Stubbs: Controlled aggression key as Martinsville puts best to test
Martinsville has been on the NASCAR schedule since the first season of competition in 1948. The half-mile oval, known for its long straightaways and tight corners, is famous for pushing man and machine to their absolute limit over the course of an afternoon.
A few drivers have made Martinsville their playground over the years. Richard Petty is atop Martinsville's all-time wins list with 15 victories, while those below him also are known as true Martinsville masters.
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each won nine grandfather clocks, given to the drivers that can keep time the best on the Cup Series' shortest track. Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace won at Martinsville 11 and seven times, respectively. Denny Hamlin is the active wins leader at Martinsville with five victories.
Martinsville lends itself to those who toe the line between aggression and foolishness. It's a track where drivers have to keep both themselves and their car cool, as tempers and brake issues have been the focal point on a number of occasions.
The tight confines favor only the best drivers in the sport -- you won't find fluke winners at Martinsville under normal circumstances. Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell -- four of the best drivers currently competing in the Cup Series -- are the four most recent Martinsville winners.
Simply put, Martinsville is a track that favors the best.
Ahead of the Cook Out 400, here are the drivers to watch during Sunday's race:
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford, Team Penske
It's not a stretch to call Martinsville Blaney's best track. In 18 starts, Blaney has 12 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 8.3. He hasn't finished worse than 11th at the half-mile short track since October of 2018, and in the six races run at Martinsville with the Next-Gen car, Blaney hasn't finished worse than seventh. He's also won the last two fall races at Martinsville, and he'll be hungry for a win after a dominant performance at Homestead was negated by a blown engine.
William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Byron is the defending winner of the Martinsville spring race and also won at Martinsville in the spring of 2022. He has eight top-10 finishes in 14 Martinsville starts, and has quickly turned into a consistent favorite whenever the Cup Series pays a visit to the asphalt straightaways and concrete turns. Byron has been one of the best drivers to start the 2025 season, and a win at Martinsville on Sunday would be a nice compliment to his season-opening win in the Daytona 500.
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Hamlin hasn't won at Martinsville since 2015, but he didn't win five races at his home track by accident. In 38 Martinsville starts, Hamlin has 20 top-five finishes and 26 top-10 efforts. The last time the Cup Series visited Martinsville, Hamlin started 37th and finished fifth in one of his best drives in recent memory. He hasn't won at Martinsville in a decade, but he has an excellent shot to break his 10-year Martinsville drought on Sunday.
Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing
For the first time in his young Cup Series career, Berry can't be called an underdog. After collecting his first career win at Las Vegas on Mar. 16, Berry enters Martinsville looking to add to his impressive short-track resume. His two Cup Series starts at the track yielded finishes of 25th and 16th, but he does have three top-five finishes at Martinsville in Xfinity Series competition. In his first Xfinity Series start at Martinsville, Berry collected the first win of his NASCAR career, which effectively turned him into a star overnight. Four years later, Berry returns looking for the second win of his Cup Series career, while trying to establish himself as a weekly contender.
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