"Stubbs: Harnessing Aggression is Crucial as Martinsville Pushes Limits"
The NASCAR Cup Series will witness a tightly packed and organized field on Sunday as the seventh race of the 2025 season takes place at the renowned "Paperclip" track of Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
Martinsville has been a part of the NASCAR schedule since the inaugural season in 1948. The half-mile oval, known for its short straightaways and tight turns, is famous for pushing drivers and their cars to their limits during an afternoon of racing.
Several drivers have dominated at Martinsville over the years. Richard Petty holds the record for most wins at the track with 15 victories, followed by other true masters of Martinsville.
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have each won nine grandfather clocks, a unique trophy given to the best timekeepers on the Cup Series' shortest track. Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace have 11 and seven wins at Martinsville, respectively. Denny Hamlin currently holds the most wins among active drivers at Martinsville with five victories.
Martinsville favors those who can balance aggression and caution. It's a track where drivers must keep their cool and their brakes intact, as tempers and brake issues have been major factors in past races.
The tight confines of Martinsville only favor the best drivers in the sport - there are no fluke winners under normal circumstances. In fact, the four most recent winners at Martinsville are Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell - four of the top drivers in the Cup Series.
In anticipation of the Cook Out 400, here are the drivers to keep an eye on during Sunday's race:
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford, Team Penske
It's safe to say that Martinsville is Blaney's best track. In 18 starts, he has 12 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 8.3. He hasn't finished outside the top 11 since October 2018, and in the six races with the Next-Gen car, he hasn't finished worse than seventh. Blaney has also won the last two fall races at Martinsville and will be determined for a win after a dominant performance at Homestead was cut short by a blown engine.
William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Byron is the defending winner of the spring race at Martinsville and also won there in the spring of 2022. He has eight top-10 finishes in 14 starts at the track and has quickly become a consistent favorite whenever the Cup Series visits. Byron has been one of the top drivers in the 2025 season so far and a win at Martinsville would be a great addition to his season-opening win at the Daytona 500.
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Hamlin hasn't won at Martinsville since 2015, but his five wins at his home track were no fluke. In 38 starts, he has 20 top-five finishes and 26 top-10 finishes. In the last race at Martinsville, Hamlin started 37th and finished fifth in one of his best drives in recent memory. Although it's been a decade since his last win at the track, he has a great chance to break his drought on Sunday.
Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing
For the first time in his young Cup Series career, Berry is not considered an underdog. After his first career win at Las Vegas on March 16, Berry is now looking to add to his impressive record on short tracks at Martinsville. Although his two Cup Series starts at the track resulted in finishes of 25th and 16th, he has three top-five finishes in Xfinity Series races at Martinsville. In his first Xfinity Series start at the track, Berry earned his first NASCAR win, making him an overnight star. Now, four years later, he returns to Martinsville looking for his second Cup Series win and to establish himself as a top contender each week.
--Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media
