-or-miss in terms of qualifying everywhere else, as he only qualified 24th for today's Homestead race, the worst since the Southern 500. McDowell hasn't factored much in the oval races where he didn't win the pole, and […]

Joey Logano's Team Likely to Ignore Homestead to Focus on Phoenix

After Joey Logano locked himself into the playoffs by winning last weekend's race at Las Vegas, it seems likely that his No. 22 team will likely be entirely focused on Phoenix likely at the expense of the next two races. When he won at Las Vegas to lock himself into the Championship Four in 2022, […]

Carson Hocevar Looks to Clinch Rookie of the Year Award

Carson Hocevar has a chance to wrap up the Rookie of the Year award in today's Homestead race as he leads his fellow rookie Josh Berry by 99 points. If he leaves with a 121-point lead after Homestead, Berry can't catch him. He probably won't clinch the award today, but since the Spire Motorsports cars […]

Daniel Hemric Qualifies Ninth for Best Start of the Year

Since Daniel Hemric lost his Kaulig Racing ride in 2025, he clearly has something to prove to any remaining NASCAR Cup Series owners who might be listening as he unexpectedly qualified 9th at Homestead, his best qualifying run of the season. This is particularly surprising since Hemric has never started a Cup Series race at […]

Denny Hamlin Is Strong at Homestead, but Sometimes Struggles in the Clutch

Denny Hamlin sits 27 points behind the playoff cutline to make the Championship Four, which means he will likely either need to win at Homestead or Martinsville and/or benefit from a poor finish from Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and/or William Byron. Hamlin can definitely win at Homestead. He's done so three times before, but it […]

Justin Haley Benefits in Qualifying From Spire Motorsports Speed

Justin Haley delivered his best qualifying run of the season at Homestead yesterday when he qualified 10th. The Spire Motorsports cars are obviously faster in qualifying than the Rick Ware Racing cars, but Ryan Sparks is a worse crew chief than Chris Lawson and seems to struggle with setups as a race progresses. As a […]

Austin Cindric Slowest Ford Regular in Homestead Qualifying

After being eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs in the Round of 12, Austin Cindric doesn't have a great deal at stake at Homestead, but his 36th-place qualifying run was definitely a disappointment. While the Fords in general were very slow in qualifying as none of them qualified in the top ten, Cindric has had a […]

Chris Buescher Lacks Intermediate Track Consistency

Although Chris Buescher missed the playoffs, he still is the highest-ranking non-playoff driver in points as the No. 17 driver sits 17th in points exactly 17 points ahead of both Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace. While Buescher is typically always fast on road courses, he's a lot more difficult to predict on ovals as he […]

Josh Berry Hopes to Stay Alive in Rookie Race at Homestead

Josh Berry currently sits 99 points behind Carson Hocevar and remains just barely mathematically eligible for the Rookie of the Year award. He needs to keep Hocevar's lead over him to 120 points or fewer to not be eliminated, and he'll probably do that if he doesn't crash. Unfortunately, Berry leads the NASCAR Cup Series […]

Chase Elliott Eliminated In Wild Las Vegas Crash

Chase Elliott was eliminated from the Las Vegas race, which opened the Round of 8 in the NASCAR playoffs after being caught up in a crash on the restart that started Stage 2. The wreck happened when Stage 1 winner Tyler Reddick attempted a three-wide outside pass on Elliott and Martin Truex, Jr. before Elliott […]

Joey Logano Locks Himself Into Championship Race With Fuel-Mileage Win

A mere week ago, Joey Logano left the Charlotte roval thinking he had failed to advance to the Round of 8 until Alex Bowman's disqualification unexpectedly let him back in. With his win in yesterday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he became the first driver to lock himself into the championship race […]

Zane Smith Should Benefit From Spire Motorsports' Speed At Las Vegas

Zane Smith's future remains up in the air even though he has been substantially better in the second half of this season than the first. This trend seems to have continued today as his 14th-place qualifying run is tied for his second best this season, and it wouldn't be surprising if he finished better than […]