MARTINSVILLE, Va.: When the chaos finally cleared at the end of Saturday’s unpredictable Marine Corps 250 at Martinsville Speedway, Kris Wright and the No. 5 Our Motorsports team emerged as one of the unexpected beneficiaries.
When Kris Wright joined the Lexington, N.C. – based Our Motorsports team at the start of the 2025 Xfinity Series season, he stepped into a seat with high expectations. His predecessor, Anthony Alfredo, delivered a competitive campaign marked by consistent performances and flashes of race-winning potential.
Wright, by contrast, remains a relatively quiet unproven talent — sometimes associated with aggressive moves and a knack for finding trouble, having been involved in his fair share of cautions throughout his NASCAR tenure.
On Saturday, however, Wright turned in one of the strongest performances of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career. After a mid-race scare that saw him make light contact with the outside wall, he recovered and kept his No. 5 First National Bank Chevrolet in the mix — steadily hunting his first career top-10 finish.
Stage 3 was a caution-filled affair, giving Wright the chance to stay on the lead lap and capitalize on others’ misfortune to steadily climb through the field. As the race neared its conclusion with two laps to go, Wright was running solidly inside the top 15, poised for his best finish of the season.
Then came another twist — Matt DiBenedetto spun, triggering an overtime restart and opening one final window for Wright to make a move.
Lining up on the bottom lane for the restart, Wright leaned into the momentum, looking to gain ground. Dean Thompson gave him a shove, trying to muscle past, but Wright held firm and charged toward the white flag. Thompson did slip by in Turns 3 and 4, but Wright stayed glued to the battle.
As the leaders tangled in the final corner, Wright had to jump to the outside to avoid the chaos abruptly.
Brandon Jones, who had spun from inside the top 10, collected Ryan Sieg just ahead of Wright. The chain reaction launched Wright forward — and when the dust finally settled, he crossed the line ninth, scoring his first career top-10 finish in the Xfinity Series.
