Martinsville Tag

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 Luis Torres, Staff Writer Drivers in the Round of 6 endured an accurate depiction of a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” in Saturday’s NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 at Martinsville Speedway. Just about everyone who are competing for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship either dealt with truck issues or involved in a series of cautions that ended their race. Only two out of the six finished inside the top-10 while the other four were outside the top-20. Earlier in the race, it was all calm forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Front Row Motorsports driver Matt Tifft will be replaced by two-time NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion Matt Crafton for Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Tifft, who pilots the No. 36 Ford Mustang, was transported to a local hospital Saturday morning due to a medical condition at the track. FRM issued a short statement regarding Tifft’s medical update: “This morning, Matt Tifft was transported to a local hospital in Martinsville, Virginia for further evaluation and tests after suffering a medical condition at the track.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A new chapter into NASCAR’s future has few perks as they’re further separating themselves from tradition once more. For what? To spice things up like its a game of Russian roulette? First off, I applaud the sport for making the Southern 500 at Darlington the playoff opener. A crown jewel event is the ultimate ideal start of the postseason and makes the most nostalgic weekend even sweeter. Their attempt of a doubleheader at Pocono sounds promising, but I’m not crazy about doubleheaders in major motorsports exceptRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Some season firsts took place for Chase Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, including his best track finish after coming up 0.594 seconds short of dethroning the dominant Brad Keselowski, who led 446 of 500 laps. The 23-year-old’s strong result marked Chevrolet’s third top-five of the season, and not only Elliott’s best finish of the season thus far, but Hendrick Motorsports first top-five all season in a track that’s been their yard for well over aRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Age has its limits and rookie Tyler Ankrum was no different after sitting out the first three NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races because according to the NASCAR rulebook, he wasn’t eligible to compete at ovals bigger than a mile as he wasn’t 18-years-old until March 6th. A few weeks removed from finally turning magic age No. 18, last year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion is set to make his first start of the season at Martinsville Speedway, driving the No. 17 Toyota Tundra forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NASCAR’s headlines all week has been on the dramatic finish from last Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville, involving Joey Logano and Martin Truex, Jr., where Logano’s bump on Truex in Turn 3 to get the win, angering him as another bid of a short track victory vanished in front of him. During Friday’s press conference at Texas Motor Speedway however, Truex did reflect on his hasty post-race comments on Logano through texting, but his eyes have already shifted from anger to game mode as hisRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In the midst of an instant classic battle between Joey Logano and Martin Truex, Jr., Denny Hamlin snookered his way to finish second in Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway. After taking out fan favorite Chase Elliott out of the race lead last year, Hamlin was introduced in front of his home state fans with loud jeers. 500 laps later, the jeers lessened after Logano’s bump on Truex that could’ve been disastrous for their championship aspirations. As both were sliding, Hamlin charged his way byRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer From the bottom performer at ThorSport Racing to once again being the highest finishing entry, Myatt Snider’s late-season charge continued in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway, finishing third after leading seven of 250 laps. The highest rookie driver in points backed up his career-high runner-up finish at Talladega two weeks ago with yet another strong run in the No. 13 Louisiana Hot Sauce Ford F-150, especially when his crew opted for a different pit strategy, which turned out to be beneficial and extendedRead More