NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville

 


 
Last week at Richmond Raceway was the battle of the veterans with Denny Hamlin in Victory Lane. Hmm. Denny has the best average finish at Martinsville with five wins, 16 Top 5s, 22 Top 10s and four poles. Can he makes it two in a row? Stay tuned!
 
This Week's Pick Strategy:
The Paper Clip is a short track that creates short fuses and lots of drama. I'm going to stack my roster with veteran Martinsville elites and short-track greats. Chances are, the winner will come from the first row, so I'll make my final picks based on qualifying.

Drivers with Most Top 10s (Last 5 Years):
By Race
Chase Elliott - 5 
All with 4 - Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski 
Both with 3 - Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick

By Track
Brad Keselowski - 9
All with 8 - Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, and Joey Logano      
Chase Elliott - 7
Both with 6 - Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick
Both with 5 - Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch

Recent Pole Winners:
2021 Joey Logano (Set by metric qualifying)
2020 Ryan Blaney (June 10, 2020; Set by metric qualifying)
2019 Joey Logano
 
Last Year's Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr.

The Likely Suspects: My Martinsville go-tos are Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is a tie between Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. My next picks are Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, William Byron and Chris Buescher. I will complete my roster with Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones.

Second-Look Driver: This week's sleeper pick is Christopher Bell. Christopher has the ninth- best average finishing position here. Although he has only earned one Top 10 at Martinsville, short tracks suit his driving style. He is coming off a respectable sixth place finish last week in Richmond where he led 63 laps.
 
My Final Four: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Bard Keselowski and Erik Jones.
 
Points to Ponder:
  • Six NASCAR Cup Series Martinsville Speedway pole winners are active this weekend, led by Joey Logano with five, followed by Denny Hamlin with four, Kyle Busch with two, and Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. with one each.
  • 36 of the 146 (25.8%) NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway have been won from the front row: 21 from the first starting position and 15 from the second starting position.
  • Nine of the 54 different NASCAR Cup Series Martinsville Speedway winners are active this weekend, led by Denny Hamlin with five, Martin Truex Jr. with three, Kyle and Kurt Busch tied with two each, and Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Kevin Harvick with one each. 
  • Kyle Busch leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville with four runner-up finishes (2012, 2017, 2018, 2021). 
  • Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with 17 Top 5s at Martinsville, followed by Denny Hamlin with 16 Top 5 finishes.
  • Denny Hamlin leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in Top 10s at Martinsville with 22; followed by Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch with 20 each.
  • Denny Hamlin (32 starts) leads the series among active drivers in average finishing position at Martinsville Speedway with a 10.156.
  • Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers in the series in laps led at Martinsville with 1,987 (13%) in 32 starts.
Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your initial picks by 8 a.m. ET on April 8th, final picks by 7:30 p.m. ET on race day Saturday, April 9th.
 
Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 16 years. She launched  NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet.

When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat or executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville NASCAR Fantasy Fusion:  Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Reviewed by Carol D'Agostino on Thursday, April 07, 2022 Rating: 5