Driver-by-driver track history breakdown for Martinsville Speedway. Last four races of data, loop stats, and model signals for the Cook Out 400.
| Driver | Pos | Tier | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Reddick | 1 | The points leader with one of the weakest Martinsville track records in the field — two top-10s in 12 career starts, and he's acknowledged it directly: 'The short tracks is the only place where I thin… | |
| Ryan Blaney | 2 | Two wins, 11 top-fives, and a track record that makes starting position irrelevant — no driver on this board owns Martinsville the way he does. His own words after Darlington say everything: he let fa… | |
| Bubba Wallace | 3 | One of the most dramatic spring/fall splits on the board — fastest car in practice in Spring 2025 at 94.139 mph, ran with Hamlin at the front all afternoon, finished 3rd with a 4.45 average running po… | |
| Denny Hamlin | 4 | Six career Martinsville wins — more than any active driver — and he came here in Spring 2025 with a chip on his shoulder and led 274 of 400 laps in the most dominant performance of the NextGen era. An… | |
| Chase Elliott | 5 | Four straight top-4 finishes at Martinsville — led 42 laps as Hamlin's closest challenger in Spring 2025, then ran top-5 all afternoon in a must-win Fall 2025 playoff race before finishing 3rd. After … | |
| William Byron | 6 | Won Fall 2025 wire-to-wire from the pole, leading 304 laps, then was a non-factor in Spring 2025 running 22nd with zero competitive moments. The widest ceiling-to-floor range on the board — elite when… | |
| Chris Buescher | 7 | Qualified 6th in Spring 2025 and collapsed to 25th by the finish with only 8.3% top-15 laps — one of the worst speed-to-result gaps in the field that day. Fall 2025 was even flatter: started 29th, ran… | |
| Christopher Bell | 8 | Bell staked a claim before the season even started: 'If we're feeling it at Phoenix, just wait till we get to Martinsville.' He backed it up — led 25 laps and finished 2nd in Spring 2025, then ran top… | |
| Brad Keselowski | 9 | Led 170 laps at Martinsville in Fall 2024, then posted back-to-back invisible results in 2025 — 7.5% top-15 laps in Spring, zero in Fall, with no meaningful racing moments confirmed in either race. Th… | |
| Kyle Larson | 10 | Back-to-back 5th-place finishes in his last two Martinsville starts with average running positions under 6.5 — the car is consistently in the front group even without the win. His own honest assessmen… | |
| Ty Gibbs | 11 | Ran with the JGR Toyota front group all afternoon in Spring 2025 — top-5 in Stage 2, 89.8% top-15 laps, described as having possibly his best day of the 2025 season to that point. His 2026 form has be… | |
| Ryan Preece | 12 | Won the 2026 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium — another tight short track — which is not a small thing heading into Martinsville week. Has accumulated laps led and solid finishes at this specific… | |
| Carson Hocevar | 13 | One of the more intriguing mid-field names at a track that rewards pure driving over raw horsepower. His speed has shown up every week regardless of track type, and the Spire short-track package has b… | |
| Daniel Suárez | 14 | New chapter at Spire Motorsports in 2026 — two top-10s in his first six races for the new team, including a strong 7th at Darlington. His Martinsville results at Trackhouse were mid-pack, but the fres… | |
| Shane van Gisbergen | 15 | One of the most fascinating profiles on the board because his skillset maps so well to what Martinsville rewards — late braking, corner rotation, and tire management over a stint come naturally from h… | |
| Joey Logano | 16 | Thirteen consecutive top-10 finishes at Martinsville heading into this race, and the way he does it matters — managing 180 laps on left-side tires, manufacturing results the raw speed sheet wouldn't a… | |
| Michael McDowell | 17 | Finished 12th in Spring 2025 — ran the top half of the field all day at a solid average running position with consistent lap quality throughout. Spire's Martinsville results have been limited but McDo… | |
| AJ Allmendinger | 18 | Allmendinger's Martinsville quote this week zeroed in on the specific setup challenge that determines whether a car is competitive here — balance language that identifies the exact variable that matte… | |
| Zane Smith | 19 | Entering his third full Cup season with a Martinsville track record he's actively trying to build on — he won here in the Truck Series in Fall 2021 and his own words this week were direct: 'I've had s… | |
| Ross Chastain | 20 | Short-track talent is real but the Martinsville results haven't consistently reflected it. New crew chief relationship in 2026 — his garage comments this week were more about building that partnership… | |
| Austin Cindric | 21 | DNF in Spring 2025 after a three-wide contact incident on Lap 201, then bounced back with 91.8% top-15 laps in a clean Fall 2025 race. The Penske short-track package is capable and Cindric has the mec… | |
| Chase Briscoe | 22 | His words after Darlington said it directly: 'Another race-winning speed car with a 37th-place finish. Get a little luck to go along with all this speed and it's gonna be a lot of fun.' Now at Hendric… | |
| Kyle Busch | 23 | Over 40 career Martinsville starts, multiple wins, and a track knowledge base that very few drivers can match. His garage comments this week included grip-search language — 'we lacked grip at the star… | |
| Erik Jones | 24 | A smooth, patient driving style that historically suits Martinsville — the kind of methodical approach that stacks laps in the right half of the field without incidents. Legacy Motor Club equipment li… | |
| John Hunter Nemechek | 25 | His Martinsville relationship goes back further than his Cup career — he won a Truck Series race here in 2018 and an O'Reilly Series race in 2023. His own words this week: 'I enjoy Martinsville... I f… | |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 26 | Aggressive short-track instincts that can work at a venue where position defense and late-race aggression matter. Hyak Motorsports won the 2024 Talladega fall race — the team can perform. The aggressi… | |
| Todd Gilliland | 27 | The loop data tells a story the results page buries — two consecutive top-10 finishes at Martinsville with near-perfect top-15 lap share, while the market prices him near 250-1. That gap between what … | |
| Alex Bowman | 28 | Alex Bowman remains out with vertigo — Justin Allgaier fills in for the fourth consecutive race weekend. Allgaier won at Martinsville in the O'Reilly Series in Fall 2023 and brings legitimate short-tr… | |
| Noah Gragson | 29 | A two-time Martinsville winner in NASCAR's lower series — Trucks in 2017 and O'Reilly in 2021 — and his own words this week confirmed the track still clicks for him: 'Martinsville has been good to me … | |
| Josh Berry | 30 | RFK equipment gives him a real team behind him and his short-track instincts are genuine — he built his career on tracks like this. Wood Brothers' Martinsville-specific setup knowledge provides a real… | |
| Riley Herbst | 31 | In his second full Cup season with 23XI Racing, Herbst is still building his Martinsville Cup notebook. His short-track instincts have been on display in 2026 — including the chaotic Daytona 500 final… | |
| Cole Custer | 32 | Fifth full-time Cup season, and he returns to Martinsville with Haas Factory Team's new Hendrick-alliance Chevrolet — a meaningful organizational upgrade from where this program was 12 months ago. Has… | |
| Cody Ware | 33 | Resource-constrained entry at a track where mechanical feel and patience compress the gap to the front more than at most venues on the schedule. Martinsville rewards clean laps and track awareness ove… | |
| Austin Dillon | 34 | His own words this week: 'I think we made some ground there at the end of the race last time we were there. I felt like our car was pretty good, so we can build off of that.' RCR's short-track setup h… | |
| Ty Dillon | 35 | Spoke positively about Martinsville and the new horsepower package specifically: 'I've always performed well there' and noted the car should be even more exciting with more horsepower. Limited Cup sch… | |
| Timmy Hill | 36 | Veteran Cup experience in a limited entry. Has made over 140 career Cup starts and knows how to navigate a race without incident. Martinsville rewards patience and track awareness — a complete race is… | |
| Connor Zilisch | 37 | Making his Martinsville Cup debut as a rookie with Trackhouse Racing — the short-track talent is legitimate and his team provides real resources to work with. No Cup history here means practice is the… |