Racing at Martinsville Speedway is known for beating, banging and plenty of contact, meaning it's not all that difficult for drivers to get caught up in someone else's mess and taken out of contention in the blink of an eye.
And while this results in more randomness than what we typically see at larger racetracks, it's still the big guns that find their way to Victory Lane at the track known as "The Paperclip."
Here is the list of drivers who have won at Martinsville over the past 30 Cup Series races: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr.
Newman was a bit of a surprise winner, especially considering how that race in 2012 ended, but that's a list loaded with race winners, series champions and current and future Hall of Famers.
Because of this, I have a hard time digging too deep down the odds board to confidently back a long-shot winner.
However, thanks to NASCAR prop bets, there are other opportunities to profit from drivers with the ability to overperform their odds.
Here's my favorite prop bet for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500, and be sure to follow me on Twitter (@PJWalsh24) for any additional bets I add for Martinsville.
NASCAR at Martinsville Odds, Prop Bet Pick
Odds as of Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET and via DraftKings. Get up to a $1,000 sign-up bonus at DraftKings today or see more offers and reviews for the best online sportsbooks.
William Byron (+135) to Finish Top 10 at Martinsville
It's no secret that I love Byron's talent and that he's shown flashes of speed this season, so I'm taking Byron to score a top-10 finish in tonight's race.
The driver of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 24 Chevy really struggled to figure out this place in his first three races, which isn't all that surprising considering it took Gordon and Johnson some time to learn how to run well at Martinsville as well.
However, Byron put it all together last fall, finishing in second place and with the third-best driver rating.
But it was NBC Sports NASCAR analyst and former crew chief for Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. Steve Letarte who pushed me over the edge (please don't tell him that) with something he mentioned during our NASCAR.com fantasy analysis video: the Chad Knaus factor.
With NASCAR going back to a high-horsepower, low-downforce short-track race package and a softer tire, the racing should be more old school than what we saw last season at Martinsville.
Knaus, who won a ton of races here as Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, knows how to set up a racecar for these conditions. And who does Knaus now call the shots for? William Byron.
