Fantasy NASCAR Asterisk Mark Report – Martinsville #1 2026

Chase Elliott – Chase Elliott led 84 laps and raced his way to victory lane this spring at Martinsville, but I would classify that as an asterisk mark result. The #9 was strong but Elliott used out of sync pit strategy and caught a lucky break caution in the last Stage which got him to the front. On lap 262 before his pit strategy play, Elliott was running in 9th. Also from the race I’ll note, Elliott started 10th, didn’t place in either opening Stage, had a 9.0 average running position and ranked 6th for Total Speed Rankings. “Performance Wise”, I would say Elliott was really a high single-digit performer.

Ryan Blaney – Ryan Blaney finished 6th this spring at Martinsville but I’ll note that result slightly underrates him.  In the race, Blaney started 12th, finished 8th in Stage #1, finished 4th in Stage #2, was battling for 3rd on lap 334 but then Hamlin had contact with Blaney which led to the #12 getting into the wall pretty hard and then rapidly fading back to 7th. In terms of Speed Stats, Blaney ranked 2nd for Speed Late In A Run and had the 5th best Total Speed Ranking.

Bubba Wallace – This spring, Bubba Wallace looked like a mid to high-teens driver but in the last Stage, he decided to spin out Hocevar which actually ended up destroying the #23, leading to his DNF 36th. On lap 322 just before his demise, Wallace was in 17th. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Wallace ranked 21st.

Zane Smith – This spring at Martinsville, I think Zane Smith had teen’s potential, but he finished an asterisk mark 34th. In the race, Smith finished about 14th in Stage #1, finished about 17th in Stage #2, was in 16th on lap 322 but then on lap 324 he was damaged in the “Big One” which dropped him back to the 30’s. Then shortly after that on lap 329, he took his car to the garage, dooming him to his poor finish. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Smith ranked 18th.

Chris Buescher – Chris Buescher finished 19th this spring at Martinsville but I’ll note his race wasn’t incident free. In the race, Buescher started 16th, finished 13th in Stage #1 but then early in Stage #2 on lap 105 while running in 13th, Buescher made an unexpected pit stop and also at that time, a caution came out when Gragson spun which was a lucky break. Buescher had some sort of weird issue involving a bolt and his brake calipers and it led to a few extra pit stops under caution. Later on lap 230, he was noted to be making another unexpected pit stop. If his race would’ve been incident free, I think he could’ve definitely finished better than his result.

Riley Herbst – Riley Herbst was pretty bad this spring at Martinsville, but he wasn’t quite 35th place bad and more so about a 30th place performer. On lap 322 just prior to his demise in the “Big One”, Herbst was off the lead lap in 30th. In terms of average running position, Herbst was 28.5.