2021 Martinsville Speedway, Xfinity 500

Congratulations to Kyle Larson for winning again this weekend and solidifying his position as the person to beat for this year’s championship. With one race to go before the championship race, there are still seven other drivers who have a shot at making that race, but only three of them will. Who will it be?

XFINITY 500

This week the series heads to the Martinsville Speedway for the running of the Xfinity 500. This is the final race to qualify for the championship race and it is too early to tell who will make it in and who won’t. All we know for sure at this point is the Kyle Larson will race for the championship. Who he will race against is up in the air.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin currently sits three points below the cutline, but the good news is he has a good shot at winning this week and automatically qualifying for the championship. He has won three of the last four Martinsville races and has six top five finishes in his last eight starts here. Another top five finish will most likely propel him into the championship race.

Brad Keselowski: At only six points below the cutline this team still has a great shot at making the final race. Brad has nine top five finishes in his last eleven starts at the track including two wins. He isn’t afraid to mix it up with the other drivers on the track and a little bump and run doesn’t bother him much, so he has a good shot at winning once again.

Ryan Blaney: Only one point below the cutline can be made up very easily. Ryan has four top five finishes in his last five starts at Martinsville including back to back runner-up finishes last season. He might not need to win, but a top five is something that he will be striving for in the least. If one of the bottom four driver wins this race then more points need to be made up to unseat someone who is already in the top four.

Chase Elliott: With four top five finishes in his last five starts here, Chase is feeling pretty good going into this race. He won this one last year and should have a lot of confidence this week. The question is, will Kevin Harvick leave him alone or will he make life miserable for Chase this week? I do believe he is going to do something in one of the next two races like he promised.

Denny Hamlin: With a seemingly good cushion in points this team really doesn’t need to win, but early issues could make that points lead shrink in a hurry. This team needs to avoid mistakes in the pits that has cost them in years past. The good news is that Denny has finished in the top five here in four of his last six starts. Avoiding penalties is this teams biggest challenge this week.

Kyle Busch: Even after hitting the wall multiple times last week, Kyle still finds himself in the top four in the standings for the time being. He only has a one point lead and know that he might need to win this race to get in. If their car isn’t handling well at the beginning of the race and he gets frustrated they’re done. If he has a car that can stay in touch with the front of the pack they have a chance. He had a streak of eight straight top five finishes here that ended a couple of seasons ago, but if they can get back to that handling all is well again.

Joey Logano: Joey has only won here once in his career and being twenty-six points below the cutline and with three other drivers in front of him in the standing this is probably another must win situation for him. He’s been pretty good here in his career, but hasn’t been as consistent as any of the other playoff drivers which makes this an even tougher task to accomplish. I have a feeling things won’t go quite as planned for this team.

Kyle Larson: This team looks almost unbeatable, but this week they are going to have their work cutout for themselves. Kyle has never run great at this track although he did finish fifth here this spring. In thirteen career starts he has only finished in the top ten three times. He should be thankful that this isn’t the championship track.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kurt Busch
• Christopher Bell

Driver Group Game Group C

• Daniel Suarez

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Kyle Busch

Dark Horse: Tyler Reddick

Stay Away From: Austin Dillon

Big 18: Tyler Reddick