MARTINSVILLE, Va. – With one race left before the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway, Kyle Larson remains the only driver guaranteed to race for the series championship.
Larson has won the first two races in the Round of 8 during the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, leaving seven drivers to battle for the other three spots in the in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.
Those drivers are defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski and 2018 Cup Series champion Joey Logano.
Elliott and Hamlin enter the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville in relatively good shape. Elliott enters 34 points above the cutoff line while Hamlin sits 32 points above the cutoff line. While they seem in comfortable positions, a crash by either driver could eliminate them from championship contention.
“I am not sure that any amount of points is safe,” Elliott said after the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. “I think anyone in this round can win next week. So, we are really going to have to be on it, but looking forward to the opportunity and excited for the challenge.”
Behind Elliott and Hamlin the race for the Championship 4 tightens significantly. Busch holds the final spot in the Championship 4 entering Martinsville, but only by one point ahead of Blaney, three points ahead of Truex and six points ahead of Keselowski.
“It’s been a great track for us,” Keselowski said. “I always get excited about going there. The Team Penske group has worked very hard to bring great cars for that track over the last half-dozen years and I think it shows. We’ve put up some great numbers, so I’m excited about it and feel like we’ve got a great opportunity.”
Logano finds himself in a much different position compared to those in front of him. He enters Martinsville 26 points behind Busch for the final spot in the Championship 4, meaning that he’ll likely need to win at Martinsville in order to advance to Phoenix to race for his second championship.
“I have three or four cars in front of me that I have to get in front of, assuming there isn’t a different winner,” said Logano as he acknowledged the challenge ahead of him Sunday at Martinsville. “It is still pretty much a must-win situation. It would be far-fetched for it to happen.”
Of the seven drivers battling for positions in the championship race at Phoenix, Hamlin and Truex have enjoyed the must Martinsville success.
Hamlin is the active win leader at Martinsville, having secured five victories at the Virginia .526-mile oval in 31 starts. Truex has visited victory lane at Martinsville three times, with all three wins having coming in the last three years, including the spring race at Martinsville this year.
“I feel good about that,” Truex said about heading to Martinsville. “We’re going to have a good starting position now and good pit selection. The place has been good to us. If we can get up there and win a couple stages and battle for the win, I think we’ll be able to get ourselves in. We’ll wait and see how it goes, you never know how these things are going to play out.”
Keselowski and Busch each have a pair of wins at Martinsville during their respective careers, while Elliott and Logano have one each. Elliott won last fall’s race at Martinsville to advance to the championship race at Phoenix, which he won to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series title.
The only one of the seven drivers fighting for a spot in the Championship 4 who has never won at Martinsville is Blaney. In 11 starts at Martinsville he has a best finish of second on two occasions, both last season.