Short Track Swing: Martinsville Speedway welcomes the NASCAR Cup Series

The NASCAR Cup Series finds itself amid a short track swing on the 2021 season schedule, tasking the teams to find the best setups for the Next Gen cars on three similar tracks in length (less than a mile) but vastly different competitive arenas. From last week’s 0.75-mile asphalt paved Richmond Raceway, to this weekend’s historic Martinsville Speedway that stretches 0.526-mile in length with asphalt paved straights and concrete corners, to next weekend’s 0.5-mile Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track, the challenge through this portion of the schedule is immense.

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 146 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 146 NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway are the second-most points-paying series events run at a facility behind Daytona International Speedway’s 150 races.

Martinsville’s 146 races have produced 61 different pole winners and 55 different race winners; nine of the Cup Series Martinsville Speedway race winners are entered this weekend.

 

Active Race Winners (9)	Wins	Seasons
Denny Hamlin	5	2015, 2010 sweep, 2009, 2008
Martin Truex Jr	3	2021, 2020, 2019
Brad Keselowski	2	2019, 2017
Kyle Busch	2	2017, 2016
Kurt Busch	2	2014, 2002
Alex Bowman	1	2021
Chase Elliott	1	2020
Joey Logano	1	2018
Kevin Harvick	1	2011

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).

This weekend’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 on Saturday night, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90) will be 400 laps (210.4 miles) and broken up into the three stages. The first stage is 80 laps, the second stage is 100 laps, and the final stage is 220 laps.

All the NASCAR Cup Series action at Martinsville Speedway begins this Friday, April 8 at 4:30 p.m. ET followed directly by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 5:05 p.m. ET both will be televised on FS1.