2023 NOCO 400 explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 9 of 36 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	NOCO 400
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
Year:	2023
Location:	Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia
Course Mi:	0.526
Course Km:	0.847
Distance Laps:	400
Distance Mi:	210.4
Distance Km:	338.8
Avg:	74.005mph
Pole Driver:	Ryan Preece
Pole Team:	Stewart-Haas Racing
Pole Time:	19.979
Most Driver:	Ryan Preece
Most Team:	Stewart-Haas Racing
Most Laps:	136
Car:	5
First Driver:	Kyle Larson
First Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Network:	FS1
Announcers:	Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Bobby Labonte
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Todd Gordon
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (Backstretch)

The 2023 NOCO 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on April 16, 2023, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 400 laps on the 0.526 mile (0.847 km) paperclip-shaped short track; it was the ninth race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

See main article: Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville Speedway is an NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526miles in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track on the NASCAR circuit since its beginning in 1948.

This race saw the return of Chase Elliott, after he missed the prior six races after an injury from a skiing accident.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1		nowrap		Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
14			Ford
15	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford
16			Chevrolet
17			Ford
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
34			Ford
38			Ford
41			Ford
42	Noah Gragson (R)		Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
45			Toyota
47	nowrap			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	Zane Smith (i)		Ford
54	Ty Gibbs (R)		Toyota
77			Chevrolet
78	Anthony Alfredo (i)		Chevrolet
99		nowrap		Chevrolet
Official entry list

Practice

Tyler Reddick was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 20.217 seconds and a speed of 93.664mph.^[10]

Practice results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	45				20.217	93.664
2	24				20.395	92.846
3	1				20.397	92.837
Official practice results

Qualifying

Ryan Preece scored the pole for the race with a time of 19.979 and a speed of 94.78mph.^[11]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	41			Ford	20.046	19.979
2	99			Chevrolet	20.139	20.081
3	10			Ford	20.059	20.081
4	14			Ford	20.055	20.112
5	19			Toyota	20.106	20.119
6	45			Toyota	20.252	20.128
7	4			Ford	20.159	20.150
8	24			Chevrolet	20.193	20.155
9	23			Toyota	20.059	20.167
10	17			Ford	20.244	20.191
11	11			Toyota	20.227	—
12	54	Ty Gibbs (R)		Toyota	20.232	—
13	38			Ford	20.267	—
14	16			Chevrolet	20.297	—
15	22			Ford	20.304	—
16	47			Chevrolet	20.307	—
17	8			Chevrolet	20.326	—
18	3			Chevrolet	20.353	—
19	5			Chevrolet	20.356	—
20	34			Ford	20.362	—
21	6			Ford	20.377	—
22	20			Toyota	20.382	—
23	48			Chevrolet	20.382	—
24	9			Chevrolet	20.384	—
25	2			Ford	20.394	—
26	31			Chevrolet	20.395	—
27	7			Chevrolet	20.408	—
28	43			Chevrolet	20.409	—
29	42	Noah Gragson (R)		Chevrolet	20.469	—
30	78	Anthony Alfredo (i)		Chevrolet	20.478	—
31	12			Ford	20.507	—
32	21			Ford	20.507	—
33	51	Zane Smith (i)		Ford	20.571	—
34	1			Chevrolet	20.619	—
35	77			Chevrolet	20.624	—
36	15	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford	20.673	—
Official qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 80

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	9
3	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	8
4	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	7
5	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	6
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	5
7	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	4
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3
9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 100

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	7
5	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	6
6	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	4
8	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	3
9	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	2
10	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 220

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	19	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	43
2	15	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	400	35
3	5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	34
4	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	44
5	4	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	47
6	3	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	42
7	31	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	400	30
8	16	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	400	29
9	9	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	400	32
10	24	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	27
11	23	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	26
12	18	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	400	-35
13	34	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	400	29
14	10	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	400	23
15	1	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	32
16	22	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	21
17	2	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	400	30
18	12	54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	19
19	20	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	400	18
20	7	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	32
21	17	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	400	16
22	6	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	400	30
23	8	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	15
24	21	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	400	19
25	13	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	399	16
26	27	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	399	11
27	14	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	399	10
28	26	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	398	9
29	32	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	398	8
30	29	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	398	7
31	28	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	398	6
32	35	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	397	5
33	25	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	397	4
34	33	51	Zane Smith (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	395	0
35	30	78	Anthony Alfredo (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	390	0
36	36	15	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	337	0
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 10 among 9 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 5 for 50 laps
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 50 minutes, and 35 seconds
• Average speed: 74.005mph

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their 23rd race at the Martinsville Speedway. Mike Joy, 2018 Spring Martinsville winner Clint Bowyer and 2002 Spring Martinsville winner Bobby Labonte called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled the pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Todd Gordon called the race in the booth when the field races down the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from a platform inside the backstretch when the field races down the backstretch. Steve Post, Kim Coon, and Dillon Welch worked the pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Christopher Bell	302
	2	Ross Chastain	297 (–5)
	3	Kevin Harvick	287 (–15)
	4	Kyle Larson	285 (–17)
2	5	Martin Truex Jr.	266 (–36)
1	6	Tyler Reddick	265 (–37)
1	7	Joey Logano	258 (–44)
2	8	Kyle Busch	250 (–52)
3	9	Denny Hamlin	247 (–55)
	10	Ryan Blaney	241 (–61)
	11	Alex Bowman	237 (–65)
3	12	Brad Keselowski	235 (–67)
	13	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	223 (–79)
6	14	Chase Briscoe	210 (–92)
1	15	William Byron	208 (–94)
	16	Chris Buescher	206 (–96)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	342
	2	Toyota	313 (–29)
	3	Ford	303 (–39)

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2023 schedule . Jayski.com. . October 10, 2022.
2. Web site: Martinsville Speedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. March 20, 2023. January 3, 2013. April 25, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170425205616/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/martinsville-speedway.html. dead.
3. News: NASCAR releases 2023 Cup Series schedule highlighted by new Chicago, All-Star race stops . Taranto, Steven . 14 September 2022 . 20 March 2023 . CBS Broadcasting Inc.
4. News: NASCAR unveils 2023 schedule for its national series . 14 September 2022 . 20 March 2023 . National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC.
5. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 10, 2023. April 10, 2023.
6. Web site: Practice Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. April 15, 2023. April 15, 2023.
7. Web site: Qualifying Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. April 15, 2023. April 15, 2023.
8. Web site: NOCO 400 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. April 16, 2023. April 16, 2023.
9. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 16, 2023. April 16, 2023.
10. Web site: Utter. Jim. Reddick leads Byron in NASCAR Cup practice at Martinsville. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. April 15, 2023. Ridgeway, Virginia. April 15, 2023.
11. Web site: Utter. Jim. Preece rockets to first career NASCAR Cup pole at Martinsville. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. April 15, 2023. Ridgeway, Virginia. April 15, 2023.