by Chris Knight, Catchfence
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.
After the race, he reflected on the weekend.
“Going into the race, we were pretty confident as a group,” Wright told CATCHFENCE.com. “We were running really good long run times in practice. We had an issue in qualifying, and that put us towards the back in 30th. So, we knew we had our work cut out for us in the first stage. I was trying not to get lapped. Fortunately, we were able to hold on.
“Halfway through the first half of the third stage, you could see the field getting a little bit more rough on one another.
“That second half of stage three was your mayhem in Martinsville fashion. But you know, I thought we were, we were really fast all day. We were running right up there, top 20 with some of the guys. And it was, it was definitely a fun day.”
Wright, a native of Wexford, Pa., noted that the No. 5 Chevrolet came to life when it mattered most, with the car’s handling at its best in the closing laps.
“The car kept getting better and better throughout the race,” sounded Wright. “I think the best car I had was that green light checkered. Every time that the yellow came out, I felt like a car was getting better and better.
“So, you know, just really thankful that everything panned out the way that it is, missed some wrecks and made some good passes and moved some people out of the way in the correct way.”
Heading into Martinsville, Wright’s best finish of the 2025 season had been 25th — a mark he reached in back-to-back races at Phoenix Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Saturday’s breakthrough performance not only shattered that ceiling but also bumped the team’s average finish to 25.6 on the year.
Still, Wright is well aware there’s more progress to be made in the weeks and months ahead.
“We were super happy with our No. 5 First National Bank Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, (it) was really good,” added Wright. “So, just trying to keep the momentum for Darlington, and we’ll see what happens there.”
Next up for Wright, 30, and the Our Motorsports team is Darlington Raceway — the track famously known as “Too Tough to Tame.”
Wright will make just his second career Xfinity Series start at the 1.33-mile, egg-shaped oval, aiming to improve on his previous effort: a 36th-place finish in 2022 while driving for the now-defunct Brandonbilt Motorsports.
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at cknight@catchfence.com.
(Photo Credit: James Gilbert | Getty Images)