NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Take Home the Clock at Martinsville Speedway?
Southern Virginia’s half-mile of mayhem is the next stop for the NASCAR Cup Series. Saturday night’s Blue Emu 400 from Martinsville Speedway is the next chance drivers have to earn victory in 2022. With seven different winners through seven weeks, that trend could continue through Martinsville. Which driver will outlast the competition and take home the grandfather clock trophy? Several past Martinsville masters are still searching for their first win, let’s look at some of their chances.
Ryan Blaney
Driver of the Penske 12 car may not have a Martinsville win, but he’s been super close recently. In four of the last six Martinsville races, Ryan Blaney has finished in the top-five. The only two outlying races were both events last year, where the 12 was 11th twice. Last spring though, Blaney did pace the field for 157 laps. After leading well over 100 laps in Richmond, Blaney appears well on the way to earning a win in the near future. Martinsville may just be the venue for Blaney’s next win, as he hopes to become the eighth winner of 2022. The clock could strike 12 on Saturday night.
Chase Elliott
The co-points leader alongside Blaney, can Martinsville be Chase Elliott’s maiden win of 2022? The 9 car led 289 laps here last fall, only to fade and finish 16th. Since his fall 2020 win here, Elliott has been one of the best at Martinsville, and he hopes for another strong result Saturday.
“I feel like we’ve been solid at times,” Elliott said of his performance so far in 2022. “Other than Vegas, I felt like there’s been signs of pace for us. We just haven’t put a whole day together yet. We’ll keep doing our thing and continue to move forward. That’s really all you can do. This deal pays in November. We’ve got a long ways to go, and I feel like we have a great team, and that’s the part of the year we want to be prepared for most. We want to win and we want to gain as many bonus points as we can, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a lot of racing to be done.”
Elliott is the lone Hendrick driver to not find victory lane so far in 2022, can that change at Martinsville? The 9 has either led a ton of laps or finished in the top-five in the last four Martinsville races, making this one of Elliott’s best venues.
Denny Hamlin
After winning at Richmond, Denny Hamlin could go back-to-back on another Virginia track. Hamlin leads active drivers with a Martinsville average finish of 10.2, including five wins. However, Hamlin has not won on the paperclip since 2015. Last fall though, Hamlin was well on his way to victory until being spun out late by Alex Bowman. After erasing a long losing drought at one short track, the 11 team could be dangerous at another Commonwealth venue.
“Obviously winning gives you confidence,” Hamlin said. “For our team, it was really validation because we know we have a great team and just had a really bad first few races. We went to Richmond with a new direction with the car and that was definitely an improvement on where we were at Phoenix particularly. But now we go to Martinsville, which is a lot different than anything else that we’ve seen with this car, so it’s going to be its own thing. Hopefully some of what we learned will translate and can help us, but nothing is guaranteed right now, so we’re going to have to have the same mindset and just make the most of what we have.”
With the pressure of making the Playoffs gone, Hamlin could be scary with only bonus points on the line now. Hamlin has led laps in the last three trips to Martinsville, so he could absolutely upset the 2022 different winners streak.
Joey Logano
2018 fall Martinsville winner Joey Logano could upset this weekend. In the six Martinsville races since his win, Logano has five top-10s, with laps led in four-straight events. The 22 won another short track race earlier this season at the Busch Clash, and could now lock into the Playoffs with a points-paying victory. Logano had a strong run end prematurely due to a slow pit stop in Richmond. The 22 enters Martinsville hungry for a win.
Kyle Busch
Always a threat on short tracks, Kyle Busch may earn a pair of grandfather clocks this weekend. Busch is entered in Thursday night’s Truck race, as well as Saturday’s Blue Emu 400. Busch will have plenty of track time across both series, meaning he could end Saturday night in victory lane. Last fall at Martinsville, Busch was a very close second to Bowman.
“It’s a tough racetrack,” Busch bluntly stated about Martinsville. “Any time you come in the pits and make an adjustment on your car, you certainly hope it goes the right way, or you make enough of it, or you don’t make too much of an adjustment. The last run can be tricky, too, because you can be coming off a 50-lap run on right-side tires and take four and you’ve only got 30 (laps) to go, or you could have 80 to go and you know you have to manage that run all the way to the end. Hoping we can just be there at the end and have a shot to with our M&M’S Crunchy Cookie Camry.”
Busch would have likely been in the top five at Richmond, if not for his tape penalty. With such a strong result taken away, Busch could be out for blood at Martinsville. The 18 could be a heavy favorite heading into Saturday.
Martin Truex Jr.
After being oh so close to the Richmond win, Martin Truex Jr. could make it Martin’s-ville again. In the last five races here, MTJ has three wins and over 750 laps led. To put it simply, Martinsville has been Truex’s personal playground for a few years. Now with the Next Gen car though, can the 2017 champion get back into victory lane?
“I feel pretty good about how things are going,” Truex said. “I think everyone up and down pit road is still trying to get a handle on this new car, but I definitely liked the improvements we had last week at Richmond. James (Small, crew chief) and all my guys and everyone back at Joe Gibbs Racing and TRD are working so hard right now to put us in position to win. It was great to see their hard work pay off last week with what I thought was the best car there. Hopefully we can keep that up and maybe carry some of that momentum to Martinsville.”
Tires was all that Truex lacked in the closing laps at Richmond, as he finished fourth. After such a strong breakout run, Truex may just be primed for his first win of the year at Martinsville.
The Blue Emu 400 is what awaits all NASCAR drivers next on the racing calendar. Coverage begins Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Martinsville will provide everyone one chance to win their way into the Playoffs, and take home the grandfather clock. With different winners through all seven races so far this year, can we go eight-for-eight at Martinsville?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images for NASCAR
