Sunday’s Martinsville race reminds NASCAR fans of two things: Kyle Busch’s spring 2016 sweep and the notorious 2015 Matt Kenseth-Joey Logano run-in. Busch could well be the driver to beat again in the first leg of the Chase for the Sprint Cup’s Round of 8. Don’t look for another Kenseth-Logano mess. That’s not to say something crazy won’t happen.
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After all, Logano and Kenseth are in the Chase. Not that either man would risk his championship bid to settle a score.
Drivers take the track Friday for an 11 a.m. ET practice and qualifying at 4:40 ET. There were 41 entries, meaning one team will pack up and go home Friday night.
All Chase drivers begin this round with 4,000 points. The standings:
After Martinsville, the old half-mile Paperclip, the Chase moves to the 1.5-mile track at Texas and finished the round on the mile at Phoenix. Four teams will advance to the Chase championship race at Homestead-Miami.
Winning one of these three races is critical. But don’t discount the possibility of the four Gibbs teams working toward getting all four cars in the Homestead race.
Here are the entries for Martinsville. Chase drivers are in bold.
This will be Gaulding’s first Sprint Cup race.
