Team Penske has won three of the past five races – including the last two – at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, home to Sunday’s First Data 500 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Monster Energy NACAR Cup Series Playoff race.
Penske’s Brad Keselowski has won two of those Martinsville races – including one of the most dominating victories in the 141-race history at the famous half-mile paperclip-shaped track. He led 446-of-500 laps en route to the March trophy. Only four other times has a race winner led more. And while Keselowski has fallen out of championship contention – missing the Playoff cutoff by a mere three points last week – certainly his two Playoff-eligible teammates – Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney – can take some positive energy from the Penske organization’s performance at Martinsville.
Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, is the defending Martinsville Playoff race winner, leading 309 laps en route to the victory last October.
In the last five Martinsville races, at least two Team Penske drivers have finished among the top 10.
In March, Keselowski won the race and Blaney finished fourth. In this race last year, Logano won and Keselowski finished fifth. In Spring 2018, Blaney was third, Logano placed sixth and Keselowski finished 10th. In the 2017 Playoff race, Keselowski was fourth and Blaney was eighth. Keselowski won the Spring 2017 race and Logano was fourth.
Only five-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin (9.6) has a better average finish than Keselowski’s 11.3. Logano (13.4) and Blaney (14.0) are third and fourth best, respectively, among the eight Playoff drivers in that important statistic.
Logano, 29, has nine top-10 finishes in 21 Martinsville starts, including the 2018 Playoff win. He’s started from the pole position a series-best five times among active drivers – including this March – and has four top-10 finishes in the last six races.
Blaney, 25, has three top-10 finishes in seven Martinsville starts, including a fourth this March. He’s finished in the top-10 in three of the last four races including a career-best of third in 2018.
NASCAR PR
