After going down and dirty in Bristol last week, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series will go back to a more traditional track this weekend at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski are the favorites to win the 2021 Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500, but will a sleeper come through and take the checkered flag? Here are three sleepers to watch out for.
Outside of finishing 11th in the Phoenix race last March, it hasn’t been a flowery season for Almirola. In seven starts this season, Almirola has finished four times behind the 30th position. At the Food City Bristol Dirt Race last week, he only managed to place 36th overall. But things could change this week for the Team Stewart-Haas Racing driver, as Almirola has shown flashes of brilliance when he’s at Martinsville Speedway. In 24 career appearances there, Almirola has finished inside the top 10 five times, which includes his seventh-place campaign there in 2020 during that year’s Xfinity 500.
Matt DiBenedetto (+6600)
DiBenedetto showed some resiliency in last week’s Food City Bristol Dirt Race, as he finished 13th despite getting a pre-race penalty. He will look to sustain his momentum this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where he’s gone back-to-back top 10s in his last two starts there. In June 2020, DiBenedetto finished seventh at the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Months later, he finished 10th at the Xfinity 500. DiBenedetto drives for the Woods Brothers, to whom the Martinsville Speedway holds a special meaning. The team’s home base is a mere 30 miles away from Martinsville Speedway. Woods Brothers has been racing on that track for over seven decades. In fact, the founder of Woods Brothers, Glen Wood, debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series back in 1953 at Martinsville Speedway.
Ryan Newman (+8000)
Newman is one of the most experienced drivers in the Series when it comes to racing at Martinsville Speedway. Newman, who finished a season-best fifth in last week’s Food City Bristol Dirt Race, has a career average of 14.82 in 38 appearances at Martinsville Speedway. He also has eight top 5s and 17 top 10s there, including his win at the 2012 Goody’s Fast Relief 500.
