NASCAR Cup Series StatChat 2026 - Martinsville 1
- Adam Carabine
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Ridgeway, Virginia for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville is a 0.526-mile oval track, nicknamed “The Paperclip,” because of its uniquely tight corners and longer straightaways. It opened in 1947, with Red Byron winning the first NASCAR race there in 1949. Denny Hamlin and William Byron won the races at this track last year.
Tomorrow’s race will be 400 laps long (for a total of 210.4 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 80 – 180 – 400. Pit road speed is 30 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 35 mph. The fuel window is approximately 155-170 laps.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 1,438 laps, for 2,253.90 miles so far this season. Five drivers have completed 100% of them so far (Keselowski, Elliott, Buescher, Reddick, and Preece).
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Martinsville:
Ryan Blaney | 8.15 over 20 races (2 wins) |
Denny Hamlin | 10.45 over 40 races (6 wins) |
Joey Logano | 10.62 over 34 races (1 win) |
Chase Elliott | 11.33 over 21 races (1 win) |
William Byron | 13.13 over 16 races (3 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Martinsville:
Riley Herbst | 33.50 over 2 races |
Cody Ware | 31.14 over 7 races |
Michael McDowell | 27.63 over 30 races |
JH Nemechek | 27.33 over 6 races |
Zane Smith | 25.40 over 5 races |
Martinsville is a Short Track
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.26 over 197 races (13 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 11.58 over 110 races (4 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 11.98 over 114 races (6 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 12.02 over 66 races (7 wins) |
William Byron | 12.69 over 88 races (5 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Cody Ware | 31.80 over 41 races |
Connor Zilisch | 29.00 over 1 race |
Riley Herbst | 27.69 over 13 races |
Michael McDowell | 27.69 over 174 races |
SVG | 25.75 over 13 races |
Richard Petty is far and away the winningest driver at Martinsville. He has 15 wins. Darrell Waltrip has 11 wins, and Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have tied for third with 9 wins each. Denny Hamlin is the winningest current driver with 6.
Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at Martinsville:
Michael McDowell | 2008 – P26 |
Chase Elliott | 2015 – P38 |
Drivers who WON their first Cup Series race at Martinsville:
No one | -- |
Drivers whose most recent Cup Series Victory was at Martinsville:
William Byron | 2025 |
Notable drivers who have not won at Martinsville:
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 11 other tracks) |
Ross Chastain | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
Chris Buescher | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
SVG | (has won at 5 other tracks) |
Austin Dillon | (has won at 4 other tracks) |
Based on average finish, no driver lists Martinsville as their BEST or WORST track.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2025
Tyler Reddick | +917 pts |
Bubba Wallace | +328 pts |
Daniel Suarez | +317 pts |
Brad Keselowski | +288 pts |
Ty Gibbs | +243 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025
Alex Bowman | -634 pts (Currently not racing due to vertigo) |
Chase Briscoe | -477 pts |
Josh Berry | -237 pts |
Kyle Larson | -212 pts |
Ross Chastain | -206 pts |
Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:
Best Career Year
Tyler Reddick | 4.17 |
Chase Elliott | 10.33 |
Ryan Blaney | 10.83 |
Bubba Wallace | 13.00 |
Ty Gibbs | 13.17 |
Ryan Preece | 14.83 |
Carson Hocevar | 16.50 |
SVG | 16.50 |
Riley Herbst | 23.33 |
Worst Career Year
Cole Custer | 27.50 |
Todd Gilliland | 25.67 |
Josh Berry | 25.50 |
Austin Cindric | 25.00 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 24.33 |
Austin Dillon | 23.00 |
Chase Briscoe | 22.00 |
Kyle Busch | 21.17 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (55 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Toyota | 310 |
Ford | 214 |
Chevrolet | 206 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
23XI | 279 |
Joe Gibbs | 204 |
Penske | 201 |
Hendrick | 188 |
RFK | 169 |
Spire | 169 |
Trackhouse | 155 |
Front Row | 140 |
Legacy MC | 125 |
RCR | 117 |
Kaulig | 114 |
Hyak | 76 |
Wood Bros | 71 |
Haas Factory | 58 |
Rick Ware | 53 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
Bubba Wallace | 60 |
Tyler Reddick | 52 |
Ryan Blaney | 45 |
Kyle Larson | 42 |
Chris Buescher | 41 |
William Byron | 40 |
Christopher Bell | 37 |
Austin Cindric | 36 |
Denny Hamlin | 30 |
Ty Gibbs | 27 |
Milestone Watch
Ross Chastain | Looking for his 40th Career Top 5 |
Chase Briscoe | Looking for his 30th Career Top 5 |
Brad Keselowski | This will be his 600th Career Cup Series Start |
Denny Hamlin | Looking for his 250th Career Top 5 |
Tyler Reddick | Looking for his 50th Career Top 5 |
Brad Keselowski | Looking for his 280th Career Top 10 |
Denny Hamlin | Looking for his 380th Career Top 10 |
Chris Buescher | Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 |
Scorigami Update
Darlington was the first time that:
Connor Zilisch finished 32nd
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Cole Custer | 139 races |
Erik Jones | 123 races |
Kyle Busch | 99 races |
Michael McDowell | 90 races |
Daniel Suarez | 76 races |
Brad Keselowski | 65 races |
AJ Allmendinger | 62 races |
Alex Bowman | 51 races |
Chris Buescher | 50 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 races |
The race begins Sunday, March 29th at 3:30 pm EST (12:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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