The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville, Virginia, for the first time since the COVID-19 shutdown postponed its original scheduled date in May. Martinsville Speedway will play host to Wednesday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
As with other events held since NASCAR returned to action after the coronavirus outbreak, the 263-mile race will take place without fans in attendance, and only a limited amount of essential personnel will be permitted on the track’s grounds. It will mark the seventh Cup Series race in NASCAR’s return and the 11th race overall this season.
Here’s everything you need to know with helpful information on the track’s first official race under the lights at NASCAR’s highest level.
RELATED: How to follow the races | Schedule for Martinsville
TRACK DETAILS
Martinsville Speedway is a .526-mile oval that held its first NASCAR Cup Series event on September 25, 1949, the oldest track on the circuit. Red Byron was the winner of the race.
With an 800-foot frontstretch and backstretch, each 588-foot turn is banked at just 11 degrees. The turns also feature a concrete preferred bottom groove, while the upper grooves and straightaways are asphalt.
Wednesday night’s 500-lap race will be the 143rd race for NASCAR’s top division on the Virginia track.
RELATED: Historic moments at Martinsville
STAGE LENGTHS
Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 130, Stage 2 at Lap 260, and the final stage is slated to conclude on Lap 500.
STARTING LINEUP
Wednesday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 will be held without practice and qualifying as NASCAR tries to limit exposure for on-site personnel to control the spread of coronavirus. The lineup was determined by a random draw among groups in the team owner standings:
- Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
- Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
- Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
- Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points
Ryan Blaney will start on the pole in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang alongside Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.
MORE: Starting lineup for Martinsville
Pit-stall selection will be ordered based on finishing positions from the NASCAR Cup Series’ previous race — last Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway — followed by new entries in order of points.
For more information about starting-lineup procedures for national-series races scheduled without qualifying, click here.
RULES PACKAGE
In March, NASCAR officials introduced a reduced-downforce package designed to enhance competition on road courses and the circuit’s shorter oval tracks. The changes include significantly smaller spoilers, splitters and other aerodynamic devices in an effort to place a greater emphasis on handling and driver input with less stabilizing downforce on those tracks. The package draws inspiration from similar rules used in the 2017-18 seasons.
Among the changes for those specific tracks:
- A significantly smaller rear spoiler, which shrinks from an 8-inch height to 2.75 inches.
- The front splitter’s overhang will now measure a quarter-inch (down from 2 inches), with approximately 2-inch wings (reduced from 10.5 inches).
- Alterations to the radiator pan, removing its vertical fencing in an effort to reduce front-end downforce. The dimensions of the pan remain the same.
GOODYEAR TIRES
Unique set of challenges: Wednesday’s stop at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway presents one similar challenge and one that is quite different, compared to the series’ first short-track race of the year at Bristol Motor Speedway. Similar to Bristol, Martinsville’s corners are concrete, and the tread compounds Goodyear chooses to bring are specifically designed to lay rubber on that surface. The difference is the banking as Martinsville is virtually flat while Bristol is steeply banked. As a result, the constructions of these two tire codes have been designed to optimize the acceleration, deceleration and handling needed on Martinsville’s flat, tight turns. Also of note, since this is the first night race at Martinsville, the Goodyear test at this track last summer that yielded this tire setup was held partially under the track’s new lights.
“Moving the first Martinsville race later in the schedule will have an impact on tires and the track’s ability to take rubber,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Originally scheduled for May and now being held in June, ambient temperatures will be warmer, which will help the cars’ ability to lay rubber in the concrete corners. Even though this race will be held at night, track temperatures should be warmer than what we ‘normally’ have for this event. In addition to the concrete corners, Martinsville’s lack of banking, long straightaways and tight turns combine for the other challenge teams face. Drivers are hard on the brakes entering the corners and hard on the gas exiting, so our constructions have to be very robust in handling those conditions.”
Goodyear debuts new tire setup: There are two new tire codes NASCAR Cup teams will run at Martinsville Speedway. Compared to what was run at this track last season, this tire setup features construction updates on both sides of the car and compound changes on both sides that will give the cars more grip and introduce more tire wear. This tire setup came out of a test at Martinsville last July. Drivers, and teams who participated in that test were Team Penske (Ryan Blaney), Stewart-Haas Racing (Clint Bowyer) and Wood Brothers Racing (Paul Menard). This is the only track where NASCAR teams will run either of these two tire codes. Also, like most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at Martinsville.
STATS TO KNOW
— Both Martinsville Speedway winners in 2019 swept all three stages. Brad Keselowski won both stages and the race in the spring and Martin Truex Jr. won both stages and the race in the fall.
— Team Penske (three) and Joe Gibbs Racing (two) won five of the last six at Martinsville Speedway.
— Ford drivers have won four of the last six races at Martinsville Speedway after the manufacturer failed to win any of the prior 28 races. Brad Keselowski won two of the last six Martinsville races and is the only repeat winner in the last seven races there. Chevrolet has 56 Martinsville wins but has won only once in the last eight races.
— The last five Martinsville Speedway races were won by the driver who led the most laps, while the last five winners led a stretch of over 100 laps in each of their victories. Two of the last five races ended with a last-lap pass; the final lead change in the other three races was with 114 laps to go or more.
— Only once in the last seven Martinsville Speedway races has a driver earned their first win of the season. Clint Bowyer accomplished the feat in the spring 2018 race.
— The past five races at Martinsville Speedway have produced five different winners — Kyle Busch (fall 2017), Clint Bowyer (spring 2018), Joey Logano (fall 2018), Brad Keselowski (spring 2019) and Martin Truex Jr. (fall 2019).
Source: NASCAR statistics, Racing Insights
LIVE COVERAGE
Tune in Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET to television coverage from Martinsville Speedway on FS1 and the FOX Sports App. For full radio coverage, listen in to MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on-air.
RELATED: Ways to follow the races
For a more interactive experience, head over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner (which is FREE for both races), and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).
Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the NASCAR Finish Line App.
2019 RACE WINNER
Brad Keselowski, who has already won two races in 2020, took his No. 2 Team Penske Ford to Victory Lane in last season’s first of two trips to Martinsville Speedway. Keselowski led a dominating 446 of the 500 total laps and finished with a .594-second margin of victory over Chase Elliott. Keselowski also won the spring race at the track in 2017.
RELATED: 2019 STP 500 recap
ACTIVE MARTINSVILLE WINNERS
Jimmie Johnson (nine); Denny Hamlin (five); Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch (two); Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman (one)
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Martinsville 101: TV times, key stats, revised procedures and more - NASCAR
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