The NASCAR Cup Series remains in Virginia this week with a race at Martinsville Speedway.
You can tune into the Cook Out 400 on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
Last week’s race at Richmond featured a surprise ending with Denny Hamlin scoring the victory. Martin Truex Jr. had the race in hand before a late caution cost him the win.
Martinsville is a half-mile short track, and we will surely see plenty of beating and banging.
Perhaps that’ll lead to a few surprising results.
Keep reading to view my favorite prop bets for NASCAR Cup Series racing at Martinsville.
Cook Out 400 prop bets
Driver Matchup: Alex Bowman over Tyler Reddick (-115, bet365)
Bowman and Reddick enter Martinsville looking for bounce-back performances. Bowman was in contention early at Richmond, but an untimely caution trapped him a lap down. Reddick was never in contention, and I expect the same at Martinsville.
Reddick has a brutal track record at the short track, recording one top-10 finish in eight starts. If you take out an eighth-place finish, he doesn’t have a top-15 at Martinsville.
Bowman’s last seven Martinsville starts include a win and two sixth-place finishes. A crash ruined a pair of strong performances over the last three years.
Hendrick Motorsports always brings speed to Martinsville. Combine that with another down performance from Reddick, and Bowman should finish ahead of the No. 45 car.
Chase Briscoe to win Group D (+220, Caesars)
Briscoe has yet to take a step forward as he enters his fourth full-time season. There aren’t many tracks on the schedule that are great for him, but he knows how to get around Martinsville.
He enters Sunday’s race with four straight top-10 finishes at the track. Last year, he scored a pair of top-five finishes in what was otherwise a poor season.
Briscoe must finish ahead of Reddick, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace. I already talked about Reddick’s struggles at Martinsville, while Chastain and Wallace have had limited success.
It’ll likely take a top-10 finish to beat out Wallace or Chastain. I think we’ll see plenty of speed from Briscoe at Martinsville.
Ryan Blaney top Ford & Martin Truex Jr. top Toyota (+1000, Caesars)
Blaney and Truex are among the race favorites on the odds board. Blaney is easily the favorite to be the top Ford but Truex will have to overcome Denny Hamlin to be the winning Toyota.
Blaney’s biggest challengers include Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. Logano is coming off a strong runner-up finish but hasn’t been as fast at Martinsville as Blaney. Keselowski has had the speed, but bad luck has killed him at Martinsville.
All four JGR drivers should be in contention Sunday. Truex came agonizingly close to winning last week, and I expect him to bounce back with a strong run at Martinsville.
Considering the competition, both drivers likely need a top-five finish. That shouldn’t be an issue with their strong track record.
Winning manufacture: Ford (+255, Caesars)
Ford has lagged behind the competition this season with zero wins. It’s clear Chevy and Toyota have the upper hand over Ford, but this could be the week Ford scores its first victory in 2024.
Blaney is one of the favorites and won last year’s Fall race at Martinsville. He has been the fastest driver at Martinsville in the Next-Gen era. Logano has momentum after last week’s performance and has four straight finishes of sixth or better at Martinsville.
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Stewart Haas Racing is the biggest reason I’m backing Ford. They usually aren’t a factor, but they showed a ton of speed at Martinsville last season. They led 264 of the 400 laps in last year’s Spring race. That didn’t include Josh Berry or Noah Gragson, who won at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series.
Add Keselowski and Chris Buescher, and we can see a banner day from Ford.