NASCAR Starting Lineup for Saturday's Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway

Author:
Tom Bowles
Publish date:
Apr 10, 2021

The NASCAR Cup Series returns from Easter break refreshed and ready to restart its 2021 schedule at the oldest track on the circuit, Martinsville Speedway. For the first time in over 70 years, the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 will run as a Saturday night showdown under the lights at this .526-mile paperclip in southern Virginia.

Martinsville's oval, the smallest on the circuit, is the second in a three-week stretch of short track racing that also includes fellow Virginia destination Richmond next weekend. It's a flat track where passing often proves difficult and the leader can sneak away if you're not careful (two of the past four races here have featured just three lead changes).

It's no surprise, then that track position is key to success here: the last six Martinsville winners have all started inside the top 10. That gives a boost to those who ran well on the inaugural Bristol Dirt Weekend, as NASCAR chose to have no on-track qualifying for this event.

Under the no-qualifying system, drivers that crashed out at Bristol, like Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, will have to fight their way to the front from mid-pack. It's because NASCAR's qualifying metric, established during COVID-19, puts major emphasis on where you finished during the previous race.

Here's a reminder of how the starting lineup is set in this scenario. Each of the 37 drivers is assigned a number based on the following qualifying metric.

50% of the metric is their finishing position from the previous race (split between driver and owner).

35% of the metric is the team’s current position in the NASCAR Cup Series owner point standings.

15% of the metric is their fastest lap during the previous race.

The team with the lowest total starts on the pole, then the next lowest, etc. until all available spots are filled. It's the best compromise NASCAR could make while attempting to limit each team's at-track time during the pandemic.

Martinsville attracted the smallest field of the Cup season to date as just 37 cars entered the race, leaving three empty positions on this 40-car grid. The 36 teams who have guaranteed spots are entered along with just one "open" car: the No. 37 of JTG Daugherty Racing (Ryan Preece). For the first time in 2021, the No. 66 of MBM Motorsports chose to skip this event.

1. Joey Logano

2. Denny Hamlin

3. William Byron

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Chase Elliott

6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Ryan Newman

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Daniel Suarez

12. Kyle Busch