The NASCAR Cup Series will join the Truck Series and Xfinity Series at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. This will be the third race of the 2023 season on a short, flat track (Phoenix and Richmond were the other two). If you like beating and banging and cheap hot dogs, this is the race for you. Here is the weekend schedule for the races at Martinsville Speedway…
MARTINSVILLE SCHEDULE
NASCAR STRATEGY
Martinsville has a history of producing some of the most historic races on the Cup Series schedule. Do you remember when Matt Kenseth came out of the garage to wipe out Joey Logano? How about when Chase Elliott became a star by calling out Denny Hamlin after the No. 11 car put Elliott into the wall in the final laps. Surely, you remember the “Hail Melon” last year, right? Well, we will not see Ross Chastain lapping the field by riding the wall this year. We will see a new aero package, because the racing at Martinsville simply did not live up to the high standards that this little track has created over the years.
You can watch the extended highlights of the last year’s race at Martinsville here: NASCAR Race Rewind
Hendrick Motorsports led 397 of the 403 laps at Martinsville last year (Chase Elliott led 185 laps and William Byron led 212 laps). Hendrick Motorsports led 265 of the 317 laps at Phoenix and the HMS cars led 228 of the 400 laps at Richmond earlier this season. It is obvious that Hendrick Motorsports has the advantage on the short, flat tracks so I plan to use many of their drivers in my lineups this week.
FANTASY STATS FOR MARTINSVILLE
Martinsville is in the same category of track as Phoenix, Richmond and New Hampshire, but really those tracks do not compare to the .526-mile, paperclip-shaped track that Martinsville is. It takes a completely different driving style to turn fast laps at Martinsville than it does at the other short, flat tracks. The best way to find the good drivers for your Fantasy NASCAR lineups is to look at the driver’s history at Martinsville. Here are the Driver Rankings for the last four races at Martinsville…
EARLY WEEK PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE
ONE & DONE PICK: RYAN PREECE
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS: WILLIAM BYRON, DENNY HAMLIN, MARTIN TRUEX JR., KYLE BUSCH, ALEX BOWMAN, BRAD KESELOWSKI, JOSH BERRY, RYAN PREECE
FANTASY LIVE PICKS: WILLIAM BYRON, DENNY HAMLIN, CHRISTOPHER BELL, MARTIN TRUEX JR., JOEY LOGANO, (GARAGE) RYAN BLANEY
Good luck this weekend!
Follow me on Twitter @MrFantasyNASCAR
If you like Fantasy NASCAR, LIKE my Fantasy NASCAR Tips Page on Facebook