Motorsport photo Nick DeGroot Sun, November 1, 2026 at 5:04 AM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this year near the end of June, NASCAR instructed teams to remove foam from the front and rear bumpers for certain short track races , which previously allowed drivers to slam into each other with no real damage or consequences.
Drivers needed to be mindful of the softer bumpers, but it's been a bit of non-story so far after North Wilkesboro, Richmond and Bristol. However, could Martinsville be a different story? The half-mile paperclip is pretty much a one-groove track with cars constantly fighting over the bottom lane, and contact happens often.
In practice at Martinsville, Ross Chastain abruptly slowed with a mechanical issue, and Cody Ware ran into the back of him. Championship leader Kyle Larson narrowly avoided hitting Ware as well. In the past, the type of contact we saw between Ware and Chastain wouldn't cause any damage, but there were clear crinkles in the hood of the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing entry. Ware opted not to take part in qualifying so the team could work on the car and make repairs.
Austin Cindric , who drives for Team Penske , believes the softer bumpers could play a role in the outcome of Sunday's Cup race.
"I'm definitely interested to see how tomorrow goes," said Cindric in a Saturday press conference. "I don't think we've done a Martinsville race with the softer bumpers and I think this is the track everyone had in mind as far as what that would look like. I think it's yet to be seen from that standpoint. From a spotter's standpoint, I want to know stack(ups). I want to know what's happening because although I don't think it's gonna be catastrophic what happens to your car, I think you can easily reduce the power by crunching the snorkel and doing those things. If you look at the structure that's gonna crush first, it'll definitely hurt your day."
Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell wants his spotter to continuously remind him about the softer bumpers throughout the Cup race, saying "that is a super critical thing that has the potential to be a really big change for Martinsville. The way the restarts happen and the stack ups, it's going to have a really big impact on the race. Making sure that you're mindful of that is going to be mission critical. I think it's going to be a talking point for sure."
Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag from pole position, and while he believes there's still some leeway in how much you can use the bumper as a tool (or a weapon), it's something you have to be careful about.
"Certainly, the structure change is a little different with obviously taking the front bumper out to try to soften some of the low blow stuff," said Hamlin. "But I don't know. I think you still can use it a little bit. You have to be careful, though, in my mind, to not give someone an egregious bump because then they typically brake check you, and then that's when you can really end up doing quite a bit of damage. So you just have to be as courteous as you can with your bumps I think."
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Source: Sports
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