NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway
(⏰ 3 p.m. ET | 📺 FS1, FOX Sports App | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)

Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Virginia, the ninth regular-season race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | Martinsville 101

📍 Location: Martinsville, Virginia
📐 Track length: 0.526 miles
🎟️ Buy tickets: Find seats for Sunday
💰 Cup Series race purse: $7,324,203
📏 Race distance: 400 laps | 210.4 miles
🔢 Stages: 80 | 180 | 400
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🚪 Entry list: Chase Elliott returns, Zane Smith piloting No. 51
📋 Starting lineup: TBD
🚗 Pit stall assignments: TBD
📦 Rules package: Refresher on rules for short tracks, road courses
🏆 Most recent winner: Christopher Bell

Key things to watch 🔑

Top story line

Chase Elliott is back in the No. 9. The 2020 Cup Series champion will pilot his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the first time since scoring a runner-up finish at Auto Club Speedway in February. Elliott missed six weeks with a leg injury suffered in a snowboarding accident, and Xfinity Series regular Josh Berry and IMSA driver Jordan Taylor piloted the No. 9 in his absence. Martinsville is a fitting return for the 27-year-old, who has scored five top-10 finishes in the last six races on “The Paperclip,” including a win in the fall of 2020. Racing Insights projects a rousing return for Elliott, predicting him in Victory Lane after 400 laps Sunday.

🏆 ANALYSIS: How Elliott can qualify for the playoffs

History tells us…

An established veteran scores the win. Martinsville is an ultimate test of patience and requires tactical discipline if a driver wants to grab the checkered flag. Dating back to the turn of the century, the least-experienced driver to win on NASCAR’s shortest points-paying short track was Tony Stewart in his sophomore Cup Series campaign in 2000. Sunday would be the perfect turnaround for Virginia native Denny Hamlin, who has yet to score a top-five finish in 2023. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. has won three of the last seven Martinsville races. Expect either JGR or Hendrick to continue their grasp of the track as the teams have split the last seven wins on the short track.

He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…

Brad Keselowski. Opening at 22-1 odds, Keselowski squeaks into the top half of favorites for Sunday’s race. RFK Racing has shown massive strides in consistency and speed compared to this same time last season. The driver of the No. 6 Ford scored a top 10 with the updated short-track package at Richmond and crossed the finish line inside the top five at Martinsville last fall before a disqualification sent Keselowski down to the bottom of the results. Currently sitting inside the top 10 in points, if he shows the speed in practice and qualifying Saturday afternoon, don’t be surprised if RFK picks up its second short-track victory in the Next Gen era.

Inside the Race 🔍

It’s back to the asphalt at Martinsville Sunday with the return of Chase Elliott, and Steve Letarte and Todd Gordon are here to bring you up to speed.

Familiar favorites ⭐️

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.

• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh looks and short-track style | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Tyler Reddick rounding into form as threat to win on all track types | Latest driver rankings
• Fantasy Fastlane: TBD
• Betting odds: See where Chase Elliott sits on the oddsboard in his return to the Cup Series | Top bets, underdog picks
• Stacking Pennies: Corey LaJoie’s father, Randy, joins the show | Listen to the podcast

💎 NASCAR 75: Honoring NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers … then revealing 25 more | Check out the list

Hot off the press 📰

Key stories and breaking news from the week leading up to the race.

• Post-Bristol Dirt: NASCAR ‘will take deeper dive’ into Preece, Larson incident | Listen here
• Cody Ware: NASCAR suspends Ware indefinitely | Read more
• Untold Stories: Martinsville’s 6-year-old pace-car driver | Watch here
• NASCAR Legends: Story behind Martinsville’s grandfather clock | Read more
• Photo Memories: Ernie Irvan wins in memory of Davey Allison | Watch here
• NASCAR Legends: Story behind Martinsville’s grandfather clock | Read more
• Roots: Josh Berry carrying flag for grassroots racers throughout NASCAR journey | Read more
• NASCAR Foundation: Two new members added to Board of Directors | Read more
• ‘The Paperclip’: Martinsville Speedway has been making memories with NASCAR from the start | Read more

Get in on the action 💰

Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy and Fan Rewards.

• Fan Rewards: New in 2023, get rewarded for your participation | Learn more
• Fantasy Live: Still time to get on the leaderboard and win big this season | Tips for 2023
• NASCAR BetCenter: Don’t miss your chance to make picks each week | Visit the BetCenter
• Going the distance: 2023 Cup Series championship odds | See them here

‘The half mile of mayhem’ 📎

Revisit the history of some of the most iconic moments from Martinsville.

• Winner, winner: All-time winners of Martinsville’s spring race | See who has the most
• Do you remember?: Historic moments at Martinsville | Relive them here
• Added to the lore: Ross Chastain helps remove wall at Martinsville to commemorate ‘Hail Melon’ | Read more
• Lap leaders: See who has led the most laps around Martinsville | Scroll through

Take some notes 📝

Four hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• The last 11 Martinsville races have been won by nine different drivers, Martin Truex Jr. is the only driver with multiple wins in that time period.
• Ford is winless in the last seven Martinsville races; the manufacturer had won the three previous races.
• The race winner started outside the top 10 in five of the last seven short-track races.
• A driver has led 100 or more laps in five of eight races in 2023.

🔮 Predicting the winner: Using data to set a projected finishing order