The Wide World of Dirt

A clear sky and dirty track met clouded judgment last weekend in Bristol.

After two straight races at Dirt Bristol, it looked like a driver whose route to the Cup Series was forged in dirt tracks would finally conquer the last great coliseum.

That driver would be Kyle Larson. The familiar #5 smoked the field in his heat race on Saturday before continuing his dominance in Stage 1 on Easter Sunday.

Though the 2021 Cup champion got mired in some traffic to start Stage 2, it was almost a foregone conclusion Larson would rally back and reclaim the top spot.

In his journey, he made enemies, specifically SHR driver Ryan Preece.

Larson put Preece’s Mustang in the wall off of turn 4 in Stage 2, bending Preece’s toe link and burying the modified champion in the field.

When Larson made a mistake in Stage 3 to put himself back there with Preece, Larson dove his nose into Preece’s door on the exit of turn 4. Clearly displeased with Larson’s antics, Preece doored Larson’s Camaro into the outside wall.

Whether it was due to the car being broken or it was an intentional swipe, Larson dove down the track toward the #41, and Preece was wiser this time, hitting the brakes before Larson made contact. The hit redirected Larson’s car towards the outside wall for the final time before he called it quits.

The final 30 laps featured a duel between dirt racing aces Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick in a Toyota tandem at the front of the pack.

Closing in on 10 laps to go and with Bell increasing his gap to Reddick, NASCAR threw a caution for an innocent solo spin by Kyle Busch that set up another late-race restart.

Chase Briscoe took his Mahindra-sponsored Mustang and ran it through Ryan Blaney on the restart in front of the whole field, but the race remained green while Reddick put serious pressure on Bell.

The #45 Camry was close enough to make a move into turn 3 on the final lap, but a caution for a backstretch pileup ended the race a tad early with Bell doing donuts in the dirt for his and Joe Gibbs Racing’s first win of 2023.

Wednesday came with the news that NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott would return to competition this week after a six-week recovery from a broken tibia, just in time for him to join the Cup Series for their springtime trip to Martinsville, Virginia.

Without any further ado, here are this week’s Friday 5 for the NOCO 400 at Martinsville.

1. Martin Truex Jr

The 2017 Cup Series champ may have only won at NASCAR’s shortest track three times to this point, but that hasn’t stopped many people in NASCAR to say Martin owns Martinsville over the past few seasons.

Those folks wouldn’t exactly be wrong either. Since his previous team (Furniture Row Racing) switched to Toyota in 2016, Truex’s results at the track have been rather impressive.

Truex has scored three wins and nine top-10s over his last 14 races in southwestern Virginia while pacing the field for 965 laps over that stretch. This includes his pulverizing 2019 fall victory where he led 464 of 500 laps.

Last season’s results might be indicative of decline, and as time wears on and his winless streak expands, the noise continues to grow for the former champion to make a move to put himself back into weekly contention.

MTJ and the #19 gang can roll right into the green hills this weekend and reclaim Martinsville on Sunday.

2. William Byron

Byron stalked Truex for the final stint of the 2019 fall race, giving the Series and its fans a glimpse into what the young, unproven driver was capable of at the Paperclip.

Over the years, he’s improved his overall performance at Martinsville, including winning last year’s spring race after leading 203 of 403 laps.

Now the proud owner of a grandfather clock, Byron looks continue his Martinsville hot streak this weekend. Over the past seven races, the driver of the #24 Camaro has just one finish worse than 8th.

Martinsville presents many challenges for younger drivers, especially the distance of the race and how hard the track is on equipment.

Byron will look to keep bucking that trend this weekend and bring home a friend for his first grandfather clock.

3. Austin Dillon

Austin Dillon shocked many (including me) when he zipped through the field in the #3 car last spring at Martinsville.

The star of Life in the Fast Lane came up just two spots short of claiming his first Cup Series win on a track shorter than 1.5 miles.

Over the offseason, Dillon and his race team acquired Kyle Busch and his wealth of knowledge to pull from for intel. That could mean nothing to some and everything to others, and I fall into the latter.

I’ve been openly critical of Dillon in the past, but he’s come a long way since 2019 as a Cup Series racer.

I won’t go out on a limb and say Dillon will go out and win Sunday. I’m just saying if you see him in the top-5, don’t be that surprised!

4. Ryan Blaney

Blaney has been racing in the Cup Series for longer than a lot of people realize or care to admit.

Since his part-time debut in 2015 with Wood Brothers, Dave Blaney’s kid really knows how to wheel it around the old place, with only one finish outside of the top-20 in his 14 Martinsville starts.

This sensational record includes eight straight finishes of 11th or better dating back to the 2019 spring race.

His good friend, Chase Elliott, rejoins the field this weekend, and during an interview this week with radio personality Pat McAfee, Elliott said it was always good to win races with Blaney right behind him.

Another driver starving for victory, Blaney should be in the mix on Sunday. With hope, that winless streak comes to an end, so he can rub it in Chase’s mustache a little bit.

5. Bubba Wallace

Martinsville holds so many special memories for Bubba Wallace.

Bubba captured his first NASCAR win in the Trucks Series at the fall 2013 race while racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports before repeating his performance the following year in homage to Wendell Scott.

The embattled Wallace spent much of his early career in subpar equipment, making his averages look worse than his actual performance would lead one to believe.

The third-year 23XI driver has seen intermittent success at the Paperclip since leaving RPM in 2020, including a career-high 8th last fall. (He would’ve finished 7th had the Hail Melon not taken place.)

After last week’s bounce back run from an early spin, I expect Bubba to walk into Martinsville with momentum to score a strong run for himself and his team.