Schedule, TV info, Xfinity 500 selections – NBC New York

It’s time to decide who will compete for the championship.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia this weekend for the penultimate race of the 2024 season. Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick are already in the title race, leaving six drivers vying for the final two spots in Championship 4.

Martinsville is NASCAR’s oldest and most historic track and the only venue to host a race every year since the sport’s inception in 1949. The half-mile, paperclip-shaped oval often creates drama as playoff contenders fight for survival on the track. fight for the title.

So who’s racing at Martinsville? What is the schedule of TV shows and streams? And which drivers could claim victory? Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 Xfinity 500:

When is the NASCAR race at Martinsville?

The Xfinity 500 takes place on Sunday, November 3 at 2:00 pm ET on NBC.

There will be practice and qualifying before the race on Saturday. All 37 drivers will train for 45 minutes on the track before being split into two groups (see here) for qualifying over two stages. Here’s how it works:

• Each driver will complete two laps in the first round, with the five fastest riders in each group advancing.
• In the final round, each of the remaining drivers gets two laps to determine the top 10 starting positions. The fastest rider overall starts from pole, the fastest rider from the other group starts second.
• Positions 3 to 10 are determined by the time of the final round: Group A takes the even-numbered positions (4, 6, 8, 10), Group B takes the odd-numbered positions (3, 5, 7, 9).
• Positions 11 to 37 are determined based on the first round times: Group A fills the even-numbered positions, Group B fills the odd-numbered positions.

What is the NASCAR TV schedule for this weekend?

Lee Diffie (director), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will report for NBC, with Marty Snyder, Kim Kuhn, Dave Burns and Parker Kligerman reporting. Here is the full schedule of TV shows and broadcasts:

Saturday, November 2 (streaming)

Sunday, November 3 (NBC and streaming)

List of NASCAR entries at Martinsville, drivers

Thirty-seven drivers will compete at Martinsville – 34 full-time drivers and three others.

Shane van Gisbergen and Kaz Grala will continue to work part-time for Kaulig Racing and Rick Ware Racing respectively. Elsewhere, Josh Bilicki will make his fourth start of the season for MBM Motorsports.

Here is the full list of participants in Martinsville:

Car number	Driver	Team	Sponsor
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse racing	Moose Brotherhood
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Menards
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Bass Pro Shops
4	Josh Berry	Stewart-Haas Racing	SunnyD
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsport	HendrickCars.com
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Royal Hawaiian Islands
7	Justin Haley	Spire Motorsport	Optical Games/Gainbridge
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Kitchen Cheddar Scratch
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsport	NAPA Auto Parts
10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Bed, bath and more
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	FedEx
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Discount on tires
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Mahindra Tractors
15	Kaz Grala	Rick Ware Racing	Meat and bones
16	Shane van Gisbergen	Kaulig Racing	Reception insurance
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	BuildSubmarines.com
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Car owners insurance
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Mobile 1
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Motorcraft / Fast Lane
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Shell/Pennzoil
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Xfinity
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsport	Liberty University
31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	High Point Painting Services
34	Michael McDowell	Motorsport Front Row	Benebone
38	Todd Gilliland	Motorsport Front Row	Ruedebusch
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Iroquois Northeast
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy of the Motor Club	Pye-Barker Fire and Safety
43	Eric Jones	Legacy of the Motor Club	Family Dollar
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Monster Energy
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Dougherty Racing	Colgate/Philadelphia
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsport	Ally
51	Corey LaJoie	Rick Ware Racing	Jacob Construction
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Monster Energy
66	Josh Bilicki	MBM Motorsport	2ONE bags
71	Zane Smith	Spire Motorsport	Purposeful Health
77	Carson Hochevar	Spire Motorsport	Premier Security
99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse racing	Outdoor jockey

NASCAR Martinsville: Predictions, Picks, Favorites

All six playoff drivers not competing in Championship 4 won at Martinsville. These are the guys to watch this weekend.

It all starts with Hamlin, who has five wins at Martinsville and will likely need a sixth if he wants to compete for the title. The Virginia native has 25 top-10 finishes and led 2,448 laps in 39 starts at his home track, although he hasn’t won there since 2015.

The Hendrick Motorsports trio of Byron, Larson and Elliott are always dangerous at this track. The organization has a long and storied history in Martinsville, from the highs of their first victory in 1984 to the lows of a devastating plane crash in 2004. So when Hendrick heads to Martinsville, it always means a little more to their drivers.

Byron, Larson and Elliott finished in the top three spots at Martinsville earlier this year and each led at least 60 laps in that race. Byron has won two of the last five races at Martinsville, Larson has finished sixth or better in four straight starts and Elliott won this race with his back against the wall in a similar position in 2020.

And then there’s Blaney and Bell, who have won this race from a must-win position the last two years. Blaney’s victory last year was crucial to him winning the title a week later, while Bell’s triumph in 2022 saw him qualify for Championship 4 for the first time.

If you look beyond those six, drivers to watch include Busch, Logano and Truex, who have led more than 1,000 laps at this track in their careers.

List of NASCAR winners at Martinsville, racing history

Eleven of the 37 drivers are past winners at Martinsville, including five with multiple wins.

Hamlin leads all drivers with five wins at Martinsville, followed by Truex with three and Byron, Busch and Keselowski with two. The one-time winners are Logano (2018), Elliott (2020), Bowman (2021), Bell (2022), Larson (2023) and Blaney (2023).

NASCAR playoff standings for Martinsville

With Logano and Reddick winning the first two races in the eighth round, only two spots remained in the fourth championship. The remaining six playoff drivers will need to either win at Martinsville or score enough points to advance to the title race.

You can find a full explanation of the NASCAR playoff format right here.

Here’s the playoff standings entering Martinsville, where the bottom four will be eliminated if they fail to win a race or score enough points to finish in the top four:

Classify	Driver	Glasses
1.	Tyler Reddick	PROMOTION THROUGH VICTORY
2.	Joey Logano	PROMOTION THROUGH VICTORY
3.	Christopher Bell	4132 (+29 above mark)
4.	William Byron	4110 (+7 above mark)
5.	Kyle Larson	4103 (-7 below mark)
6.	Denny Hamlin	4092 (-18 below mark)
7.	Ryan Blaney	4072 (-38 below mark)
8.	Chase Elliott	4067 (-43 below mark)