Kyle Larson wins in Martinsville, continuing Hendrick Motorsports’ domination at the paperclip. The win marked Hendrick’s 28th victory at the historic track.
For the first time in his cup series career, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece sat on the pole with Daniel Suarez in the #99 to his outside.
At the drop of the green, Preece jumped out into the lead and stayed there for the remainder of stage one, where he would score the first stage win of his career.
It was a great first stage for SHR as all four of their cars took a spot in the top 10.
Stage One Results:
- #41
- #10
- #45
- #99
- #14
- #4
- #23
- #11
- #5
- #24
Stage 2 began again with Preece jumping to the lead from Suarez, where he would remain until the first caution for cause from Harrison Burton in the #21 spinning with some help from the #43 of Erik Jones.
Under the ensuing pit stops, Preece, Martin Truex Jr., and Bubba Wallace were nabbed for speeding in the pits and were sent to the back of the field.
Trackhouse teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez lined up on the front row. Chastain took the top spot.
On lap 167, the #4 of Kevin Harvick hunted down Chastain and took the lead. Harvick led for the remainder of the second stage, scoring his first stage win since 2020.
Stage Two Results:
- #4
- #14
- #11
- #45
- #6
- #1
- #38
- #99
- #10
- #5
As the green flag dropped for the final stage, Chase Briscoe took the lead on the front row, with three of his SHR teammates all in tow in the top 10.
Not too long after, Denny Hamlin ran him down and took the lead for the first time of the day.
Green flag pit stops kicked off with 133 laps remaining when Ryan Blaney came into the pits, bringing the entire field with him in the ensuing laps.
With 98 to go, the caution was thrown for a loose wheel on the frontstretch from the #78 of Anthony Alfredo. This resulted in Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano, who gambled on pit strategy by staying out, returning to the lead lap.
Briscoe and Larson lined up on the front row with the driver of the #14 reclaiming the lead until 58 to go, when JJ Yeley went straight into the wall in turn 3, bringing out the last caution of the day.
Under the caution, Joey Logano in the #22 stayed out and took the lead after having an average running position of just 23rd on the day. Logano led until 30 to go when Kyle Larson in the #5 took the lead and won his second race of the year.
Joey Logano held on for 2nd from Martin Truex Jr. who got 3rd.
Chase Briscoe got 5th, and Chase Elliott, on his return to the cup series after being sidelined since Auto Club, ended the day with a 10th place run.
After his speeding penalty, polesitter Ryan Preece recovered for a 15th place run.
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