Seven drivers eye final three spots
Joey Logano is in an enviable place.
As the only driver who has already secured a spot in the championship finale of NASCAR’s Cup Series next weekend, he’ll enter Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway with a head start on preparations for the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Seven others, however, will duel for the last three spots on the oldest and shortest circuit in the premier series, a 0.526-mile oval. Passing was difficult in the spring and contact is a given, and likely more so with the highest of stakes on the line.
“It’s a super tight battle for everybody, so when it comes down to the end of the race we’ve seen it so many times, whether it’s for the win or it’s for that 1 point that they need coming off Turn 4, we’ve seen some big moments here where desperate people do desperate things and this is a track where the desperate people have an opportunity to do a desperate thing,” Logano, the 2018 champion, said. “I’m glad I’m not a part of that.”
Kyle Larson will start on the pole Sunday. Larson turned a fast lap at 96.078 miles per hour, edging Chase Elliott for the top spot. Elliott’s lap came at 96.019 m.p.h., putting the last two NASCAR Cup Series champions on the front row for the last race before the four-driver field is set for the championship.
Elliott remains a contender for his second title. Larson has been eliminated.
Larson, who won the championship last season after winning 10 races, posted his third victory of the season last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He was eliminated from the championship in the second round at the road course in Charlotte.
Elliott is third in points, 8 behind Ross Chastain and 6 ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who won at Martinsville in the spring. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe complete the field of contenders, with Hamlin possibly having an advantage. He’s won five times at Martinsville, but not since 2015, while Logano, Elliott, and Byron have all won more recently at the track.
Briscoe is last among the eight contenders for the championship, 63 points behind leader Logano. He pretty much needs to win at Martinsville to make the title round.
He's not quite sure how that will affect his driving until the race is underway.
“I think it’s hard to say what you’re willing to do sitting here versus when you’re in the moment,” Briscoe said in the media center Saturday.
Blaney is getting his crew chief back for the most important weekend of his NASCAR season after an untimely suspension.
The spring stop at the paperclip-shaped track was a passing nightmare with only five lead changes and four cautions — two of which were for stage breaks.
“Yeah, passing was a little bit of an issue in the spring,” Blaney said.
Blaney was one of four drivers to lead, but his Ford was out front for a measly five laps in a race dominated by winner Byron and Elliott. They combined to lead all but six of the 403 laps.
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Ty Gibbs wrecked teammate Brandon Jones out of the lead in the third overtime of Saturday’s Xfinity Series in a controversial victory that had the Martinsville Speedway crowd booing Gibbs.
When the 20-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs went to Victory Lane, fans chanted “Thank you, Grandpa,” to spoil the celebration.
The victory moved Gibbs into next week’s Xfinity Series championship finale, where he will race against three Chevrolet drivers from JR Motorsports. Had Gibbs stayed in second behind Jones, the victory for Jones would have put two Toyotas from JGR in the championship finale. Instead, Jones failed to qualify and Justin Allgaier took the fourth spot to join teammates Josh Berry and Noah Gragson in next Saturday’s winner-take-all finale.