Michael McDowell Starts 19th At Martinsville On Sunday

Michael McDowell begins Sunday inside the top-20 at Martinsville. However, he has just three top-20 results career on the short track. Furthermore, the Front Row Motorsports Racing driver again cannot just get near the front with a slower car. His impatience at times is a reason for that but the car is a bigger detriment. […]

Tyler Reddick An Intriguing Option On Sunday At Martinsville

Tyler Reddick has the race car to make some noise at Martinsville on Sunday. He started in 13th and finished eighth during the Spring race. Also, Reddick was near the Hendricks brigade for most of that time. The No. 8 car has the downforce to stay on the line and even had a bit of […]

Bubba Wallace Has Good Chance To Stay On Lead Lap Sunday

What may be lost at Martinsville is that in the Spring, Bubba Wallace led 23 laps. That is not just during a pit window, etc. It means at that point, Wallace's No. 23 was rather fast. So, there is speed. The question is sustainability on the 0.526-mile track. Wallace faded badly down the stretch of […]

Ross Chastain Might Stay On Lead Lap At Martinsville

This is the best starting position that Ross Chastain has had for the Martinsville race. However, is 16th a good thing? Chastain does not appear to have a car that can stay by any of the dominators in this build. The two Fall races have seen him drift backwards and end up several laps off […]

Chris Buescher Not Likely To Crack Top 10 At Martinsville

Chris Buescher finishing in the top-20 is likely. Expecting him to crack the top ten is not. The Roush Fenway Racing driver starts 15th on Sunday and he did during the Spring race as well. Buescher ended up 13th that time as he hovered around the top ten but faded a little bit late. Last […]

Austin Dillon Likely To Tread Water At Martinsville

Austin Dillon has never finished in the top 10 during a fall race at Martinsville. He has never crashed out of the race, though. Dillon had to retire during the spring race last year due to fatigue. The Richard Childress Racing driver has not finished on the lead lap in his previous three fall appearances. […]

Alex Bowman Not Recommended At Martinsville

Alex Bowman did manage consecutive sixth-place finishes in 2020, but again the crash risk (twice in the last five races) carries some weight here. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver will likely not be in a position to lead a lap unless it is during some pit window. Bowman starts 13th on Sunday, which hamstrings his […]

Another Top-10 Result Is Possible For Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell has finished eighth or better in his last four races. He started 23rd in the Spring race for Martinsville and wound up seventh while leading nine laps. Bell has improved in each of his three appearances on the short track. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver starts 12th on Sunday. Expect Bell to rush […]

William Byron Has Mixed Bag Of Results At Martinsville

William Byron has had some wild rides on the short track at Martinsville. The No. 24 car has crashed twice in four Fall races, finished fourth in the Spring, second in 2019, and yet only has led 9 laps there. That is pretty crazy, honestly. The Hendricks Motorsports Racing driver is not among the top […]

Kurt Busch Expected To Stay Around Top 10 At Martinsville

Kurt Busch is not expected to win on Sunday at Martinsville but could easily finish in the top 10. Over the past three fall races, the No. 1 car has finished either fifth or sixth. The elder Busch even starts 10th. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver did lead 23 laps last fall, but then quickly […]

Kevin Harvick Still Can Impact Chase At Martinsville

Kevin Harvick still has a chance to impact the Championship Four this weekend at Martinsville. Now, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver has not finished better than fifth since 2011. The No. 4 car started ninth and finished ninth in the Spring. Furthermore, Harvick has not led a lap on the 0.526-mile track since 2016. His car […]

Ryan Blaney Squarely On Playoff Bubble At Martinsville

Ryan Blaney stands just one point out of the Championship Four. All the Team Penske driver has to do is move up one more rung overall on Sunday. Blaney has five top-ten finishes and a 1tth in the last seven races on the short track. What most forget about the Spring race was that Blaney […]

Kyle Busch Is A Wild Card Heading To Martinsville

Kyle Busch is the driver squarely on the Championship Four bubble. He currently stands fourth in the Chase and begins Sunday from the seventh position at Martinsville. The younger Busch does have five top-ten finishes in his last seven races on the short track. In the previous four appearances on the track, the No. 18 […]

Brad Keselowski Has Been Here Before At Martinsville

Brad Keselowski has been on the outside looking in as an elimination approaches. During the Round of 12, the Team Penske driver found a way into the Round of 8. That was via help and Keselowski may need that again on Sunday. The No. 2 car starts sixth at Martinsville. On the bright side, Keselowski […]

Joey Logano Likely Needs Win At Martinsville To Advance

Joey Logano and his Team Penske car begin on Sunday from the fifth spot at Martinsville. The No. 20 car has six top-ten results in his previous seven races on the short track. Now, the problem is he stands 26 points from advancing and has to hop several drivers. Those are some tall odds. Logano […]

Martin Truex Jr. Needs Good Finish To Advance In Chase

Martin Truex Jr. knows that the road is daunting ahead of him. He is only three points from the fourth and final spot to advance to the Championship Four. However, a win seals a spot. Yes, the No. 19 car starts from the fourth position on Sunday and has won this race three times in […]

Denny Hamlin Primed For Martinsville On Sunday

Denny Hamlin has endured such a crazy NASCAR season yet is on the brink of a Championship Four appearance. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is 32 points above the cutline as the Xfinity 500 beckons from Martinsville. Hamlin has finished no worse than 11th in every playoff race so far. At the last Martinsville race, […]

Chase Elliott Starts Second At Martinsville On Sunday

Chase Elliott finds himself in a good position for Sunday's race at Martinsville. He stands 34 points above the cut line for the Championship Four. Elliott also starts second on Sunday which should put him in a good position. In his last seven races on the 0.526-mile track, the No. 9 car has won once, […]

Kyle Larson Won't Rest On His Laurels At Martinsville

Kyle Larson has nine wins on the NASCAR season, and yet he will race to win No. 10 at Martinsville on Sunday afternoon. Lost in the shuffle is the fact that the Hendrick Motorsports Racing car finished in the top five during the spring race. That was after starting 19th. Could Larson win this race? […]

Tyler Seguin Keeps Missing The Mark In Home Loss

Dallas Stars centerman Tyler Seguin continues to not be able to score despite numerous opportunities. Seguin had six shots on goal with 10 attempts on Friday night. He even had a couple of takeaways as well. The center just could not convert any of the three high-danger scoring chances past Filip Gustavsson. Seguin now has […]

Braden Holtby Gives Up Four Goals In Defeat

Dallas Stars goaltender Braden Holtby had little chance on Friday night as the Stars held the Ottawa Senators to just 24 shots. However, they allowed 10 high-danger scoring chances at even strength. Too many of those opportunities came via defensive lapses. That allowed Ottawa to score three times at even strength en route to their […]

Joe Pavelski Scores Goal In Dallas' Home Loss

Dallas Stars right wing Joe Pavelski found the back of the net on Friday night via the man advantage, but it was not enough in the 4-1 loss. His one-timer on the power play narrowed the deficit to two goals. Pavelski played 19:35 in all, along with 1:49 of man-advantage time. The forward delivered three […]

Brady Tkachuk Scores His First Goal In Road Triumph

Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk's first-period goal was quite the tally on Friday night. It was his first of the season, and the celebration will be talked about. More of the focus should have been on how Tkachuk's physical play irked several of the Dallas Stars on Friday night. The Ottawa 4-1 road win […]

Josh Norris Scores Twice In Ottawa's Win Over Dallas

Ottawa Senators centerman Josh Norris started the scoring for the Senators on Friday and then added a second-period goal for good measure. The 4-1 win saw Norris fire just two shots on goal, and both went in. Overall, he had three scoring chances on the night. Norris also delivered two hits in 17:40 of ice […]

Filip Gustavsson's Big Night Sparks Ottawa Road Victory

Ottawa Senators goaltender Filip Gustavsson stood and delivered as chance after chance mounted for the Dallas Stars. The Senators goaltender stopped all but one shot in the 4-1 win on Friday night in Dallas. Gustavsson blocked away 38 shots in all, including a few point-blank chances by Tyler Seguin. His key saves included stopping 13 […]

Erik Gustafsson Chips In With Two Assists In Loss

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Erik Gustafsson did not play a lot on Friday night but managed to assist on two of Chicago's three goals. In the 6-3 loss, Gustafsson played just 13:52 but did see 4:23 of power-play time. Part of the reason for his decreased ice time was a common theme among the Chicago Blackhawks; […]

Kevin Lankinen Allows Six Goals Friday In Loss

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Kevin Lankinen yielded four goals during the first period against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. He stayed in goal and gave up two more goals in the second period. Overall, Lankinen stopped 29 of 35 shots in the 6-3 loss on Friday night. An important note is that the Blackhawks goaltender saw […]

Alex DeBrincat Keeps Scoring Even As Chicago's Losses Mount

Chicago Blackhawks left wing Alex DeBrincat racked up over 22 minutes of ice time on Friday night in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. This included over nine minutes on the man advantage. DeBrincat's goal came on the power play. The winger also had four shots on goal and four scoring chances. That goal […]

Sebastian Aho Leads By Example As Carolina Wins Again

Carolina Hurricanes centerman Sebastian Aho found his way into the box score again with a goal and assist in the 6-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. The leader of the Hurricanes played a bit less than 18 minutes as Rod Brind'amour rested the star center during the third period a bit. Aho […]

Antti Raanta Wins Friday Night Versus Chicago

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 23 of 26 shots en route to a 6-3 win on Friday night over the Chicago Blackhawks. It was a season debut that had a minor hiccup just past six minutes into the action. Raanta gave up an early goal, but Carolina answered by scoring six of the next […]