Martinsville Speedway Tag

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer They say there’s a first time for everything, and for the first time, Harrison Burton has earned a top-five finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. One year ago, this weekend, Burton made his debut at Martinsville Speedway, and now he has scored his career-best finish, fourth, at ‘The Paperclip.’ Today’s race also marked the first time that he competed in the same race as his cousin, Jeb Burton, in their career. Harrison Burton slowly climbed his way up through the field in theRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Blowing around two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton after a restart with 10 laps left, 19-year-old Noah Gragson scored his first victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender frustrated Playoff competitors Crafton and Johnny Sauter, who finished second and third behind him. After talking the checkered flag, Gragson parked his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota near the flag stand and climbed to the top of the frontstretch catchfence in celebration. AfterRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer  19 races into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season seven series regulars have scored a victory (Christopher Bell five times, John Hunter Nemechek and Johnny Sauter twice, Austin Cindric, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, and Kaz Grala once). Bell has a 20-point lead over Sauter heading into the 20th race of the season. This weekend marks the first race for the Round of Six, and fourth race of the 2017 Playoffs for the Truck Series competitors. Bell is coming off his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series winRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip out to America’s Heartland, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back east this weekend and straight to the final short track race of the season, with Sunday’s running of the First Data 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. Sunday’s race will mark the start of the three-race playoff semi-finals that will trim the eight driverRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor “They touch once! Twice! Drag race! Jimmie Johnson!” When looking back at memorable moments at Martinsville Speedway, the duel between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in the spring of 2007 is often near the top of the list. The race, which featured the much maligned Car of Tomorrow in only its second outing, would turn into a Chevrolet showcase with the four drivers that dominated the race all driving a car with a bowtie on the grill. Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Denny Hamlin,Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer You may ask yourself how can a driver fly under the radar in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series elimination race? Chase Elliott found out by never being a factor for the win at Kansas Speedway. Elliott finished inside the top-five after funning just inside the top-10 throughout the Hollywood Casino 400. He avoided trouble, staying ahead of a multi-car pile-up in his No. 24 Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet SS. Elliott narrowly missed being clipped by Erik Jones, whose No. 77 5-Hour Energy Toyota CamryRead More

It’s that time of the year again. After the 16 driver field for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs was set last weekend at Richmond, the intensity of the season is about to ramp up over the final 10 weeks of the season as we’ll whittle the championship field down to four at Homestead to see which driver will walk away with the title at season’s end. As a refresher, there will be three rounds of eliminations before the Championship Four is set. The Round of 16 will includeRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Contributor Despite a third-place finish in the Daytona 500, the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season has not started off as planned for A.J. Allmendinger. A penalty at Atlanta Motor Speedway dropped Allmendinger to 34th in the Championship standings. The penalty also resulted in a four-race suspension for his crew chief, Randall Burnett. Several finishes outside the top-15 have held him back in the standings as the field rolled into Martinsville Speedway, one of Allmendinger’s best tracks. Left looking for more speed after placing hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – In Sunday’s STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, everything worked – but nothing more than Brad Keselowski’s race-winning No. 2 Ford. Yes, that’s right, a Ford. The car maker found Victory Lane at the .526-mile short track for the first time since Oct. 20, 2002, when Kurt Busch won at NASCAR’s oldest and smallest premier series track in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Keselowski and runner-up Kyle Busch swapped the lead during the final 64-lap green-flag run,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After winning his first Martinsville grandfather clock in this race one year ago, Kyle Busch looked primed to accomplish that feat for the second year in a row after leading the most laps in Sunday’s STP 500, but with handling issues plaguing him in the final stint of the race, he had to settle for a runner-up finish instead. Busch started the day in 10th place and took over the lead for the first time under caution on lap 109. Though it was just forRead More