Well hey there! Sorry we didn’t post the weekend schedule on Friday. Not a lot of you read that, and we were in a hurry, and then we were going to post it tomorrow but we decided to get at least six hours of sleep Friday night instead because we were at a wedding yesterday and we wanted to be appropriately spry. Anyway, sorry! NASCAR time. Let’s get on with it.
Where It Is
Martinsville. The paperclip. The speedway I famously drove past on my way to Greensboro that fateful day in October of 2018 when I got security called on me at the Roanoke Airport (I’d been there plenty early, don’t believe the haters also known as the gate agent).
When It Is
Green flag at 2:12 PM EDT.
How to Watch
NBC
Whom to Watch
Below you’ll find the playoff standings entering this, the final race of the Round of 8, the semifinal race of the season, plus the drivers’ individual odds to win today. Winner, if one of these eight, will be among the four who advance to the Championship 4 next week at Phoenix.
1. Kyle Larson (locked into Championship 4 by winning [twice]; 5-to-1)
2. Chase Elliott (34 points ahead of first driver out; 6-to-1)
3. Denny Hamlin (32 points ahead of first driver out; 13-to-2)
4. Kyle Busch (Last driver in, 1 point ahead of first driver out; 8-to-1)
5. Ryan Blaney (First driver out, 1 point behind last driver in; 7-to-1)
6. Martin Truex Jr. (3 points behind last driver in; 9-to-2)
7. Brad Keselowski (6 points behind last driver in; 9-to-1)
8. Joey Logano (26 points behind last driver in; 17-to-2)
How NASCAR Should Script It
It is not yet time for black-hat Elliott. But you know what’d be a good storyline? If one of those bottom three guys moved him late in the race to get the win. That’d get folks fired up.
Trucks, Xfinity
The Truck race was out of control, with all sorts of people wrecking each other or at the very least giving one another good, hard bumps. Zane Smith ended up winning it to advance to the championship alongside Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, and John Hunter Nemechek, who survived wrecking out (or being wrecked out) early in the final stage.
Noah Gragson won a less chaotic Xfinity race, making the final four there him, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, and A.J. Allmendinger.
