Xfinity 500 at Martinsville: the last big test before Homestead

Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent

At Martinsville, Kyle Larson can become the first driver in Chase history to clinch the title before the finale. His pursuers need a strong race on Sunday, or Homestead becomes a formality.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the Xfinity 500 on Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. local time. On the schedule: 500 laps around the 0.526-mile oval, the 35th race of the 2026 season and the ninth of ten races in the NASCAR Chase. For the field, that means only one stop remains after this before the season finale, and on a track like Martinsville every position counts.

The weekend schedule

The weekend gets going in compact fashion, as is typical at a short track. Practice is set for 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, followed right away by qualifying at 2:05 p.m. The two sessions sit close together and there is hardly any time to make adjustments. Anyone who does not find the feel for the tight corners right away in qualifying will have to make up ground from deep in the field on Sunday.

The race itself starts at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday. On a track just 0.526 miles long, that means 500 laps full of restarts, tight line choices and traffic that simply does not exist on the long straights of the big ovals.

Nine of ten: Larson can clinch the title at Martinsville

The Chase runs in a new format this year. 16 drivers, ten races, no elimination rounds, only points count. That is exactly what makes Martinsville so explosive. Kyle Larson arrives after his win at Talladega with a 73-point lead over Denny Hamlin, with Christopher Bell 74 points back. If Larson scores 59 points on Sunday, the title can no longer be taken from him mathematically. He would be the first driver in Chase history to be confirmed as champion before the finale. Why Larson himself is still pumping the brakes is explained in our story Kyle Larson ahead of Martinsville: Big lead, small doubts.

For the pursuers, the question flips. They not only have to be strong at Martinsville themselves, they also need Larson to have a weak weekend for Homestead to be a real finale at all. Anyone who leaves Sunday further behind than a single race's worth of points is out. Last year's race here, by the way, was won by Larson's teammate William Byron for Hendrick Motorsports.

Martinsville: the Chase's eye of the needle

Martinsville is no place for pack racing, the geometry of the track makes sure of that. The flat, paperclip-shaped short track forces drivers into tight traffic, and restarts often become the most important phase of the entire race here, because there is barely room to build a clean gap on the short straightaways. Whoever loses the inside lane on a restart can't win it back for many laps without risking contact.

That tightness has traditionally made Martinsville one of the most unpredictable stops in the entire Chase. Strategy alone is rarely enough. In the end, it comes down to who keeps their nerve in the closing laps in a packed field and finds the right line through traffic. With only one race left after this weekend before the finale at Homestead, that becomes the central question: who uses Martinsville to cement their position in the Chase, and who will have to risk everything one more time at the end of the season to make up the lost ground.