2026 Cook Out 400 Betting Race Picks

Date/Time: Sunday March 29th, 2026. 3:30PM (EST)
Where: Martinsville Speedway
TV: FOX

Last week, Tyler Reddick joined elite company as he became just the 3rd driver in NASCAR history to win 4 of the opening 6 races to start a season with his victory in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. The only other two drivers to accomplish such an incredible feat include Hall of Fame legends Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott. Needless to say, Reddick and the #45 team have had an incredible start to the season and amassed a relatively sizable point lead. On Sunday, Reddick will look to keep his momentum rolling when the Cup Series makes a stop at Martinsville Speedway for the running of the Cook Out 400 which promises to be yet another action-packed event!

Along with Reddick’s terrific start to the season, one of the other major storylines surrounds the performance from the Toyota teams which has been impressive through the first half-dozen races. If you include Denny Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas, Toyota teams have won 5 of 6 races this season. Earlier today, Denny Hamlin continued to flex Toyota’s speed by putting the #11 car on the pole for tomorrow’s Cook Out 400. Hamlin posted the fastest lap in qualifying with a speed of 98.241mph to beat William Byron for the top spot. Hamlin and Byron actually won both of the races at Martinsville last year. Hamlin is the defending winner of the Cook Out 400 and Byron captured the victory in the fall of last year. Needless to say, two of the bigger favorites will be starting from the front row.

From a betting perspective, Martinsville Speedway rarely produces upset or surprise winners by definition. While there have been a few throughout the years, the top drivers in the sport are usually those who find themselves in victory lane. In fact, William Byron (3) and Ryan Blaney (2) have won 5 of the last 8 races at Martinsville. The only other drivers to win during that stretch include superstars Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin. As I researched the betting side of tomorrow’s race at Martinsville, I realized that only 1 driver (Alex Bowman – 2021) has produced a victory with at least 10-1 betting odds prior to close in the last 15 races. Therefore, bettors should be very disciplined this week because there is not a ton of value on the drivers that are most likely to visit victory lane on Sunday!

Martinsville – Cup Notes

• Denny Hamlin has the most wins (6) among active drivers at Martinsville.
• William Byron (3), Ryan Blaney (2), Brad Keselowski (2), Kyle Busch (2), Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, and Alex Bowman are all former winners at Martinsville.
• William Byron has the most wins (3) among drivers in the Next Gen Car at Martinsville.
• Chase Elliott has finished 4th or better in each of the last 4 races at Martinsville.
• Ryan Blaney has finished in the Top 5 in 6 of the last 8 races at Martinsville.
• Denny Hamlin has finished in the Top 5 in 5 of the last 7 races at Martinsville.
• Kyle Larson has finished 6th or better in 7 straight races at Martinsville.
• Ross Chastain has finished 8th or better in each of the last 3 races at Martinsville.
• Joey Logano has finished 8th or better 7 of the last 8 races at Martinsville.
• Ryan Preece has finished 9th or better in 3 of the last 4 races at Martinsville.
• Chase Briscoe has finished in the Top 10 in 6 of the last 8 races at Martinsville.
• Tyler Reddick has finished outside the Top 10 in 8 of the last 9 races at Martinsville.
• Kyle Busch has finished 13th or worse in 7 straight races at Martinsville.
• Brad Keselowski has finished 17th or worse in 7 of the last 8 races at Martinsville.
• Carson Hocevar’s best finish is 17th through 5 career starts at Martinsville.
• There have been at least 9 cautions in each of the last 3 races at Martinsville.
• The eventual race winner has started from outside the Top 10 in 5 of the last 7 races at Martinsville.

Practice Observations

Prior to qualifying results, we had the opportunity to witness practice speeds on Saturday which gave us our only glimpse towards the teams/drivers that could have the long-run speed to contend for a victory on Sunday. Before we dive into those observations, let me first just state the obvious. Long-run speed at Martinsville is typically anything over 50 laps and we simply do not see enough laps in practice to conclusively determine the drivers/teams that may have the long-run speed to show-up after about 50 laps which is what makes handicapping Martinsville so difficult. With that being said, practice speeds were somewhat difficult to decipher. The opening group had a big advantage in terms of track conditions which produced more speed. Drivers like Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland, and Bubba Wallace appeared to be solid. Wallace was turning some good laps towards the end of practice and his fall-off was relatively minimal.

During the 2nd group of practice which included most of the likely contenders and track conditions were more representative of race condition, I thought Kyle Larson stood out among the competition. Larson posted the best 15, 25, and 30 lap averages and just appeared rock solid. Meanwhile, William Byron and Denny Hamlin were both very fast as well and displayed speed that can contend. Chase Elliott also posted some really solid laps towards the end of practice for whatever it’s worth. Meanwhile, many of the Toyota drivers including Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, and Tyler Reddick appeared to struggle on the stopwatch and were towards the bottom of the consecutive lap average categories. Personally, I thought that was the biggest surprise from practice and it will be interesting to see if that trend carries over into tomorrow’s race!

Betting Targets

Before the week began, I thought this would be the week that the Hendrick Motorsports cars would come to life. The down-performance from HMS has been overplayed this season and they have flashed the speed we expect. More importantly, Martinsville Speedway may be the best track on the circuit for the HMS brigade. Byron, Larson, and Elliott are all phenomenal talents at Martinsville and you could argue that Byron has been the best in the Next Gen Car. Going into Sunday, Byron and Larson are both top-tier betting options to get Chevrolet their first win of the season. Obviously, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin are also top-tier options and among the best drivers at Martinsville. Unfortunately, we can’t take but 1-2 favorites this week to maintain sufficient ROI. For that reason, I prefer Byron and Larson as my top two options.

Earlier in this preview, I mentioned a strong betting trend that has heavy betting favorites winning 14 of the last 15 races. On top of that trend, I have not really seen anything from practice/qualifying so far this weekend to warrant any significant plays on any of the underdogs. If I had to pick an underdog, I would point to the value from Ryan Preece at 30-1 odds. Preece was very good at both Martinsville races last season after joining RFK Racing and the RFK cars have been showing speed. While I personally believe Preece is best in H2H and prop bet formats, it would not be incredibly surprising if he mixes it up at the front of the field on Sunday. Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace are some additional drivers that I would mention that should be worth a look in H2H formats based on current odds. Both drivers have performed better at Martinsville than most realize and should move forward on Sunday.

2026 Draftkings Cook Out 400 Optimal Lineup

2026 Cook Out 400 Race Picks

*FINAL*

William Byron +800 (1.25 unit)
Kyle Larson +800 (1.25 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Prop Bets

Ryan Preece -130 over Brad Keselowski (2 units)
Total number of Chevys -140 in Top 10 under 4.5 *Caesars* (2 units)
William Byron +215 wins Group 3 (Logano, Bell, Wallace) *Draftkings*(2 units)

Two Team Parlay

Denny Hamlin +450 wins Cook Out 400
Ryan Preece -110 finishes Top 10
Risking .75 unit to win: +710