The NASCAR Cup Series returned to Martinsville for the first of two races this past weekend, and it was more of the same we’ve come to expect on these flat short tracks. There wasn’t a ton of passing, and the best cars generally dominated most of the day. Some storylines include the Hendrick Motorsports 1-2-3 finish on their 40th anniversary of win #1. But other than that, not a ton to report out of the Paperclip this year.
How do we fix it? Many have ideas you can find on social media (including jacking up the horsepower), but we’re not here to discuss that. It’s time for this week’s “Three Up, Three Down”. Which drivers had great days, and which ones had setbacks? Let’s look and see if we can influence Chris on some of his choices in his power rankings this week. Without further adieu, let’s get to the up…
Three Up
#9 Chase Elliott
Embed from Getty ImagesSure, in the 1-2-3 finish at Martinsville for Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott was third. But this was an overdue finish for him. The #9 car just a few weeks ago was being talked about as the worst driver on the team, and underperforming through 2024. This past weekend Elliott and company stepped up in their ruby red Chevrolet and pulled out their first top-three finish since the Indy Road Course last August. We’ll see how Elliott keeps it up as we head to Texas and then Talladega after that.
#12 Ryan Blaney
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter spending one week on the down, Blaney reverses course and nails his first top five in about a month. I stressed that the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion wouldn’t be down and out for long, and I was right. He grinded out a tough day at Martinsville, a course that’s generally good for him and gained four spots on the day by the end of the race. He was out of the T-10 the first two stages and didn’t collect stage points, but you take a top five where you can get it. He’ll return to Texas after suffering an accident there last fall, and Talladega after that in which he took a win.
#45 Tyler Reddick
Embed from Getty ImagesTyler Reddick joins his teammate Bubba Wallace in the recent 23XI success by netting his third T-10 finish in a row at Martinsville. The #45 car has been one of the best cars in the series when we leave the superspeedway and is generally pushing for great finishes by the end of the races. He’ll be one of the contenders to get the win next week at Texas pending an accident or a freak circumstance. Watch out for 23XI, both cars might hit victory lane by the time it’s all said and done this season.
Three Down
#6 Brad Keselowski
Embed from Getty ImagesJust as we started to think that Brad Keselowski had it figured out. The shortest track of the circuit was not kind to the #6 team. After starting P13 he dropped to P24 and was largely irrelevant for most of the day. After netting 8th at Richmond and 3rd at Bristol, this is a devastating blow to the comeback push that Keselowski was making. He’ll have to reset and get back into shape somehow if he wants to make a true playoff push as we near the meat of the NASCAR schedule in just a few weeks.
#17 Chris Buescher
Embed from Getty ImagesThe other half of RFK racing in this #17 car with Chris Buescher also had a rough day. Starting from 30th and getting back up to 15th is a tough feat for sure, but they probably shouldn’t have been starting in the back in the first place. Buescher has often hung around with the Penske duo of Blaney and Logano as one of the best-performing Fords of the field, but today just wasn’t their day. Team RFK usually performs as one of the best drafting duos in the NASCAR Cup Series, and will have the chance to show that at Talladega in a few weeks.
#20 Christopher Bell
Embed from Getty ImagesEverybody has bad days, but no day was as bad as the #20 of Christopher Bell. After an early accident that knocked his tire sideways, he couldn’t recover. Finishing 35th, and the last of all the cars who completed every lap. Bell has a win this season and has finished in the top 10 more often than not in this eight-race opening stretch. This is similar to Blaney’s situation last week where it’s just a bad day, and it shouldn’t be read into too far. Expect the #20 car to be in the running for the win weekly more often than not from this point forward.
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