And coming into a week with two consecutive wins and a race at a track at which he has three career victories, Busch is the man to beat once again. He’s the favorite heading into the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the shortest track in NASCAR.
This week has a couple of interesting storylines as Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. butted heads, and cars, at last year’s playoff race at Martinsville while Logano came away with the win.
Logano has seven top-10 finishes in his last 10 races at Martinsville including that win last season while Truex is no slouch himself with six top-seven finishes in his last seven attempts at the half-mile track. These men could fight it out again for the win, but they’ll likely be fighting Busch for the victory.
At this point it would be foolish to pick anyone but Busch to win and that is what we’re doing. He has the best car and is outdriving everyone in NASCAR at the moment. He has a great chance this week to pass Richard Petty with his 201st career win in NASCAR’s top three series.
The STP 500 can be seen Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.
What are the betting odds for the STP 500?
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Clint Bowyer took home the win at the first race of the year in Martinsville last season and has three top-10 finishes in his last five races at the track and has a top-5 finish to his name this season as well.
Chase Elliott has three top-10 finishes in his last five trips to Martinsville and is coming off of two top-11 finishes in his last three races of the year.
Ryan Blaney is more of a wide-open racer, but he had good success at a shorter track in Phoenix two weeks ago and has two top-5 finishes in his last three races. Add that to two top 10s in his last three trips to Martinsville and he could find himself in front again this week.
One sleeper for the STP 500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been hanging around the top 10 all year even if he hasn’t quite turned it into great success. He has a top 10 and four top 14s this season and two top 10s in his last four trips to Martinsville. He could finally crack the top 10 this week if he puts it all together.
