History
Martinsville Speedway was built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles and is the only charter-member track that remains on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule.
Red Byron won the first "Strictly Stock" event on the half-mile dirt track on September 7, 1947 and went on to win the first NASCAR championship in 1949. Six years later, the track was paved and Martinsville Speedway has since hosted at least two 500-mile races each year ever since.
Nestled in the Virginia Piedmont on Route 220, approximately 50 miles south of Roanoake, Va. and 50 miles north of Greensboro, N.C., Martinsville Speedway still maintains a small-track ambiance due in part to Clay Campbell, the third generation of the Earles family to manage the facility. Campbell continues his grandfather's fan friendly philosophy that includes an allotment of affordable bleacher seats that go on sale the day of the race.
Richard Petty won 15 events at Martinsville during his career while Darrell Waltrip won 11, Rusty Wallace won 6 and Geoffrey Bodine won 4 events.
Track Info
Track Length: .526 miles
Race Length: 263 Miles
First Race: May 20, 1956 - Virginia 500
Banking: 12° (Corners); 0° (Straights)
Lengths: 800 feet (Frontstretch & Backstretch)
Seating: 65,000
Qualifying Records
Tony Stewart, Chevrolet; 98.084 mph; Oct. 21 2005 (Cup)
Jimmy Hensley, Buick; 92.774 mph; Oct. 30, 1987 (Busch)
Rick Crawford, Ford; 95.966 mph; Oct. 21, 2005 (Trucks)
Race Records
Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 82.223 mph; Sep. 22, 1996 (Cup)
Harry Gant, Buick; 78.637 mph; Oct. 27, 1991 (Busch - 200 Laps)
Jimmy Hensley, Dodge; 74.294 mph; April 17, 1999 (Trucks - 250 laps)
Jon Wood, Ford; 72.069 mph; Oct. 18, 2003 (Trucks - 200 laps)
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Posted 10/18/2006 9:16 PM ET
NASCAR team reports as the Nextel Cup tour pays its second visit of the year to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, site of the sixth round of the season-ending Chase:
Jeff Burton
No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
This week: The native of nearby South Boston, Va., will drive chassis No. 175 this weekend at Martinsville. The car was built brand-new for 2006, and it's the same chassis he drove to a ninth-place finish at Richmond in September to secure a spot in the Chase. He also drove this car to a seventh-place finish at New Hampshire. Burton has one win, nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 24 starts at Martinsville. In April at Martinsville, Burton was involved in a crash after contact with another car and finished 33rd. He finished fifth in this race last season.
Last week: Burton started sixth and finished third at Charlotte to open his lead in the Chase to 45 points over Matt Kenseth.
Etc: In 91 previous starts at Martinsville, RCR has notched three poles and posted six wins (by Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt), 22 top-five finishes and 36 top-10s. Childress, a former driver in NASCAR's top division, contributed four of those top-10s from 1976-78.
Matt Kenseth
No. 17 Ford, Roush Racing
This week: If Kenseth is going to gain ground on points leader Jeff Burton, he's going to have to improve his performance at Martinsville. He has just three top-10 finishes at Martinsville, the lowest number of top-10s at any track where Kenseth has at least 10 starts. His average finish of 17.2 at Martinsville ranks sixth among the 10 tracks in the Chase. Kenseth's average finish on short tracks this season is 14.8; his overall average is 9.9. Take out two finishes at Bristol (third and first), and Kenseth's average finish on short tracks in 2006 is 23.3. He has started 25th in this race the last two years and finished 12th last year. He has no wins and one top-five in 13 Martinsville starts.
Last week: Kenseth started 11th and finished 14th at Charlotte.
Etc.: Kenseth will drive chassis No. RK-164, which last ran Martinsville in April and finished 24th. It ran both Martinsville races in '05, finished 12th and 11th.
Kevin Harvick
No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
This week: Harvick is halfway to becoming the first driver to win two titles in the same season after clinching his second career Busch Series title Friday night at Charlotte. Harvick is third in Nextel Cup points, 89 behind RCR teammate Jeff Burton. Harvick gained one position in the standings last week but has to improve his Martinsville record of just three top-10 finishes in 10 career starts if he hopes to catch Burton. Harvick finished seventh at Martinsville in April.
Last week: Harvick climbed one position in the standings with an 18th-place finish at Charlotte.
Etc.: Now that Harvick has clinched the 2006 Busch title, he plans on some changes for 2007. "We are going to probably run somewhere between 24 and 25 races next year," he said. "Probably some will be with KHI (Kevin Harvick, Inc.), but split it up between the two organizations. We haven't quite gotten to where we need to be at KHI."
Mark Martin
No. 6 Ford, Roush Racing
This week: Martin has two wins, 11 top-fives, 21 top-10s and three poles in 41 races at Martinsville. "It's pretty much no secret that I don't care much for racing at Martinsville, but that seems to have little to do with success, as they keep reminding me that I have a pretty good record there," Martin said.
Last week: Martin survived a hard slam into the fourth-turn wall at Charlotte when he collided with J.J. Yeley, who was trying to pit from the high line on the race track. The crash took Martin out of the race and left him with a 30th-place finish.
Etc.: Martin will use chassis RK-221, a Ford Fusion that finished 11th in its last run, at New Hampshire in September. The car finished fifth at Richmond, fourth at New Hampshire in July and was dominating earlier this year at Phoenix. It is the car Martin used to win the All-Star Challenge in 2005.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No. 8 Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Inc
This week: Fifth in points with five races left, Earnhardt believes he has a shot at the title despite being 106 points out of the lead. "Jeff (Burton) has been at this a long time, but I don't look at him as indestructible," Earnhardt said. "If he has a mistake or even a couple of bad runs, it will completely shake up the points." Earnhardt has two second-place starts (most recently in April 2003) and two third-place finishes (most recently April 2004) in 13 starts at Martinsville. He finished 18th in this race last year after starting 20th. He has six top-five finishes in the last nine races at Martinsville.
Last week: Earnhardt started 16th and finished fourth at Charlotte.
Etc: When asked what concerns him the most at Martinsville, Earnhardt had an emphatic answer: "Brakes! Just getting the brakes to work all day," he said. "You can really wear 'em out at Martinsville."
Denny Hamlin
No. 11 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing
This week: The Subway 500 will be Hamlin's third start at Martinsville in a Nextel Cup car. He made his debut at the half-mile in October 2005, scoring an eighth-place finish in only his third career Cup start. In his last start at the half-mile track, Hamlin recorded his only DNF of the season. Hamlin's history at Martinsville dates to his late model career and competing there on five occasions from 2000-04. Hamlin won the pole for the race in 2003 and recorded finishes of 15th, 12th, seventh, 10th and third.
Last week: Hamlin was involved in a second-lap crash at Charlotte, but his team worked to get the car back on the track and he managed a 28th-place finish.
Etc.: Hamlin will drive JGR 105/133, the best short-track car in the No. 11 stable. Most recently, Hamlin drove this car to a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire in the opening race of the Chase.
Jimmie Johnson
No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Johnson hopes to continue his upswing in the standings with a solid race at Martinsville. He enters the race seventh in the points, 146 behind leader Jeff Burton. Johnson will drive chassis 48278, which finished third in the first Martinsville race this year and 10th at New Hampshire in September. Chassis 48354 will serve as backup. It raced at Phoenix and both Richmond races this season. Johnson has posted eight consecutive top-10 finishes at Martinsville, the most of any driver. Johnson has one win, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in nine races at Martinsville.
Last week: Johnson finished a solid second place at Charlotte to remain alive in the Chase.
Etc.: Even if he can't win the championship, Johnson has a secondary goal. "I've got a record of being in the top five every year so far. I want to keep that going," he said. "The racer in me, I want to finish as high as I can regardless of the championship."
Kasey Kahne
No. 9 Dodge, Ray Evernham Motorsports
This week: Kahne has one top-10 finish (second in April 2005) in five races at Martinsville. He finished 17th in this race one year ago and 35th in April, his only DNF at Martinsville. Kahne has led in just two of his races there and has a 17.6 average finish, which ranks seventh among the 10 Chase drivers.
Last week: Kahne scored his series-high sixth win of the season, leading 134 laps on the way to completing a two-race season sweep at Charlotte.
Etc.: Despite his 160-point deficit, Kahne isn't giving up hope of winning the championship. But he also said he wouldn't trade any of his six wins for the title. "To come into the season with one Nextel Cup win and then to get six more is great," he said, adding, "There is no way Jeff Burton has had as fun a year as we've had. I wouldn't give up any of these wins."
Kyle Busch
No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Busch's fifth-place finish last spring is his career-best Cup result at Martinsville. He finished ninth there one year ago. Crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected chassis No. 263, the same car Busch drove to a fifth-place finish in the spring event. "Martinsville is a tricky place," Busch said. "I've never qualified very well there but have been able to come through the field pretty well. Last spring there was a green-white-checkered finish and I was up to second but slipped in some oil dry and fell back to fifth, so we're certainly capable."
Last week: After starting 18th, Busch finished sixth at Charlotte.
Etc.: Busch tested at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., on Oct. 5 to prepare for Sunday's Martinsville event. He will drive the No. 15 Chevrolet Silverado for owner Billy Ballew in Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville. Busch has made one truck start at the track, scoring a fifth-place finish in 2005.
Jeff Gordon
No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: In his last seven starts at Martinsville, Gordon has four wins and an average finish of third. And after three consecutive DNFs in the first five races of the Chase, Gordon needs some wins. After he got as high as second in the standings, the misfortune of a broken fuel pump at Kansas, getting collected in a wreck at Talladega and an engine failure at Charlotte has dropped Gordon to 10th. "It looks like it's just not meant to be for us this year," said Gordon, who has seven wins, five poles, 15 top-fives and 21 top-10s in 27 Martinsville starts.
Last week: Gordon was competing with the front-runners with only 31 laps remaining and appeared to be ready to climb in the points, but engine failure sent him to the garage at Charlotte.
Etc.: Martinsville is one place where Gordon has never suffered a DNF. He has finished outside the top 12 at the short track only three times.
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This week: Stewart has either won or had an excellent shot at winning in the last three Martinsville races. He won there last spring, his second win at the short track, and was second there last fall. In the 2005 spring race, Stewart led four times for 247 laps before a broken right-front wheel ended his victory hopes.
Last week: Stewart credited crew chief Greg Zipadelli for his 13th-place finish at Charlotte. "The last two times I left this track I left in an ambulance," Stewart said. "I give him the credit for making the car adjustable enough to get us where we needed to be."
Carl Edwards
No. 99 Ford, Roush Racing
This week: Edwards' 16th place in the spring race at Martinsville is his best finish there. He finished 26th, 38th and 24th in his three other starts. Only three drivers —Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson— have scored more top-10s this year than Edwards' 17.
Last week: Edwards finished eighth at Charlotte for his fourth straight top-10 finish as he pulled to 213 points behind 11th place and the million-dollar bonus that goes to the driver who finishes in that position.
Greg Biffle
No. 16 Ford, Roush Racing
This week: Biffle admits that he struggles at Martinsville, and he knows he needs to start running better at the short track to boost his future championship aspirations. In seven starts there, his best finish is 17th and he has led only six laps.
Last week: Biffle finished 37th at Charlotte after suffering engine failure early in the race.
Kurt Busch
No. 2 Dodge, Penske Racing South
This week: Busch has one win, two top-five and four top-10 finishes in 12 starts at Martinsville. He won the 2002 Old Dominion 500 from the 36th starting position — the farthest back a race winner has started at the short track.
Last week: Busch finished 32nd at Charlotte after a brush with the second-turn wall and subsequent spin on lap 116.
Casey Mears
No. 42 Dodge, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
This week: Martinsville has not been a good track for Mears. His best finish in seven starts at the short track is 17th (twice). His five other finishes are 22nd or worse.
Last week: Mears was not a happy camper after finishing 12th at Charlotte. "We had a car that was capable of a top-five finish," said Mears. "We came on pit road and the caution came out and put half the field or more a lap down."
Brian Vickers
No. 25 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Vickers finished eighth in the spring race at Martinsville, his first top-10 finish at the short track.
Last week: Vickers finished 10th at Charlotte for his fourth top-10 finish in the last five races. "We've got a lot of momentum going for us right now, and there are still a lot things we can accomplish," said Vickers.
Clint Bowyer
No. 07 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
This week: Bowyer finished 22nd in his Nextel Cup debut at Martinsville in the spring. He won the pole and finished second in the Busch Series event at the short track in July.
Last week: Bowyer led twice for three laps early in the race at Charlotte. But on lap 116, he got caught up in a wreck that ended his hopes of having a "real good day." Instead, Bowyer had to settle for a 23rd-place finish.
Ryan Newman
No. 12 Dodge, Penske Racing South
This week: Newman has four top-five and five top-10 finishes in nine starts at Martinsville. He also has won two poles at the short track.
Last week: A cracked rear-end housing forced Newman to spend 60 laps in the garage area repairing the damage. As a result, Newman finished 27th in the Bank of America 500.
Martin Truex Jr.
No. 1 Chevrolet, DEI
This week: Truex finished 19th in his first Nextel Cup start at Martinsville and believes a better run is on the horizon this weekend. "We're bringing a new car to Martinsville, and I know we'll be competitive," he said.
Last week: Truex got caught up in the first-lap melee at Charlotte and, as a result, limped home in 31st place.
Scott Riggs
No. 10 Dodge, Evernham Motorsports
This week: Riggs won the first pole position of his Cup career at Martinsville on April 8, 2005. He scored his first top-10 finish at the short track last spring when he ended up 10th.
Last week: Riggs won his second consecutive pole position at Charlotte and led four times for 34 laps. But he ran into major handling problems during the last half of the race and finished a disappointing 17th.
***
Notes provided by The Sports Xchange
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Jeff Gordon Looking To Return To Winning Ways At Martinsville
Performance PR Plus, Press Release
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (October 17, 2006) – In his last seven starts at Martinsville Speedway, Jeff Gordon has four wins and an average finish of third. And after three consecutive DNF’s in the first five races of the “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup,” Team DuPont is in the hunt for wins.
Having been as high as second in the standings, the misfortune of a broken fuel pump at Kansas, getting collected in a wreck at Talladega and an engine failure with only 31 laps remaining after leading in Charlotte has dropped Gordon to 10th.
“It looks like it’s just not meant to be for us this year,” said Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. “From here on out, we just go out there and try to win races.”
With 75 career wins including victories this season at Infineon Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway, and a track record at Martinsville which consists of seven wins, five poles, 15 top-fives and 21 top-10's in 27 starts, Gordon is ready to add to his win list starting with this Sunday’s Subway 500.
"I always love racing here, and I think a lot of that has to do with my driving style,” said Gordon. “Everybody has their own technique for getting around this place.
“The DuPont team deserves a lot of credit, as well. They consistently bring great cars to this track.”
And after this recent series of DNF’s, Martinsville is one place where Gordon has never suffered one. In addition, he swept the two scheduled races here in both 2003 and 2005, and was runner-up here earlier in the season. Only three times has he finished outside the top 12 at the short track.
“I always feel good going into a race at Martinsville,” said Gordon. “And despite our recent bad fortune, it’s no different this time.
“We've got some things we're working on that will hopefully take us to that next level, and we're trying to raise the bar in the performance of the cars.
“One of the things that holds you back the most is that you're always searching. I know how good our cars are here. I know how to get into a rhythm of what I'm looking for here.
"We don't just search here – we attack."
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True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
ATLANTA (Oct. 17, 2006) - A bass pond. That's what Tony Stewart wanted to see Martinsville (Va.) Speedway turned into after some less than stellar runs at the paperclip-shaped .526-mile oval. Fill it with water, because Stewart had his fill of crumpled race cars and short tempers within Martinsville's tight confines.
But then came a cure for those ill feelings - winning. Stewart won the 2000 fall race at Martinsville - from the pole, no less - and led three times for a stout 179 laps. Suddenly, Martinsville wasn't all that bad.
Stewart remained consistently strong at Martinsville between 2001 and 2004 despite not earning any more grandiose grandfather clocks - the unique trophy available only to Martinsville winners. The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing secured two top-threes, four top-10s, led 185 laps and had only one finish out of the top-15.
Then came 2005, where Stewart really turned up the wick. En route to his second NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship, Stewart led 530 of the 1,000 laps available (53 percent) to earn the best average running position (3.784) of any Nextel Cup driver. But even with those gaudy numbers, Stewart didn't have a win.
A broken right front wheel less than 70 laps short of the finish in the spring race left Stewart 26th. And in the fall race, Stewart finished second to Jeff Gordon, who successfully gambled that track position was better than pitting for four fresh tires late in the race.
Stewart and the No. 20 Home Depot Racing Team put those disappointments behind them when they unloaded at Martinsville this spring. With a third-place qualifying effort, Stewart quickly headed to the front, leading five times for a race-high 288 laps - including the final 26 laps - to finally score a second Martinsville victory.
Six-and-a-half months later, Stewart returns to Martinsville hungry for another win as he makes his 280th career Nextel Cup start in Sunday's Subway 500.
You used to hate racing at Martinsville, but now you seem to tolerate it. What prompted the change of heart?
"You learn how to protect the car. You learn how to not beat it up. You learn it's a lot more fun racing when you use a lot more patience. Patience seems to be the biggest variable that can hold you up at a place like Martinsville. Needless to say, after going there a couple of times, I've learned how to be patient - out of necessity, basically."
You once suggested that Martinsville be filled with water and turned into a bass pond. After leading 818 of the 1,500 laps available (54.5 percent) in the past three races at Martinsville and winning in your most recent trip to the track in April, are you glad it's still a race track?
"I'd like to see them do to Martinsville like what they used to do at Bristol - once a year put dirt on it and let us race on it as a dirt track, simply because it would be cool. I like it the way it is, trust me. The speedway has done such a good job of making improvements - giving us new garages, fresh asphalt and fresh concrete in the corners. They've really taken what was a very aged race track and made it modern and something that we're all excited about racing on. The racing here has been awesome since they did everything that they've done. As a fellow promoter (Stewart owns Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio), I'm excited to see things like this happen - when promoters do things to make the competition better."
Martinsville and Bristol (Tenn.) seem to have a lot in common. They're both short tracks, where good days seem to be great and bad days seem to be horrendous. Is that a fair assessment?
"They're the kind of tracks where if you have a good qualifying run and you have a great race car, then the race is a lot of fun. If you have a car in the race that's not driving well and you have a bad qualifying run and a bad pit selection and you end up fighting the car all day, then a place like
Martinsville becomes a very tough track. But that's also one of the reasons why when you do win there it means so much. Plus, their grandfather clock is one of the coolest trophies around."
Brakes are incredibly important at Martinsville. How does a driver conserve his brakes for 500 laps?
"You try to stay off the brakes as much as possible. You always hear the crew chief talking about floating the car into the corner, and what they mean by that is instead of driving it really deep into the corner and using a lot of brake pressure, the theory is to lift a little earlier and use less brake pressure. You'll end up running virtually the same lap time as you would if you drove hard into the corner. But when you've got a 500-lap race at Martinsville and you've got to use the brakes hard twice a lap, that's 1,000 times during a race where you're asking that brake system to slow down a 3,400-pound race car. If you can be easy on those brakes for the first half of the race or first three-quarters of the race, then when you really need those brakes to battle for the win at the end - you've got 'em."
Martinsville is a pretty physical race track - one that you've seemed to have mastered. But you're probably even better prepared for 500 laps at Martinsville this time around because you've hired a trainer and have been working with him for about a month. Talk about that.
"I just wanted to get in better shape. I'm sure there are 80-90 percent of the people who'd like to get in better shape. I just got to the point where I said, 'OK, I'm going to do this.' The hard part is, it's not like our schedule is sane by any means. It's not like we can start working out and get to a five-day-a-week schedule. We had to be a little more resourceful and think about it a little more and get creative with it. We researched everything and came up with this. He (the trainer) goes everywhere we go. He knows the schedule. He's still learning too, because he hasn't traveled nearly as much as we travel. There are days when he gets there and it's a scheduled workout day and he says, 'Man, I'm tired, so I know you've got to be dog-tired.' He understands how to tailor the workout so it works around our schedule."
How is the new workout regimen going?
"It's fun. Race drivers are competitive by nature, so everyday when I work out, probably the thing I use the most is the rowing machine. It's good for cardio, but at the same time, it works your back, your shoulders, your arms and your legs. The first day I went 6,000 meters, then it was 6,300 and then 6,500 and the other day I went 8,000 meters. It's just neat to push myself and see how far I can go. When I see myself progress that way, it's not so much counting pounds, because you can drive yourself nuts doing that everyday because you want to jump on the scale. Being able to go out everyday and do something better and go a little bit further and lift a little bit heavier weight than I was a day or two before, that's how I'll judge my progress."
GREG ZIPADELLI, crew chief on the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet:
It seems as though Martinsville is one of the tracks most often mentioned as a place that really affects the point standings, because the track tends to produce so many variables that are out of a team's control. Do you agree with that?
"Yes, because at Martinsville you can get tore up real easily and you can have a problem on pit road real easily. You can go to Martinsville and qualify well, get one of the two or three good pit stalls that are available, have a good enough car to run up front all day, but have something totally out of your control ruin your day. Martinsville is the type of place where if something can happen, then it will happen to somebody, somehow. Plus, tempers and things tend to get stirred up there and it's really easy to get caught up in someone else's mess. Hopefully, we'll stay fast and get through it all and get a good finish."
Does Martinsville's quirkiness play to the strengths of The Home Depot Racing Team?
"Running well at Martinsville is all about the attitude you have when you walk in the gate Friday morning. That will dictate whether you have a good weekend or a bad weekend. I really think it boils down to that. As soon as you get frustrated, you get behind. Martinsville is one of those places where you can't ask your driver to drive harder, because that's what'll get you in trouble. Track position has always been a big deal, so qualifying well is important, not only in terms of where you'll start on the race track, but for pit selection as well."
Brakes never seem to be an issue for your driver at Martinsville. How so?
"Honestly, our brakes have never been better. The key is to have a car where the driver is able to get off the brakes real early and then just let it roll through the center of the corner. The problem comes when the car doesn't roll and it doesn't turn. The driver has to drive it in deeper, use more brakes, and then you end up with no brakes. Last year our brake temperatures were the best they've ever been. That's because our car drove really well."
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 10-19-2006 at 08:50 PM.
Reason: spacing
At .526 of a mile, Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track that the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series visits, would you consider yourself a fan of short-track racing?
“Unlike most of the guys that race in this series or any division of NASCAR, I didn’t grow up racing at the local dirt short track. In comparison to the other guys, my experience is limited to the tracks I’ve run while racing in Nextel Cup. Martinsville is somewhat different though because it reminds me of turn 11 at Sonoma. You get down, get on the brakes, off the brakes and roll the center and get back to the power. It’s one of the best opportunities to pass there, which is why, if your car has the right setup, you can pass pretty easily at Martinsville. We didn’t have the best of luck last time around at Martinsville and we’re looking to rebound this weekend and bring home a solid finish.”
Menards/Mapei Fast Facts
Welcome Back –
Menards and Mapei (ma-pay) team up once again as the primary sponsor of Gordon’s No. 7 Chevy for this weekend’s Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. MAPEI, a global corporation, has been supplying residential and major commercial projects with total installation solutions for tile and stone, floor covering and decorative concrete as well as concrete restoration for more than 65 years. Visit www.mapei.com for technical information or call 1-800-42-MAPEI (1-800-426-2734) for the nearest dealer location. Harrah’s, Jim Beam and CarLoan.com will serve as associates.
Chassis –
Robby Gordon Motorsports will run Chassis No. 110 at this weekend’s event. No. 110 acted as the primary during Gordon’s last run at Martinsville Speedway in April where an engine failure sidelined Gordon and relegated him to 43rd-place finish. Chassis No. 109 will assume back-up duties.
Points Position –
With a 25th-place finish in last weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gordon remained 27th in owner points.
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Driver: Elliott Sadler
Team Director: Josh Browne
Car Director: Kirk Almquist
Engineer: Tim Malinovsky
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
Chassis: No. 122
Car Info: Finished sixth at Loudon in September.
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top 10s: 2
Led: 59
Rank: 33 (rank in Owner’s Points)
ELLIOTT SADLER QUOTES
“Patience, lots of patience. That’s the key to finishing a race at Martinsville. To finish up front, the racecar must handle in the corners. A racecar that gets through the corner without sliding around and maintains momentum on exit will be successful. At the same time, you can’t abuse the racecar early and expect to have anything at the finish. This race demands 500 laps of patience.
“These last five races are very important for the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger team. We are building momentum for Daytona and the 2007 season. A win would certainly create momentum and this team is certainly capable. To do it at Martinsville and in my home state would be special. This is short-track racing at its best.”
STATS & FACTS
Sadler has three top-10 starts and three top-10 finishes at Martinsville. He has completed 99 percent of laps attempted at the historic paper-clip shaped short track.
Sadler has led 39 laps at Martinsville. The majority came during the 2001 Old Dominion 500.
Sadler has collected over $1 Million in winnings at the Martinsville Speedway.
Ray Evernham announced in August that Sadler had been selected to drive the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger. Sadler’s first start in the No. 19 Dodge came at Michigan where he qualified second and finished 10th.
Sadler’s best finish in the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger came at New Hampshire when he finished sixth. He has two top-10 finishes in the No. 19 Dodge Charger. The Evernham Motorsports entry is currently 33rd in owner point standings.
Sadler is 21st in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, 256 points out of 15th.
ELLIOTT SADLER CAREER MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY STATS
Starts: 15
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top 10s: 3
Laps Led: 39
Total Earnings: $1,061,390
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Driver: Kasey Kahne
Team Director: Kenny Francis
Car Director: Mike Shiplett
Engineer: Keith Rodden
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
Chassis: No. 113
Car Info: Finished third at Richmond; raced at Martinsville, Phoenix, Richmond and Loudon this year.
Wins: 6
Poles: 5*
Top Fives: 11
Top 10s: 16
Led: 652
Rank: 8
KASEY KAHNE QUOTES
“We’re doing everything we can to run up front. We’ve been doing that all year long. We’ve had some rough weekends and some great weekends. We had a great race in the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Now we go to Martinsville. Hopefully, it will be another good weekend. We had an awesome run at Martinsville earlier this year before a problem took us out of the race with just over 100 laps remaining. We ran in the top three throughout the first half of the race. I like racing at Martinsville. It’s intense, but fun.
"The 10 drivers in The Chase have run up front all year. That makes it difficult to gain points. We’re happy to get our sixth win Saturday night at Lowe’s and we will do everything we can to make up the points we lost in those first three Chase races. We finished second in the No. 9 Dodge Charger at Talladega and made up 88 points. We won Saturday night and gained only 25 points on the leader. If we get some good breaks and have some good results while the guys we’re racing with in the top 10 have some of those bad weekends like we had in the first three races in The Chase, then we’ll be right back in the middle of it.
“I’m happy I’m in The Chase. I definitely want to win the Nextel Cup, but if things don’t go our way and we can’t do it this year, then that’s the way it is and we’ll try again in ’07. As far as hitting the panic button, there’s no panic. I just want to win. I want to do everything I can to run up front. My team is really good. They’re always bringing me great racecars. For two-and-a-half months, we’ve had as good a racecar as anybody.”
KASEY KAHNE FAST FACTS
Kahne has one top-five start at Martinsville Speedway (Spring 2006). He finished 35th in the race after an engine issue took him out early.
Kahne’s best finish at Martinsville is a second, which he posted in the 2005 Spring race after starting 35th.
Kahne has a 94.5 percent lap completion rate at Martinsville. He has led 18 laps there over his two-and-a-half year career, 17 of the 18 laps were lead in the fall race of 2004.
The 2006 season marks the third consecutive year Evernham Motorsports has had a driver in the Chase for the Championship (Jeremy Mayfield 2004 and 2005)
Kahne’s win last weekend at Lowe’s was his sixth of the season. He is the only six-time winner in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series this season. His wins came at Atlanta, Texas, Lowe’s (both races), Michigan, and California.
Kahne is eighth in the Chase for the Championship standings, just 71 points out of third and 160 behind the leader.
Kahne has claimed the Bud Pole five times this year. He is tied with Kurt Busch for the series lead in starts from the pole.
KASEY KAHNE'S CAREER STATS AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
Starts: 0
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top 10s: 1
Laps Led: 18
Total Earnings: $541,179
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Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, will make his 10th NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday and his 184th start in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In nine races at the 0.526-mile oval, Newman has never started outside the top 10. His lowest start was 10th, which occurred during his first career start at the track in April 2002. Since then, Newman has only had one other start outside the top five, an eighth in October 2003. His other seven starts included two poles, a second, two third-place starts and consecutive starts from the fourth position in the past two races. Newman’s average starting spot is 4.0, the best among all active drivers.
Newman always seems to do well at the short tracks and Martinsville is no exception. Newman has had only two finishes outside the top 20 – a 38th and a 41st – and another two outside the top 10 – 18th and 15th. The 18th-place finish occurred during this year's Virginia 500 in April. Newman’s five other finishes include five top 10s and four top fives. His average finish at the Virginia track is 15.44.
Newman has led four races at Martinsville Speedway for a total of 83 laps. He has completed 4,190 laps of a possible 4,500, giving Newman a 93.1 percent completion rate.
Crew chief Matt Borland and the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger team will take chassis PRS-69 to this weekend’s Subway 500 at Martinsville. The car had two top-10 finishes last year and has been used as a back-up car at Richmond in May and Loudon in July. Borland and the Alltel team took this car to both Martinsville races in 2005. In April, Newman had a flat tire at the race's beginning and lost a few laps, but he was able to drive the car back to the front and finish fourth. In October, the car finished 10th at Martinsville. The team also tested this car at Richmond International Raceway earlier this year.
The backup car for Martinsville is chassis PRS-91. This car was run in the last two spring Richmond races. In May 2005, Newman finished third after qualifying second and in May of this year, Newman finished eighth after starting 14th.
Newman on Martinsville Speedway: “Even though we’ve struggled on the intermediate tracks this year, we’ve done well on the short tracks. We always seem to have a good run on the short tracks, so I’m happy that we get one more shot at a short track this season. With only five races left, we’d really like to have a good top-five finish and earn a win for our team and our sponsors before the season is over.”
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Martinsville Race Preview
Team notes: Chase charges toward Martinsville
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