Dell Sports – Nascar News

The two blue oval drivers will look to break the drought Sunday afternoon when they compete in the Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Del., the 11th race on the 2024 schedule.

And what a 2024 it's been so far for Ford Motorsports, huh?

While the most casual glance at the win column reveals a bad start for the teams -- 0-for-10 -- taking the whole season into consideration is even worse.

Ford failed to win in the season-opening exhibition race in California -- The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum -- at the legendary Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as Denny Hamlin walked away with a win.

At Daytona during Speedweeks, the blue-clad teams fared no better: Toyota's Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell won the Duels, the Daytona 500's qualifying races.

So really 0-for-13.

As for the point standings, only one Ford -- the No. 12 driven by reigning series champion Ryan Blaney at No. 7 -- graces the top 11, and four of its drivers have combined to record just five stage wins thus far.

That's a whole lot of time being any place other than at the front of the field.

When they were running 1-2 Saturday on the 188th lap at Talladega, one had to figure McDowell, a Daytona 500 winner, or Keselowski, a six-time Talladega winner, would manage to make it to Victory Lane with his Dark Horse Mustang in good shape.

However, neither could be blamed for what ensued: A chaotic melee that ended with Reddick roaring through the mess, stealing the checkers for his first victory at Talladega and crowding the trophy case for 23XI team owner/NBA icon Michael Jordan even more.

But neither Ford driver was finger-pointing afterward, even though a win would have likely put the winner into the playoffs and given either McDowell his third career Cup win or snapped Keselowski's 107-race winless streak.

"Nobody did anything wrong there, not Michael, not Brad, not anyone," said FOX analyst Larry McReynolds. "What (Ford) has to hang their hat on is they had a fast Ford Mustang. The superspeedways, the road courses -- and we've got a lot more of those coming up -- that's obviously their best opportunity to go to Victory Lane and maybe punch their ticket to the playoffs."

On the high banks of the one-mile Dover Motor Speedway, the last two victories for Ford were in cars driven by current booth analyst Kevin Harvick (2018, 2020). Since the 2009 season, the manufacturer has won just three times in 27 races.

Keselowski does have a win there -- a 2012 triumph -- but it was while he was driving for Dodge Motorsports during his title-winning season.

Nicknamed "The Monster Mile," DMS might be too monstrous of a chunk of concrete for Ford to bust through.

Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, he was in prime position to claim his first victory since 2021 -- running second to fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell as the field came to the checkered flag. But a typically frantic Talladega finish instead left him runner-up by a fraction of a second to winner Tyler Reddick.

It wasn't a victory, but it was the second consecutive second-place finish for the owner-driver of the RFK Racing team and fifth top-10 finish through the season's first 10 races. Four of those have been top-five finishes, a run of success Keselowski takes to Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway for Sunday's Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Keselowski has a victory at Dover in 2012 -- the same season he captured the NASCAR Cup Series championship. He's finished inside the top 10 in three of the last five races there.

And yet for all the recent positives to consider, Keselowski has not wavered in his stance.

"Good finishes are important, but we want wins," Keselowski, 40, said after climbing out of his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang at Talladega. "We could really taste it today, but it just didn't happen."

This is not to say that Keselowski, whose last race win was at Talladega in 2021, is not proud of the effort or encouraged by the recent results. He just has high expectations. And good reason for them.

His work this year is a strong sign that the team has absolutely progressed on-track. Keselowski became a partner with NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Jack Roush only three years ago and has already infused exactly the kind of high-level expectation and championship thinking to help bring about a racing renaissance of sorts.

His four top-five finishes through 10 races this season is already half of the total he tallied in all of 2023. His five top-10 efforts are on-track to better the mark of 16 he had last year. He's ranked 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, but only seven points behind 10th place Alex Bowman.

Keselowski's RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher won three races last year and qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. And he's got five top-10 finishes this season and is ranked 16th -- only 16 points behind Bowman in 10th.

"I feel like the last two weeks especially, we've earned finishes we probably didn't deserve," said Keselowski, one of the most analytical drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series grid. "It kind of ebbs and flows as the season goes. But when you have cars that are capable of winning, in general, you need to make it count."

Keselowski -- a 35-race winner -- closes out the Spring schedule with a good track record at promising venues. He's scored victories at all four of the next four points-paying tracks (excluding the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, N.C.). He's won at Dover and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and has two victories at both Kansas and Charlotte.

Combine that with his strong current run and Keselowski has plenty of reason to feel positive. He characterized his organization two weeks ago at Texas as being filled with that same "kind of never-give-up spirit" that Keselowski the driver has cultivated and flourished from. Certainly, things seem absolutely headed in the right direction.

Running fifth off the 2.66-mile superspeedway's final turn, Reddick kept his No. 45 Camry on the high side as the front group roared toward the stripe.

Meanwhile up front, leader Michael McDowell came down to block second-place racer Brad Keselowski.

McDowell was turned up to the frontstretch wall after contact and Keselowski slowed, allowing Reddick to keep his foot in the gas and zoom on to his first win this season as the field slid and crashed behind him.

Reddick beat Keselowski by 0.208 seconds for his sixth career win in 156 starts and first at Talladega. 23XI Racing -- owned by Michael Jordan -- enjoyed the win of Reddick's No. 45.

It was also Toyota's first win at the Alabama superspeedway since 2021.

The final top-finishers were Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman.

The Fords of McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley took turns leading early in Stage 1, but Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 19 Toyota paced the group most of the way.

As pit stops began, Denny Hamlin lost control of his No. 11 Toyota at the back of the group that was pitting, making minimal contact with the No. 42 of John Hunter Nemechek, and continued on unscathed.

Austin Cindric's No. 2 Ford edged Chase Elliott by 0.004 seconds for his second stage win of 2024.

Kyle Larson, who started last under penalty and lost a lap due to it, ran side-by-side with Joey Logano after the white flag, but Logano received a huge push from teammate Cindric to beat him and Austin Dillon to the checkers, earning the winless Logano his first stage win in 24 races.

With 56 laps to go, the first incident for cause occurred when the cars of Christopher Bell and Haley were part of a spin on the backstretch. Chase Elliott, the winner last week at Texas, narrowly squeezed past the minor melee.

A worse incident happened with just over 30 laps left when four of the six Toyotas on a promising strategy of pitting early wrecked in Turn 3.

Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones all were knocked out of the event.

McDowell's No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford made a dramatic final run in the final round of qualifying with a speed of 182.022 mph (52.609 seconds) around the 2.66-mile high-banks, just edging fellow Mustang driver Austin Cindric, whose top speed in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was 181.739 mph (52.691 seconds). It was a dramatic birthday nod for the Ford Mustang, celebrating its 60th anniversary this week.

Superspeedway racing has been a strong suit for Phoenix-native McDowell, 39. He started on the outside of the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500 and won his only other pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Sunday will mark his fifth top-10 starting spot of 2024.

"I think we all felt that pressure knowing how strong we were at Daytona and Atlanta to come here to Talladega and repeat and have a really good starting spot," said McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner and last year's Indianapolis Grand Prix winner.

"The guys put a lot of energy and effort into all the little extra details it takes to get that speed. So excited for (Sunday) and feel good about what we've been able to do this year with our superspeedway program.

"This is a good week for us to get a win," McDowell added with a smile, noting the Ford Mustang anniversary.

Ford, which has yet to secure a trophy in the season's nine races, certainly stacked Talladega qualifying. McDowell's teammate Todd Gilliland -- who has led the most superspeedway laps this year -- was third-fastest in the No. 38 Ford, followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevy and Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Busch is the defending race winner.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. was the top Toyota in qualifying and his No. 19 Camry will roll off sixth. Team Penske's Joey Logano will start seventh in the No. 22 Ford Mustang, followed by Ford teammate Roush Fenway Keselowski's Chris Buescher, last week's race winner Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota.

Of note, NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Kyle Larson will be starting last in the 38-car field.

His No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet wasn't allowed to qualify Saturday because team members were seen tampering with the roof rails while pushing the car to pit road. NASCAR deemed it an unapproved adjustment and immediately disallowed a qualifying attempt.

Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Preece will start 11th in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford -- his best qualifying run this season. Alex Bowman, in the No. 48 Chevrolet, is starting 12th.

Also of note, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, a series-best three-race winner this season, will roll off 13th, alongside 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, who earned his first career victory here in 2021.

Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney - the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion who has three Talladega victories including last fall in the Playoffs -- will start 21st. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, a two-time winner at the track, will start 23rd.

Notes

--Hendrick Motorsports' Elliott is a two-time Talladega race winner and has always been strong on the big tracks -- like ‘Dega and Daytona International Speedway. But Elliott conceded that he never knows what to expect at these venues in terms of the final run to the finish.

Five of the last eight Talladega races have included an overtime finish -- neither of Elliott's wins (2019 and 2022), however, came with extra laps.

"It' a $64 question, I don't know," Elliott said of the situation and being able to plan ahead on the strategy of extra laps or not.

"For me personally, I look at it like it's going to go to the finish and you try to position yourself where you want to be when you get back to the start-finish line. It's just a really hard thing to guess when a wreck is going to happen, if it's going to happen. I just don't know. Ask (Ryan) Blaney. I feel like he's won the last 15 races."

--Blaney, who won at Talladega last fall, was asked about Elliott's remarks on why he is so good at the big track -- in regulation or in overtime. A victory this weekend would mark his fourth at Talladega.

"You never can predict it; I've always had that in my head," Blaney said. "You can sit around and predict favorites for these races here for and Daytona, and it's like trying to guess the lottery. You just never know what's going to happen. My mindset is always just try to stay in the game and just be in position to try and capitalize at the end. We've been fortunate here the last handful of times to have a shot to at least run up front and have a shot to win the race."

--Even before McDowell won pole position for Sunday's race, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Buescher acknowledged this weekend's Talladega 500-miler represented a really great opportunity for Ford to get in the winner's column for the first time this season.

Blaney won the fall Talladega race in his Ford, and Buescher's teammate and team co-owner Brad Keselowski is the winningest driver in Sunday's field with six victories at the big track.

Even without having a win, Buescher is ranked 13th with five top-10s in the opening nine races. Keselowski is ranked 17th with three top-five showings.

"It's circled high on the list because it's ‘the next one,'" Buescher said of Talladega, noting that for his RFK team the opening eight races of this season have been far more successful than they were a year ago.

"We were fast in Daytona," he said, adding, "We're never sitting still; this sport doesn't do that."

Former Ford driver and current FOX television NASCAR analyst Kevin Harvick said this week that Ford needs to win and win soon. Keselowski agreed.

"It's definitely a better opportunity for us," Keselowski said of Ford winning at Talladega. "We have more speed as a manufacturer at these types of tracks and we need to capitalize on that. I think it's a great opportunity not just for Ford to win but for our team to win at RFK and we need to come out of here with great finishes."

Winless for three years and having never visited Victory Lane with the team he owns, Keselowski and his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford will be among the favorites when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Alabama for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Last week in a Sunday full of mayhem, Chevrolet's Elliott recorded his first win since 2022 (at Talladega) one week after a top-three finish in Martinsville.

Now, Keselowski is trying to follow that example after a strong run in Texas left him trailing only the Hendrick Motorsports driver at the end.

Despite the runner-up showing at treacherous Texas Motor Speedway, Keselowski voiced some displeasure after the event matched the track-record 16 cautions set on Sept. 25, 2022, in Tyler Reddick's win.

"We didn't have a ton of speed," the 2012 Cup champion said. "Honestly, I'm more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team, and we don't have the speed to go with it, and we're doing all we can to overcome that.

"The driver in me is frustrated because I feel like these are races I'm good enough to win, and we don't have the speed to do it. And the owner in me is mad as hell because it's my fault for not making the cars faster."

He might feel better at Talladega, a harrowing, high-speed superspeedway where he recorded both his first career win in 2009 and most recent one in 2021.

As he zeroes in on a victory, Keselowski can rely on his history of going fast at Talladega, arguably still the circuit's most dangerous layout that has featured some of the most horrifying, highlight-reel wrecks.

He played a part in of one of those on April 26, 2009, at the 2.66-mile steeply banked track.

Running 10th with four laps to go, Keselowski -- then a 25-year-old driving the No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet for owner James Finch -- pushed Carl Edwards to the front with the duo roaring by race leader Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the high side.

Approaching the checkers, Keselowski moved high and then dipped his car below Edwards, turning the Ford driver and propelling him airborne and into the frontstretch's catch fence.

The wild crash ended with Keselowski winning for the first time in the Cup Series and seven fans being hurt.

"We'll race like this until we kill somebody," said Edwards afterward, "then (NASCAR) will change it."

The wreck was eerily similar to Bobby Allison's in 1987.

"Well, it's scary, but it's exciting for the fans. It always has been," Allison said at Talladega that day. "Part of the attraction of Talladega is the potential for danger."

New rules have slowed the cars at Talladega, but with his first and last win being at the mammoth superspeedway, expect Keselowski's emotions to be racing as fast as ever.

Through 297 laps at NASCAR's shortest track, Byron's No. 24 team brought his Chevrolet in first, pitting with 103 laps left and cruising away for a seemingly easy win.

However, John Hunter Nemechek's No. 42 blew a tire with three laps to go, and most of the field stayed out.

Byron, 26, then held off a hard charge by his teammates to beat Kyle Larson by 0.550 seconds for his third victory of 2024 and 13th of his career.

With fellow Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott coming home third, the organization became the first ever to have its cars finish 1-2-3 in the 151 career races at Martinsville.

Bubba Wallace was fourth followed by Ryan Blaney in the season's eighth race, which was extended to 415 laps because of the final caution and shootout.

After beating Wallace by a scant 0.001 seconds in Saturday afternoon's pole qualifying, Larson topped every circuit around the 0.525-mile track, beating Wallace's No. 23 Toyota for his first career stage win at the tight paper clip-shaped speedway and his fourth of this season.

Team Penske driver Joey Logano gambled on a two-tire stop on his No. 22 Ford and paced the way for most of Stage 2, but Denny Hamlin grabbed the top spot on Lap 170 to become the third leader of the season's eighth race.

Hamlin went on to hold off Wallace for his seventh career stage win at Martinsville, while Logano's two-tire service continued to prove costly as he slipped back and finished fifth.

But Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion, took the lead over Hamlin before Christopher Bell spun in Turn 4 just past the 200-lap mark, the day's fourth caution in a fairly calm first half of the fourth short-track event.

Six days after Wallace turned Larson with fewer than two laps left to cause the final caution at Richmond and take a likely win from Martin Truex Jr., Larson edged Wallace for the pole position for Sunday's Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With Hendrick Motorsports celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend with special paint schemes, Larson -- the last driver to make a qualifying run in the final round -- scorched the 0.526-mile short track with a lap at 96.034 mph (19.718 seconds) to edge Wallace (96.029 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.001 seconds.

"Of all people, it would be Larson -- by a thousandth," Wallace said after Larson's lap flashed onto the scoreboard.

Though Larson was part and parcel of the final caution last week at Richmond, he rallied to finish third in overtime, while a slow final pit stop relegated Wallace to 13th.

"Last week was pretty sweet revenge, us finishing third and him having a rough pit stop," Larson said with a smile.

The pole on Saturday, however, was something of a surprise.

"Honestly, a bit unexpected," said Larson, who earned his second straight Busch Light Pole Award this season, his second at Martinsville and the 18th of his career. "I knew we'd be good, but that second lap (in the final round) didn't feel that good. It was just enough, though. Really cool to get this 40th anniversary Hendrick Camaro on the pole.

"It seems like all four Hendrick cars are really good, too, so hopefully it's a good day for the organization."

Larson's teammate, Chase Elliott, qualified third at 95.869 mph, with Alex Bowman taking the 10th starting spot at 95.487 mph. William Byron failed to make the final round and will take the green flag in 18th.

Truex (95.864 mph) claimed the fourth spot on the grid, followed by Ford drivers Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Josh Berry. Last week's Richmond winner, Denny Hamlin, reigning series champion Ryan Blaney and Bowman will start eighth through 10th, respectively.

Note: Team owner Rick Hendrick had planned to drive the pace car on Sunday as part of the 40th anniversary celebration, but knee replacement surgery intervened, preventing Hendrick from attending the race.

After stops in Phoenix, Bristol and Richmond, the first half of the regular season's collection of short-track points races comes to an end when the Cup Series visits historic Martinsville Speedway for the Cook Out 400 on Sunday afternoon.

However, some of the tension from a frantic finish at Richmond on Sunday night will surely be hauled down from the Commonwealth's capital to Martinsville, tucked away near the North Carolina state line.

Winless since his success at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last July, Martin Truex Jr. had a healthy lead with two circuits left before Kyle Larson spun to force late pit service and a green-white-checker shootout in overtime.

That caution irked Truex, a 34-time Cup winner, but losing out to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the two-lap dash and contact with polesitter Larson comprised the final straw.

"You know, lead the whole race and then some stupid, some (dumb) move brings out a caution coming to the white flag and ruins our whole night, so that's unfortunate," said Truex, who finished fourth and topped with 228 laps led.

"I felt (Hamlin) used me up down there in Turn 1, and I didn't really appreciate a teammate racing me like that."

The No. 19 Toyota driver also felt Hamlin jumped the restart, but NASCAR disagreed because of its timing.

"It's a bang-bang call," said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's vice president of competition, on Sirius XM Tuesday. "It's at the end of the race. We're a live sporting event. We don't have the luxury of a timeout and go to the sideline and review it and make that call.

"Because he was the leader, he did get some of that benefit. If he's not the leader, then it's a whole different conversation that we're having."

Truex then hit Larson after the checkers flew and the Hendrick Motorsports driver returned contact. The 2017 Cup Series champion raced up to Hamlin's No. 11 and bumped him hard a few times as well.

"I think he was mad ... that (Hamlin) used him up on the restart," said Larson, who was third. "I think he was more mad at Denny, but I was the closest to take his anger out on.

"Martin is probably the most respected guy in the garage area. I hope he doesn't have any hard feelings to me because I definitely don't toward him. I've got a lot of respect for him."

Built in 1947, the flat, paper-clip-shaped Martinsville Speedway is the series' shortest track (0.525 miles), and the layout provides hard racing in a shorter distance (400 laps/210 miles) than usual.

In addition to the likelihood of more episodic anger, Martinsville may see the usual suspects from Richmond's wild finish up front at the smaller track.

In his 550th career NASCAR start, Richmond runner-up Joey Logano has the best average finish at Martinsville -- 5.2 -- over the past six events.

Hamlin tops the series in active victories at the tight track with five while Truex is second with three.

Jeff Gordon won both 2003 races at the 0.526-mile short track from the pole, embarking on a dominant run during which he and Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson would take the checkered flag in 10 of 13 races.

Hendrick Motorsports will celebrate its 40th anniversary at Martinsville this weekend, with team owner Rick Hendrick serving as honorary pace car driver and Gordon and 1984 Martinsville winner Geoff Bodine performing Grand Marshal duties for Sunday's Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

It was Bodine's victory in the eighth race of the 1984 season that kept Hendrick in business. Including that triumph, the organization has accumulated 28 wins at the historic short track, a record for team victories at a single venue.

In recent years, however, Hendrick has been forced to share the Martinsville spotlight with Joe Gibbs Racing. In the fall race of 2009, Denny Hamlin started his own streak of three straight victories at the venerable facility.

In the nine most recent Martinsville races, Hendrick and Gibbs drivers have won four each, the only exception being NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney's victory for Team Penske in last year's Playoff race.

Though the four recent Hendrick wins are evenly divided among four drivers -- Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, William Byron and defending spring race winner Kyle Larson -- Martin Truex Jr. has accounted for most of JGR's success with three victories to one for teammate Christopher Bell.

Starting with the fall race of 2019, Truex won three of four events at Martinsville. He comes to Sunday's race after suffering a heart-wrenching loss last Sunday at Richmond, where a late caution gave Hamlin a chance to steal the win.

In 2022, Truex struggled at Martinsville -- and elsewhere -- in the Next Gen Cup car introduced into the Cup Series that year. Since then, his fortunes have improved dramatically.

"Definitely high confidence going into Martinsville compared to the first year of this car," said Truex, who led 228 laps at Richmond before finishing fourth after an overtime restart. "To be able to go run like we did at Richmond, it gives me a lot of confidence going forward that our Martinsville stuff should be good.

"I love going there. It's been a really good track for us over the years, aside from the first year of the Next Gen."

Note: Given the clear advantages of securing pit stall No. 1, it's surprising that no Cup driver has won a Martinsville race from the pole position since Johnson accomplished the feat in the spring race of 2013. Hamlin, who leads active drivers with five wins at the paper-clip-shaped track, is the only driver in Sunday's race who has won at Martinsville from the pole (2010).

--Justin Allgaier leads hungry JR Motorsports contingent at Martinsville

In the first Dash 4 Cash race of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the incentive for JR Motorsports drivers is clear. They will be competing for the victory, not the $100,000 prize that goes to the Dash 4 Cash winner, in Saturday's DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

No JRM driver finished high enough last Saturday at Richmond to qualify for the initial Dash 4 Cash bonus, which is available to four eligible drivers: Richmond winner Chandler Smith and runner-up Aric Almirola, both of Joe Gibbs Racing; Sunoco rookie leader Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing; and Parker Kligerman of Big Machine Racing.

Though out of the running for the bonus, JRM's Justin Allgaier and teammate Brandon Jones are the only former Martinsville winners in the field for Saturday's race. Allgaier won the 2023 fall race at the 0.526-mile short track.

"It's great to be returning to Martinsville this weekend," Allgaier said. "We showed last fall that we were capable of getting to Victory Lane there, and I feel just as confident that we will have a fast Jarrett Chevrolet when we hit the track on Friday (for practice and qualifying).

"(Crew chief) Jim (Pohlman) and this entire No. 7 team has been fighting hard all year long and I know that we will give it everything we have to get a solid finish and be in position for the win come Saturday night."

Jones hopes to reverse his fortunes after an early engine failure knocked him out of last Saturday's Richmond event.

"We had great speed in Richmond last weekend, but just had some bad luck come our way," Jones said. "Martinsville has always been a strong track for me, so I am ready to get there and try to turn our luck around.

"I trust this Menards/Atlas Roofing team will give me a fast car like they have all season, so it's time to get it done."

One word of caution: there have been 13 different winners in the last 13 Xfinity races at Martinsville, which didn't host the series between 1994 and 2006 and experienced another gap between 2006 and 2020.

Kenny Wallace was the last repeat winner at the track (1992 and 1994).

--Supercars star Cam Waters to make NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck debut

In a case of extremes, 11-time Australian Supercars winner Cam Waters will make his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start in Friday night's Long John Silver's 200 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

At the other end of the spectrum, Waters' ThorSport Racing teammate, Matt Crafton, will make his record 550th Truck Series start -- all consecutive -- at the 0.526-mile short track.

Waters follows three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen into the NASCAR ranks. Van Gisbergen won his NASCAR Cup Series debut in last year's Chicago Street Race and now competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

"I'm absolutely pumped, so I'm super excited to be finally having a race over here in a truck," said Waters, who will drive ThorSport's No. 66 Ford on Friday. "I've always followed NASCAR and done a little valuable stuff myself on dirt in Australia, so to do a pavement oval is pretty cool for me and something I've always wanted to do.

"I've wanted to do it for years, but with what I do in Australia, (that) has always been my focus and still is my focus, for sure. But we came to Martinsville 12 months ago and watched a race, and that's what probably sparked a bit more interest in me to pursue it.

"I've just been chipping away in the background over the last 12 months to make something happen like this."

Starting in 2001, Crafton has raced at Martinsville 40 times in the Truck Series, winning twice and posting a record 23 top 10s. The three-time series champion has completed a record 8,736 of a possible 8,915 laps at the vaunted short track.

For the fourth time since the inception of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 1995, the first five races of the season have produced five different winners and five different polesitters.

Corey Heim, winner of the Mar. 23 race at Circuit of The Americas, leads the series by eight points over second-place Ty Majeski and by nine points over third-place Tyler Ankrum.

The last 10 Truck Series races at Martinsville have produced 10 different winners. Heim is the defending winner of Friday night's event.

After Bubba Wallace brought out a caution by spinning Kyle Larson with two laps to go and Martin Truex Jr. seemingly headed to victory, the 16 lead-lap cars pitted with Hamlin emerging as the leader, followed by Joey Logano and Larson.

The Chesterfield, Va., native managed to pull away from Logano and Larson to win by 0.269 seconds.

It was Hamlin's 53rd win and fifth at Richmond.

Truex and Chase Elliott completed the top five.

In his 300th career Cup start, Chris Buescher brought his No. 17 Ford home ninth.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Larson and Elliott occupied the front row, but the 400-lap event was hindered and delayed briefly by rain.

After track-drying efforts made the three-quarter-mile track raceable but still damp, NASCAR threw a curveball at the field and opted to run wet weather tires, which were used last season at the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.

Larson dominated that race in neighboring North Carolina, and his No. 5 Chevrolet held the point again on a damp short track by leading Wallace as the field came down to a non-competitive pit stop.

After Josh Berry spun Daniel Suarez, the field ran the remaining laps under the third caution to finish Stage 1 at Lap 70. Larson finished first to get the maximum bonus points.

However, the 36-car field's biggest mover was Berry in the No. 4 Ford formerly driven by Kevin Harvick.

The 33-year-old Berry, a short-track veteran for years driving for JR Motorsports and part-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., started 30th and moved all the way to third by Lap 102.

After short-pitting, Truex's No. 19 Toyota inherited the point and had it for good as a caution flew on Lap 170 after Kyle Busch banged the wall.

Truex raced on to claim the second segment by 0.723 seconds over Berry and Logano. It was his first stage win this season and sixth career at Richmond.

Larson's time of 22.438-seconds (120.332 mph) narrowly bettered his teammate Chase Elliott's mark of 22.440-seconds (120.321) around the three-quarter-mile Richmond oval - good enough to earn the 2021 series champion and defending Richmond race winner the 17th pole position of his career.

"Definitely helps for sure," Larson said. "Having the number one pit stall here means a lot. So happy to do that. Happy to be in Group A for sure and then the sun coming out a little bit there helps.

"Chase got real close there so I was a bit nervous. Awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports. ... Good to be on the pole. We'll see if it translates in tomorrow's race."

Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain will start third followed by Hendrick driver Alex Bowman and 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace.

Front Row Motorsports' Todd Gilliland, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs, and Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Joey Logano rounded out the top qualifiers at Richmond.

Logano's No. 22 Team Penske Ford had been fastest in Group A during first round qualifying, as had Elliott, whose 22.114-second 122.095 mph was quickest overall in the opening round.

Of note, Denny Hamlin just missed advancing to second round qualifying and the four-time Richmond winner will start 11th in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, who posted the fastest 30-lap average speed in practice, will start 12th.

Last week's winner at the Circuit of The Americas road course, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron will roll off 13th. He is the first multi-race winner of the season, with victories in the Daytona 500 and COTA. He'll start alongside the summer Richmond race winner, RFK Racing's Chris Buescher.

Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch, who leads all active drivers with six Richmond victories, will roll off 15th.

ANOTHER FIRST TIME POLESITTER

The NASCAR Xfinity Series had another first-time pole-winner this season with Jordan Anderson Racing's Parker Retzlaff, a 20-year old Wisconsin native, claiming the top starting position in the No. 31 Chevrolet for Saturday afternoon's ToyotaCare 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"It feels great," Retzlaff said. "This is where I made my first start two years ago so, kind of feels full circle."

The Hendrick Motorsports driver will seek his second consecutive victory and third in seven races when the series moves to Richmond Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400 on Sunday night.

Once again, the 26-year-old Charlotte native became the first multiple winner in NASCAR's top series in a season.

In 2023, he posted consecutive victories during the first month of races, taking the checkers at Las Vegas and Phoenix.

It took him two more starts than that this season, as he won the season-opening Daytona 500 and then prevailed last Sunday in the season's first road race, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The top three drivers in the point standings are winless -- leader Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs (five points back) and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney (nine points back) -- but one of the five winners this season to keep an eye on might be the driver who nearly ran down Byron in the final laps at COTA, Christopher Bell.

Three weeks ago, the Oklahoma native racer triumphed at Phoenix Raceway, which has been on the schedule since 1988 but is now deemed a short track. Though winless at Richmond's three-quarter-mile, D-shaped design, Bell has a strong record at the small venue.

In seven Cup starts, Bell has four top-five finishes and five top-10 results. With an average start of 17.7 and finish of 7.7, the 29-year-old has led 99 laps at RR but has never been first to the checkers.

"Richmond has been a really good track for me and that has a lot to do for the team I drive for," said the Toyota driver. "Joe Gibbs Racing has been exceptional at Richmond Raceway. Unfortunately, the last race we had at Richmond I didn't do very well at all (finishing 20th).

"So we need to put that behind us, but coming off of Phoenix, this is the next short track with the new rules package, so we're really looking forward to seeing what we have. I think it's going to be a good race for us."

Maybe, but that might depend on whether he can avoid Kyle Busch.

The Cup Series' active leader with six Richmond wins, Busch was spun by Bell and irate when he confronted his former JGR teammate with an extremely direct conversation that had almost no back and forth.

When Busch point-blank asked Bell if he had ever wrecked him and Bell replied no, the two-time series champion shot back, "Ok, well, that (stuff's) coming."

Bell said the intent to wreck the No. 8 Chevrolet was not there.

"KB is frustrated about what happened in Turn 1," said the No. 20 Toyota standout. "But I had no intentions of turning him, and I'm sure we'll talk it out before the next race."

Busch's last win at Richmond came on Sept. 22, 2018, a season in which he captured both Richmond races.

The competition has been fast and fierce, with an average of 31.33 lead changes through the first half-dozen races. The record for a full season is 31.50 set in 2011, and last year's spring race at Richmond produced a record 35 Green Flag Passes for the Lead.

While Kyle Larson is the defending race champion, 16 of the past 29 winners at Richmond have been in Toyota cars.

Our motor racing experts preview the event and provide their five best bets to win this week along with a longshot driver to keep an eye on.

TOYOTA OWNERS 400

Location: Richmond, Va.

Date: Sunday, March 31, 7 p.m. ET

Distance: 400 miles on 0.75-mile short track

Defending champion: Kyle Larson

Cup Series leader: Martin Truex Jr.

TV: FOX

Radio: SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

BEST BETS

Denny Hamlin (+425 at BetMGM)

Hamlin has four career wins and 22-top-10s in 32 previous starts at Richmond, his home track. He enters the week fourth in the Cup standings, just 14 points behind Truex. Hamlin has a pair of top-10s this season, highlighted by his win at Bristol two weeks ago.

Martin Truex Jr. (+650)

Truex leads the Cup standings despite still being in search of his first victory this year. He opened at +600 at the book but the three-time winner at Richmond has seen his odds lengthen slightly despite drawing 9.2 percent of the money wagered on this week's winner.

Ty Gibbs (+900)

Gibbs has yet to win in 2024, but the 21-year-old does lead the series with five top-10 finishes. He has climbed to second in the standings following last week's third-place running at Circuit of the Americas. Gibbs has an average finish of 7.8 this season, and he led 114 of 250 laps while taking the checkered flag in the Xfinity race at Richmond two years ago. That has led to him being the book's third-biggest liability ahead of the weekend, with Gibbs leading the field in both total bets (9.2 percent) and money (11.8 percent).

Kyle Larson (+1000)

The defending race winner bucked the trend of Toyota winners at Richmond. Larson has two top-5 finishes through the first six races this year, and is looking to rebound from a disappointing 17th at COTA last week.

Kyle Busch (+1800)

The leading active driver with six career wins at Richmond, Busch, who moved to Chevy last season, hasn't visited Victory Lane at the track since a season sweep in 2018. Busch has only two top-10 finishes this year as he sits 13th in the standings, but he's still the book's second-biggest liability with 10.3 percent of the money backing him.

LONGSHOT PICK

Alex Bowman (+4000)

The book's biggest liability this week, Bowman is seventh in the field with 5.5 percent of the total bets backing him to win for the first time since 2022. A seven-time Cup race winner, Bowman does have a trio of top-5 finishes this year and enters in good form with consecutive fourth-place finishes.

The "Easter Edition" of this race on Richmond's three-quarter mile short track brings plenty of expectation following an early season lineup featuring five different winners in the first six races.

Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is the defending race winner, but it's a couple of other drivers still looking for their first win of the season that the field knows it will also have to deal with Sunday night.

Last week's third-place finisher, Ty Gibbs, has put himself in contention to win every race this season; his five top-10 finishes in six races are most in the series. The 21-year old is coming off a third-place run at Circuit of The Americas road course last week and is only five points behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. atop the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings.

Most impressive is that Gibbs has been good on all brands of tracks -- from superspeedways to short tracks -- and his average finish of 7.8 this season is tops in the series. Only two years ago, en route to the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series title, Gibbs turned in a dominating effort at Richmond - leading 114 of the 250 laps to win the Xfinity race at the track. It seems a legitimate venue for the young talent to score his first career NASCAR Cup Series trophy.

"We've run well and hopefully we can have another good race this week in Richmond," Gibbs said, "It's been great."

"We've all been working really well together," he added, "and we are going to keep hammering down."

Of course, Gibbs will have plenty of competition from a veteran group of drivers also looking to secure a 2024 Playoff position with a win. Chief among those is Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch, whose six Richmond wins are most among active drivers. Busch's last Richmond win was part of a 2018 season sweep, and he'd love to reclaim that mojo this weekend. He's ranked 13th in the standings with only a pair of top-10 finishes.

Gibbs' JGR teammates Denny Hamlin (four wins) and Truex (three) are also multi-time winners at Richmond. Hamlin won at Bristol, Tenn., two weeks ago, but Truex is still racing for his first victory of the season, despite holding the driver standings lead. In fact, the top-three ranked drivers -- Truex, Gibbs and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney -- are all still competing for their first trophy of the year.

It's been a record season for competition in the NASCAR Cup Series with the most average lap leaders per race (13) through the opening six-races. And the 31.33 average lead changes through the opening portion of the schedule is second most in the Modern Era (1972-present), only a tick off the record of 31.50 set in 2011. Last year's Spring Richmond race set a record for Green Flag Passes for the Lead (35).

--Hill leads a pack of hungry Xfinity Series drivers to Richmond

Boasting a perfect five-for-five in top-10 finishes this season, championship leader Austin Hill has set a blistering pace out front, but the Richard Childress Racing driver arrives at Richmond Raceway for Saturday's ToyotaCare 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with designs on his first win at the track.

The two drivers right on Hill's heels -- Joe Gibbs Racing's Chandler Smith and Stewart-Haas Racing's Cole Custer -- have won at Richmond before and would love to close that gap atop the championship lead.

Richmond is certainly a special place for Smith, who earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in this race last year. He added a win this season at Phoenix and is sitting second in the current championship standings to Hill by only nine points.

Custer (2019) and JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier, who swept the 2020 COVID doubleheader, are the only other former winners among the full-time contingent. A victory this week for Allgaier would be especially timely for the perennial championship contender and his JRM team; the whole four-car full-time operation is still looking for its first win of 2024.

Allgaier, who has only a pair of top-10 finishes, is ranked eighth, followed by teammate Brandon Jones in ninth. Sammy Smith is 11th and Sam Mayer, who has had a season of tough luck, is ranked 19th heading into Richmond. Mayer's best short track finish (third place) came at Richmond in 2022.

"We have always had really strong cars on the short tracks at JRM (JR Motorsports) and I see no reason why that won't be the case again this weekend," said Allgaier, who has six career short track victories.

"I feel like Richmond is falling at the right time for us to get that positive momentum back going," he said.

This is not only an important race for the championship but a win this weekend will qualify a full-time driver for the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash program, which gives drivers a chance to win a $100,000 bonus. The top four eligible drivers from Saturday afternoon's race will qualify for the first Dash 4 Cash event -- April 6 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

The top four eligible drivers from Martinsville then will be Dash 4 Cash eligible at the April 13 race at Texas Motor Speedway. The other two Dash 4 Cash events are April 20 at Talladega (Ala.) and April 27 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.

Of note this weekend, late model superstar Bubba Pollard will be making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. Not only will this be Pollard's first laps in an Xfinity Series car, but it also will be his first laps at Richmond Raceway.

"I really don't know what to expect, as it's all very new to us," Pollard said. "But I'm very thankful for the opportunity. .. I hope we can make the most of it."

Also making their series debut is NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standout Taylor Gray, who will drive the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and modified standout Morgen Baird, who will steer the No. 4 JD Motorsports Chevrolet.

It's a busy race day for the Xfinity Series, with practice slated for 8:35 a.m. ET Saturday followed by qualifying at 9:05 a.m. ET (FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Byron passed Ross Chastain with 25 laps left and sat on pit road as his Hendrick Motorsports team serviced his No. 24 Chevrolet three seconds faster that Chastain's No. 1.

The 26-year-old then roared to his 12th career win in 222 races, beating a charging Christopher Bell by 0.692 seconds.

The season-opening Daytona 500 winner, Byron became the first two-time winner through six 2024 events and won for the first time ever from the pole.

Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick completed the top five.

Making his third Cup start, New Zealand's Shane Van Gisbergen, who won in Chicago last July, was nabbed for speeding on pit road late in Stage 2 and ended up 21st.

In his 2024 debut, Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi started his No. 50 23XI Racing Toyota 25th and finished 30th after spinning twice.

After winning his first pole of the season and fifth career on a road course, Byron led the 39-car field to the new restart off Turn 20, farther away from the flagstand.

Problems arose immediately for the Toyotas of Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace, who pitted on Lap 2 after contact with each other to start the race.

However, Byron had no problem at all keeping his No. 24 Chevrolet up front as he built a nearly four-second lead after six circuits, with Reddick and Gibbs behind him.

Choosing a strategy that would help at race's end, most drivers pitted in the final laps before the 15-lap Stage 1 concluded, but Bell, already having won at Phoenix two weeks ago, stayed out to get the maximum bonus points and beat second-place Daniel Suarez.

After Kyle Larson's Chevrolet spun from contact with Bell's Toyota, the No. 20 Camry XSE -- the only car not to pit -- headed for service with six laps to go in Stage 2 while running fifth, setting Bell up with a strategy for two final stops to the end.

Denny Hamlin, last week's winner at Bristol, stayed out and won his first segment this season and second ever at COTA.

This is the 13th career pole for Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet -- and the fifth on a road course, which is most among active drivers. This year's Daytona 500 winner edged Gibbs' No 54 JGR Toyota by a slight .015 seconds around the 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course to earn the right to lead the field to green in Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"It's just an evolution over time, going out to the karting track this week," Byron said of preparing for the season's first road course test. "Honestly this has been my first normal week since the (Daytona) 500 and being in my rhythm and kind of in my cocoon and being able to focus on driving the race car.

"I feel very happy with the way the week has gone and feel very fresh going into this race, so I'm excited for that."

As for Gibbs, who made a valiant, if unsuccessful, effort in the closing seconds to earn the pole, it is still the second consecutive week he has started from the front row. Defending race winner, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick will start his No. 45 Toyota third. He has started among the top five now in all four NASCAR Cup Series races at COTA. JGR's Christopher Bell, a winner at Phoenix two weeks ago, will start fourth.

Spire Motorsports' Corey LaJoie, who turned in a showstopper effort in qualifying, will start fifth in the No. 7 Chevrolet, the best starting position of his nine-year NASCAR Cup Series career. And Ross Chastain, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at COTA in 2022, will start sixth -- his first top 10 start of the season.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin line up seventh and eighth with 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott rounding out the final round qualifiers.

Nineteen drivers broke the track record in what was a dramatic first session. Several of the drivers who had been fast earlier in the day surprisingly did not advance to challenge for pole position. Among those were New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who had been among those at the top of the speed charts in both practice sessions. He just missed advancing to final qualifying, finishing less than a hundredth of a second behind LaJoie in Group A. And just behind him, his Kaulig Racing teammate A.J. Allmendinger, a two-time Xfinity Series winner at COTA, was also slightly off the qualifying pace.

Van Gisbergen and Allmendinger, who are both competing in Saturday afternoon's NASCAR Xfinity Series race, will start 12th and 14th, respectively on Sunday.

Among those in Group B not to advance to final qualifying was Kyle Larson, who had shown top five speed during practice. Larson, who is tied atop the championship points lead with Truex, was a little late to join his timed qualifying session as the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team performed a quick rotor change and was never a threat for the pole. He'll start Sunday's race 15th.

Austin Cindric was the top qualifying Ford and will start his No. 2 Team Penske Mustang 11th. His teammate, reigning series champion Ryan Blaney, will start the No. 12 Team Penske Mustang 28th among the 39-car field.

Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi -- a two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona champion and two-time World Endurance Championship winner, will be making his NASCAR COTA debut in the No. 50 23XI Racing Toyota from 25th place on the starting grid.