Martinsville NXS Race Report
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Race 7 of 33: Cook Out 250
Location: Martinsville Speedway (0.526-mile oval)
Format: 250 laps / 131.5 miles
Buford’s Finish: 19th
Jade Buford earned his best finish of the season in Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway, taking the checkered flag in the 19th position in the No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Cooler Chevrolet.
The 33-year-old driver rolled off the grid from the 30th position during the race’s originally scheduled start time on Friday night. Buford utilized the first stage to learn the track and study how to pass cars in his first ever start at the Paperclip. He spun early in the stage but was able to avoid heavy damage and remained on the lead lap, running as high as 27th.
During Stage Two, Buford was running in the 25th position when rain forced NASCAR to put out the red flag, ultimately postponing the remainder of the race to Sunday. Once the green flag dropped and the race was back under way, Buford took his time adjusting to the change in track conditions from Friday night to Sunday in the heat of the day.
As the race went on, he started to settle in more and was able to drive off the corners better after great adjustments made by crew chief Patrick Donahue and the No. 48 team. In the final stage, Buford battled inside the top 20, even restarting from the front row following a caution where cars were on varying pit strategies. Racing on older tires, he continued to run impressive lap times and made his final pass of the race with less than 10 laps to go to earn a 19th-place finish in the 250-lap event.
Jade Buford, driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Cooler Chevrolet Camaro:
“I’m really proud of the effort we were able to put together today at Martinsville. This is such a challenging track, but once I got the hang of things and was able to learn how to get around people, we were able to make really good lap times and gain track position. It makes me excited to come back here again. Each week I feel like we keep getting better and better.”
Next Up:
Following an off weekend next week, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 24 for the Ag-Pro 300. Tune in at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT on FOX.