This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
Hendrick Motorsports brought several hundred current and former employees to Martinsville Speedway Sunday, and the team's drivers delivered those invested fans a picture perfect afternoon by sweeping the top three finishing positions in a dominant day for the organization. Kyle Larson claimed the pole position in qualifying and then led the entire first stage Sunday, claiming the segment win. All four teammates spent the afternoon running inside the top 10, but William Byron was the one who made his way to the front inside 100 laps to go, surviving an overtime restart to win for the third time this season. It was a banner day for the Hendrick organization, which became the first team to sweep the top three finishing positions in a NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville. More importantly, they ended Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing's short-track domination.
The championship quest rolls onward next week with a return to 1.5-mile oval action at Texas Motor Speedway. Chevrolet-powered drivers have won the last three races there, which could be good news for Hendrick as they work to separate themselves from the contenders. Martin Truex Jr. leads the points, but the driver with momentum is Byron. The No. 24 enters the coming weekend as the defending Texas winner as well as the most recent winner after picking up his second Martinsville clock.
UPGRADE
William Byron - Byron only came to the lead late Sunday at Martinsville, but he had the track position at the end that enabled him to survive an overtime restart to win his third victory of the season, halting Denny Hamlin's short-track domination in its tracks. The Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet teammates were the ones to beat Sunday, and Byron led the team's sweep of the top three finishing positions. Byron led 88 of the race's final 89 laps and is the first driver to win three races this season. The team's early ability to get to Victory Lane this season foreshadows a potential deep run in the playoffs, but the crew will be working hard to make sure they keep that moment all the way to Phoenix. Things should continue to be positive for the No. 24 crew, too. Byron won at Texas last season, leading only six laps. He led 97 laps in the two races there before that, though.
Kyle Larson - With two top-fives from the three prior races, Larson proceeded to put his No. 5 machine on pole at Martinsville. From there, he went on to lead every lap of the opening stage and win it. Like a week ago at Richmond, he lost track position in the middle miles of the race and could regain the edge he needed to claim the win. The race's final restart gave him a chance to get that back, but Larson was only able to dispatch of Chase Elliott before the checkered flag. It was Larson's second top-three finish in a row and third top-five from the last four races, though. After a few weeks of losing out to Joe Gibbs Racing, it appears Larson and Hendrick have regained their stature. Larson is one of the three Chevrolets to have won the last three races at Texas. He led 99 laps there last season before contact and a DNF left him with a 31st-place finish. He led 374 laps in the last three races at the track.
Chase Elliott - Elliott gave it everything he had in the final restart Sunday at Martinsville, but his effort left him with just a third-place finish. It was still a good day, though. Elliott finished in the top five in both stages and the race, and only missed out on a second-place finish on to the overtime restart. A return to Victory Lane has been inching closer for the No. 9 crew, but a win continues to elude him. Sunday's push at Martinsville is is evidence of their progress, though. Continuing to run inside the top 10 and finish races inside the top five will spell the end of Elliott's winless streak sooner rather than later. Until then, the team just has to continue doing what they are doing and avoid mistakes. Elliott has never won at Texas, but the former champion does have six top-10 finishes at the track from 13 series starts. Elliott finished 11th there last season.
Denny Hamlin - Hamlin made his way to the lead for the first time late in the second stage, passing Joey Logano with less than 15 laps remaining and pulling ahead to the second segment win of the day. By the end of the race, Hamlin had spent 66 laps out front but wasn't in position to go door-to-door with the leader to fight for the win. The team opted to pit for fresh tires during the final caution, but so few cars went in that Hamlin only lost track position. It was a questionable move, but given the speed of the Hendrick Chevrolets, it might have been the only gamble the No. 11 crew had left to take. Hamlin restarted back on the fifth row after that decision, and that left him too far behind to put his car back into the lead, though. Hamlin has won three times at Texas, the most recent of which was in 2019. He finished fifth there last season and hasn't finished lower than 11th in the last four visits.
Bubba Wallace - Wallace and his no. 23 23XI Racing Toyota were not lacking speed last week at Martinsville. Wallace qualified on the front row and went on to run inside the top five for the entire afternoon. He didn't lead any laps, but he did score valuable stage points along with his second top-five of the season. Sunday's success moves him up in the playoff standings, too. With four finishes of 16th or better in the last five races, Wallace is helping solidify a spot among the championship contenders. The coming week's trip to Texas could be another good opportunity for him to move up the points, too. He started on pole there last season, leading 111 laps on his way to a third-place finish. That was his best race at the track, and it came after three straight finishes of 25th or worse there. If the team can harness their Martinsville momentum, Wallace could be a valuable fantasy option this week at Texas.
DOWNGRADE
Christopher Bell - A right-front wheel issue early in the second stage sent Bell to the pits, but he was saved from further insult when a debris caution waved as he headed for repairs. The damage done ended any chance of a decent finish, and one more spin in the final stage was the last nail in that coffin. Bell spent the last half of Sunday's race distance running multiple laps behind the leaders and not even in touch with a finish in the top 30. His 35th-place finish ended a streak of four straight top-10s for the team, and it was his third finish outside of the top 30 of the season so far. Three of Bell's four most recent Texas starts have ended with top-five finishes. His win at Phoenix has him confidently in the playoff field, and the team has a long season still ahead to ensure they put trouble like Sunday's behind them.
Austin Dillon - The current season is nothing short of a disaster for Dillon. His best finish so far is a 16th-place finish at Las Vegas. That is only his top-20 finish of the season, too. There is a lot going wrong at Richard Childress Racing right now, and Sunday's Martinsville misery was just more of the same. Dillon qualified a lowly 34th to start, then was off the pace the whole afternoon, finishing three laps behind. Mistakes on pit road, poor chassis setup, and a hefty dose of bad luck are all things this squad need to put behind them. Fantasy players should be steering clear of selecting Dillon at this point, and a return to consideration shouldn't come until the No. 3 is back to regular top-15 finishes. Despite Dillon being a past Texas winner, Dillon carries significant risk with his current lack of momentum. He also crashed out at the track last season, finishing 36th.
Austin Cindric - Like Dillon, Austin Cindric is struggling to get off the mark. He finished as one of the last cars on the lead lap Sunday and never had the speed to move much further up the order despite qualifying inside the top 15. That has been the story of the No. 2 this season. Cindric sits 20th in the championship standings with six starts inside the top 15 from the first eight races. Those qualifying efforts have only translated into two top-20 race finishes, though. While Cindric and team have found competitive speed at nearly every track, their race pace continues to be their weakness. Fantasy players should take caution when evaluating Cindric until that changes, especially this week at Texas. The track has not been a good one for him, and he crashed out of the race last season to finish 27th. It will likely take several weeks of work for this team to turn things around.
Ty Gibbs - The impressive start to the season for Gibbs came to an end Sunday at Martinsville. After a few weeks of enjoying his Toyota advantage, Gibbs and the rest of the JGR squad just didn't have the measure of Hendrick. Gibbs qualified just 15th, and that is where he spent almost the entire afternoon, finishing 19th. After starting the season with five straight top-10 finishes, Gibbs now heads to Texas with consecutive finishes outside of the top 15. He still sits comfortably in the top 10 in the playoff standings, but what looked like an inevitable race victory is now starting to look like a brief slump. The advantage Gibbs had earlier in the season will undoubtedly return, but the question is when. Fantasy players may not want to bank on it turning around at Texas. Gibbs has a best finish of 20th from his two series starts there. He also crashed out last season.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Martin Truex Jr. - One week after having a race victory slip away, Truex was expected to continue his hunt for a win at Martinsville. His second-row qualifying effort suggested he would be a contender throughout Sunday afternoon, but Truex lost ground in the second stage and couldn't claw his way back. He finished 18th, which was his worst finish of the season to date. Truex still leads the points but Victory Lane is where he and the team expect to be. Truex and this squad know very well that points are not always enough. Texas is a track Truex has never won at, too. He does have 17 top-10 finishes from 34 career tries, but he crashed out of two of the last three Texas races and finished in the top 15 just once from the last four. Fantasy players will want to see more consistency from a driver in Truex's price race, and they should monitor practice and qualifying before relying on him again this week.
