Tag: Martinsville Speedway

Strategy and determination ruled the track at Martinsville Speedway for the Round of Eight final elimination Xfinity 500. Unlike the bang and bump Xfinity series the day before where cars crossed the line backwards and on fire, the NASCAR Cup race of the same title series name was run closer to calculated endurance.

The final third of the race ran green as a run for the lead brought Ryan Blaney up to and around Aric Almirola with 22 laps to go. Blaney kept the #12 Discount Tire Ford out front for the win. This was the third 2023 win for Blaney, who came up originally from High Point, NC which is just a bit south of the speedway.

It was, however, a disappointing day for Joe Gibbs team mates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex, Jr. The race started with Truex on the pole but a speeding penalty half way in put him back in traffic that he could not push through. Hamlin had a good run with a stage win and top five performance but could not clinch at the end. Mechanical issues the week before at Homestead had him at Martinsville with too many points down and in a “must win” to advance.

Ryan Blaney won the race but it may have been William Byron who won the day. Despite six wins, the late season points math had him below the cut coming into Martinsville. He fought with the #24 Chevy all day as his team kept him focused. He managed to bring it in leading the one lap back bunch which was just enough to clinch a spot for Phoenix.

Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell had Round of Eight wins for the advance and were “safe” at Martinsville. Larson and Bell finished 6th and 7th. Almirola hung on for 2nd, Hamlin was 3rd as Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano filled the top five.

The Championship is settled at Phoenix. Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron are in the mix for the Cup. Any of the others can grab a final win of the season. Will it be an upset…? Or will one of the Championship Four take the final checkered flag?

Photo Gallery – NASCAR Cup Xfinity 500 – October 29, 2023 – Martinsville Speedway











Saturday racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series certainly turned the heat on at Martinsville Speedeay. There were cautions. There were stops. There was a chase for a championship on the line and the tensions were running hot from a full season of racing. Nothing set that stage more than the final restart in overtime.

Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed shared the front row on the restart as the team mates hit it forward. Creed gave Hill a bump in close quarters and had to check in the turn catching Hill’s bumper hard. The crowded turn three and four invited John Hunter Nemechek into the mix and cars started losing grip and going off . It was a crash-fest has Creed and Justin Allgaier came out of the turn. Allgaier and Creed came up the stretch wheel to quarters but it was Allgaier at the checkers.

Creed is on a different tack in 2024 leaving RCR for Joe Gibbs. Hill is making no secret he won’t miss Creed. We’ll have to wait to see if racing between the two next season has moments of heat.
For this season, both are out of the championship run.

The RCR team friction also benefited Cole Custer as he was points behind Hill but even though Custer crossed the line backwards and on fire he was now in front of Hill to make the round.

Allgaier came from spots behind to get the win at Martinsville and make the cut. He came into the weekend just a notch behind Hill and below the points line.

The “must win” setting of the race at Martinsville also set up friction between Joe Gibbs Racing team mates Sammy Smith and John Hunter Nemechek. Smith started on the pole and finished third but felt slighted by Nemechek after, as Smith saw it, Nemechek blocked a run and cost him enough to not make the championship advance.

The four drivers in the championship hunt are: Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, John H Nemechek, Cole Custer

There were a lot of damaged cars being hauled out of Martinsville but the final race at Phoenix will see four drivers in new cars racing against each other for the NASCAR Xfinity championship. Will one of the four make “must win” moves or will one of the other drivers on the track steal the glory of the last win of the season?

Photo Gallery – NASCAR Xfinity Dead On Tools 250 – Martinsville Speedway – October 28, 2023






It was eighth or better, for the most part. The finale race of the Whelen Modified Tour at Martinsville Speedway was focused for Ron Silk as his points coming in gave him a bit of a cushion. He managed to avoid catastrophe with a contact and spin about a third of the way through. His sixth pace run at the checkers kept his season points lead and the championship. It was his second (first in 2011) Whelen Modified championship.

Ryan Preece started on the front row beside pole winner Tyler Rypkema and kept his car either in front or in reach of it for the better part of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200. A total of ten cautions including three red flags shook the field up some but Preece managed his pace and his car well and drove it in for the win. Preece is no stranger to the modifieds but his Cup season with Stewart-Haas kept him busy so this was his first start in the Whelens for the year.

Photo Gallery – Thursday, October 26, 2023
Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 – NASCAR Whelen Modfied Tour – Martinsville Speedway








There was fire coming in and smoke took him out. Bobby McCarty had an edge coming to Martinsville and practice pushed qualifying up a degree or two. He was also the “Triple Crown South Boston winner. (Brendan Queen came to Martinsville with the Langley win of the “Triple Crown”.) McCarty had the starting spot and had the early position. If he fell off the front he stayed close enough to challenged for it. It was practically his race for two thirds of it until the smoke came from under the hood and out the back and took McCarty and the #6 off the track.

Most of the “Triple Crown” hopefuls either had up front time or were close enough to keep pressure on. The final 25 laps following the scheduled pit stop option stirred the mix. The restart had most of the challengers within striking distance with Carson Kvapil next to Trevor Ward. Landon Huffman, Peyton Sellers, Doug Barnes and Brendan Queen were all there ready to push forward.

The final laps sparked some cautions and restarts and Peyton Sellers looked like he could repeat but fell back as Trevor Ward managed to battle to the inside of the #26. Kvapil had been running with Sellers but Ward on the inside managed to get by and pull Landon Huffman along with him. Ward and Huffman ran wheel to wheel pushing up front. Ward in the #77 had Huffman in the #22 on the outside as wheels rubbed and smoke flew from the contact. That bit of hard racing contact out of turn 4 made the #22 go loose allowing Ward to move in front but Huffman kept the heat on as Ward crossed the checkers with a half car lead for the win.

The finishing top 10: Trevor Ward, Landon Huffman, Carson Kvapil, Peyton Sellers, Doug Barnes, Mason Diaz, Kade Brown, Trent Barnes, Justin Hicks, Brendan Queen

The VSCU 300 win also put Ward on top of the average finishes in the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown contest. He collected the winner’s purse and the top “Triple Crown” award. Brendan Queen had a run well enough to earn the second prize and Peyton Sellers came away with the third place position.

Full Photo Gallery from Martinsville Speedway – Valley Star Credit Union 300











It was coming… Every driver and team and official new it. The question hovered about as the day progressed.

Friday was the day to practice, dial in, tune up and prepare to qualify. The weather lingered in the southern Atlantic taking aim as laps and wrenches turned. The only plan, of course, was to stay on course. Get done what can be done. Let the chips fall, or the rain as it was, if that turns to be the case.

Which it was… Saturday was a push to Sunday. That decision came well ahead of scheduled activities so there would be little confusion.

For racing and positions, the Valley Star Credit Union 300 is the third race in the “Virginia Triple Crown”. The first two are South Boston Speedway and Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway. Bobby McCarty won at SoBo (Carson Kvapil crossed the checkers but failed post race inspection) and Brendan “Butterbean” Queen has the win from Langley. The two drivers finished 2nd (Butterbean at SoBo) and 3rd (McCarty at Langley) are 1/2 spot away from each other coming to Martinsville.

Trevor Ward, Brandon Pierce and Logan Clark are filling the top five bracket chasing the crown at Martinsville. Defending VSCU 300 Winner Peyton Sellers, coming off a Championship at Dominion Raceway, is joining drivers from across the region to challenge the track and points leaders for that Grandfather Clock prize.

Qualifying from Friday has Bobby McCarty showing top speed and will lead the first of four “heat” races setting the main event running order at the green. Landon Huffman will lead the second qualifying race. Carson Kvapil will lead off the third and Ryan Millington starts up front for the fourth. The top 10 of each go to the main. McCarty, and the other qualifying starters, have no guarantees so racing to the main will have the pressure on.

The 25 lap qualifying races start off at 1:00pm. Pre-race and introductions begin around 3:00pm with the main event set to go green at 5:00pm. This compressed schedule was set for Sunday after a major storm (Ophelia) swept the region through Saturday.

Photos From Friday – Valley Star Credit Union 300 – September 22, 2023





It’s just a few days from IMSA weekend at Virginia International Raceway and, somehow, Martinsville Speedway grabs some of the attention!

Consider, for a moment, a bunch of tuned Mazda MX-5 Cup race cars taking a couple of days to run hot laps around the historic oval. Yes… That is exactly what they did.

Racing history is combined as cars commonly running on the twisted track of VIR take laps around Martinsville. This merges names like Carroll Shelby and Paul Newman with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

Speaking of, by the way… Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Bobby Labonte were on hand from NASCAR history to lend a lap or two in the Mazda Motorsport testing. Speedway President Clay Campbell also climbed in and put his driving to the test with the Mazda crew.

MX-5 Cup series drivers were on hand for Monday to dial the cars in. Campbell and the NASCAR guys came in Tuesday to throw their Martinsville racing experience behind the wheel.

The stage is early but all of this opened the door for the possibility of the MX-5 Cup series actually racing at Martinsville Speedway. Logistics are many but the test made a mark on all involved.

Dale Jr referenced the advancement of iRacing and how that virtual platform raises the bar. He said you can put any car on any track and the technology is such that the simulation is eye-opening. The difference on track from a NASCAR Cup car or Late Model is in the turns, he referenced. The Mazda is as fast in the turns but the entry and exit is different on the shifting. The Cup cars have the straights but these are close in the corners.

We’ve seen Bobby Labonte in the SMART Mods and SRX this year and now in Mazdas at Martinsville. He was just straight up having fun in the MX-5 dropping the power of SRX or a Modified for the low ride and easy handling convertible. His experience in multiple series aided his input on the testing.

Clay Campbell noted the speed of the Mazda through the turn. These are lighter so the brakes don’t play the major role like they do in a Cup or Late Model car. He said you stand on the brakes in those Cup cars and these it’s more in the downshift and easy entry in the turns. The low driving position also puts your perspective of the speed right on the edge.

The series drivers on their way to VIR this weekend said the tuning was not as much as they thought for the oval. There will be some camber and steering adjustments to get them back to turning right as easy as left but the mechanics of the MX-5 are the same.

Who knows for sure when, or if, the MX-5 Cup will race at Martinsville. This testing, however, showed that if they do it is going to be a fun watch. The size of the car would allow for some lanes of racing that larger, more powerful cars can not run in a race setting. The sound of these and the quick handling nature could be a race fan experience for sure.

*There were, unfortunately, no famous hot dogs available for the Mazda MX-5 crews to test.
**Ross Chastain was either unavailable or not invited to this test.

PHOTOS from Mazda MX-5 Cup testing at Martinsville Speedway (August 21-22/2023)





Speeding. Maybe a bit of misunderstanding on where the lines are but at the end of the day… Speeding. That is essentially what pulled the plug on Ryan Preece at Martinsvlle Speedway.

There was a possibility of rain on NOCO 400 Sunday. The weather had already played a role in Friday racing with the Craftsman Series as delays eventually led to a rain shortened Long John Silver’s 200.

The Xfinity Series, Call811.com Before You Dig 250, went off with mostly clear skies on Saturday. It was also Saturday that set Ryan Preece on a race leading start. Preece had won the Busch Light Pole Award. That may have been a blessing and a curse. It gave him pit choice but that also contributed to his race day mistake.

Ryan started up front and stayed there for the stage 1 win. Stage 2 started well enough as Preece still pulled the train. A touch and spin with Eric Jones and Harrison Burton put the caution on and opened the pits. This stop put the brakes on hard for the #41. He had the last spot on pit road and his exit for position led to the speeding penalty. The exit and speed points caught him as he jumped the gun on those points.

The Haas #41 Ford was fast up front in clean air but back in the pack at Martinsville it was tough going for moving forward. He ultimately finished 15th. A good start and show for the Preece team and, perhaps, a big lesson learned.

The setting now had another Stewart-Haas driver, veteran Kevin Harvick, in position to run for the stage 2 win. Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin were also in the mix but it was Harvick at the 2nd green/white flag.

The final stage was led out by Stewart-Haas as Harvick and Briscoe shared the front row. Denny Hamlin charged into it with 140 or so to go and managed to get by both of them to have his turn out front.

The charge for Hamlin was short lived as competition and incident cautions shook the field to allow Kyle Larson to take control in the later laps. Joey Logano had also pushed his way forward to challenge but could not get close enough for the pass. At the final lap it was Kyle Larson taking his first Martinsville win and his second win of the season. *Both are at Virginia tracks! Richmond and now, Martinsville.

The day finished very well for Larson. Team mate Chase Elliott stepped back into the #9 for the first time since his snowboard accident. Six weeks out and Martinsville maybe wasn’t the best for a return. The rhythm of racing here isn’t easy on the legs. However, Elliott did salvage a top 10 after starting deep in the pack.

PHOTO GALLERY – NOCO 400 – Martinsville Speedway, April 16, 2023