What to Watch: Restarts, remembrance in clear focus at Martinsville

Cook Out 400

(⏰ Sunday, 3 p.m. ET | FS1 | MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | NASCAR 101

Location: Martinsville, Virginia
Track length: 0.526 miles
Cup Series race purse: $7,669,028
Race distance: 400 laps | 210.4 miles
Stages: 80 | 180 | 400
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Starting lineup: Kyle Larson to lead field to green flag
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: Kyle Larson, April 2023

Key things to watch

Saturday sessions

Kyle Larson logged his second consecutive Busch Light Pole with a best final-round lap of 96.034 mph in the No. 5 Chevrolet. The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s speed wound up being one-thousandth of a second faster than Bubba Wallace, who will start second in the 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota. Larson enters as the defending race winner, and his next Cup Series victory will be the 25th of his career.

Corey LaJoie was the fastest in 20 minutes of practice, putting the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet atop the leaderboard. His speed of 94.585 mph was just ahead of second-fastest Wallace and third-fastest Ryan Preece, who set the pace in the consecutive 10-lap averages speed chart. | Full Saturday recap

Big story line

Restarts come under sharper scrutiny post-Richmond

Denny Hamlin’s pre-emptive overtime fire-off foiled Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. last weekend at Richmond Raceway, putting restarts and officiating under a microscope. Truex cried foul post-race after Hamlin rolled to his second victory of the young NASCAR Cup Series season.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said earlier this week that Hamlin’s decision to make an envelope-pushing start as the control car on the race’s final green flag came at a crucial time as “a bang-bang call.” Hamlin made his case this week on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, saying he didn’t want to “give up the advantage of being the leader,” adding that his focus was more on Truex’s front fender alongside him than on the restart-zone border.

The circuit lands at another Virginia short track this weekend, and restarts will be a prime focus — especially if caution flags come in a flurry late in Sunday’s 400-lapper. Both drivers may well figure into that mix again, given their legacy of success here; Hamlin leads all active Cup Series drivers with five Martinsville wins, just ahead of second-ranking Truex’s three victories.

History tells us…

Hendrick Motorsports has won the last two springtime events at the 0.526-mile oval, with Kyle Larson (2023) and William Byron (2022) savoring the laurels. All four of the organization’s drivers have found Victory Lane in the last seven Martinsville races, with Alex Bowman (October 2021) and Chase Elliott (November 2020) claiming the track’s famed grandfather clock trophy. Three of the team’s four drivers — Larson, Elliott and Bowman — qualified among the top 10.

Cars fielded by Rick Hendrick have won 28 times at Martinsville — the most victories by a single Cup Series organization at any track. The team’s drivers won’t lack motivation this weekend, with all four of Hendrick Motorsports’ cars sporting commemorative ruby-red designs to mark the centerpiece race of its 40th anniversary season at the site of the team’s first-ever victory in 1984.

Interestingly enough, earning front-row real estate in qualifying hasn’t necessarily equaled race-winning performance here in recent years. The last time a Martinsville winner came from the first two starting spots was 20 races ago on April 7, 2013, when Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson drove Hendrick’s No. 48 Chevrolet to victory from the pole position.

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

Josh Berry. After a sterling performance last Sunday at Richmond Raceway, momentum seems to be brewing for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate. This weekend, Berry heads to more familiar ground at Martinsville, where he sets off at 28-1 odds.

Berry first arrived on NASCAR national series radars at Martinsville in April 2021, when he prevailed in just his 13th Xfinity Series start. His first season with Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 Ford team has had its uneven patches, but his short-track knack has room to thrive this weekend. Another option further down the betting board is SHR teammate Ryan Preece, a 65-1 shot who won the pole, led 135 laps early here a year ago and showed sustained speed in Saturday’s practice in the No. 41 Ford. | Martinsville odds

Speed reads

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

• Turning Point: Trends from Richmond, heading to Martinsville | Read article
• Triumph and tragedy: Deep-rooted ties bind Hendrick team, Martinsville | Read article
• ‘Big morale boost’: Crew chief swap in place for Austin Dillon, RCR No. 3 team | Read article
• Rookie potential: Josh Berry making early strides for Stewart-Haas | Read article
• Keselowski’s aspirations: RFK owner/driver focused ‘on the process, not the outcome’ | Read article
• Dash 4 Cash back in action: Xfinity Series’ four-race initiative opens at Martinsville | Program overview
• Moments from Martinsville: Take a trip through history, memories | Photo gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Picks to click from our Martinsville video archives | Read article
• 36 for 36: NASCAR survivor pool selections for Martinsville | Read article
• Fearless prediction: Racing Insights projects Sunday’s final race results | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Lineup advice for Martinsville | Sleepers, drivers to avoid
• Paint Scheme Preview: Springtime designs for Martinsville | Pick a favorite
• Hendrick 40th commemorative: Ruby-red paint for the four-car fleet | Photo gallery
• Power Rankings: Chase Elliott rises in updated top-20 list | Latest driver rankings

Fast facts ⏩

Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• Denny Hamlin has led the most laps at Martinsville Speedway in the Next Gen car — 395 — since the start of the 2022 season. He has led more than 100 laps in four of the last six Martinsville races, but his last victory here was in March 2015.
• Joey Logano, last weekend’s runner-up at Richmond, has the longest active streak of top-10 finishes at Martinsville with nine in a row.
• King Richard Petty leads the all-time list of Cup Series wins recorded in the state of Virginia with 38 — 15 of those came at Martinsville and 13 at Richmond.