The Cup Series will travel to Martinsville Speedway this week for another short track race. There is nowhere to hide at Martinsville. Drivers who wreck in this race tend to take out multiple cars. You would think that would make this race tough to predict, much like a Superspeedway race. That is not the case. There are a handful of drivers who have consistent success at Martinsville and those are the drivers we will want in our One & Done lineups this week. The Cook Out 400 can be seen Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
I did not want to use my top drivers at Richmond last week because the practice speeds did not represent the race speeds since the practice was in the morning and the race was at night. The Cup Series started the race on wet weather tires and that just complicated the race even more. I decided to take a chance with Todd Gilliland in the leagues where you can only use a driver once. He ran in the top-10 until his pit crew put him in the back. Gilliland finished 21st. Alex Bowman was the pick for the games that reset at the end of the regular season. Bowman had the same problems as Gilliland. He ran up front until a slow pit stop put the No. 48 car a lap down. Martin Truex Jr. was the pick in the leagues where you can use a driver more than once. He had the race won until a caution came on in the final laps. A mad Truex finished fourth. We had no luck last week. Hopefully the race at Martinsville will be much better for the One & Done picks.
Here are the picks for the Cook Out 400….
ONE & DONE CONTESTS
This pick is for games where you can only use a driver once throughout the season.
BUBBA WALLACE will be my pick in games where you can use a driver once throughout the season. The Toyota’s have dominated the short track races this year and they should do the same Sunday at Martinsville. Wallace finished 11th, 9th and 8th in his last three races at Martinsville. He looks fast again this week. Wallace won a Truck Series race at Martinsville, so he knows his way to Victory Lane at this track. I will take a chance with the No. 23 car Sunday.
ONE & DONE (REGULAR SEASON/PLAYOFF GAMES)
There are some One & Done Contests that reset when the playoffs start. That means you only need to use 26 Drivers for the regular season and then 10 drivers for the playoffs. We can be more aggressive in these types of One & Done Contests.
CHASE BRISCOE will be my pick in games that reset at the end of the regular season. Martinsville is one of the best tracks for Briscoe. He finished 4th, 5th, 9th and 9th in the four races using the Gen-7 car at Martinsville. He also led 109 laps and scored 15 Stage Points in this race last year. The No. 14 car has speed again this week, so I will use Briscoe at one of his best tracks.
ONE & DONE (USE A DRIVER MORE THAN ONCE)
There are some One & Done games that are not really “One & Done.” I play in a league where you can use a driver twice and another league where you can use a driver three times during the season. The picks posted below are for these types of contests (I am going to base these picks on being able to use a driver twice during the 2024 season).
CHASE ELLIOTT will be my pick in games where you can use a driver more than once during the 2024 season. I was planning on saving Elliott for one of the road course races, but he has not looked very strong at those tracks. He has been good at Martinsville. Elliott has a 9th-place average finishing position at Martinsville since 2020. The No. 9 car looks fast this weekend. This should be a good race to take a chance with Elliott.
Good luck Sunday!
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