Hamlin Reflects on Bristol and Looks to Martinsville
The NASCAR Cup Series’ first dirt race in more than 50 years was postponed a day last weekend after heavy weekend rains washed out Sunday’s planned track activity. The wait seemed to be worth it, as a limited-capacity crowd cheered Monday as Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag for the first of 253 laps.
“NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway did a great job with the dirt race,” Hamlin said.
“I’m ready to get back onto some asphalt. Martinsville is always a place we take confidence to, even when we know we need to keep making improvements to our short track program.”
Martinsville Outlook
The series shakes the dirt off its feet from Bristol and heads to the shortest and oldest track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, Martinsville Speedway, the paperclip-shaped short track that typically produces a lot of bumping and banging on track — and occasionally some anger among the drivers. Hamlin and the FedEx Racing team have five wins at the Ridgeway, Virginia short track. Hamlin, a Virginia native will look to win his sixth Martinsville grandfather clock trophy on Saturday under the lights.
Hamlin Statistics – Martinsville Speedway
Races: 30
Wins: 5
Poles: 4
Top-5: 15
Top-10: 21
Laps Led: 1608
Avg. Start: 8.7
Avg. Finish: 9.9
Hamlin’s hopes for Martinsville were strong, building on momentum so far built in early 2021.
“We’re obviously on a strong run with all the top-fives we have, so we’re doing a lot of things right,” Hamlin said.
“It’s just a matter of time before we get ourselves upfront at the checkers. In the meantime, we’re going to keep working on collecting stage points and growing our lead any way we can.”