Pit Stops : Martinsville Speedway

  • 16
  • 14
  • 6

  • Martinsville Speedway
  • NOCO 400
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Ryan Preece
  • Age: 32
  • Team : No. 41 - HaasTooling.com Ford
  • Owner: Stewart-Haas Racing
  • Crew Chief: Chad Johnston
  • Ryan Preece won the Pole Award for the NOCO 400 with a lap of 19.979 seconds, 94.780 mph.
  • This is his first pole in 124 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his first pole in eight races at Martinsville Speedway.
  • Daniel Suarez (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2023 and his fifth in 13 races at Martinsville Speedway.
  • Aric Almirola (third) posted his 11th top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway. It is his third in nine races this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (12th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, April 16th, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Kyle Larson Claims First Victory at Martinsville Speedway

Kyle Larson's Hendrick Motorsports team gambled on a late race two-tire pit stop to give him a fighting chance for the victory, and he took the opportunity and drove away to a commanding 4.142-second win in Sunday's NOCO 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

It was the 2021 Champion's first victory at the famed half-mile track; making the pass for the win in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy with 30 laps remaining, but then having to hold off another past champion Joey Logano, whose runner-up finish Sunday was also impressive considering he started at the rear of the field after a post-qualifying adjustment to his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

"I feel like [crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody did a great job all day on pit road, making the right calls and having great pit stops and it all kind of worked out for me there at the end, we had a great car, that was the best my car had been," said Larson, whose final 30 laps out front were the only laps he led on the day.

It marks the second win of the season for the 30-year-old Californian Larson who joins his teammate William Byron as the only multiple race winners on the year.

That late-race pit gamble for Larson was indicative of a dramatic final few laps when pit strategy played a big role in the race. Logano was one of four drivers who did not pit on a caution flag with 56 laps remaining, choosing to take track position instead after he'd gone down a lap not once but twice earlier in the afternoon.

"Solid recovery for what the start of the race looked like," Logano said, joking that at one point he would have been happy just to finish on the lead lap.

"Stayed out at the end when everyone pitted, which put us on the front row and had a shot to win the race," he continued. "I tried to hold off Larson as long as I could. But overall there's some days when you're mad about second [place]. Today's not one of those."

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin finished third and fourth – the first top-five finishes for both drivers this season. Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe finished fifth just in front of his teammate Aric Almirola.

The SHR team was especially strong Sunday with three of its four drivers combining to lead 264 of the 400 laps. Ryan Preece, who started from the pole position for the first time in his career, collected his first stage win and led a race best 135 laps, but was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to go to the rear of the field. He recovered to finish 15th. Briscoe led 109 laps and Kevin Harvick, who claimed his first stage win since 2020, was out front for 20 laps, but a late race issue left him 20th.

Logano's Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney was seventh, followed by this year's DAYTONA 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace – who also had to recover from a pit road speeding penalty.

Perhaps the most noteworthy Top-10 finish of the day belonged to Hendrick Motorsports' driver Chase Elliott who was making his first start since suffering a broken leg in a snowboarding accident seven weeks ago.

"It was pretty good, honestly, about what I expected, so that was a good thing," Elliott said of his leg after the long day. "Just it was warm [temperatures] and I've been sitting on the couch for six weeks so that probably hurt me more than anything.

"We struggled every run but the last one and finally got it going there at the end and I was able to start making some passes and do things I didn't really think I was going to be capable of doing. So, I was pleasantly surprised by that and got a top 10 of our first day back so that was definitely nothing to be too bummed out about."

Elliott acknowledged the earnest and warm welcome he received at the race track all weekend – the first time he's been to a track since his injury six weeks ago.

"The people, honestly, from my peers to my teammates just the competitive nature of being here and wanting to be better," Elliott said of what he missed most being away from the track during his recovery.

"Really nice to be back and I appreciate the warm welcome this weekend by everybody. I appreciate that and it didn't go unnoticed.”

With the win, Larson moves to fourth in the championship standings – only 17 points behind leader Christopher Bell, who finished 16th on Sunday. Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain is second, five points behind Bell. He finished 13th at Martinsville.

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 400
  • Margin of Victory: 04.142 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 50 Minutes 35 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 74.005
  • Cautions: 5 for 50 laps
  • Lead Changes: 10
  • Green Flag Passes: 2,026 (5.8 passes per green flag lap)

  • Martinsville Speedway
  • NOCO 400
  • Race Winner: Kyle Larson
  • Age: 30
  • Team : No. 5 - HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
  • Owner: Hendrick Motorsports
  • Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
  • Kyle Larson won the NOCO 400, his 21st victory in 304 Cup Series races.
  • This is his second victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in 17 races at Martinsville Speedway.
  • Joey Logano (second) posted his 17th top-10 finish in 29 races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Martin Truex Jr. (third) posted his 16th top-10 finish in 35 races at Martinsville Speedway.
  • Ty Gibbs (18th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Cup Series pit stops at Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida - February 8, 2020 : Cup Series pit stops at Daytona International Speedway
Brian LawdermilkGetty Images

Pit Stop Summary Report

Aggregate of each driver's pit stops during the race.

 
DRIVER
START
FINISH
STATUS
# STOPS
DRIVER / PIT CREW
FASTEST
SLOWEST
AVG TIME
RANK
DRIVER
AVG TIME
RANK
PIT CREW
AVG TIME
RANK

Kyle Larson
19
1
Running
5
38.446
43.515
42.193
1
33.131
8
9.062
1
Daniel Suarez
2
17
Running
5
38.654
46.001
43.094
2
33.498
17
9.596
2
Kevin Harvick
7
20
Running
6
43.084
44.146
43.678
3
32.979
3
10.699
6
Brad Keselowski
21
24
Running
5
43.509
44.161
43.718
4
33.121
7
10.597
5
Aric Almirola
3
6
Running
5
43.221
44.664
43.924
5
32.867
2
11.057
9
Denny Hamlin
11
4
Running
5
43.542
45.167
44.268
6
33.158
9
11.111
11
Todd Gilliland
13
25
Running
4
40.006
46.126
44.280
7
34.079
28
10.201
3
Michael McDowell
20
19
Running
5
38.872
47.905
44.314
8
33.043
4
11.271
14
William Byron
8
23
Running
5
38.461
48.303
44.465
9
34.069
26
10.397
4
Chase Briscoe
4
5
Running
5
43.250
46.661
44.486
10
33.303
11
11.184
12
Ryan Preece
1
15
Running
5
43.486
45.260
44.596
11
33.359
13
11.238
13
Corey Lajoie
27
26
Running
5
43.299
46.941
44.601
12
33.900
22
10.701
7
Austin Dillon
18
12
Running
5
40.003
47.599
44.632
13
33.541
18
11.090
10
Kyle Busch
17
21
Running
5
43.977
45.354
44.633
14
32.789
1
11.844
20
Alex Bowman
23
11
Running
5
43.928
45.270
44.722
15
33.444
16
11.277
15
Bubba Wallace
9
9
Running
5
44.340
45.462
44.817
16
33.119
6
11.698
19
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
16
8
Running
4
44.376
45.117
44.840
17
33.821
20
11.019
8
Ross Chastain
34
13
Running
4
44.178
46.071
44.951
18
33.425
15
11.526
16
Tyler Reddick
6
22
Running
5
44.585
46.159
45.248
19
33.397
14
11.851
21
Christopher Bell
22
16
Running
5
43.593
47.416
45.396
20
33.071
5
12.325
22

Pit Stop Detailed Report

Each 2- and 4-wheel pit stop during the race.

DRIVER
LEADER LAP
DRIVER LAP
DRIVER TIME
CREW TIME
TOTAL
TYPE

AJ Allmendinger
292
291
34.413
10.777
45.190
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
AJ Allmendinger
184
184
34.747
11.044
45.791
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
AJ Allmendinger
134
134
34.499
11.411
45.910
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
AJ Allmendinger
84
84
34.439
12.646
47.085
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
AJ Allmendinger
345
344
34.690
12.479
47.169
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
184
184
32.979
10.242
43.221
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
134
134
32.455
10.844
43.299
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
291
291
32.513
11.473
43.986
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
306
305
32.949
11.502
44.451
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
84
84
33.439
11.225
44.664
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
344
344
32.765
10.744
43.509
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
184
184
33.174
10.343
43.517
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
299
299
33.089
10.543
43.632
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
134
134
33.227
10.544
43.771
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
84
84
33.350
10.811
44.161
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
306
305
32.631
10.911
43.542
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
84
84
32.945
10.610
43.555
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
292
292
32.381
11.545
43.926
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
134
134
34.041
11.111
45.152
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
184
184
33.791
11.376
45.167
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE