By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
Tyler Reddick’s heater heads for a tight turn at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Scoring his fourth victory in the season’s sixth race last weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick continues to set the [fast] pace for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
The Cook Out 400 (Sunday, March 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway looms large as the first short track test to see which team – or manufacturer – can keep Reddick honest.
Thanks to his incredible early-season work, the 30-year-old Californian now leads Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney by an incredible 95 points in the standings. Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace, their 23XI Racing team co-owner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott round out the top-five in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings.
“You could say three of the four wins we’ve had to fight through some level of adversity, whether it’s issues with the car, getting caught up in an accident, or having to hold off the field basically like in COTA,” Reddick said Sunday after his Darlington victory.
“For us to be put through these things, that in my opinion kept us from winning a year ago, to fight through these things, and then still win is very remarkable. It’s very fulfilling. It’s the stuff that, you know, you just got to kind of take a step back and say, ‘wow, that was incredible.’
“Yeah, I’m definitely in that place right now. Just really proud of my team.”
Fellow Toyota driver Hamlin won at Las Vegas two weeks ago giving the make five wins in six races and with a phenomenal track record at the Martinsville “paper clip” Hamlin – and Toyota – are absolutely favorites again this weekend. Five times at Martinsville – including his win in this race last Spring – Hamlin has led more than 200 laps. Martinsville is Hamlin’s best track statistically in top fives (21), top 10s (27), laps led (2722) and stage wins (eight).
In recent years, however, Martinsville has shown exceptional parity among NASCAR’s three makes. The last three races have been won by Ford (Ryan Blaney, November 2024), Toyota (Hamlin, Spring, 2025) and Chevrolet (William Byron, Fall, 2025). Going back to the last eight races – there have been four Chevrolet winners, two Toyota winners and two Ford winners. And Blaney, Byron and Hamlin have claimed six of those seven historic Martinsville grandfather clock trophies.
As good as Toyota has been, it’s been a rare dry spell for Chevrolet. It’s been since 2019 that a Hendrick Motorsports driver did not win a race through the opening six races on the schedule.
Byron, however, not only won from pole position last Fall at Martinsville but the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has proven to be the class of the Next Gen competition at the short track. He’s won three of the last eight races there and his 664 laps led are most for him at any track and second only to Hamlin (735 laps) at Martinsville in that time period. Byron has won two of the last four short track races coming into the weekend.
His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has finished sixth or better in the last seven Martinsville races, winning in 2023.
Ford’s Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano must certainly be considered contenders this week as well based on their track records. Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford owns a pair of Martinsville grandfather clocks and boasts the best average finish (4.25) in the Next Gen Era. Logano’s 13-race top-10 streak in the Penske No. 22 Ford at Martinsville is best in the series.
It is worth noting, that two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has now gone 99 races without a victory – the longest such mark of his career. He is a two-time Martinsville winner, visiting Victory Lane in back-to-back seasons 2016-17. Since a runner-up finish in 2021, however, Busch has only a single top-10 (seventh in 2022) and hasn’t led a lap since 2020. Last season he was 17th and 13th in the two races.
NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying will air live Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET (Prime, MRN and SiriusXM). JGR’s Christopher Bell is the defending polesitter. Byron won last year’s Fall race from pole position but the last time the polesitter won in the Spring was 2013 – NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson.
Short Track, Big Drama: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is back at Martinsville
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series resumes competition Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway with the NFPA 250 (3:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill is the defending race winner, leading only the last lap of overtime to claim the win last Spring after that day’s most dominant driver – now a NASCAR Cup Series rookie – Connor Zilisch spun on the last regularly-scheduled lap resulting in an overtime restart. Zilisch had started from pole position and led 100 of the opening 250 laps.
Taylor Gray’s 87 laps out front were second to Zilisch, and the 21-year-old Gray answered that production later in the year scoring his first series victory the following October race at Martinsville.
Three other championship contenders own Martinsville clocks, including last week’s Darlington winner, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier (2023), Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones (2022) and Sam Hunt Racing’s Harrison Burton (2020).
The 2024 series champion Allgaier holds a 52-point edge over last year’s champ, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love atop the standings. JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil (-84), Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed (-88) and Love’s teammate Hill (-96) round out the top-five atop the standings.
JR Motorsports has won the last four races (with three different drivers) and a victory Saturday would mark the second longest streak of wins for a team in series history. Joe Gibbs Racing won six consecutively in 2008.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying at Martinsville is scheduled for Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET (CW App). The last time a polesitter won this race was 1987 (Jimmy Hensley).
