{"id":45214,"date":"2024-04-06T16:40:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T21:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=45214"},"modified":"2024-04-09T21:58:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T02:58:57","slug":"nascar-saturday-martinsville-notebook-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/06\/nascar-saturday-martinsville-notebook-5\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Martinsville Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Is pit stall No. 1 at Martinsville really that valuable?<\/b><\/p>\n

MARTINSVILLE, Va.\u2014Ask any NASCAR Cup Series driver which pit stall on the circuit is most valuable, and chances are most would point to pit stall No. 1 at Martinsville Speedway, closest to the exit from pit road.<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on April 06, 2024 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Conventional wisdom says that pit box is worth two or three positions per stop, assuming the service for fuel and tires goes according to plan.<\/p>\n

Possession of pit stall No. 1 typically is a perk for the pole winner, who has first choice of pit boxes for the ensuing race.<\/p>\n

The anomaly is that no Cup driver has parlayed the pole position and the No. 1 pit box into a victory in more than a decade\u2014since Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat in the spring race of 2013, specifically.<\/p>\n

Among full-time active drivers, Denny Hamlin is the last to win from the pole at Martinsville, in the fall race of 2010.<\/p>\n

Notably, drivers have won the last three races at the 0.526-mile short track from outside the top 10 on the grid. Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney started 11th last year before winning the race that propelled him into the Championship 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the No. 1 pit stall wherever you go is important\u2014some more than others\u2014but it\u2019s still important,\u201d Blaney said on Saturday. \u201cIt\u2019s the best stall out there…<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the first stall in (closest to the pit entrance) last year in the fall, and I thought it was fantastic, like it was really, really good for us. When you pull off to go in there, you gain spots on guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always come with the mentality of stall No. 1 or anything on the straightaway … Obviously, the goal is the pole, because it makes it easier on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Easier, perhaps, but not decisively so\u2014at least not in recent years.<\/p>\n

Ross Chastain wants to make a different kind of history at Martinsville<\/b><\/p>\n

Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain can\u2019t come to Virginia without being reminded of his remarkable \u201cHail Melon,\u201d the extraordinary high-speed trip around the wall in Turns 3 and 4 at Martinsville that shot him into the 2022 Championship 4 race at Denny Hamlin\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Needing at least two positions on the final lap of the Round of 8 elimination event, Chastain grabbed fifth gear as he approached Turn 3, pinned his No. 1 Chevrolet against the outside wall and rocketed around the final corner as if his car were racing in a sped-up video game.<\/p>\n

The move enabled Chastain to gain more than enough spots to advance, and the following week, he finished third behind champion Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney in the title race.<\/p>\n

Chastain, however, doesn\u2019t want the Hail Melon to be his definitive statement at Martinsville, as difficult as the feat might be to supplant in the history of the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know that we have a small blip in the history of (Martinsville),\u201d Chastain said. \u201cI want more. I don\u2019t want that to be my legacy here, so we\u2019re working on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s no way we\u2019re going to get in and out of Virginia here without talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

No extra pressure on Kyle Larson during Hendrick anniversary weekend<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway is a huge one for Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend.<\/p>\n

Martinsville is broadly significant to the Hendrick organization. In 1984, Geoff Bodine won the eighth race of the season there to keep the organization afloat. Drivers for team owner Rick Hendrick have won 28 Cup races at the 0.526-mile short track, a record for an organization at a single venue.<\/p>\n

Bodine and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, who won four series championships at Hendrick Motorsports, are grand marshals for Sunday\u2019s Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, defending race winner Kyle Larson says he doesn\u2019t feel extra pressure to win on Sunday. There have been no pep rallies at the Hendrick campus\u2014because they\u2019re not necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I feel any more pressure to win,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like any of us four drivers (Larson, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and William Byron) feel any more pressure to win, but we know what the magnitude of what a win this weekend would be for the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short Strokes<\/b><\/p>\n

Toyota hit a major milestone on Friday night when Karter Sarff, racing in the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series at 36 Raceway in Osborn, Missouri, recorded the car maker\u2019s 500th national midget victory. Current NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell is responsible for 59 of those wins, more than any other driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of that,\u201d Bell said. \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t keep track of my wins. I have no idea how many wins I have in my career, so whenever I saw that number, it was very overwhelming to me and something I\u2019m very proud of.\u201d … Richard Childress racing announced Friday that NASCAR Xfinity Series title contender Austin Hill also will race part-time in the Cup Series under sponsorship from United Rentals. Hill\u2019s first start under the RCR banner this year will come at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Is pit stall No. 1 at Martinsville really that valuable? MARTINSVILLE, Va.\u2014Ask any NASCAR Cup Series driver which pit stall on the circuit is most valuable, and chances are most would point to pit stall No. 1 at Martinsville Speedway, closest to the exit from pit road. Conventional wisdom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":45219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[407,16],"class_list":["post-45214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-martinsville-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2144377262-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-bLg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45234,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45214\/revisions\/45234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}