NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Cause a Stir in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville?
A Sunday shakeup may be on deck from the NASCAR season’s first true short track–Martinsville Speedway. ‘The Paperclip’ is known to reward those who perfect a fine balance between aggression and conservative driving. Very few fluke winners have popped up over the years at Martinsville. The half-mile has been very kind to the sport’s all-time greats. Here’s a few who hope Sunday is their time to shine on the short track.
Ryan Blaney
Few active drivers have a more stout Martinsville résumé than Ryan Blaney. The two-time defending fall race winner owns 12 top-10s across 18 career Virginia starts. He hasn’t been worse than 11th since 2018. In the Next Gen era Blaney’s only been better here, with a worst result of seventh. Owning two of the last three Grandfather Clock trophies, Blaney is ready to battle for a third.
“Winning there is nice and getting your clock,” Blaney said. “I’ve been fortunate to win there a couple times. The softer tire has been good, and I think it’s helped. I think we can continue to be aggressive on it because that’s the place to be the most aggressive with tires. It’s the slowest racetrack and you don’t have to worry about massive blowouts at high speeds. So I think Goodyear has continued to work their way softer, which is a good thing. I think it’s important as we continue to work on short track racing that you have fall off. I think they’ve just been getting better at it.”
A lot of factors are lining up for a potential Blaney win on Sunday. A perfect top-10 streak for every Next Gen Martinsville race is a feat only replicated by teammate Joey Logano. Recent speed out of the 12 car has shown great winning performances the last three weeks as well, only to be derailed by DNFs. Blaney has finished every Cup race he’s ever ran at Martinsville; he is favored to end this one on top.
Denny Hamlin
The title of modern era Martinsville Master can be given to Denny Hamlin. The Chesapeake, Virginia driver has five wins here, but this weekend marks a decade since his last triumph. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 has been painstakingly close multiple times in recent memory, however. Laps led in four of his last five Martinsville trips show that the Next Gen Car has not affected Hamlin’s pace. Hamlin went in depth on describing the historic racetrack’s characteristics with the new car.
“Nowadays, it’s just track position,” Hamlin said. “The cars are so close in speed than what they used to be. I actually saw a graph this weekend on where Next Gen has gone, even at a track like Homestead, the disparity between the first and last-place car. It was, say ‘this much in Year 1 of Next Gen’ and everyone’s (now) the same. You put that on a short track, it just makes passing really difficult. That is the single biggest challenge at Martinsville nowadays.”
Despite such a reliance on track-position, Hamlin’s still put up a top-five in four of the last five at Martinsville. The once exception in that group was last year’s Cook Out 400, when Hamlin pitted late while up front. If anyone’s due for another Martinsville win, it’s the 11 team. Oddsmakers seemingly agree, giving Hamlin some of the best numbers for Sunday.
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports is undefeated so far in Next Gen spring Martinsville races, with two of them going to William Byron. The No. 24 Chevrolet led over half this race in 2022, and saw 88 laps out front a year ago. Martinsville is quickly becoming a Byron personal playground, with six top-10s in the last eight races.
“I’m confident but also not extremely confident,” Byron said. “We’ve had some good runs and we’ve also had some just OK runs. We have some work to do from Bowman Gray on our short-track package. But I think we’ll still be in a good place. It’s really about having a good long run car and that’s what we will really focus on.”
No team has enjoyed more success and tragedy at Martinsville Speedway than Hendrick Motorsports. All four of their drivers already have a Grandfather Clock, but Byron’s the only one with two. Driver 24 will run Friday’s Truck race as well for added track time. Byron will hope a Truck win leads into Cup success, much like teammate Kyle Larson last week.
Kyle Larson
Speaking of NASCAR’s hottest driver, can his winning ways continue at Martinsville? Kyle Larson once described The Paperclip as his worst track on the circuit. That narrative died with the Next Gen Car though, with five top-10s in six races. Going deeper: Larson has a win, two runner-ups, and a worst finish of sixth in this span. Part of Martinsville’s all-time winningest team, Larson credits hard work at the shop with their recent run of success.
“When I started at Hendrick Motorsports, the car was probably a little bit better than I was at Martinsville,” Larson said. “But we’ve gotten better as a whole and I think it’s one of our best tracks now. We got a win there in 2023 and had solid runs and finishes there last year. So we’re looking forward to this weekend.”
Just a few years ago, the thought of Larson contending at Martinsville was as foreign as a superspeedway win. Ever since the Hail Melon race though, the 5 has been a constant fixture up front here. Breaking into victory lane for the first time in 2025 last week, Homestead may have just opened the winning floodgates for this team.
Chase Elliott
Another member of Hendrick’s fab four who loves Martinsville is Chase Elliott. His 2020 fall victory here propelled team 9 to the eventual championship, and great consistency ever since. 515 laps led in the last three years alone show Elliott’s incredible Martinsville prowess. Even returning from his broken leg in 2023, the 9 was still 10th here. Elliott was asked if he thinks short track racing is turning a corner with the Next Gen Car’s progression.
“It seems like it,” Elliott said. “I mean it seems like it’s better, for sure, and it seems like it’s largely in part to the tire, truthfully. The more I kind of look at it, the more I kind of just feel like, man, maybe this tire thing is really, we’re onto something there. But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my course of doing this is that just when you think you start to figure something out, you didn’t and you don’t. Whatever you think you know, you probably didn’t to begin with. So, I certainly don’t act like I have the answer. I do think the tire thing, seemingly from the gains that we’ve made, is pretty important considering it’s what touches the ground.”
An 8.7 Next Gen running position at Martinsville has Elliott fourth-best among all drivers. The 9 also played caboose in Hendrick’s 1-2-3 sweep in this race last year, after leading 64 laps. A week after one Hendrick driver took the checkered flag, Elliott hopes to end his own losing drought.
Ryan Preece
It’s been almost a quarter-century since Martinsville saw a first-time Cup Series winner (Ricky Craven, 2001). Ryan Preece hopes to join this list, and has a prime opportunity ahead to do so. RFK Racing’s newest driver already has a few Martinsville highlights. These include a pole in 2023 spring and a top-10 here a year ago. Coming off back-to-back top-10s, a lot is looking up for Preece going into this weekend.
“When I think of Martinsville, we’ve gotten a pole there,” Preece said. “We’ve had speed there. It’s just putting everything together. I’ve got a few tracks that I’m really comfortable at that we go to throughout the year. Then there are other ones that I need to continue to work on. But when I think of Martinsville, Darlington and Bristol, those are all places that I’m really comfortable at. I’m a huge fan of what we’ve been working on with the Cup Series and Goodyear and making the tire better and better to race. They’ve done a great job.”
The past Modified Tour champion saw his career bookended by Martinsville triumphs in 2008 and 2023. Growing up cutting his teeth on flat bullrings, a maiden Cup win for Preece would be very fitting at The Paperclip. Martinsville may not have been kind to new Cup winners in recent memory. Despite this, Preece still hopes to join an exclusive list.
The Cook Out 400 (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will pit 38 men versus one of the most technical tracks they’ll see all season. Whoever survives the imminent mental and physical grind on the Half-Mile of Mayhem will tough out a blue collar win. Thanks to ever-softer tires too, the field of potential Martinsville winners is very large once again.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
