By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Ridgeway, Virginia for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.
Martinsville is a 0.526-mile oval, nicknamed “The Paperclip,” because of its shape. It’s the only track that has concrete in the turns, but asphalt on the straightaways. Martinsville is also the oldest track that is still run on the NASCAR schedule. It opened in 1947, and Red Byron was the first to win there in 1949.
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 between 155-170 laps, though tire wear will probably come into play before fuel does.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 1,408 laps, for 2,248.96 miles so far this season. Only 5 drivers have completed all of them – Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Martinsville:
Ryan Blaney | 8.33 over 18 races (2 wins) |
Denny Hamlin | 10.05 over 38 races (5 wins) |
Joey Logano | 10.78 over 32 races (1 win) |
SVG | 12.00 over 1 race |
Chase Elliott | 12.16 over 19 races (1 win) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Martinsville:
Cody Ware | 31.20 over 5 races |
Justin Haley | 30.25 over 8 races |
JH Nemechek | 29.50 over 4 races |
Zane Smith | 28.67 over 3 races |
Michael McDowell | 28.32 over 28 races |
Martinsville is a Short Track
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.09 over 186 races (13 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 11.26 over 99 races (4 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 11.80 over 55 races (6 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 12.64 over 103 races (3 wins) |
William Byron | 12.92 over 77 races (3 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Michael McDowell | 26.61 over 163 races |
JH Nemechek | 24.63 over 24 races |
Ty Dillon | 23.70 over 75 races |
Noah Gragson | 23.12 over 24 races |
Ryan Preece | 22.68 over 59 races |
Richard Petty is by far the winningest driver at Martinsville, with 15 victories to his name. Darrell Waltrip has 11, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon with 9 each. Denny Hamlin is the winningest of the current drivers, with 5.
Notable drivers who have not won at Martinsville:
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Chris Buescher | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Ross Chastain | (has won at 5 other tracks) |
Austin Dillon | (has won at 4 other tracks) |
AJ Allmendinger | (has won at 3 other tracks) |
No current driver has scored their first ever Cup Series win at Martinsville.
Based on average finish, no drivers list Martinsville as their BEST track, but Justin Haley lists it as his 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 2024
Tyler Reddick | +658 pts |
Chris Buescher | +565 pts |
Bubba Wallace | +503 pts |
William Byron | +492 pts |
Ryan Preece | +282 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024
Ty Gibbs | -563 pts |
Brad Keselowski | -434 pts |
Todd Gilliland | -273 pts |
Joey Logano | -229 pts |
Denny Hamlin | -192 pts |
Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:
Best Career Year
William Byron | 8.67 |
Alex Bowman | 9.50 |
Chris Buescher | 11.83 |
Christopher Bell | 12.50 |
Tyler Reddick | 12.67 |
JH Nemechek | 15.67 |
Chase Briscoe | 15.83 |
Michael McDowell | 16.33 |
Josh Berry | 18.33 |
Ryan Preece | 18.33 |
Worst Career Year
Cole Custer | 27.67 |
Ty Gibbs | 25.67 |
Brad Keselowski | 25.00 |
Carson Hocevar | 24.67 |
Ryan Blaney | 21.50 |
Zane Smith | 19.83 |
Rookie of the Year Battle
Riley Herbst | 83 |
SVG | 77 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 219 |
Toyota | 214 |
Ford | 197 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Hendrick | 216 |
Joe Gibbs | 211 |
RFK | 173 |
23XI | 166 |
Trackhouse | 160 |
Penske | 159 |
Spire | 149 |
Legacy Motor Club | 136 |
Kaulig | 135 |
RCR | 134 |
Front Row | 133 |
Hyak | 118 |
Wood Bros | 117 |
Haas Factory | 56 |
Rick Ware | 37 |
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
Ryan Blaney | 66 |
William Byron | 62 |
Bubba Wallace | 51 |
Kyle Larson | 49 |
Joey Logano | 45 |
Austin Cindric | 43 |
Alex Bowman | 40 |
Tyler Reddick | 36 |
Chase Elliott | 33 |
Christopher Bell | 26 |
Milestone Watch
Chase Elliott | Looking for his 20th Career Win |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 50th Career Top 5 |
Josh Berry | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Noah Gragson | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
JH Nemechek | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Daniel Suarez | Looking for his 70th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 147 races |
Cole Custer | 100 races |
Bubba Wallace | 85 races |
Erik Jones | 85 races |
Kyle Busch | 63 races |
Michael McDowell | 54 races |
Daniel Suarez | 40 races |
Chase Elliott | 33 races |
Denny Hamlin | 31 races |
Brad Keselowski | 29 races |
The race begins Sunday, March 30th at 3:00 pm EST (12:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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