After eight playoff races, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season heads to Ridgeway, Virginia, for the elimination race of Round of 8 – the Xfinity 500.
The ninth playoff race of the season is expected to be very exciting, as the Next Gen car will race for the fourth time at the Martinsville Speedway.
The Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track on the schedule with a length of 0.526-miles and consists of total of four turns with 12 degrees of turns and zero degrees of straight.
The Xfinity 500 can be watched live on NBC and MRN. The race starts on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2 pm ET. Along with the win, all the competing drivers in Ridgeway, Virginia will be racing for monetary prizes on Sunday.
This year, the Cup Series race in Ridgeway, Virginia, has a prize pool of $8,587,800, while the Xfinity winning team will be awarded with $1,380,935.
Motorsport journalist Bob Pockrass shared the total prize money pool that will be up for grabs at NASCAR’s Martinsville weekend:
“Purses for Martinsville weekend, including all payouts, all positions, all charter payouts on for competing and historical performance payouts, all contingency awards, contribution to year-end points fund, etc.: Cup: $8,587,800 Xfinity: $1,380,935”
The NASCAR Cup Series action in Ridgeway, Virginia, begins with practice at 12:35 pm ET on Saturday, (Oct. 28), followed by the qualifying race at 1:20 pm ET and ends with the main event on Sunday. The practice and qualifying of this weekend can be watched live on USA Network and MRN.
Two spots remained among six drivers after Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell locked his spot in the Championship 4 race with a win in the first two races of the semi-final round. The drivers who are in contention are William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Tyler Reddick.
Which NASCAR driver is the favorite to win the Xfinity 500?
Heading to the Martinsville Speedway, Denny Hamlin occupied the top position on the board as the favorite to win the 263-mile race. The #11 Toyota driver has odds of +275 to win Sunday’s race, according to dknetwork.draftkings.com.
Kyle Larson has the second-highest odds at +700, followed by William Byron at +750, Brad Keselowski at +850, and Martin Truex Jr. at +900, who round out the top five.
Catch the Cup Series in action at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 29.