TRACK: Martinsville Speedway (.526-mile Oval) DISTANCE: 500 Laps – STAGE 1/2 (130 Laps each), FINAL STAGE 240 LAPS (263 Miles)
WEATHER: RAIN 80%, 79 degrees high

Starting Lineup

Betting favorites

Kyle Busch (+450)

Busch has just one finish outside of the top five at Martinsville since 2015. That’s 11 starts. In the spring race, he’s finished first, second, second and third respectively since 2016. He’s scored six top four finishes in his last six races on the season too, half of them being runner-ups including last Sunday.

Martin Truex Jr. (+550)

Truex Jr. won the Fall race last year. He also won both Richmond races too as he’s won the last three Cup races in the Virginia Commonwealth. He has a top 10 finish in nine of his last 11 Martinsville starts including being second, fourth, third, eighth and first respectively in his last five. He’s also coming off of his first top five finish of the season too.

Brad Keselowski (+600)

The Michigan native has eight straight top 10 finishes in Martinsville including leading 446 of 500 laps in a dominating day last March. He’s also had a top five in seven of those eight races as well including three straight and five straight top 10’s on the season.

Chase Elliott (+750)

This is an easy decision here. Elliott, was second in this race last year, ninth the year prior and third the year before that. He has four top 10 finishes in his last six Martinsville starts as well. On the season, Elliott has six top eight results in his last eight tries.

Denny Hamlin (+900)

Denny Hamlin has three straight top five finishes on the Virginia paperclip and two wins so far this season. He’s had four top five finishes in his last six start on the year.

Joey Logano (+900)

Logano won the Fall race in 2018 and has three top eight finishes in his last four Martinsville starts.

Betting long shots

Ryan Blaney (+1,100)

Blaney was third in the spring race in 2018 and fourth last year. He’s had a top 10 in four of his last five Martinsville starts including three of those four resulting in a top five finish. Also, he’s had three top four finishes in his last four tries on the season as well.

Jimmie Johnson (+2,000)

He’s been hot. Johnson, crossed the line second in the Coca-Cola 600, third a couple Sunday’s ago at Bristol and showing the speed of old again. Now, it’s to arguably his best track. While Johnson has scored just one top five in his last 11 Martinsville tries, he does have nine wins overall there, 19 top five finishes and 24 top 10’s in 36 starts. The speed is back and this is a no-brainer.

Clint Bowyer (+2,000)

He won this race in 2018. Furthermore, he was seventh in 2017 and again in 2019. Worth a look here.

William Byron (+3,300)

The speed is there and Byron finished second at Martinsville last October.

Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 Race Preview

The first ever night race at Martinsville will take place on Wednesday night. That will be met with high expectations. This will also serve as the final weeknight race for the next month. Really, other than the All-Star race and Kansas next month, this should conclude the weeknight experiment for the year.

So, lets hope this new short track package helps the racing so the millions of fans watching on one of the last few weeknight races don’t get too bored and go to bed early.

If they run like the two races that we saw at Martinsville a year ago, then we’re in trouble. In both races, three different drivers led in each. In the spring race at the Martinsville (VA) Speedway, Brad Keselowski led 446 of 500 laps. Second place finisher Chase Elliott led 49 of 500 laps himself. Between them, that’s 495 of 500 laps led. Joey Logano led the other five laps in a four lead change race. In the fall playoff race, Martin Truex Jr. led 464 laps with William Byron (30) and Kyle Larson (6) being the only other drivers to pace the field.

Luckily, the two short track races run with the old package this season has been much better, so hopefully we get back to the old Martinsville racing on Wednesday night.

A weird trend going now at Martinsville too is this — we’ve had five straight different winners. Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. have won the last five races there. We have several good picks to extend that streak this week in fact.

The biggest key to winning though is going to be the draw for the starting lineup. The top 12 in owners points will start in the top 6 Rows. But, those who get a top 10 starting spot better their chances at victory. Eight of the last nine Martinsville race winners have come from a top 10 starting spot. The funny thing about that is, no one has won from the front row since 2013 and only three front row starters have won since 2009.

Stat To Watch

Penske/JGR will be the cars to beat. They took four of the top five finishing spots in the spring race last year and four of the top five in the October race. They’ve also won five of the last six races on the Virginia paperclip as well.

They Said It

“That’s just where the practice thing comes in,” Martin Truex Jr. says of the potential thing missing for Toyota this year. “You go back to the racetrack with your best guess of what you think is going to work, and it’s not always what you think it’s going to be. You give a great driver and crew chief and engineer and team an hour to work on a race car, they’re going to get it better.”