Joey Logano, Harrison Burton on poles for Martinsville

The NASCAR Cup Series returns from the Easter bye with the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, while the Xfinity Series comes back after a two-week break for the Cook Out 250 the previous day. Joey Logano, who won the latest Cup race, will lead the field to green in his series’ race while Harrison Burton does so for the Xfinity event.

Cup: Logano on Martinsville pole for sixth time

Logano won the last Cup race at Bristol prior to taking the week off for Easter, and he will look to become the first repeat winner as he starts on the pole. Martinsville is a track that likely holds much weight for his career as his lone Cup win at the short track in the 2018 fall race punched his ticket to the Championship Round, where he went on to win his maiden title. While he only has one win at Martinsville, he has started on the pole there on six different occasions, including three straight races and a sweep of the 2015 top spots. In 2020’s two races, he finished fourth and third, the former seeing him lead a race-high 234 of 500 laps.

Starting alongside him will be six-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin. Hamlin won the 2019 fall race pole and has six front-row starting spots at the Virginia circuit. He swept the 2010 races and his most recent win there came in the 2015 spring event.

Three driver changes from Bristol took place, all of which are teams switching out dirt track ringers for their regular part-time drivers. Justin Haley returns to the Spire Motorsports #77 that Stewart Friesen drove at Bristol, while B.J. McLeod returns to his #78 Live Fast Motorsports car (driven by Shane Golobic at Bristol) and James Davison heads back to Rick Ware Racing‘s #15 (Chris Windom ran Bristol). The #66 of MBM Motorsports, which Timmy Hill mainly drives and Mike Marlar piloted at Bristol, and the #96 of Gaunt Brothers Racing that Ty Dillon races are not entered after racing two weeks ago; while GBR is already a part-time team, MBM has faced sponsorship troubles after being excluded from the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series entering Bristol.

Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford
2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford
5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
6	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
8	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
9	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
10	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford
11	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet
12	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
13	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
14	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
15	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
16	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet
17	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
18	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
19	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
20	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
21	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
22	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford
23	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
24	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
25	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota
26	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
27	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
28	53	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet
29	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet
30	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
31	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
32	51	Cody Ware*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet
33	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
34	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
35	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
36	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford
37	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet

Xfinity: Defending Martinsville winner Burton looks for repeat from pole

Six races into the 2021 Xfinity season, Burton is still seeking his first win of the year but is no stranger to Martinsville’s Victory Lane. He won the 2020 fall race, the first Xfinity event at Martinsville since 2006. Friday’s race will be the first time Burton starts on the front row for a race since Homestead 1 in June 2020, a 31-race strtch.

Justin Allgaier, who won the most recent Xfinity race in Atlanta a fortnight ago, starts second in his second front-row start of 2021 after the opener in Daytona. He finished behind Burton at Martinsville last year.

Ty Gibbs returns to the Joe Gibbs Racing #54 that Cup driver Martin Truex Jr. drove at Atlanta, while J.J. Yeley is scheduled to take over the #17 SS-Green Light Racing car from Cody Ware. Brandon Gdovic makes his second start in Sam Hunt Racing‘s #26; Santino Ferrucci was originally scheduled to race at Martinsville but is stepping aside as he takes part in IndyCar Series testing ahead of his return to the Indianapolis 500 in May. Stefan Parsons starts thirty-eighth in B.J. McLeod Motorsports’ #99 that he inherits from Mason Massey.

Two drivers are making their NASCAR débuts: George Gorham Jr. in DGM Racing‘s #90 and Matt Jaskol in MBM Motorsports’ #13. Gorham, a short track racer from Florida, replaces Dexter Bean in the #90 while Jaskol, a karting veteran who has raced in various levels of open-wheel racing, takes over the #13 from Chad Finchum.

Ronnie Bassett Jr., Jordan Anderson, and Andy Lally are still locked out of the grid.

Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
2	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet
3	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
4	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
5	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
6	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford
7	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
8	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet
9	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
10	1	Michael Annett	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet
11	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet
12	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford
13	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
14	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
15	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet
16	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
17	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet
18	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
19	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet
20	66	Timmy Hill	MBM Motorsports	Toyota
21	78	Jesse Little	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet
22	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet
23	15	Colby Howard	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
24	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
25	26	Brandon Gdovic	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota
26	74	Bayley Currey	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet
27	02	Brett Moffitt*	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet
28	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet
29	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet
30	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet
31	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet
32	23	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet
33	17	J.J. Yeley	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet
34	61	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota
35	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
36	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet
37	90	George Gorham Jr.	DGM Racing	Chevrolet
38	99	Stefan Parsons	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota
39	52	Gray Gaulding	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet
40	13	Matt Jaskol	MBM Motorsports	Chevrolet