Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The combination of Chase Elliott and Martinsville Speedway has certainly been eventful. Maybe a bit of an understatement considering the luck he’s had in Virginia, highlighted with last fall’s wild comeback win. Eventful wasn’t the word during Sunday’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. The defending Cup Series champion finished second after passing Denny Hamlin late in the going, equaling his best result this season. However, if you ask him how his 500-lap race went, he bluntly said it was uneventful. Compared to the luck Elliott hasRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Denny Hamlin kept his No. 11 Toyota up front for more than half of Sunday’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, but in the closing laps didn’t have enough to hold off teammate Martin Truex, Jr. and had to settle for a third-place result. The five-time Martinsville winner noted that it all came down to his car being fast on the short runs, but not so much on the long runs, which allowed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate the opportunity to pass him forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Martin Truex Jr. passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin on Lap 485 of Sunday’s rain-delayed Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway and pulled away to win for the third time in his last four starts at the .526-mile short track. The victory was Truex’s second this season, ending a streak of seven straight different winners to start the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. The driver of the No. 19 Toyota triumphed for the 29th time in his career and for theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Rain halted Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway after 42 laps, necessitating a Sunday doubleheader of incomplete races that will feature 458 laps of the NASCAR Cup Series race, along with the final 159 circuits of Friday night’s rain-delayed Cook Out 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series event. The eighth race of the NASCAR Cup Series season will restart Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, following the conclusion of the Xfinity race, which completed 91 of 250 laps Friday night,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a weekend away for the first break of the 2021 season, the NASCAR Cup Series gets back to business Saturday night with a trip to southern Virginia for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. As has been the case for the last year and a half, no practice, no qualifying, just line up andRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Ryan Blaney had an interesting Wednesday night at Martinsville Speedway to say the least. The pole sitter rallied from both falling a lap down and a pit road penalty to score a runner-up finish in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Although Blaney led the 39-car field to the green flag, he wouldn’t lead a lap up until Lap 272 as fellow Ford driver Aric Almirola took the lead right away. From there, Blaney regressed in the running order that he even fell a lap downRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Martin Truex Jr. won his second consecutive Martinsville Speedway race Wednesday night, ultimately cruising to a 4.232-second victory over a super competitive Team Penske trio of cars in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Compared to his dominating victory at the half-mile track last Fall (he led 464 of 500 laps), Truex had to negotiate and muscle his way to the front this time. “We’ve been working a long-time on trying to figure this place out and just been chipping away at it,” saidRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Wednesday, June 10, 2020 will go down as a day both NASCAR and Bubba Wallace will remember. On a night the Cup Series ran its first full night race at Martinsville Speedway, the sport shifted into the right direction by banning confederate flags in their events and Wallace was sporting the Black Lives Matter “Compassion, Love and Understanding” livery on his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Wallace’s ride garnered tremendous praise from fellow black athletes like NBA star LeBron James and NFLRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Mid-week racing is back on the docket tonight as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville for a short track showdown under the lights in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. This go around will be an even bigger test than normal. No practice, no qualifying, just line up and turn ‘em loose. Since being announced last year,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NASCAR announced Friday that it won’t go to Martinsville Speedway on May 8-9 as itsdue to the COVID-19 health crisis and the state of Virginia’s stay at home regulations that go through June 10th postponing the race weekend. “Our intention remains to run all 36 races, with a potential return to racing without fans in attendance in May at a date and location to be determined,” in a statement issued by NASCAR. “The health and safety of our competitors, employees, fans, and the communities in whichRead More