Martinsville Speedway is a half-mile paper clip, with two straightaways connected by tight turns banked at 12 degrees. Drivers brake hard at both ends of every lap, which leaves little room to pass and plenty of room for contact. This is the second-to-last race of the Chase, and the driver with the most points after Homestead next week will be champion.
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Race Winner — Denny Hamlin (+400)
Martinsville in March was a race Hamlin controlled from the pole. He led 292 of the 400 laps and won both stages. With 77 laps to go, he missed a gear on a restart. Elliott took the lead soon after and won by 0.565 seconds. Three of the last four Martinsville races have ended in a top-five finish for Hamlin, including a win in March 2025. The other was an engine failure in October 2025 that left him 35th.
The Chase standings show Hamlin second, 73 points behind Kyle Larson with two races left. He has no win in the eight Chase races so far, and his average finish is 11.9. A title run from here looks like too little, too late. Asked if he was realistically out of the running, Hamlin said, “Maybe. Maybe not.” That leaves the Martinsville win as the one prize still fully in his hands.
Race Winner — Ryan Blaney (+450)
Martinsville has been a strong fall track for Blaney. He won this race in October 2023 and again in November 2024. Last October, he finished second after starting 31st. That adds up to two wins and a second in the last three fall races at the legendary half-mile paperclip in Southside Virginia.
Short tracks have been good to Blaney in 2026, with wins at Phoenix in March and New Hampshire in August. He ran sixth here in March after starting 12th, and he was second at Phoenix again two weeks ago. A second-stage crash at Talladega left him 38th, but that came after four straight finishes of fifth or better. Blaney is sixth in the Chase standings, 107 points behind Kyle Larson.
