Martinsville Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The first five races of the season haven’t exactly gone to plan for Austin Dillon, but Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville was just what the doctor ordered for the fourth-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver as he was able to score his best finish of the season with a fifth-place result. In this race one year ago, Dillon brought home a fourth-place finish, so the driver out of the Richard Childress Racing stable has learned how to get around the treacherous half-mile in recentRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville was shaping up to be a promising day for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his No 88 team, but a late race crash would put an end to his hopes for his first top-10 of the season, relegating him to a 34th place finish instead. Martinsville serves as one of Earnhardt’s better tracks on the circuit, with one win, 13 top-five finishes, 18 top-10 finishes, 972 laps led, and an average finish of 12.9 in 33 starts entering the day, soRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The start of the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season has not gone as planned for Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie Noah Gragson. After getting wiped out in a lap two melee at Daytona International Speedway and being involved in a lap two incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gragson was looking for some redemption at Martinsville Speedway. Gragson and his No. 18 Switch Toyota Tundra team unloaded with speed. In the first and only practice session for the Alpha Energy Solutions 250, he was thirdRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Polesitter Chase Elliott held off defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter after a restart with 12 laps left and pulled away to win Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at Martinsville Speedway by 1.865 seconds. Elliott grabbed the lead from third-place finisher Christopher Bell on Lap 234, when Bell’s Toyota tangled with Austin Cindric’s Ford through Turns 1 and 2. Bell lost the top spot, and Sauter charged past into the second position before NASCAR threw the 10th andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Late in the going in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville, Christopher Bell looked to be in the catbird seat with the lead in the waning laps, but after contact with a truck at the tail-end of the lead lap, Bell’s shot at the win was gone and he had to settle for a third-place finish. After winning at Atlanta, Bell was looking to make it two wins in a row by adding a Martinsville grandfather clock to his trophy case. StartingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – For the second straight week, Kyle Larson will start on the pole for a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event. He can only hope the result of the race is the same, too. Last week, Larson won the pole at Auto Club Speedway and went on to win last Sunday’s race at the two-mile track. On Friday, when rain washed out time trials at Martinsville Speedway, Larson earned the top starting spot for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1)Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer While the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season started last month at Daytona International Speedway for most competitors, 17-year-old Justin Haley’s season starts this weekend in the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at Martinsville Speedway. This is because NASCAR’s rulebook only allows drivers that are 16 and 17 years of age to compete on road courses and tracks 1.1 miles or smaller. Haley’s 18th birthday is April 28, which will allow him to compete for the complete 2017 NASCAR Camping Word Truck Series season. NASCARRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After winning his seventh championship last fall, Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 team haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire through the first five races of 2017, but this weekend’s trip to Martinsville Speedway could be just what the doctor ordered. Entering Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville, Johnson has only finished in the top-10 once this season and sits 17th in points. However, Martinsville ranks as one of his best tracks on the circuit, second only to Auto Club Speedway in average finishRead More

By Beth Lunkenheimer, NASCAR Contributor Dale Earnhardt Jr. just completed his 600th career start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. During that time, the 42-year-old has 26 career victories, including two Daytona 500 wins. Oh, and that doesn’t include that he is also a 14-time Most Popular Driver. “I just wanted to drive. I wanted to race cars for a living. I wanted to do it well enough to be able to afford to make a living doing it,” Earnhardt said. “I didn’tRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The last time the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visited Martinsville Speedway, Johnny Sauter took home the victory in thrilling fashion, holding off Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular Chase Elliott by just 0.316 seconds. Matt Crafton, Sauter, and Timothy Peters are the only former winners in the Truck Series at Martinsville in the field this weekend. There is only one Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular entered in Saturday’s race, Chase Elliott. NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Ross Chastain is also entered in the race.Read More