What to note in today’s NASCAR CUP race at Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville, VA. – There may not be a better cut for Ryan Blaney to combat his recent disc as Martinsville Speedway.

Blaney is entering today that he could not finish the last three races – the first time in his career he had such a line. He had engine errors at Phoenix and Homestead and destroyed in Las Vegas.

Blaney won last fall’s play -off match in Martinsville to secure a place in the championship race. He won two of the last three races in Martinsville and did not start worse than seventh in his last six on this historic half -mile lane.

“It’s always nice to return to places where you ran well,” Blaney said. “It gives you a little more a sense of confidence like” ok, I know what I need to be here to be pretty decent or to do a top five or the win. ”

Today, she will have challenges for Blaney, who qualified the 32nd – his worst starting point ever at Martinsville. But remember earlier this year at The Clash. At the quarter-mile track at Bowman-Gray Stadium, Blaney last started in the 23-car field and finished second in the 200 Round race.

While he will have more cars today to succeed, he will also have 400 rounds to get to the front.

Green flag is scheduled today for 15:11 ET on FS1. Here’s what you should note in today’s race:

Chaos

There were ten warnings in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race and 14 warnings in Saturday’s Xfinity race. Collectively, the two races had 38% of their rounds under caution.

How managers criticized some participants in that race at the XFinity meeting.

The question is whether the chaos will continue in today’s race.

Pit road

Martinsville has one of the narrowest pit roads on the circle. Over the past two weeks, incidents have seen on Pit Road. Josh Berry and Joey Logano both spun at Homestead in uninhabited pit stalls last week after Berry made contact with Kyle Larson’s car and then spun in Logano’s car.

In Las Vegas, Carson Hcevar hit Ty Gibbs and spun Gibbs. Hcevar left his stall as Gibbs entered his.

Will a contender in the contemporary race influence their race by contacting Pit Road?

Christopher Bell reversal

After what he called a ‘wretched’ day on Homestead this weekend, Christopher Bell wants to turn his fate today at Martinsville, which starts from the pole.

While Bell won the 2022 play -off game on this track, the results were not always good here. He was 22nd in last year’s play -off match and missed the title race. He was 35th in the spring race.

“Our performance is definitely not where we want it to be with Martinsville,” Bell said before winning the pole. “But to put it into perspective, we were able to do everything I had to do (to progress to the title race last year) to the Pit Road crash we put in the back of the suit.

“I think we’re just a little off and that it comes from driving the car, our setup. We definitely want to close the void to be a contender for the race, but I feel like we were sometimes a top 10 car. “

Hendrick Motorsports Motors

Hendrick Motorsports has won five of the last nine races in Martinsville.

Hendrick has three cars starting in the top five in today’s race – the first time the organization has done that Martinsville.

Chase Elliott qualified second. Alex Bowman starts third. Kyle Larson qualified fourth.

Points -leader William Byron, who won the Spring Martinsville race two of the past three years, begins 10th today.