Kyle Larson starting on pole as weather cancels Monster Energy Series qualifying

It is one of three short tracks on the circuit that come in under one mile in length. “As these three boring races out West can attest, one “West Coast swing” is enough”. “The reality is that nothing last forever, and this surface had made it a really, really long time”.

The rain won Friday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.

Larson has posted a top-five finish in nine of the 17 races since his win in August. Busch has eleven top five finishes and twelve top tens to go along with his victory here and he owns the third best Driver Rating. In the first three, Larson fell just short of claiming the checkered flag, as he finished in second place at each venue.

As seven-time Cup champ Jimmie Johnson said, “His days of flying commercial are just about over”.

Last year: Kyle Busch prevailed from the front row.

The two drivers also drive for teams – Johnson with Hendrick Motorsports and Hamlin with Joe Gibbs Racing – that have been among the strongest in the sport in recent years, and none of their teammates has won a race, either. That skews his average finish a bit but sure was entertaining. Actually their finishes do not reflect how well they have run. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Get excited Junior Nation because Martinsville is a place Dale Earnhardt Jr. can really shine. Chase Elliott is second (214), followed by Martin Truex Jr.

“I didn’t have one single run-in with Joey Logano”, Busch said. He’s a 23-year-old kid, but he’s got the savvy and the know-how of a driver who’s been around for years. Harvick has a win at Martinsville back in 2011 with Richard Childress Racing.

“I’m driving the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing auto made famous by Tony Stewart”, Bowyer said. “I feel like the move has really helped, especially at the superspeedways where you pack-race”.

Qualifying for the STP 500 is at 4:35.

“I never drove anything like this until just a few years ago when I started stock vehicle racing”, said Larson, adding that his sprint auto background better prepared him for full-throttle intermediate tracks than short, flat venues such as Martinsville. This weekend, those point totals balloon to roughly 125 for laps led and 250 for fastest laps run. “Our race cars are really fast in Xfinity and Cup, so it’s a blast to show up at the race track every week”.

Larson picking up his first Cup win of the season at Fontana is looking for back to back to wins this weekend.

“Long straightaways, short turns and it’s hard on equipment and brakes and so you gotta pace yourself, got to think about it before the race how you need to run this race so it’s a very fun race to win”, Wood said.

Johnson won here last October, and said his team’s performance has been better than its results. We might be a tick off here and there but overall not a bad start to the season.

It’s easy to forget about AJ Allmendinger, but then at the end of a race at Martinsville – there he is.

Denny Hamlin ($9,700) – Hamlin makes an excellent GPP play this week as his price took a big hike, up $1,200 from last week.

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