NASCAR Cup Series News & Notes – Martinsville Speedway

NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Cook Out 400
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
Track Length: 0.526 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Sunday, March 30
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
The Purse: $11,055,250
TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 210.4 miles (400 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 180), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 400)

Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:

Friday, March 28

NCTS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (FS2 at 2 p.m. ET)

NXS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (The CW App at 4:30 p.m. ET)

NCTS Race: Boys And Girls Club Of The Blue Ridge 200 (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 7:30 p.m. ET)

Saturday, March 29

NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM at 2 p.m. ET)

NXS Race: US Marine Corps 250 (The CW, MRN, SiriusXM at 5 p.m. ET)

Sunday, March 30

NCS Race: Cook Out 400 (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)

Martinsville Storylines and Insights:

• This weekend marks the 153rd running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is the only track that hosted a race every season (1949-2025).
• Martinsville Speedway, at 152 NASCAR Cup Series points-paying races, has hosted the second-most points paying events all-time, behind only Daytona International Speedway at 156.
• Martinsville is the first of six short track races in 2025.
• Martinsville has held a Playoff race every year of the postseason (2004-2025), and this is the sixth straight year Martinsville held the race prior to the Championship (2020-2025).
• Hendrick Motorsports drivers won five of the last nine Martinsville races with all four active drivers winning at least once (William Byron is the repeat winner with two).
• The last five Martinsville races were won from starting positions outside the top-10, tied for the longest streak ever at Martinsville.
• Hendrick Motorsports finished 1-2-3 at Martinsville in April, the first 1-2-3 finish by a team ever at the track.
• The last seven races at Martinsville were won by drivers 30 years old or younger, the longest streak ever at the track.
• All but three of the last 76 races at Martinsville dating to 1987 were won by a driver with at least 100 career Cup Series starts
• A total of 59 different drivers have won in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway. This weekend, 10 of the 59 different NASCAR Cup Series Martinsville Speedway winners will be active.

• Christopher Bell’s win at Martinsville in October 2022 to advance to the Championship 4 Round is his only top-five finish at the track in nine starts.
• Alex Bowman’s October 2021 Martinsville win is his only top-five finish at the track in 17 starts.
• Chase Briscoe’s five top-10 finishes at Martinsville are his most at a track, all five came in the last six races.
• Joey Logano’s 11 straight top 10s at Martinsville is the longest active top-10 streak at Martinsville and his longest streak at any track.
• Ryan Blaney’s 10 top-five finishes at Martinsville are his most at a track, he finished top-seven in the last six races there including winning the Martinsville Playoff race the last two years sending him to the Championship 4 Round both times.
• The last 13 Martinsville races were won by three organizations: Hendrick Motorsports (five), Joe Gibbs Racing (four), Team Penske (four).
• Six different pole winners in first six Cup races in 2025 – has only occurred four times in the Modern Era (1998, 2014, 2019, 2025).
• 2025 is the first time since 2016 that five different teams won the pole in the first six races of the season.
• Hendrick Motorsports won the pole for four of the last six races on short-tracks.
• The last driver to win from pit stall 1 at Martinsville was Jimmie Johnson in April 2013.
•  A total of 63 different drivers have won a pole in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway. This weekend, six of the 63 Cup Series Martinsville Speedway pole winners are active.

• The eventual Martinsville winner didn’t lead for the first time until at least lap 186 in each of the last eight races.
• The pass for the win came in the final 30 laps in each of the last five Martinsville races.
• Three full-time teams have not had a DNF yet in 2025:  Hendrick Motorsports, Hyak Motorsports and Legacy Motor Club.
• Chase Elliott is the only driver to finish top-10 in all seven short-track races in 2024, his seven straight top 10s on short tracks is the longest of his Cup career.
• Ryan Blaney will make his 261st Cup start for Team Penske this weekend, passing Ryan Newman for 4th most all-time in team history.
• The 201 lead changes in 2025 are the most ever through six races.
• 153 lead lap finishers in 2025 are the most ever through the first six races of a season.
• 20 drivers have scored a top-five finishes through the first six races, tied for the fifth most in series history and most since 2010.
• William Byron is the only driver to lead in each of the first six races of 2025.
• Christopher Bell can become only the third driver in history to win 4 of the first 7 races in a season (Bill Elliott – 1992, Dale Earnhardt – 1987, Richard Petty – 1975)
• A stage winner went on to win once this season (Christopher Bell – stage 2 at Phoenix), the fewest ever through six races.
• Ford has only five top-five finishes through the first six races of 2025, the fewest since 2016. Josh Berry accounts for two of Ford’s five top-five finishes in 2025 including the only win.
• 2024 NASCAR Cup Champion Joey Logano’s 247 laps led in 2025 is the most ever through six races by a driver without a top 10 finish (in those six races).
• Joey Logano is the first defending champion without a top-10 finish in the first six races of the following season.
• Ty Gibbs earned 40 fewer stage points in 2025 through six races compared to six races in 2024, the biggest decline among all drivers.
• Bubba Wallace’s 61 stage points through six races in 2025 are his most ever at this point in a season by 40 points.
• John Hunter Nemechek finished on the lead lap in the last six races, his longest streak ever in Cup.
• Kyle Larson’s average finish in the last five Martinsville races is 2.8, compared to 20.5 in the 15 prior races.
• Ryan Blaney ranks second in 2025 in stage points earned, 43% of his total points this season came from stages.

NASCAR & Martinsville, Etc.

Historical & Significant Events at Martinsville Speedway:

• Opened in September of 1947 by Henry Clay Earles, Martinsville Speedway, originally a dirt track, is one of the oldest continuously-operating race tracks in the United States.
• Located at an overgrown 30 acre cornfield just outside Martinsville. Construction of the track was soon underway in 1947 and ended up costing $60,000.
• The first NASCAR-sanctioned race at Martinsville Speedway was on July 4, 1948.
• The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway was on September 25, 1949, and was a 200 lap (100 mile) race that was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Red Byron driving an Oldsmobile for car owner Raymond Parks.
• The track was paved during the summer months of 1955. The first race at the track that season was on dirt (May 15) and the second race of the year was the first on the paved track (Oct. 16). Prior to paving the track, the Cup Series ran 12 races total on the dirt at Martinsville (1949-1955).
• The first 500-lap (250 mile) event at Martinsville Speedway was in 1956 and was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker from the pole position. Baker was driving a 1956 Dodge for car owner Carl Kiekhaefer.
• In 1964 Earles decided it was time for a different type of trophy for race winners. His choice was a grandfather clock produced by nearby Ridgeway Clock Company. On September 27, 1964, Earles awarded the first clock trophy to Fred Lorenzen, the winner of the Old Dominion 500 that afternoon.
• Richard Petty has the most clocks with 12 (he won three times at Martinsville prior to the introduction of the clock). Darrell Waltrip won 11, while Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each have 9 clocks.
• Concrete corners were added atop asphalt in 1976 at Martinsville Speedway.
• International Speedway Corporation (now NASCAR) purchased the privately owned Martinsville Speedway in 2004 for $192 million.
• In the past 20 years the track has stepped up its investment in improvements and additions to establish the once dusty ½ mile dirt track on 30 acres into a modern facility encompassing over 300 acres.
• In 2017, lights were added to Martinsville Speedway. The project cost an estimated $5 million to complete.
• In total, there have been 152 NASCAR Cup Series points-paying races at Martinsville Speedway, one in the inaugural year and two races per year since 1950.
• Martinsville Speedway, at 152 NASCAR Cup Series points-paying races, has hosted the second-most points paying events