Martinsville Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The much maligned aerodynamic packages that were rolled out for the NASCAR Cup Series last year are getting a facelift heading into 2020 — at least on the short tracks and road courses. Last season, the aero packages were split between a 750 horsepower package that ran on oval tracks one-mile or shorter and road courses, along with a 550 horsepower package that ran the remainder of the schedule. The massive eight-inch spoiler and other aerodynamic devices had a negative effect on the racing atRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Standing five feet from the spot in his team’s transporter where he suffered a seizure at Martinsville, Matt Tifft stepped out into the cold Sunday morning at Texas Motor Speedway and addressed his future going forward for the rest of the year and into the seasons ahead. A week removed from the health scare that landed him in a Martinsville hospital and sidelined him for the rest of the 2019 campaign, Tifft expounded on the details of the incident and hisRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor Matt Tifft has faced medical issues at various points in his career and after another episode on Saturday morning at Martinsville that sent him to the hospital and sidelined him from Sunday’s race, the 23-year old Front Row Motorsports driver learned early this week that he will have to miss out on the remainder of the 2019 season. Tifft, who missed a number of races in 2016 while receiving treatment from a non-malignant brain tumor, took to social media on Tuesday morning after the newsRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Kyle Larson may be sitting seventh in points and 24 markers behind the cutoff line, but a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway was solid enough to leave happy. In a race that was completely dominated by Martin Truex, Jr., who led a modern era high 464 of 500 laps, Larson was one of only two drivers (Denny Hamlin) who led laps. This was all thanks to his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing squad keeping him out of pit road in theRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Martinsville Speedway was certainly a track Chase Elliott would like to steer clear after a disastrous First Data 500 weekend, capping off with a 36th place finish during Sunday’s race. After a blown engine which saw Elliott’s No. 9 Mountain Dew Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 engulfed into flames Saturday morning, he had to give up his starting slot because he went to the backup car. Elliott would qualify second but before the green flag dropped in Virginia, he had to work his way from the rear ofRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor While all eyes were on the Playoff drivers on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, William Byron was trying his best to crash the party and score his first career win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. At the same track that his team, Hendrick Motorsports, has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the 21-year-old phenom, with veteran crew chief Chad Knaus at the helm, started the day in 11th and once he cracked the top-10, he would stay there for theRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have had their fair share of run-ins both on-track and off over the years and Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, the tension between the two flared back up. Both drivers had a decent day going with the two running in the top-10 as the laps were winding down in the first race of the Round of 8 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Then as they were running side-by-side with about 50 laps to go, Hamlin ran wide offRead More
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – It took a post-race fracas on pit road to distract from the dominance of Martin Truex Jr., who led a career-best 464 laps in winning Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway and punched his ticket for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race. The 2017 Cup Series champion took the lead from pole winner Denny Hamlin off pit road on Lap 30 under the first of 11 cautions and held it the rest of the way, save for aRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Who would’ve thought something like capturing audio gold would result of breaking the racing internet in a span of minutes. If you haven’t realized by now, Todd Gilliland finally captured that elusive NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 at Martinsville Speedway. However, it was seconds after bringing his No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra home to P1 that caught mine and everyone else’s eyes that nobody couldn’t resist sharing it. AUDIO pic.twitter.com/4wKfe4z8jy — Luis Torres (@TheLTFiles) October 26, 2019Read More
By Reid Spencer. NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Fresh from last Sunday’s victory at Kansas, Denny Hamlin reasserted his mastery of Martinsville Speedway on Saturday afternoon, edging Chase Elliott for the pole position for Sunday’s First Data 500 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Covering the .526-mile distance in 19.354 seconds (97.840 mph), Hamlin beat Elliott (97.694 mph) by .029 seconds to secure his third Busch Pole Award of the season, his fourth at Martinsville and the 33rd of his career. Despite his strong performance,Read More