By Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
Larson holds the cards as title rivals seek Martinsville magic
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kyle Larson is hoping his amazing last lap rally to win at NASCAR’s biggest track last week will be enough to help him to a trophy hoist this week at one of the sport’s smallest tracks. And it could be enough to place him in contention for the biggest trophy hoist of the season.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver is on the verge of becoming the first back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series champion since another Hendrick driver, NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson won a record five consecutive titles from 2006-2010.
By virtue of his victory last week at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – the first drafting track win of his career – Larson takes a 73-point advantage over the field into Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
It’s the largest lead any driver has had in the eight Chase races to date and certainly puts the pressure on his closest challengers. Not only is he a former Martinsville winner (2023) but he’s finished top-10 in the last eight races there.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin – tops among Larson’s challengers – happens to be the series’ most successful active driver at Martinsville with six wins. His teammates, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, who trail Larson by 74 and 79 points, respectively are also in dire need of some short track magic.
Team Penske teammates Joey Logano (-100) and Ryan Blaney (-106) are hopeful to renew some of their own Martinsville magic. Logano, who is making his 650th career NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend, has been particularly good on short tracks this year and is actually in position to become the first driver since 2007 to earn four short track wins in a single season. He shows up at the .526-mile Martinsville “paper clip” with victories on the schedule’s last two short tracks.
And Blaney has shown himself particularly capable at Martinsville with a pair of victories in the last six races there and finishes or first or second in five of the last 13 races there.
Hamlin has been particularly impressive on the short tracks and now racing for his championship life, he could use some of that mojo. His 15 short track wins are essentially double that of any other driver – Logano has eight.
The two are also ranked first and second in average finish this season on short tracks – Logano 4.5 to Hamlin’s 5.0. They also top the current championship-eligible field in points earned on short tracks – Logano has 71-point edge on Hamlin here. Logano’s 511 laps led on short tracks is second only to his teammate Blaney’s 612.
Larson is only averaging an 11.3 finish on this style of track, but has led 311 laps – third on the list among championship eligible drivers.
It’s worth noting Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron are the most recent Martinsville race winners, with Byron claiming the Fall race win last year from pole position and leading an absolutely dominating 304 of the 500 laps.
“There’s still two races,” Larson warned following his victory last week. “It’s so easy to look at it and be like, ‘Oh, the 5’s got it.’”
He is taking nothing for granted and insists he’s racing this week no differently than he would without a third career title on the line.
“There’s still a lot of racing left,” he said. “All you guys [in the media] are like, ‘This person is out, this person has it locked up.’ They win or something happens, boom, the picture completely changes.”
Practice gets underway at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET – both sessions broadcast on truTV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Clock Ticking: Seven title hopefuls face pivotal Martinsville test
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series arrives at Martinsville Speedway with the most competitive battle atop the standings – seven drivers still eligible to hoist the championship trophy next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Reigning series champion, Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love leads the standings by 19 points over another former champ, JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier. Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day is 29 points off the pace with Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed (-50), JRM’s Carson Kvapil (-59), Creed’s teammate Sam Mayer (-96), and last week’s Talladega winner, JRM’s Sammy Smith (-108) still Chase eligible.
Five drivers in the series have previous wins at Martinsville, including Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Austin Hill and Taylor Gray, who claimed his first career win in this race last year. Allgaier is the only full-time driver with multiple wins earning his second iconic Martinsville clock trophies – just this Spring.
Points leader Love conceded last week that the Martinsville half-miler may be his biggest challenge to close out the season and become the series’ first back-to-back champ since Tyler Reddick in 2018-2019. The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has a best finish of 12th in the last six short track races and is averaging an 18.6 finish at Martinsville – worst among the seven drivers still championship eligible.
Creed actually boasts the best average finish (4.0) on short tracks this season. Allgaier has been second best (8.3) followed by the defending race winner Gray (9.0).
“I can’t wait to get to Martinsville this weekend,” Allgaier said. “We are still in this fight, and Martinsville is a great place to continue to gain ground on the points lead. We had an unbelievable car here in the spring and I know that [crew chief] Andrew [Overstreet] and all the guys on this No. 7 team will give me a car just as strong when we hit the track on Friday. We just need to execute like we did earlier this year here and keep the fenders clean.”
Nine different drivers have won the last nine short track races on the schedule. Specific to Martinsville, the last six races have been won by six different drivers.
The last three short track races have featured winning passes in the closing 10 laps of the race, and seven of the last 10 Martinsville races have gone to overtime.
Practice starts at 3 p.m. ET on Friday followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 4:05 p.m. ET. Harrison Burton is the defending pole winner.
Honeycutt holds the cushion; Riggs aims to shake it at Martinsville
TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt takes a strong 43-point advantage over Front Row Motorsports Layne Riggs into Friday night’s Black’s Tire 200 presented by Down East Heating & Air Conditioning at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but neither driver is calling this title run done with two races remaining to settle the trophy honors.
Honeycutt rallied to a fifth-place effort at Talladega, Ala. last week in the kind of thrilling overtime finish that fans and competitors have come to expect at the big track. Riggs was eighth in his No. 34 Ford. And now the series transitions from the sport’s largest track to its one of its smallest at .536-mile.
“Looking forward to Martinsville, and got a good cushion, but you never say it is over till it is over,” Honeycutt said after the Talladega checkered flag. “I’m sure we will be racing hard for the win next week.
Riggs has four finishes of 15th or better at Martinsville and remains optimistic despite the point-deficit he faces.
“We set as a goal that if I was 45 (points) or worse back, we’re not gonna have a shot,” said Riggs, whose father Scott won at Martinsville in 2001.
“Obviously, I think the 11 [Honeycutt] can’t be as good as us. We’re gonna have to go dominate the next two races. I know this team can do it. We’ve done it all year long. I’m excited. This is gonna be fun.”
Defending series champion, Corey Heim is the defending race winner claiming the trophy for TRICON Garage last October – finishing just ahead of Honeycutt, whose runner-up showing is his best work – and only second top-10 – in six starts at the track.
Riggs started from pole position, led 27 laps, and also turned in his career best effort at the track with a third place in the 2025 Fall race.
Last week’s Talladega race winner, Sammy Smith, who announced his new contract to team with Honeycutt next year at TRICON, will be in the field again keeping the title contenders honest.
The winningest Chase-eligible driver at Martinsville that’s in Friday night’s field is actually Eckes, who swept the 2024 races at the track. The only other Chase drivers with past wins at Martinsville are Eckes’ McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate Daniel Hemric (Spring, 2025) and CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger (Fall, 2022). All three of these drivers have been mathematically eliminated from title contention but remain in tight points battles of their own.
There is a lot to race for in these final two races of the year. Eckes dropped two positions after Talladega to fifth place in the standings – but is only three points out of third place. Hemric dropped four spots to seventh at Talladega but is 17 points behind sixth place Gio Ruggiero. Enfinger shows up at Martinsville ranked last among the 10 Chase drivers, but is a mere seven-points behind Hemric in seventh
Practice is at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 1:35 p.m. ET – both televised on FS2. Riggs is the defending pole winner.
