NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Saturday, April 10
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 263 miles (500 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 130),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 260), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 500)
What To Watch For:
Martinsville Speedway is the longest continuously running track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and the only currently active track that was a part of the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series season in 1949.
Martinsville Speedway was originally a dirt track and the facility hosted 12 NASCAR Cup Series races on the then dirt surface before paving the track in the late summer months of 1955, between the track’s two Cup races of that season.
In total, there have been 144 NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway, one in the inaugural year (1949) and two races per year since 1950.
The first 500-lap event at Martinsville Speedway was in 1956 and the concrete corners were added atop asphalt in 1976.
The 144 NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway are the second-most series events run at a facility behind Daytona International Speedway’s 148 races.
Martinsville’s 144 races have produced 61 different pole winners and 54 different race winners.
Nine of the Cup Series Martinsville Speedway winners are entered this weekend – Denny Hamlin (five wins), Brad Keselowski (two), Kurt Busch (two), Kyle Busch (two), Martin Truex Jr. (two), Chase Elliott (one), Joey Logano (one), Kevin Harvick (one) and Ryan Newman (one).
The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway was on Sept. 25, 1949 and won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Red Byron driving an Oldsmobile for car owner Raymond Parks.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Martinsville Speedway with 15 victories (1960, 1962, 1963, 1967 sweep, 1968, 1969 sweep, 1970, 1971, 1972 sweep, 1973, 1975, 1979) – the most any driver in the series has won at a single track; he also won 15 races at North Wilkesboro.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin leads the NASCAR Cup Series among active drivers in wins at Martinsville Speedway with five victories (2008, 2009, 2010 sweep, 2015).
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
