NASCAR Barometer: Busch Sweeps Weekend at Martinsville

Kyle Busch had never scored a win at Martinsville Speedway, but he'll head home with two of the track's famous grandfather clocks after sweeping the NASCAR weekend at the track. On Saturday, in the Camping World Truck series, Busch led the majority of laps and visited Victory Lane for the first time at the track. only to pull off the feat again on Sunday in the Sprint Cup series. Busch's win was his first in 2016 and comes after being kept winless by bad luck and narrow margins in the first races of the season.

Busch's win was long overdue, but came on a day where the usual top finishing order was jumbled. The usual suspects who've come to dominate Martinsville races were present, but didn't have the edge shown in past races. Joey Logano started from pole and led 21 laps, but wasn't the fastest car throughout the afternoon. Jimmie Johnson had a poor starting position and did well to work his way into the top 10, and Denny Hamlin made an uncharacteristic mistake to crash before the halfway mark.

The series moves on to Texas Motor Speedway next week for the Duck Commander 500 in Sprint Cup's first Saturday night race of the season.

UPGRADE

Kyle Busch – Busch hadn't won at Martinsville before this weekend. He took the win in the Camping World Truck series on Saturday, and then won the Sprint Cup victory on Sunday. He led the most laps in the race, and capped a tremendous weekend for the No. 18 team. The win was Busch's first in 2016 despite being in contention nearly every week. Sunday's victory could be the end of Busch's bad luck that's kept him out of Victory Lane until Sunday. Busch has one Texas win from 2013 when he started from pole. He has five top-five finishes from his last six races at the track, and should be a strong contender again this week.

Matt Kenseth – Kenseth was second best to teammate Kyle Busch for the vast majority of Sunday's race. The two cars seemed evenly matched, though Busch was the one who found himself in front of the No. 20 car. By the end of the race, Kenseth had fallen through the field to come home a disappointing 15th. The finish wasn't representative of the pace he had throughout the race, but shows how the team has failed to close out a finish so far in 2016. Kenseth has two wins at Texas, but both races at the track in 2015 resulted in finishes outside of the top 20. He has seven top-10 finishes at the track from his last 10 races.

Brad Keselowski – Keselowski was penalized for speeding on pit road and was sent to the back of the order early due to the infraction. That penalty didn't knock him out of contention to challenge for the win, however. With less than 50 laps remaining, Keselowski was forcing his way into the top three runners, but a late restart gave him the opportunity to stop for fresh tires. That decision put him deeper in the field, from where he wasn't able to recover, and he settled for fifth position after a very difficult afternoon. Keselowski has six top-10 finishes from 15 career Texas starts and has just one finish worse than ninth in his last seven visits to the oval. He'll be a top choice this week.

Kyle Larson – Larson reversed his poor Martinsville showings with a commendable third-place run in Sunday's STP 500. He survived all 500 laps without making the same mistakes that befell other top competitors, and admitted that he can now see himself taking a Martinsville victory at some point in his career. Larson has largely failed to fully live up to his potential in the Cup series, but performances like Sunday's will go a long way to helping him find his way into Victory Lane. The 1.5-mile ovals have been his best tracks in his short career, and Texas is another in that configuration. In five starts at the oval he has one top-five and two top-10s, but failed to score a top-20 in both 2015 races.

Austin Dillon – Dillon started the weekend in Martinsville as one of the struggling teammates in the Richard Childress Racing stable, but by the finish of the race he had completely come to life. He finished fourth after starting 29th, which was his second top-five finish of 2016. It was a complete turnaround in the race from his otherwise disappointing weekend. More race performances like this from Dillon could be enough to score a victory or a Chase appearance for the young driver. It has been a great season for Dillon so far, and he should continue that trend in Texas as well. Despite no career top-10s at Texas he did finish 11th in Atlanta earlier this season.

DOWNGRADE

Denny Hamlin – Hamlin was caught speeding exiting the pits early in Sunday's race and was sent to the back of the field as a result. That was where his troubles began. Later in the race he locked his brakes and slid into the wall to bring out the fourth caution of the race. The damage to Hamlin's car was significant and ended any hopes he had of challenging for his sixth win at the track. Hamlin has two Texas wins to his credit along with an impressive average finish of 12.2 from 20 career tries. He described last week's incident as a rookie move, and will want to put that mistake behind him as quickly as possible. He'll get that chance in Texas Saturday night.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – A flat rear tire caused Earnhardt to spin early in Sunday's race. The trouble put him a lap down, but the incident was early enough that he had plenty of time to fight back. Still, it took the No. 88 more than 300 laps to return to the lead lap, and his pace was only fast enough to pull himself forward to14th-place. Short tracks have been good circuits for Earnhardt throughout his career, but Sunday's early trouble proved to be too much for him to overcome with Kyle Busch darting away out front. Earnhardt won at Texas in 2000 and tallied four top-10 finishes from his last five starts at the track.

Kasey Kahne – When Kahne qualifies and practices well, he generally is competitive in the race. However, that wasn't the case last Martinsville. The Hendrick Motorsports driver started on the front row, but failed to lead any laps and finished the afternoon deep in the order in 22nd position. Kahne has just one top-10 finish so far this season, and that isn't enough to reverse the disappointing seasons he has endured in recent memory. Kahne needs to turn things around, or his time at Hendrick may be running out. He's a past victor at Texas and he has two top-10 finishes in the last five Texas starts. He needs a top finish next week to help build confidence.

Aric Almirola – Retirements are uncommon this day and age in Sprint Cup, and when they happen they're particularly devastating due to their rarity. Almirola suffered one of those devastating moments relatively early in Sunday's race. The car had an engine problem, forcing Almirola to the garage and ultimately out of the race. He finished dead last in the field, and that was Almirola's first finish worse than 25th so far this season. Though Martinsville isn't considered one of Almirola's best tracks, he continues to be undervalued relative to his potential. Almirola has one top-10 finish at Texas but has finished inside the top 20 in four of his last six races at the circuit. He'll be a driver to pay attention to in practice and is worth selecting if he shows speed.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

A.J. Allmendinger – For the second race in a row, Allmendinger is the biggest surprise. The underfunded single-car team continued to punch well above its weight last week in Martinsville. The No. 47 had a strong qualifying performance, and then backed that speed up with a top run in the race on Sunday. With less than 50 laps remaining in the race he found himself fighting inside the top five with as good a chance of winning the race as any. Allmendinger has proven he deserves to be in consideration for fantasy rosters nearly every week. At Texas he has two top-10 finishes, though neither have come since the fall of 2011. Still, Allmendinger deserves a look this week through practice and qualifying.