After 400 Laps, Who Will Take Home A Grandfather Clock?
Martinsville, V.A. -- Practice, and qualifying are complete at Martinsville Speedway, and all that remains is Sunday's Cook Out 400, which will feature 400 laps around the ultra-tight 0.526-mile Virginia short track.
Sunday's race will be broken up into three Stages. Stage 1 will conclude at the end of Lap 80, while Stage 2 will end at the conclusion of Lap 180, and the checkered flag for the race will be waved at the conclusion of Lap 400 (barring an overtime finish).
The race will be televised on FS1, and coverage will kick off at 3:30 PM ET. For those looking to tune into the radio broadcast, the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.
Denny Hamlin, a six-time winner at Martinsville Speedway, will start from the pole position as he seeks his seventh grandfather clock, the traditional award handed out to each winner at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin, who won this race a season ago, will be joined on the front row by William Byron, the winner of last fall's event at Martinsville Speedway.
Byron, who has three wins at Martinsville Speedway in his career, drives the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, the team with 30 wins all-time at Martinsville, which is the most wins of any team at the track.
At a track that is typically dominated by drivers that have mastered the art form of how to race at Martinsville, Sunday's race will begin as a slugfest between two drivers that have a combined nine wins at the track.
Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup
Row 1: 1. 11-Denny Hamlin, 2. 24-William Byron
Row 2: 3. 21-Josh Berry, 4. 54-Ty Gibbs
Row 3: 5. 97-Shane van Gisbergen, 6. 2-Austin Cindric
Row 4: 7. 77-Carson Hocevar, 8. 45-Tyler Reddick
Row 5: 9. 22-Joey Logano, 10. 9-Chase Elliott
Click here for the complete Cook Out 400 starting lineup
While the focus will be on Hamlin and Byron in the early laps of the race, you'll have to keep an eye on the running order all race long, as the race will feature the high-horsepower/low-downforce package. The package paired with a soft Goodyear tire should produce the ability for drivers to make moves through the field over the course of long green flag runs in the 400-lap contest.
And Ryan Blaney, who rolls off of the starting grid from the 12th position, has been one of the best on the long run at Martinsville in recent years. He was among the best drivers on the long run in Saturday's practice as well, so, he'll be a driver to keep tabs on all race long.
Other Stories To Keep An Eye On
Kyle Busch's Weekend Off To Rough Start
While there was hope with the acquisition of crew chief Jim Pohlman in the offseason that the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season could serve as a resurgence of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, aside from a pole in the season-opening Daytona 500, the year has once again fallen flat.
Busch comes into Sunday's race on a career-worst 99-race winless drought, and after Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions, where he ultimately secured the 34th starting position, it doesn't look like things are likely to change. Busch was frustrated with his car in a media bullpen session following qualifying.
"Sideways. Undriveable loose," Busch said of the car.
When asked if the ill-handling condition of his No. 8 Chevrolet can be fixed between Saturday's qualifying session and Sunday's race, Busch shrugged, "No telling."
If Busch has any hopes of a decent finish on Sunday, he will likely need a caution early in the event in order to keep himself on the lead lap through the end of the opening Stage of the race.
"I need a caution between lap 30 and 40 because my tires will be smoked by then," Busch concluded.
While it seems like a foregone conclusion that Busch's winless streak will extend to 100 races, he'll be a story to keep an eye on throughout Sunday's race to see if Pohlman is able to cure some of the issues that plagued the No. 8 Chevrolet on Saturday.
Shane van Gisbergen Continues to Show Improved Oval Ability
Many expected Shane van Gisbergen to be the biggest loser in NASCAR's change from a "win and you're in" Playoff format to a 26-race point battle. The reason is that van Gisbergen, who is a supreme talent on road courses, is a relative newcomer on ovals, and throughout his rookie campaign, he struggled immensely on non-road courses.
However, this season, van Gisbergen has survived, or, dare I say, thrived, on those layouts through the opening six races of the season. Even with a last-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, SVG has accumulated enough points to be above the Chase cutline heading into a Sunday tilt at Martinsville Speedway.
And if qualifying is any indication, van Gisbergen will keep the momentum going. The native of New Zealand scored a fifth-place qualifying position, and will start near the front at a track where track position matters possibly more than any other on the circuit.
The only question is: Can he stay there? We'll see, but his progress on ovals so far in 2026 has been very encouraging.
Ty Gibbs Looking For First Win
Ty Gibbs caught some strays in the documents related to the lawsuit between Joe Gibbs Racing, the team's former competition director, Christopher Gabehart, and Spire Motorsports.
But despite the noise that arose from those documents, where Gabehart accused JGR of treating Gibbs, the grandson of Coach Joe Gibbs, differently than the rest of the team's drivers, Gibbs has put together an excellent stretch of races to start the 2026 season.
Gibbs, who will start Sunday's Cook Out 400 from the fourth position, is riding the wave of four consecutive top-10 finishes, including three top-five efforts. While it's felt like a roller coaster of thoughts as to whether Gibbs will break through for his first win over the last couple of seasons, it truly feels like the 23-year-old is ready to visit victory lane for the first time.
The driver, who won at Martinsville in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2022 on his path to a series championship, says a win at Martinsville on Sunday would be super meaningful and rewarding.
"I would love to have another clock in my collection. Yeah, it would be awesome," Gibbs said on Saturday. "And my team has had historic success here, so to add to that would be awesome. We'll see what we can do."
Sunday's race will mark the 130th race of Gibbs' NASCAR Cup Series career, will start No. 130 be remembered as the race he finally reaches victory lane?
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
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