Martinsville 2 Fantasy NASCAR Predictions
We’re at Martinsville Speedway this weekend for the Xfinity 500 race, the last chance for the remaining eight (well… seven) Playoff drivers to lock their spot into Phoenix for the Championship race. There’s a good chance we’re going to see bumping and banging at this half-mile track on Sunday, and you always have to take that into account with short track racing and making Fantasy NASCAR picks. Martinsville is a short, flat track, and throughout this article I will mention the other races at short, flat tracks this season. Those include the first Martinsville race as well as Phoenix, Richmond, and New Hampshire. Brad Keselowski is on the pole for Sunday and you can click here for the full starting lineup for the 2020 Xfinity 500 Martinsville race.
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Final Top 25 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville
1. Martin Truex, Jr. – Starts 2nd – DraftKings Price: $11,800 – FanDuel Price: $13,500 – Slingshot Price: $12,700
There’s no reason why Martin Truex, Jr. shouldn’t be at or near the top of your rankings this weekend at Martinsville. Not only did he win the first race here last season, but he also absolutely dominated this particular event last year, starting 3rd and leading 464 of the 500 laps (and winning both Stages) along the way. Truex has now finished 8th or better in each of the last six races at “The Paperclip” and all but one of those were top 4 results. His average running position on the flat tracks in 2020 is 8.2, which is good enough for 5th-best in the series, and it would be better if not for the Phoenix race where he wrecked. Take that one out of the equation and Truex’s average running position jumps to 7.4, and 3rd-best in the series. He is definitely a contender once again here at Martinsville on Sunday.
2. Brad Keselowski – Starts 1st – DraftKings Price: $11,400 – FanDuel Price: $13,000 – Slingshot Price: $11,600
Penske Racing has been elite at the flat tracks this season, and there’s no reason to think that that won’t continue here at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. The last time that we were here at “The Paperclip,” Joey Logano led 234 of the 500 laps while his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney added 34 more laps led. The third driver in the Penske trio, Brad Keselowski, added an additional five laps led, and those three ended up finishing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. That makes it four top 5 finishes in a row for Keselowski at Martinsville and nine top 10s in a row (eight of which are also top 5s). He’s a two-time winner at this track and likely needs a mistake-free race to get to the Championship event next week…unless we see Truex, Elliott, Bowman, or Kurt Busch win. This #2 Ford dominated the races at New Hampshire and Richmond this year, which are also flat tracks. BK will be a contender on Sunday.
Joey Logano has won this fall race at Martinsville before (back in 2018, the same year he won the Championship) and is a solid top 10 threat pretty much every time we race here. Over the last 13 Martinsville races, Logano has posted nine top 10 finishes with seven of those being results of 6th or better as well. As far as the flat tracks go this season, one could argue that JoLo has been the strongest; not only did he win at Phoenix back in March, but he also ran 4th in the first Martinsville race, 4th at New Hampshire, and 3rd at Richmond. His average running position of 4.3 in those four races is the best in the series and over a full position better than 2nd-best in that category (Brad Keselowski at 5.9).
