Quick-track racing is inherently tied to inventory automobile racing. For the reason that days of bootleggers driving modified Ford Coupes, racing on dust or paved bullrings has all the time been a staple of inventory automobile racing and NASCAR.
Whereas modern-day NASCAR short-track racing is way more refined, the celebrities of at this time nonetheless aren’t afraid to make use of the chrome horn when it is wanted.
As is the case with each sort of observe, some drivers perceive the nuances of short-track racing higher than others. With the NASCAR Cup Collection heading this weekend to a brand new brief observe — the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa — it is a good time to focus on drivers who’re all the time in competition at NASCAR’s bullrings.
Listed here are the 5 greatest short-track racers within the NASCAR Cup Collection.
Denny Hamlin
Hamlin has three wins this season at tracks a mile in size or much less, however he is additionally made his dwelling tracks of Richmond (Va.) and Martinsville (Va.) — each brief tracks — his playground throughout his Cup Collection profession. Hamlin has additionally gained the previous two races at Bristol (Tenn.), and the No. 11 staff appears to all the time unload with a quick automobile each time the Cup Collection traverses the tight confines of NASCAR’s bullrings.
Joey Logano
With out brief tracks, Logano’s 2024 season would primarily be thrown within the dumpster. Whereas the driving force of the No. 22 automobile sits outdoors of NASCAR’s playoff image, the brief tracks of Richmond and Martinsville are the only purpose Logano continues to be inside placing distance.
Logano solely has two top-10s and one top-five away from the pleasant confines of the Virginia brief tracks, and his lone win of the season — albeit in a non-points paying exhibition race —got here within the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.
With one other brief observe on the docket this weekend at Iowa, Logano cannot let the chance for a superb run slip away.
Martin Truex, Jr.
Placing Truex on this listing earlier than April 2019 would’ve been laughable, however since incomes his first short- observe win at Richmond in 2019, he has change into unstoppable at brief ovals. Truex boasts three wins apiece at each Richmond and Martinsville, and he practically grabbed a fourth Richmond victory in March earlier than Hamlin stole it on a late restart. Iowa might very effectively be the location of Truex’s first win of 2024.
Kyle Larson
Larson might be the most effective general driver within the NASCAR Cup Collection, however his short-track prowess has all the time appeared underappreciated. Larson gained three short-track races in 2023 — Richmond, Martinsville and the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro — and completed top-five earlier within the season at Bristol, Richmond and Martinsville. Larson can win wherever in any car, however he is hardly ever on the listing of favorites when NASCAR goes short-track racing. Count on the No. 5 automobile to be quick this weekend at Iowa, as Larson participated in a take a look at on the observe in Might.
Kyle Busch
Whereas it is true that Busch now not dominates his competitors each time the circuit heads to Richmond or Bristol, Rowdy nonetheless owns eight wins at Bristol, six wins at Richmond and two wins at Martinsville. That is 16 Cup Collection wins at these venues alone, and whereas new NASCAR followers might not consider it, Busch was thought-about NASCAR’s short-track king for a lot of the 2010s. Busch’s 2024 season hasn’t gone to plan — not even at Bristol, Martinsville or Richmond — however a superb day at Iowa may very well be the catalyst for Busch to show up the wick because the playoffs strategy.
