NASCAR’s Shortest Track
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the 2022 Blue Emu 400 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. The race is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, and will mark the eighth race of the 2022 season.
As the shortest track on the NASCAR schedule, the 2022 Blue Emu 400 promises to produce a tightly contested affair, yet it’s easy to understand why the NASCAR lines for this weekend show only a handful of drivers as the top favorites to come out on top.
Let’s check the latest news, stats, reports, and NASCAR odds for Blue Emu 400. We’ve plenty of predictions for you to consider.
Martin Truex Jr. Leads Way
The Blue Emu 400 might not be known for speed, but that doesn’t take away from the excitement this race brings year after year. And as much as we can be certain that we’re in for an exciting evening of NASCAR Cup Series racing, we can also be sure that Martin Truex Jr. will be in the mix to win it all.
Truex Jr. has yet to win a race this season, which might not look too good, but he has done enough to catch out attention. After a shaky start to the year with back-to-back 13th-place finishes at Daytona and Fontana, Truex Jr. turned on his jets and secured four top-10s across the next five races – all but the Phoenix race (35th)
Over that stretch, he claimed two top-8s in Las Vegas and Atlanta, a seventh-place finish at COTA, and he ended fourth in Richmond last weekend. He did not win, but placing fourth was still a very impressive performance from Truex, who has yet to decide about his future in NASCAR.
“Pretty soon because I’m pretty sure I’m going to start getting pressure from the team. They obviously have a lot; they have to plan,” said Truex Jr. about deciding on his future in the sport.”
So there always comes a deadline. I don’t know when that is, but I’ll have to have this conversation, I’m sure, pretty soon here.”
We don’t know how long Truex Jr. will remain in the sport, but we can be sure he will do just fine in Virginia. And if you still have any doubts about that, you should check his past results on this track.
Truex Jr. won this race in 2021 and 2020 and has three victories at Martinsville Speedway over his last five starts. Moreover, he has finished the race inside the top-10 in eight of his last nine outings at Martinsville with three wins, one fourth, and one 22nd-place finish across his last five.
Keselowski and Byron Could Impress
If you’re looking to bet on NASCAR on a driver who is the most likely to win, Truex Jr. is the man for you, but we have to keep in mind that other drivers in the mix could potentially impress. That includes William Byron and Brad Keselowski.
William Byron showed up big time last weekend when he had a chance to win in Richmond, but some poor strategy saw him finish the race in third – which is still a considerable achievement. It marked Byron’s third top-5 of the season, including a victory in Atlanta.
Obviously, three top-5s aren’t spectacular compared to other favorites for the race, but we must mention Byron’s numbers in Martinsville. Last year he locked in a fourth and fifth-place finish on this track, so he should know his way around the Martinsville Speedway. And if his performance last week is any indication, Byron could be a surprise winner.
Keselowski is another driver we would keep an eye on, mainly due to his past success on this track. Admittedly, Keselowski has yet to impress this season, but his iffy results so far have helped him fly under the radar ahead of this weekend’s race.
Over the first seven races, Keselowski’s best placement came at Daytona (ninth), to which he added 27th at Fontana, 24th in Las Vegas, and 23rd-place finish in Phoenix, but has shown some improvement of late with 12th in Atlanta, 14th at COTA, and a 13th-place finish in Richmond.
But most importantly, Keselowski has been phenomenal at Martinsville in recent years. In the 2021 spring race, Keselowski has managed an unfortunate 33rd-place finish, but besides that mishap, he has been nearly unstoppable – with six top-5s across his last seven starts.
That includes a victory in the 2019 spring race, three third-place finishes, one top-four, and one top-five. To put it into perspective, Keselowski’s last six starts at the Martinsville track show: 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 33rd, and 3rd.
2022 Blue Emu 400 Race Information
- Race: Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400
- Location: Martinsville Raceway, Ridgeway, Virginia
- Day/Time: Saturday, April 9th, 7:30 pm EDT
- Blue Emu 400 Live stream: NBCSports.com
2022 Blue Emu 400 Betting Lines
| ODDS TO WIN BLUE EMU MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 400 | MONEYLINE |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +450 |
| Ryan Blaney | +650 |
| Chase Elliott | +700 |
| Denny Hamlin | +750 |
| Kyle Busch | +900 |
| Kyle Larson | +1000 |
| Joey Logano | +1000 |
| William Byron | +1000 |
| Alex Bowman | +1400 |
| Christopher Bell | +1600 |
| Ross Chastain | +1800 |
| Tyler Reddick | +2000 |
| Kevin Harvick | +2000 |
| Brad Keselowski | +2500 |
| Chase Briscoe | +3300 |
| Aric Almirola | +5000 |
| Kurt Busch | +5000 |
| Austin Cindric | +5000 |
| Austin Dillon | +8000 |
| Erik Jones | +8000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +10000 |
| Chris Buescher | +15000 |
| AJ Allmendinger | +15000 |
| Cole Coster | +17500 |
| Bubba Wallace | +20000 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | +25000 |
| Justin Haley | +30000 |
| Harrison Burton | +35000 |
2022 Blue Emu 400 Prediction
Priced at +450, Truex Jr is a no-brainer. This season, he has shown glimpses of greatness and is one of the most successful rivers on the Martinsville Raceway.
NASCAR betting sites have Truex Jr, priced as the favorite, so we’re not getting any great odds on him, but he is a bet worth taking even at the offered price.
As an outsider bet, Keselowski is hard to ignore. His form this season is far from great, but he is worth a go, given his past success on this track, even with that in mind.
Besides his performance in the 2021 spring race, Keselowski has been in a class of his own at Martinsville Raceway, and it wouldn’t be too shocking to see him in the mix to win it again this weekend!
