Roger Diez: NASCAR pulls into Martinsville

At Homestead last Sunday, Tyler Reddick’s amazing last-lap, last-turn pass punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup championship round. Ryan Blaney had outdueled Denny Hamlin for the lead and appeared to be a lock for the win until he chose the wrong lane coming to the checker. This gave Reddick the top lane and momentum carried him past Blaney for the win.

Kyle Larson had another fraught race with a flat tire and an ill-advised pass attempt leaving him below the cut line going to Martinsville. Blaney (-38) and Elliott (-43) are in a must-win situation. Larson (-6) and Hamlin (-18) can still make it on points.

William Byron (+6), Blaney, Larson, Christopher Bell, and Chase Elliott all have recent Martinsville wins with Byron taking this year’s spring race. Hamlin is the king of Martinsville among playoff drivers with five victories, but none since 2015. Martin Truex Jr. with three wins and Kyle Busch with two are both winless this season and are desperate to score a victory.

In all 11 active drivers have won at Martinsville, so any of that list plus half the field could win. So, it’s entirely possible that someone other than the six drivers contending for the final two championship race spots will take Sunday’s checkers, meaning points will decide who races for the Cup title.

Goodyear has brought an unusual tire combination for this race, combining the option tires used in the All-Star race on the right side and the softest compound Goodyear makes on the left.

Cup qualifying is on the NBC Sports app at 11 a.m. Saturday followed by the National Debt 250 for the Xfinity series on the CW at 1 p.m. NBC will broadcast Sunday’s Xfinity 500 for the Cup series at 11 a.m.

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Ferrari scored its second consecutive win last Sunday in the Mexican Grand Prix, this time with Carlos Sainz taking the victory. McLaren’s Lando Norris spoiled a second consecutive Ferrari 1-2 by passing Charles Leclerc for second in the closing laps but couldn’t catch Sainz.

Sainz has four more chances for podium finishes with Ferrari, as Lewis Hamilton will replace him for 2025. Sainz is joining Williams to help rebuild that team, so he likely won’t see the podium again for a while.

The race was as interesting for penalties as for the racing. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen committed the most egregious violations, receiving a pair of 10-second penalties for running Norris off the road on two occasions. After the 20-second wait in the pits dropped him to 11th he worked his way back up to sixth at the checker.

I attribute his aggressive driving to frustration, as he has now gone 10 races without a win and Norris is chipping away at his lead in the drivers’ championship points. Norris has closed to within 47 points, but with only four races left in the season he’ll have to be flawless if he wants to overtake Max.

The constructors’ championship is a different story, however. McLaren increased its points total in Mexico to 566, 29 points ahead of Ferrari’s 537. Red Bull is another 25 behind at 512 with Mercedes a distant fourth at 366. No other team is in the triple digits.

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This weekend F1 is at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Verstappen has won there twice, including last year. Mercedes drivers Hamilton (three wins) and George Russell (one) are the only other drivers in the field with Brazilian GP wins.

It’s a sprint race weekend, with the sprint airing Saturday at 7 a.m. on ESPN2 followed by qualifying at 11 a.m. on ESPNews. ESPN2 will broadcast Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix at 9 a.m.