Quite the cast of characters we’ve got as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the penultimate race of the 2022 season, isn’t it?
Joey Logano is the only driver locked in for the Championship 4 at Phoenix. Three spots remain, with seven drivers duking it out for those berths this weekend at the half-mile, paperclip-shaped short track in Virginia.
Pretty straightforward, right? Maybe, maybe not. I’ve cited horror movies a lot this month, so I won’t bore you with 15 more references … just one more. I revisited one of my all-time favorites, John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing, last night, and my tweet from earlier in the month about Talladega Superspeedway is pretty much applicable here, too.
Every single #NASCAR driver with 10 to go at Talladega when it becomes every man for himself:#NASCARPlayoffs #YellaWood500 #TheThing pic.twitter.com/3aucO3T6aJ
— Adam Cheek (@adamncheek) October 2, 2022
Kurt Russell’s words ring true, whether describing an Antarctic encampment with an alien being slowly taking over crew members and establishing paranoia or whether referring to eight drivers who’ve driven in 34 points-paying races this season, replete with crashes, mechanical failures, close calls and moments of triumph. They’re exhausted, they only trust themselves and their crews and they’ll do whatever is necessary to advance to Phoenix Raceway’s title race.
If anything is straightforward for this race, it’s the point of this article, and that’s to give a rundown of how the points stack up heading to the Commonwealth and how this octet of contenders might fare. Maybe someone will channel the severely underrated As Above, So Below and essentially carve their way to the victory by making the race how they want it to be.
Joey Logano
- Notable stats at Martinsville: Doesn’t matter. Logano has already secured a spot in the Championship 4.
Logano has nothing to worry about heading into this weekend, except for chasing a trophy and furthering the No. 22 team’s momentum heading west to the desert.
That said, this is absolutely a weekend in which the Team Penske stable is going to want to hang back, ride around and possibly go for the win if the opportunity arises, but they’ll do all this while making sure they don’t piss off anyone in the process. Even if Logano and co. can’t get to Phoenix with a win directly in the rearview mirror, better to let the win slip away than put a target on their backs…
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