STEWART-HAAS RACING – Cook Out 400

Date:  April 7, 2024

Event:  Cook Out 400 (Round 8 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)

Format:  400 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/100 laps/220 laps)

Note:  Race extended 15 laps past its scheduled 400-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner:  William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Winner:  Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner:  Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

SHR Finish:       

●  Ryan Preece (Started 22nd, Finished 9th / Running, completed 415 of 415 laps)

●  Chase Briscoe (Started 5th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 415 of 415 laps)  

●  Noah Gragson (Started 26th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 414 of 415 laps)

●  Josh Berry (Started 7th, Finished 25th / Running, completed 413 of 415 laps)

SHR Points:

●  Chase Briscoe (16th with 188 points, 121 out of first)

●  Josh Berry (23rd with 129 points, 180 out of first)

●  Ryan Preece (26th with 112 points, 197 out of first)

●  Noah Gragson (29th with 101 points, 208 out of first)

SHR Notes:        

●  Preece earned his first top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in 10 career NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville.

●  This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 14th, earned March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

●  Preece’s ninth-place finish bettered his previous best result at Martinsville – 15th, earned last April.

●  This was Preece’s third straight top-20 at Martinsville. He finished 15th last April and 20th in the series’ prior visit to the track in October.

●  Briscoe earned his third top-10 of the season and his fifth top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville

●  This was Briscoe’s fifth straight result of 18th or better. He finished ninth March 10 at Phoenix Raceway, 13th March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, 13th March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas and 18th last Sunday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

●  This was Briscoe’s fifth straight top-10 at Martinsville. In his past five NASCAR Cup Series starts at the .526-mile oval, Briscoe has finished ninth, ninth, fifth, fourth and 10th.

●  Briscoe finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.

●  Briscoe led once for eight laps to bring his laps-led total at Martinsville to 142.

●  Gragson’s 20th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – 25th, earned in October 2022.

●  Berry finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one additional bonus point.

Race Notes:       

●  William Byron won the Cook Out 400 to score his 13th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Martinsville. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Larson was .55 of a second.

●  There were five caution periods for a total of 51 laps.

●  Only 14 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Larson leaves Martinsville as the new championship leader with a 14-point advantage over second-place Martin Truex Jr.

Sound Bites:

“We had a really good car. I wish we didn’t qualify so badly. I know the 24 (William Byron) started back there with us and he was able to get there probably with the help of a lot of things. At Martinsville last year, we had a good car but we didn’t have that good of a car, but now we’re definitely working toward something. I’m really happy with the direction we’re going in and we’re working on, and we’re going to be a lot better moving forward.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“It was kind of a frustrating day for us. We ended up 10th, but we were definitely way better than 10th. We just couldn’t pass. We had not the greatest pit stop early in the race and lost some sports, and we were just kind of stuck anywhere from fifth to eighth for the rest of the race. I felt like if I ever could’ve gotten the lead, I would’ve been good enough to run up there, for sure. And then there at the end, we didn’t know if we should pit or not pit. We were kind of in a tough spot. We stayed out and lost two more spots. So, frustrating to run 10th. We definitely had better than a 10th-place racecar. This is how hard this Cup deal is. You’ve got to be perfect all race long. I made a couple of mistakes, and as a team, still, we just need to clean some stuff up. We’ll move on and continue with what speed we have. That’s encouraging. We just need to execute.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Started out struggling with the balance of the car, went a lap down, and during the second stage got the ‘Lucky Dog’ and started rolling pretty good. It just seemed like the track changed a lot with the rubber being laid down. We found a good balance to start the run, but to end the run it gets super loose. But still proud of everybody on the Overstock team. It’s not our standard, but we’ll keep working to get there. It was a tough race, but had a lot of fun, too.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“The car was fun. The field basically ran the same speed and you just can’t pass.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 50th Anniversary Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 on Sunday, April 14 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Contact Mike Arning

True Speed Communication on behalf of Stewart-Haas Racing

(704) 875-3388, ext. 802 or Mike.Arning@TrueSpeedCommunication.com