Category: NASCAR Cup PR

5 KYLE LARSON

Age: 31 (July 31, 1992)

Hometown: Elk Grove, California

Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels

Standings: 2nd

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM 40th Anniversary Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM 40th Anniversary Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media in the Martinsville Speedway media center on Saturday, April 6, at 3 p.m. local time.

GRANDFATHERED IN: Last spring, Kyle Larson earned his first victory – and iconic grandfather clock trophy – at Martinsville Speedway for Hendrick Motorsports’ 28th NASCAR Cup Series win at the short track. With crew chief Cliff Daniels’ strategy calls setting up the team to have track position late, Larson led the final 30 laps to earn the victory. In his 18 starts at the 0.526-mile venue, Larson has earned one win, four top-five finishes, six top-10s and led 210 laps.

PAPERCLIP POINTS: Larson is one of six drivers to finish inside the top 10 in both Martinsville races in 2023 and carries a three-race top-10 streak (tied for the fourth-longest) at the track into Sunday’s race. Since 2022, he has run the third-most laps in the top 10 (1,287), run the fifth-most laps in the top five (665) and scored the fifth-most points (142) at Martinsville.

THREE OF FOUR IN 5: The 31-year-old driver has four short-track victories, three of which occurred since joining the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team in 2021. The trio of wins occurred in his last 14 starts, with wins at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021 and Richmond Raceway and Martinsville in 2023.

FINE NINE: Larson leads several statistical categories over the last nine Cup Series short-track races. The 2021 Cup Series champion has the most poles (two) and the best average finish (4.89), while he is tied for most second-place finishes (two), top-five finishes (seven) and top-10s (eight). Larson has finished in the top six in eight of the last nine short-track events.

I SECOND THAT: Last Saturday at Richmond, Larson scored the 248th pole position for 14-time Cup Series championship organization Hendrick Motorsports. Sunday evening, Larson won stage one – securing a valuable playoff point – before finishing the race third. He scored the most points during the event to move from fifth to second in the points standings. With 144 laps led at the 0.75-mile track, he now leads the series with 368 circuits out front in 2024.

NEXT GEN(ERATIONAL) TALENT: Larson only trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron in wins in the Next Gen car. Byron has 10 victories, while Larson has eight in the most recent iteration of the car in NASCAR’s premier series, which debuted in 2022. In the Next Gen era, Larson also has two short-track victories (two behind the series lead) and his average finish (6.83, with a minimum of three starts) and points scored (467) on short tracks each rank second. In addition, the Elk Grove, California, native is one of three drivers to finish in the top five in this year’s two short-track races (fifth at Bristol Motor Speedway and third at Richmond).

PUTTING IN WORK IN THE PITS: The No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM pit crew has this season’s fourth-best average four-tire pit stop time (11.045 seconds). The five-person crew is comprised of Blaine Anderson (front-tire changer), R.J. Barnette (tire carrier), Brandon Harder (fueler), Brandon Johnson (jackman) and Calvin Teague (rear-tire changer).

YOUR CAR NEEDS: This weekend, Larson will drive a ruby red featured No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to honor the 40th Anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’ first win in NASCAR’s premier series, which occurred at Martinsville. From the convenience of home, customers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at HENDRICKCARS.COM. The website also makes it easy for customers to find one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealership locations nationwide.

WE’RE HIRING: Hendrick Automotive Group is hiring more than 300 technicians at its dealerships throughout the country. Positions are open for all skill levels and offer tuition and training reimbursement. Interested people can apply at HENDRICKCARS.COM.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT

Age: 28 (Nov. 28, 1995)

Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia

Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia

Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson

Standings: 8th

No. 9 UniFirst 40th Anniversary Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

RICHMOND RUNDOWN: Chase Elliott and the No. 9 UniFirst team qualified second for last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. The 28-year-old driver led the opening five laps of the race before ending stage one in seventh. After finishing stage two in 13th, he navigated his way into the top 10 in the closing half of the final stage. Restarting sixth for NASCAR overtime, Elliott gained one more spot to finish fifth – his best result of the season thus far. The 2020 premier series champion is now eighth in the Cup Series points standings.

2024 NUMBERS: Across the first seven races of this season, Elliott completed all but one of the 2,014 laps in competition. Additionally, he has the fifth-best average running position (12.48), is tied for the seventh-best average finish (12.71) and has the eighth-most laps inside the top 10 (912). Elliott has led 23 laps this season, including the 80,000th in the Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. In 2024, Elliott and the No. 9 team have been consistently fast in qualifying, earning four consecutive top-10 starting positions and five total.

PAPERCLIP PERFORMANCE: Elliott will make his 18th Martinsville Speedway start in the Cup Series on Sunday. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native made his Cup Series debut for Hendrick Motorsports at the track on March 29, 2015. Since then, he has led 1,040 laps at the Virginia short track – his most circuits led at any venue and 20.32% of his Cup career total. Across his 17 premier series starts at Martinsville, Elliott has one win (November of 2020), five top-five finishes and 10 top-10s – tied with Kansas Speedway and Michigan International Speedway for his most at active tracks. He is tied for the most stage wins at the track (six). In the Next Gen era (since 2022) at Martinsville, Elliott has the second-most laps led (322), the second-most laps spent inside the top five (939) and is tied for the sixth-most points earned (139).

GOING BACK TO ‘23: This race last season marked the return of Elliott to the No. 9 after six races missed due to his leg injury. In the spring 400-lap event, the six-time National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award winner started 24th and battled his way to a 10th-place finish – his third consecutive top-10 effort at the track.

SHORT-TRACK STATS: Elliott will make his 48th short-track start in the Cup Series on Sunday. In those previous 47 races, he garnered one win – Martinsville in November of 2020 – 15 top-five finishes, 25 top-10s, two pole awards and 1,584 laps led. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has finished inside the top 10 in eight of his last 10 short-track starts. Since the Next Gen’s debut, Elliott has the fifth-best average finish (9.18, among drivers with three or more starts) and scored the fifth-most points (376) on short tracks. Both of Elliott’s top-10 finishes in 2024 came on short tracks – eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway and fifth at Richmond.

AG’S PAPERCLIP PAST: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 39th Martinsville Cup race from atop the pit box. In his previous 38 Cup Series starts at the track, he has three wins, 15 top-five finishes and 27 top-10s with 2,017 laps led. Gustafson most recently visited victory lane at the Virginia short track with Elliott in 2020 to solidify the No. 9 team’s spot in the Championship 4. The veteran crew chief’s other two wins came with NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon in October of 2013 and again in November of 2015. The latter victory was the final of Gordon’s career and propelled him into the Championship 4 in his last full-time season.

FOUR TIRES FAST: The No. 9 pit crew ranks second in average four-tire pit stop time (10.927 seconds). On March 17 at Bristol, the five-person team knocked out the fourth-fastest four-tire stop of the season with a time of 9.479 seconds. The No. 9 crew is comprised of Chad Avrit (rear-tire changer), Jared Erspamer (tire carrier), John Gianninoto (fueler), Nick O’Dell (front-tire changer) and T.J. Semke (jackman).

UNIFIRST IS BACK: UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF), a North American leader in providing customized work uniform programs, corporate attire and facility service products, is back on board as the primary partner on No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for its second of five races in 2024. This weekend, the UniFirst Chevrolet is trading in its typical green and white scheme for a special ruby red livery in honor of Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary. Get a look at all of the special schemes for Martinsville here.

24 WILLIAM BYRON

Age: 26 (Nov. 29, 1997)

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle

Standings: 7th

No. 24 Axalta 40th Anniversary Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

24 IN ’24: William Byron’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is off to a strong start with a win in the prestigious DAYTONA 500 and a victory at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). In the seven races this year, Byron has an average finish of 12.71 – tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott and one other competitor for seventh-best among drivers. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has one pole award (COTA), two top-five finishes, four top-10s (tied for the fifth-most) and 61 laps led this season. He’s coming off a seventh-place finish at Richmond Raceway and sits seventh in the 2024 Cup Series points standings.

NEXT GEN DUO: Since the Next Gen Cup Series car was introduced in 2022, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle have had a Cup Series-leading 10 wins. The duo leads Hendrick Motorsports teammates driver Kyle Larson (eight wins) and crew chief Cliff Daniels (seven wins).

MARTINSVILLE MINUTES: Byron’s time at Martinsville Speedway goes back to when he attended his first Cup Series race at the paperclip-shaped track in 2006 as a fan. Since then, the 26-year-old driver has moved through the NASCAR ranks and is poised to make his 13th Cup Series start at the 0.526-mile track. Of his previous 12 Cup Series starts at the Virginia short track, Byron has one win (April of 2022), four top-five finishes (tied for his most at a track), six top-10s and 221 laps led (tied for his third-most laps led at a track). Since the inception of the Next Gen car in 2022, he has led the third-most laps at Martinsville (212) and has scored the ninth-most points at the track (127).

NUMBER NOTES: The No. 24 has 10 wins at Martinsville, one of which was Byron’s triumph in 2022. Team vice chairman Jeff Gordon is responsible for the other nine wins in the No. 24. The 10 wins are tied with another Hendrick Motorsports number, the No. 48, for the third-most by a car number at the short track.

THE FUGLE FILES: This Sunday’s race will mark Fugle’s seventh in the Cup Series at Martinsville. In his first six Cup Series starts, Fugle has one win (2022), three top-five finishes and four top-10s with the No. 24 team. Aside from his Cup Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has 14 additional national series races at the paperclip-shaped track under his belt, all in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In those 14 races, Fugle has accumulated one win (March of 2019), six top-five finishes and 12 top-10s. Two of those Truck Series starts were with Byron, both in 2016, where the duo started seventh in both races, racing to a third-place result in the spring and an eighth-place finish in the fall.

PIT ROAD PROWESS: Through seven races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew continues their success from last season. The five-person crew ranks third-best in average four-tire pit stop time (11.016 seconds). The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler).

AT IT AGAIN WITH AXALTA: Axalta will be back on board Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 but with a special ruby red flair to honor Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th Anniversary. This is Axalta’s 32nd year of partnership with Hendrick Motorsports. The company has been a primary partner for four of Byron’s 12 wins at the Cup Series level, including this year’s DAYTONA 500 victory. For a closer look at the special No. 24 Axalta Chevy and all of the paint schemes for Martinsville, click here.

RELAY(ING) A WINNER: After hosting a head-to-head bracket-style contest, Relay Payments announced the winning paint scheme voted on by fans. Running at the Chicago Street Course in July and then later at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the playoffs, this year’s No. 24 paint scheme was in the fans’ hands for what Byron’s race car would look like with the winning paint scheme featuring a split black and white design with green accents and chrome numbers. Relay Payments, the fintech company modernizing payments for the trucking and logistics industries, joined last summer as a partner for the No. 24 team. To see the winning scheme, click here.

48 ALEX BOWMAN

Age: 30 (April 25, 1993)

Hometown: Tucson, Arizona

Resides: Concord, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Blake Harris

Standings: 11th

No. 48 Ally 40th Anniversary Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE TIE: Seven races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Alex Bowman is in a five-way tie for the most top-five finishes – a group that includes Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. Bowman’s top fives include a second-place finish at the season-opening DAYTONA 500 and back-to-back fourth-place results at Bristol Motor Speedway and Circuit of The Americas.

RICHMOND REWIND: Last weekend at Richmond Raceway, Bowman earned his best qualifying spot of the season. Taking the starting grid from the fourth position for the Easter Sunday race, Bowman maintained his top-five spot in the opening 70-lap segment to finish third – his best stage finish of the year – and earned valuable stage points. Just over a quarter of the way through the regular season, he is 11th in the Cup Series points standings.

SHORT-TRACK IMPACT: Heading into the second consecutive short-track race on this year’s schedule, Bowman is one of eight active drivers in the Cup Series with multiple victories (two) on that track type. Virginia is home to both wins (Richmond and Martinsville Speedway), which came in his career-best season in 2021. The 30-year-old also has five top-five finishes and 12 top-10s at short tracks.

MARTINSVILLE MEMORY: The Tucson, Arizona, native heads to Martinsville as a contributor to Hendrick Motorsports’ 28-win count at the historic short track. Bowman’s victory at the 0.526-mile venue in October of 2021 is one of four wins by the series’ winningest organization in the last seven races at the track.

WINNING NUMBER(S): The No. 48 Chevrolet has 10 wins at “The Paperclip” for Hendrick Motorsports – with Bowman delivering one. That mark is tied with another of the team’s iconic numbers, the No. 24, for the third-most victories by a car number at Martinsville.

LOOKING GOOD IN RUBY: This weekend at Martinsville, the No. 48 Ally Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will debut a ruby red paint scheme to pay tribute to Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary in the Cup Series. The scheme commemorates the organization’s first win in the series, which came at Martinsville in 1984.

RALLY ON PIT ROAD: The No. 48 Ally Racing pit crew ranks seventh in average four-tire pit stop time (11.213 seconds). The five-person crew is composed of Andrew Bridgeforth (rear-tire changer), Jacob Conley (fueler), Brandon Grier (tire carrier), Allen Holman (jackman) and Donnie Tasser (front-tire changer).

CHANCE TO WIN A CHEVY CAMARO: Ally and Hendrick Automotive Group have teamed together to celebrate Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary by giving away a 40th Anniversary Edition Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE through the Ally “Win Your Wheels fueled by HendrickCars.com” sweepstakes. The winner will also receive a private meet and greet with Bowman at this year’s fall Martinsville race. NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports and No. 48 fans can enter to win at Ally.com/sweepstakes/nascar. The sweepstakes will end on Sept. 20, 2024.

ADOPT IN MARTINSVILLE: Bowman and Ally are supporting Best Friends Animal Society and their vast network of partners for the fourth consecutive year. Since the beginning of the 2022 season, the pair has been committed to a combined weekly donation of $4,800 to a Best Friends network partner local to each weekend’s race. This weekend’s beneficiary is Martinsville-Henry County SPCA. Located less than five minutes from the track, those interested can visit the dogs and cats looking for homes at their shelter. Can’t visit in person? Learn more about adopting, fostering, volunteering or donating at their website.

HENDRICK
MOTORSPORTS /

*Most **Most (tie)

FABULOUS 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Among the categories that the organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for are all-time wins (304), poles (248), laps led (80,215) and championships (14). With William Byron’s victory at Circuit of The Americas, the team has won at least three races a year in each of the last 31 seasons.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING: In the eighth race of the 1984 season at Martinsville Speedway, Geoff Bodine recorded the team’s first win, which kept owner Rick Hendrick from shutting down the fledgling team. The win on Sunday, April 29, was the first of three victories in Hendrick’s inaugural season as a Cup Series team owner. That victory sparked the rise of NASCAR’s winningest and most decorated team. Bodine will be one of the pre-race dignitaries as he and Jeff Gordon, a nine-time Martinsville winner and the team’s vice chairman, are the event’s co-grand marshals. Bodine and Gordon are scheduled to be available to members of the media in the Martinsville media center on Sunday, April 7, at noon local time.

DRESSED UP IN RED: To commemorate the team’s ruby anniversary of the first win for Hendrick Motorsports, the organization’s four entries will run ruby red paint schemes in Sunday’s race. Take a look at all angles of the special paint schemes here. Additionally, each of the four drivers will sport red firesuits.

CLOCKING IN: With its 28 victories at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports holds the Cup Series record for the most wins at a single circuit (by six over the team’s 22-win mark at Dover Motor Speedway). Nine drivers (the greatest number of different winners at Martinsville) have won at this track for the organization, led by Jimmie Johnson and Gordon, with nine victories apiece. Darrell Waltrip recorded four wins. Bodine, Byron, Alex Bowman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson have each taken home one victory. Hendrick Motorsports is the only team to lead over 10,000 laps at any one track, totaling 10,614 circuits out front at the paperclip-shaped track.

MARTINSVILLE MOJO: In the past seven races at the 0.526-mile track, each of the four current drivers for the Concord, North Carolina-based team has scored a win. Larson is the most recent driver to triumph at the short track with a win last April. Byron won in April of 2022, Bowman was victorious in October of 2021 and Elliott visited victory lane in November of 2020. Martinsville is the only track where each of the four active drivers has won for the team.

NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Since 2022 when the Next Gen car debuted, Elliott has led the second-most laps (322) and ran the second-most laps in the top five (939) at Martinsville. Byron has led the third-most laps (212) at this short track. At the Virginia venue, Larson has run the third-most laps in the top 10 (1,287) and the fifth-most laps in the top five (665). When it comes to points scored in the Next Gen era at Martinsville, Larson ranks fifth (142), Elliott is tied for sixth (139) and Byron is ninth (127).

PIT POWER: Based on Racing Insights data, all four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top seven among Cup Series teams for the fastest average four-tire pit stop. The No. 9 pit crew is second (10.927 seconds), followed by the No. 24 pit crew in third (11.016 seconds) and the No. 5 pit crew in fourth (11.045 seconds). The No. 48 pit crew is seventh (11.213 seconds).

NO SHORTAGE: Hendrick Motorsports leads all active Cup Series teams with 57 points-paying victories on short tracks. Gordon’s 17 short-track wins lead all drivers in team history. The active driver lineup has a combined seven short-track successes for the organization: Larson (three), Bowman (two), Byron (one) and Elliott (one). The team has three points-paying wins on short tracks in the Next Gen era with Larson (two) and Byron (one). Larson is one of three drivers with multiple short-track wins in the Next Gen car.

VICTORY IN VIRGINIA: Hendrick grew up in Palmer Springs, Virginia, and his teams have won 40 Cup Series races in his home state. Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane in Virginia at least one time in 28 different seasons, including each of the past four full seasons. The most recent 14 races in Virginia have seen one of his cars emerge victorious on six occasions, with all four active drivers winning.

FROM THE POLE: Hendrick Motorsports is two pole positions away from becoming the first Cup Series team to reach 250. Across 31 tracks, 20 drivers, including all four of the team’s current drivers have won poles for the squad. Gordon’s 81 pole positions are the most in the organization’s history. The team’s 19 poles at Martinsville are tied for second among all tracks, with Daytona International Speedway (23) topping the list.

QUOTABLE /

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his comfort level at Martinsville Speedway after last year’s win: “I still have a lot of room for improvement there to be a consistent contender. It’s still not a comfortable track for me. I still don’t really feel I can run consistent, comfortable laps with a rhythm. Yeah, I won last year, but it’s still not a good track for me. I don’t go there and dominate like I have at a lot of other race tracks. But we happened to win there last year, so that was really neat and something I’ll never forget. It was something that I never thought I would do.”

Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the excitement building for the team’s 40th anniversary weekend at Martinsville: “Each day that goes by that we get closer to the race, the depth of that meaning will continue to sink in. More and more people by the day keep walking out and looking at the cars. You can feel the excitement. We’re refining our approach and hashing out all the stuff that we need to for this weekend. By the time we unload at the track, it is going to be a special Saturday to get on track with our cars and a special day Sunday for the meaning of the race, the meaning of the event and to see all our teammates and our families who are going to be there. That’s going to add a whole other level of excitement to the chemistry and the atmosphere that is Hendrick Motorsports that we have all come to know and love.”
​

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the keys to success at Martinsville in the Next Gen era: “Martinsville Speedway has always been a challenging place, but it’s become even more challenging with this new car. The reason for that is just that track position has become so crucial at those events. So, it puts a lot of emphasis on qualifying and a lot of emphasis on your pit stops. That’s the case every week, but it seems like Martinsville has become probably the most track position-oriented event of the year. If you told me that five or six years ago, I would have never believed you.”

Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his appreciation of the significance of Martinsville to Hendrick Motorsports: “I really appreciate the history and I appreciate what Mr. Hendrick is doing for the employees this weekend and what it means to Hendrick Motorsports. I feel like our No. 9 team is gaining positive momentum and in a good spot. I’m ready to get there and race.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on how special racing at Martinsville is: “Martinsville Speedway has been a very historic track for Hendrick Motorsports, especially in the early days. For me, it’s special because I used to go there when I was growing up as a fan. Because of that, it’s always a place you want to run well, be up front and be competitive. It’s definitely a lot more fun to run up front there instead of in the middle of the pack. We always want to run well there but there’s extra motivation this weekend to get that win for Mr. Hendrick and the company.”

Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Martinsville this weekend: “This is a big weekend for the company. We’re going to have more eyes than ever on us and that motivates us to be at the top of our game. Not that we aren’t usually, but we want to make sure we bring the best we have to represent Mr. Hendrick and the whole company. We’ve been hit or miss lately at Martinsville Speedway, but I think we have some good notes to build off of, especially after running the new short-track package last weekend at Richmond (Raceway). Track position is going to be key, so there will definitely be an emphasis on qualifying Saturday.”
​

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the importance of Sunday’s race at Martinsville to the organization: “Martinsville (Speedway) is a very special place to Hendrick Motorsports with the company’s first win there (in 1984). Hendrick Motorsports has invited employees and their families and friends out to the track this weekend to celebrate our 40th anniversary. That obviously encourages our No. 48 Ally Racing team that much more to perform well this Sunday. Martinsville has been a good track to us before, so hopefully we can put on a good race and come out strong at the end of it in the special ruby red scheme.”

Blake Harris, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the anticipation of the spring Martinsville race weekend: “There’s been so much anticipation this weekend about this race with the 40th anniversary and this really cool paint scheme on the Ally No. 48. Just excited to get there. I felt like last weekend was a big step of improvement for Hendrick Motorsports as a whole for us to have a fast car, qualify well and have the speed that we’ve been lacking on the short tracks as of late. I think it just makes it that much more exciting to go to Martinsville (Speedway) and see what we can do. Alex (Bowman) has won there and I’ve been fortunate to be a part of a couple of wins there as well. With everything that Martinsville means to the Hendrick family, this company and to have everybody from Hendrick Motorsports out there to support us this weekend is going to make it really special.”

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are headed this weekend to Martinsville Speedway, a track that is special in many ways to the Wood family and others on the crew as well.

Some of the best seats overlooking the paper-clip-shaped half-mile oval are in the Glenn Wood Tower, named for the founder of the No. 21 team who made his Cup Series debut as a driver at Martinsville in 1953. The team, which has its roots in nearby Stuart, Va., has been a fixture at the speedway in the years since that May 17 race in which Wood drove a 1953 Lincoln to a 30th-place finish and earned $25 for his efforts.

Sunday’s Cook Out 400 will be the Woods’ 126th Cup start at Martinsville and it will be the fifth Cup race there for Burton, whose family is from nearby South Boston, Va.

Martinsville is also special to crew chief Jeremy Bullins, who grew up 40 miles south of the track in Walnut Cove, N.C., and attended many a race at Martinsville in his younger days.

“Martinsville is my favorite track on the circuit,” Bullins said. “I’d race there every week if it was up to me.

“I love how technical you have to be and how close together we will race for 400 laps.”

Bullins is looking to build on last fall’s race at Martinsville, where Burton scored the second of the two top-15 finishes he’s posted there.

“We got a top-15 with Harrison last fall and look forward to building on that and hopefully putting together a great run with our Motorcraft Ford,” Bullins said. “It’s a great weekend for the Wood Brothers family being so close to home, and it will be nice to have so many of them at the track with us this week.”

Practice for the Cook Out 400 is set for Saturday at 4:35 p.m. Eastern Time to be followed by qualifying at 5:20. FOX Sports 2 will provide the TV coverage.

Sunday’s 400-lap race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 3 p.m. with Stage breaks at Laps 80 and 180.

FOX Sports 1 will carry the broadcast.

About Motorcraft®
Motorcraft offers a complete line of replacement parts that are recommended by Ford Motor Company. From routine maintenance to under hood repairs, Motorcraft parts offer value with high quality and the right fit at competitive prices. Motorcraft parts are available nationwide at Ford Dealers and Lincoln Retailers, independent distributors and automotive-parts retailers, and are backed by the Service Parts Limited Warranty* of Ford Motor Company. For more information, visit www.motorcraft.com.
*See your dealer for limited-warranty details.

About Quick Lane® Tire & Auto Center
Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center offers extraordinary service for routine maintenance, serving all vehicle makes and models. Quick Lane provides a full menu of automotive services, including tires, oil change and maintenance, brakes, batteries, alternator and electrical system, air conditioning system, cooling system, transmission service, suspension and steering, wheel alignment, belts and hoses, lamps and bulbs and wiper blades plus a thorough vehicle checkup report. Service is performed by expert technicians while you wait at any of nearly 800 locations in the U.S., with evening and weekend hours available and no appointment necessary. For more information about Quick Lane, please visit www.quicklane.com.
*See your dealer for limited-warranty details.”

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The company’s Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for customers and deepen their loyalty. Ford develops and delivers innovative, must-have Ford trucks, sport utility vehicles, commercial vans and cars and Lincoln luxury vehicles, along with connected services. The company does that through three customer-centered business segments: Ford Blue, engineering iconic gas-powered and hybrid vehicles; Ford Model e, inventing breakthrough EVs along with embedded software that defines exceptional digital experiences for all customers; and Ford Pro, helping commercial customers transform and expand their businesses with vehicles and services tailored to their needs. Additionally, Ford is pursuing mobility solutions through Ford Next, and provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 177,000 people worldwide. More information about the company and its products and services is available at corporate.ford.com.

About Ford Performance
Ford Performance is based in Dearborn, Mich. It is responsible for Ford’s performance vehicle development and major racing operations globally, including NASCAR, IMSA, SRO British GT, FIA World Rally Championship, Supercars Championship, World of Outlaws, Ultra4, SCORE-International, FIA Rally-Raid, Formula Drift, NHRA, Rebelle Rally, Thailand Super Series and our latest commitment in Formula 1 with RedBull Ford Powertrains. Ford Performance also maintains a constantly evolving fleet of electric performance demonstrators to showcase the limits of electrification technology. In addition, the organization also oversees the development of Ford’s racing engines, as well as the outreach programs with all Ford Clubs and Ford enthusiasts. For more information regarding Ford racing’s activities, please visit Performance.Ford.com or follow @FordPerformance on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway… In 189 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, RCR has seven victories, including five by Dale Earnhardt (1985-fall, 1987-spring, 1988-spring, 1991-spring, and 1995-fall). Ricky Rudd won the fall race at Martinsville in 1983, which was RCR’s first Cup Series win on an oval. Kevin Harvick won the 2011 spring race at Martinsville, his first victory at the .526-mile paved speedway. The team owns 31 top-five and 65 top-10 finishes entering Sunday afternoon’s race.

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Martinsville Speedway… RCR has one NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Martinsville Speedway. Kevin Harvick captured the 2006 event in dominating fashion, leading 149 of 250 laps. Clint Bowyer, Harvick’s teammate, finished a close second, crossing the finish line .271 seconds behind. Harvick and Bowyer combined to lead 207 of the event’s 250 laps enroute to a 1-2 finish. In 13 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, the Welcome, N.C., based team has one win, one pole, five top-five and six top-10 finishes.

Do You Remember? Dale Earnhardt’s Martinsville Speedway victory in April 1987 capped off a dominating stretch for RCR and the legendary driver. Earnhardt took the lead from Geoff Bodine with 17 laps to go to score his fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory. The Martinsville win was Earnhardt’s sixth victory in eight races to start the season and included a sweep of short track races at Richmond Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway plus superspeedway wins at Rockingham Speedway and Darlington Raceway.

RCR Milestone… On Sunday, RCR will make it’s 3,300th NASCAR Cup Series start. The organization has led 933,576 laps in Cup Series competition.

Catch the Action on Saturday… The NASCAR Xfinity Series Dude Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live on Saturday, April 6, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Follow Sunday’s Action at Martinsville Speedway… The NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live on Sunday, April 7, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on FS1. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway… In 20 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Dillon boasts three top-five and three top-10 finishes. He earned his best finish of third in April 2022 at the half-mile short track after starting from the 23rd position. Dillon finished 12th in the spring race in 2023 after starting 18th. Dillon has made five appearances at Martinsville Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series, earning his best finish of third in October 2011.

A Long-Standing Tradition… Austin Dillon has proudly worn the Bass Pro Shops colors throughout his entire racing career, including his NASCAR Truck Series Championship, NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship, and wins in the NASCAR Cup Series.

About Bass Pro Shops… Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Founded in 1972 when avid young angler Johnny Morris began selling tackle out of his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Missouri, today the company provides customers with unmatched offerings spanning premier destination retail, outdoor equipment manufacturing, world-class resort destinations, and more. In 2017 Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s to create a “best-of-the-best” experience with superior products, dynamic locations, and outstanding customer service. Bass Pro Shops also operates White River Marine Group, offering an unsurpassed collection of industry-leading boat brands, and Big Cedar Lodge, America’s Premier Wilderness Resort. Under the visionary conservation leadership of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitat and introducing families to the outdoors and has been named by Forbes as “one of America’s Best Employers.” Bass Pro Shops has a long relationship with NASCAR, dating back to 1998. For more information, visit http://www.basspro.com/.

About TRACKER Off Road… Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 prominently features TRACKER ATVs, a game-changing new line of all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides offering breakthrough performance, service, and value in the off-road industry. TRACKER Off Road was born out of a powerhouse partnership formed between Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER founder Johnny Morris and Textron Specialized Vehicles, bringing together the undisputed world leader in boating with a global leader in innovation and technology.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:

What are your thoughts on racing at Martinsville Speedway this weekend?

“I’m looking forward to racing at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. Last year, we finished twelfth in the spring race so hopefully we can take our Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet and have a good day and pick up stage points. With the new short track downforce package, the car has changed quite a bit since last year, so the No. 3 team is working hard to make sure we are prepared to take on the challenge. I’ve always loved going there. It’s a fun track. At Martinsville Speedway, qualifying for the race is extremely important, especially when it comes to selecting your pit stall. Pit Road is very treacherous there, so hopefully we can get a good starting spot on Sunday. We just have to go at the start of the race and maximize track position as much as possible. I feel like our Chevrolet will be fast and I can’t wait to see how the race plays out.”

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway… Kyle Busch will be making his 38th NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. The driver of the Lucas Oil Chevrolet has two victories at the .526-mile oval (2016-spring and 2017-fall). His victory in 2016 came in dominating fashion. Busch led 352 of 500 laps and boasted an average running position in the race of 1.49, becoming the first driver to score a NASCAR national series sweep at Martinsville (he won the Truck Series race the day prior to his Cup victory). In 2017, Busch claimed his second Martinsville victory in NASCAR Overtime when he held off Martin Truex Jr. Busch also has two pole positions at Martinsville Speedway (2014 and 2018). He has led 1,429 laps in Cup competition at the track, third-best among active drivers.

Did You Know? Entering this weekend’s race, Busch has been running at the finish in 36 consecutive Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway. He has 21 top-10 finishes at the Virginia short track, averaging a top-10 finish in 56.75 percent of those events.

The Points Chase… Busch enters Martinsville 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, 32 points outside of 10th-place.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES:

The last three races at Martinsville Speedway have been tough for you. Why has it been so challenging?

“I would say Martinsville Speedway has become increasingly challenging with traffic and having a good car that doesn’t burn the tires off. You need to be able to push and go forward and drive past your competitors, but you also can’t blow the tires off.”

Since on track testing is so limited now, what are some tools that you can use to improve your performance without physically being on the track?

“The only tools to use are your notes, film study, and past history of what you know for certain makes you good at a particular track. Going on the simulator is a tool, but as we have found for short tracks, it doesn’t seem to correlate all the way and can lead you in the wrong direction.”

Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro SS at Martinsville Speedway… Jesse Love will make his inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Martinsville Speedway this Saturday. The 19-year-old has never competed at the .526-mile paperclip-shaped oval in person and Friday’s practice session will mark his first lap on the surface.

Building Momentum… Love continues to put together a consistent and impressive start to his Xfinity Series rookie campaign. The Menlo Park, California native has secured three consecutive top-six results – a second-place finish at Phoenix Raceway, a sixth-place result at Circuit of The Americas, and most recently, a fifth-place finish at Richmond Raceway. Love is the current Sunoco Rookie of the Year points leader.

Dashing 4 Cash… After being one of the four highest Xfinity Series point earners at Richmond Raceway, Love enters Martinsville Speedway with a chance to win an extra $100,000 through the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash program. Love will battle Chandler Smith, Aric Almirola, and Parker Kligerman on Saturday evening, with the highest finisher earning the Dash 4 Cash title. Love qualified for the program in his first career attempt.

Meet Love… On Saturday, April 6 at 3:50 p.m. ET, Love is scheduled to sign autographs at the RCR Merchandise Trailer located in the Fan Midway at Martinsville Speedway. Directly after at 4:15 p.m. ET, Love will head to the NASCAR Experience Stage in the Fan Midway at Martinsville Speedway to participate in a question-and-answer session with the other three Xfinity Dash 4 Cash qualifiers. Stop by to see the rookie contender before the green flag waves.

About Whelen Engineering… Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

JESSE LOVE QUOTES:

You qualified for your first Xfinity Dash 4 Cash in your first career attempt. Talk about racing for an extra $100,000 at Martinsville Speedway.

“It’s a cool experience. It was a good goal for our team last weekend, just to qualify and be one of the four for this weekend. Being in it, allows us to have an extra spotlight on our team and our partners this weekend at Martinsville. Obviously, it’s a good chunk of change as well, so it would be nice to win it. It feels like a race inside of a race. Our main goal remains to win the actual race or get the best finish possible, but we also want to earn the Dash 4 Cash bonus. I think we will have a good shot at it for sure. We have done a lot of prep work in the simulator and the car felt pretty good. It should transfer over to practice on Friday, and I have confidence in our Whelen group.”

Will you pay attention to where the other Xfinity Dash 4 Cash qualifiers are on the track?

“Will I race a certain guy harder if he’s eligible for the bonus? Yes, probably so, because I know there is more on the line than just the position on the track. But hopefully, we can run up front with a shot at the win. If we win the race, the Dash 4 Cash bonus takes care of itself and takes care of next week too. The overall goal doesn’t change, but we will play it by ear at the end of the race as we see how the field is stacking up. If there is an opportunity to make a move at the end, I will consider it.”

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro SS at Martinsville Speedway… Austin Hill has four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, posting one top-five and two top-10 finishes in 2022 while driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. The Winston, Georgia native also has 11 NASCAR Truck Series starts at the Ridgeway, Virginia facility, earning one top-five (second in 2021) and three top-10 finishes.

Bennett Truck Drivers of the Year… Bennett Family of Companies is honoring and recognizing their 2023 Driver of the Year recipients with a multi-day experience, hosted at Richard Childress Racing and Martinsville Speedway. The honorees will take part in an awards ceremony and exclusive shop tours of both RCR and ECR Engines, before attending the Xfinity Series race on Saturday night. The names of all 16 recipients will be proudly featured on the decklid of Hill’s No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Camaro, and over 45 guests will cheer on Hill in-person at the 0.526-mile paperclip-shaped oval.

About Bennett Family of Companies… McDonough-Ga. based Bennett Family of Companies is a woman-owned, Women’s Enterprise Business Council (WBENC) certified, diversified transportation and logistics company. Through its 14 affiliated operating companies, the Bennett Family of Companies delivers integrated transportation and supply chain management solutions worldwide. Bennett has 4,625 drivers/owner-operators, over 1,000 employees and 600 agents located across the United States. For more information, visit www.bennettig.com.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTES:

Do you enjoy racing at Martinsville Speedway?

“Yes and no, honestly. A lot of the time, especially at the end of the race, people drive into the corner and drive into back of you. It can be annoying, because you know you’re going to be hit constantly and you can never get into a rhythm unless you’re in the top-five. If you’re up front, you can get away and get into a rhythm. But if you are mired back in traffic and running in 15th, you never see what your car is capable of, because you’re always guarding from behind. I like Martinsville when you go out for practice and the way the track drives, but the way that the competition races there is a little iffy.”

What do you need in order to perform well at Martinsville Speedway?

“You need a good race car. Your car needs to be really good and stable on entry, not loose or sliding the left front under braking, and then be able to roll to the center. It doesn’t matter if your speed slows down in the center, as you can get a really good drive off to pull away from them. I think that’s where the guys who win there are successful. But racing at Martinsville is kind of like Daytona and Talladega in a sense, where you can have a really fast car, but a late race restart happens where you get ran over and you are left finishing 30th. I’m kind of torn of whether I like the place or not.”

JUSTIN HALEY | KAZ GRALA
Martinsville Advance
Event Overview

● Event: Cook Out 400 (Round 8 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 7
● Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
● Layout: .526-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/210.4 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 100 laps / Final Stage: 220 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 Ohanafy Ford Mustang Dark Horse

● Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Ohanafy Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR), will make his seventh NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in the eighth race of the 2024 season. The paperclip-shaped, .526-mile track located in Ridgeway, Virginia, has played host to the Cup Series since the series’ inception in 1949.

● The 24-year-old driver has struggled at Martinsville in the Cup Series and has a best finish of 27th earned in October 2022. Haley has three NASCAR Xfinity Starts at Martinsville with a best finish of eighth in April 2021.

● Haley also owns six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Martinsville, his first coming in 2015 at just 16 years of age. He finished both 2018 races in the top-10 with a best finish of sixth in the October race.

● Ohanafy – a management platform for beverage and beyond – returns to the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse this weekend. Ohanafy is redefining the beverage industry by harnessing the power of Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM. The mission is clear: to empower beverage producers and distributors to reclaim their time and focus on crafting exceptional beverages while streamlining production and distribution operations. Built on innovation, excellence, and quality, Ohanafy offers a robust, cloud-based solution that revolutionizes how beverage companies operate. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, it enables data-driven decision-making, leading to optimized processes, increased profitability, and reduced costs.

Kaz Grala, Driver of the No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse

● Kaz Grala, driver of the No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RWR, will make his first Cup Series start at Martinsville in Sunday’s Cook Out 400. The Boston native has two Xfinity Series starts at the Virginia short track with a best finish of 15th earned in April 2023.

● In four Truck Series starts at Martinsville, Grala’s best result was a seventh-place finish in October 2017 for GMS Racing.

● Grala currently sits 33rd in the driver standings with two top-20 finishes in seven races so far this season. His best finish was a 14th-place result earned at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the second race of the year.

Rick Ware Racing Notes

● RWR Top Fuel driver Clay Millican heads to Phoenix Friday through Sunday for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Arizona Nationals. Two weekends ago at the Winternationals in Pomona, California, Millican was seeded ninth after qualifying, his best effort so far this year, and he advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Brittany Force.

● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, the LMP3 class of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.

Justin Haley, Driver Q&A

This is the third short track of the year, not counting the non-points Clash at the Coliseum. What’s your outlook for Martinsville with some short-track experience under your belt with RWR?

“We obviously had a good run at Bristol, even though you wouldn’t know it looking back on the results. Then at Richmond, we really struggled to find good balance. I’m not sure what to expect at Martinsville since these tracks are all so different. I think there are a couple of things we’ve learned that we can look at, but we’ll definitely be looking to our friends at RFK for some input on what we can do to try to put ourselves up front.”

All of these tracks are very different, but is there anything that can be applied as you move to each one?

“I think the track that we’ve raced on for the Clash the last few years is probably the closest thing we’ve had to Martinsville. The longer straightaways and tight corners are more similar, but the turns at Martinsville are unlike any other place we go. That’s where you see most of the action and I think that’s what makes Martinsville so special. You can pick up a lot of speed on the front or backstretch but, if you miss the corner, it can really mess up your race. But like at most short tracks, track position is important and Martinsville is very tough when it comes to trying to recover.”

The No. 51 team was very impressive at the Clash and it’s still early in the season. Is there any reason we couldn’t see that again with maybe a little improvement?

“Yeah, we were pretty good right out the box at the Clash. I’d like to think it’ll be similar, but you just never know. That was a long time ago and a lot has changed since then. We just need a good, clean race, keep building up our notebook and do the best we can.”

Kaz Grala, Driver Q&A

Do you feel like you’re still working through the process of learning the Cup Series car and how it differs from the Xfinity car?

“I feel like I’ve gotten pretty comfortable in the Cup car so far, but it’s a constant evolution. The way you make speed in this car and set up a pass is different from an Xfinity car, but now that I’ve raced each type of track this year, I know what to expect. The biggest challenge in Cup is the experience level of the entire field, so the learning process is never going to be finished. I’ll continue to refine my approach throughout the year and with that will come the ability to truly maximize the result each weekend.”

One of the biggest things you face on short tracks is tire management and Martinsville’s concrete surface creates a lot of physical demand on the tires, as well as stress on brakes. Do you like when a race is more in the driver’s hands and dependent on managing tires and braking?

“I’ve always thought that tire management is one of my greatest strengths as a driver since all the way back in my Late Model days. I absolutely love races that require a little bit of conservation, which is getting more and more rare nowadays, so I’m always excited when I get the chance to do that at this level. It puts more control in the driver’s hands, creates more passing opportunities, and allows for some different pit strategies during the race. The emphasis ends up on execution at the track instead of primarily the teams’ R&D and aero departments.”

CLUB ENTRY LIST

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
POINT STANDINGS: 17th

ERIK JONES
POINT STANDINGS: 22nd

CLUB NOTES

Back to where it all started: John Hunter Nemechek has a great track record at Martinsville Speedway in Trucks and Xfinity competition. Last season in Xfinity, he started second and won the 250-lap event by leading 198 laps en route to victory. In the second event, Nemechek started fifth and led 54 laps but ultimately finished 18th. In the Truck series, he has 14 starts and compiled one pole, one win, five top-five, and six top-10 finishes. His first official NASCAR series start came at Martinsville in the Truck Series on Oct. 26, 2013, when Nemechek was just 16 years old.

Skip Barber Racing School: This weekend at Martinsville, Nemechek and the No. 42 will run a Skip Barber Racing School red, white, and black paint scheme. Founded in 1975, the Skip Barber Racing School is the largest in the world with over 400,000 alumni including drivers who currently compete in Formula 1, INDYCAR, NASCAR, and LEGACY M.C.’s own Jimmie Johnson. It currently operates racing schools and safe driving academies at nine different venues across the country such as Sonoma Raceway, Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Laguna Seca, and Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

Homecoming: Winston-Salem native Justin Reissmann, fueler for the No. 43, returns to his roots this week at his “home track.” Reissmann’s journey in motorsports began after earning a BS in Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2012. He worked at Roush Fenway Racing (now RFK) from 2011 to 2014, gaining valuable experience in the engineering departments before transitioning to Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) from 2015 to 2021. During his tenure at both Roush Fenway and RPM, Reissmann contributed to the engineering programs while serving as the fueler, showcasing his versatility and expertise.

Short track, big momentum: The recent race at Richmond Raceway cleared a significant hurdle for Erik Jones and the No.43 team. This marked their best finish at the 0.75-mile track since Jones joined the organization at the beginning of the 2021 season. The team has struggled in the past six races at Richmond, with an average finish of 25.3. However, their 14th-place finish this weekend marks a positive step forward for the organization’s short-track program.

Family Dollar Gold Star: Primary partner Family Dollar will honor store #43, located in Martinsville, Virginia this weekend as a part of the company’s “Go For G.O.L.D.” (Grand Opening Look Daily) program. Throughout the race season, the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar primaries will highlight these stores on the deck lid of all three LEGACY M.C. entries.

Xfinity success: Crew chief Dave Elenz has three starts at Martinsville Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during his time with JR Motorsports. Out of these three starts, he achieved three top-five finishes, led 188 laps, and secured the checkered flag during the 2021 fall race. Elenz has an average start of 6.3 and an average finish of 2.0 at the historic short track.

Ben too!: Crew chief Ben Beshore has a great record at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series, winning two races with Harrison Burton and John Hunter Nemechek. Beshore’s drivers led a total of 333 laps around the paper clip-shaped track.

Tick tock: LEGACY M.C. co-owner Jimmie Johnson has visited Victory Lane nine times at this track, therefore owning nine of the coveted grandfather clock trophies. These dominating victories place Johnson third all-time at Martinsville, tied with Jeff Gordon, only trailing Richard Petty ‘The King’ and Darrell Waltrip.

Career averages: Jones has 40 starts on short tracks in his NASCAR Cup Series career, earning an average start of 17.7 and an average finish of 19.2. Jones has led 293 laps in these 40 attempts, earning four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

CLUB QUOTES

John Hunter Nemechek, Driver of the No. 42 Skip Barber Racing School Toyota Camry XSE:

“Laps are laps so success in Trucks or Xfinity doesn’t translate over automatically. Working with the Next Gen car we are learning the car itself. The tracks are the same but the car is just so different. There is a lot more to these longer races on the Cup side than the Xfinity or truck side. I am just soaking up information like a sponge. The short practices are tough but Ben and I are just gaining on it throughout the races and we are making improvements. As a driver, I am putting in the work during the week and showing up being prepared. As far as learning how this car feels in traffic, we are spending time during the race to do so but we get better from start to finish.”

Ben Beshore, Crew chief of the No. 42 Skip Barber Racing School Toyota Camry XSE:

“I think we are doing a good job of running every lap and not making catastrophic mistakes to where we are getting a decent finish out of each of these races. The results aren’t what we had hoped for, but as long as we keep improving every week, that is a positive. We want to keep progressing and getting better and the team, JH and the pit crew are doing a great job getting solid days. Our second half performance of the race is way better than the first – and that is consistent – so it’s just going to take some time and we will start seeing results.”

Erik Jones, Driver of the No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE:

Talk about the team morale going into Martinsville after a top-15 at another short track in Richmond.

“We hope the momentum keeps rolling after Richmond. We have had a handful of rough races—some of those from lack of speed and some of those are out of our control. It was nice just to have a smooth race; everything went really well and went our way, which was good. Going into Martinsville, we hope that we can continue that on. We learned a lot on our car and some other tools that we have as well, so that is a good note to head into Martinsville on.”

Has Richard given you any tips on how to conquer the paperclip?

“Richard has always talked about the patience that place takes. He always talks about the importance of saving your equipment so you can make it through the entire thing, especially with the racetrack and your fellow competitors. That has been goal number one and what he has shared with me when going out and competing for a win at Martinsville.”

Dave Elenz, Crew chief of the No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE:

How has the organization’s short-track program improved so far this season?

“Our short track program is a lot stronger this year than last year. The new rules package that we have with the simple diffuser on the back plays an advantage for us. It also helps with the feel that Erik is looking for. Last weekend at Richmond was a little bit of a struggle, but we came out with a good finish in the end. We look forward to continuing to improve our cars going into Martinsville to earn a stronger finish overall.”

PETTY 75TH ANNIVERSARY

ABOUT PETTY 75th: The 2024 season marks a significant milestone in the history of the Petty family as they have helped define stock car racing for 75 years. Their commitment to the sport and the people who make it possible – behind the wheel, under the hood, in the back office and beyond – has shaped the growth and success of NASCAR. Their LEGACY lives on with the countless fans, drivers, technicians and team members they touched. Throughout 2024, LEGACY M.C. will celebrate the Petty family and share countless memories with friends and fans at race tracks across the country.

Petty History in Martinsville: The Petty Family has a storied history at Martinsville Speedway, with Lee and Richard winning a collective 18 races at this historic short track. Lee won three times in his 24 attempts (Spring ’53, Fall ’54, Spring ’59). However, it was Richard Petty who was truly dominant at Martinsville. ‘The King’ earned 15 wins at the historic short track, setting a record that still stands today, including 10 wins in 13 attempts between 1967 and 1973.

Petty Fest: Race fans far and wide will have the chance to celebrate their affinity with the Petty family at the 14th Annual PettyFest on April 20th. This historic event celebrates all things Petty and will take place at the Petty Museum in Level Cross, N.C., from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The event will feature meet and greets with Kyle and Richard Petty, tours of the original Petty homestead, food trucks, vendors, and much more. Meet and greet wristbands are limited to the first 100 guests.

The King’s Hat: The Martinsville King’s Hat will be in the Fan Zone outside of Turn 4 at the Virginia-based track.

BROADCAST INFO

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, APRIL 7th @ 3:00 PM ET

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

ABOUT DOLLAR TREE, INC.: Dollar Tree, a Fortune 200 Company, operated 16,622 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of October 28, 2023. Stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada. To learn more about the Company, visit www.DollarTree.com.

ABOUT SKIP BARBER RACING SCHOOL: Founded in 1975, the Skip Barber Racing School is the largest in the world with over 400,000 alumni. It currently operates racing schools and safe driving academies at nine different venues across the country. Since the inaugural season of SRX in 2021, the Skip Barber Racing School has served as the official logistics partner for the series, responsible for the care, maintenance, and transport of all series vehicles throughout the season. Many of the regular competitors in SRX graduated from the Skip Barber Racing School including Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Ken Schrader, and Marco Andretti. In addition to operating over 200 days of racing schools and safe driving academies each year, the Skip Barber Racing School owns and operates the Skip Barber Race Series, a training-focused Formula 4 series. The Skip Barber Racing School also competes in professional racing under the Skip Barber Racing banner with entries in a variety of series including IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, TC America powered by the Skip Barber Racing School, and Toyota GR Cup North America. www.SkipBarber.com

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ is a professional auto racing club owned by businessman and entrepreneur Maurice “Maury” J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The CLUB competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series fielding the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE of John Hunter Nemechek, the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE of Erik Jones, and the No. 84 limited schedule entry for Johnson. LEGACY M.C. also competes in the Extreme E Series. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty “The King” serves as CLUB Ambassador. With a unique title signifying a nod to car clubs of past eras, LEGACY M.C. is an inclusive club for all motorsport enthusiasts to celebrate the past and future legacies of its members, while competing for wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level. To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ on Facebook, X, Instagram and at www.LEGACYMOTORCLUB.com.

MARTINSVILLE 1

Friday, April 5 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, April 6 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, April 7 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (FS1)

A pair of consecutive night races kicks off the first of two NASCAR weekends at Martinsville Speedway as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series kicks things off on Friday night with the NASCAR Xfinity Series following 24 hours later. The weekend culminates with an afternoon race on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series.

CAM WATERS SET TO MAKE NASCAR DEBUT

Cam Waters, a fixture in the Australian Repco Supercars Championship, is scheduled to make his NASCAR debut in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Waters, who drives for Tickford Racing, has won three races in each of the last three seasons and has 10 career victories overall. He will be in a fifth truck for ThorSport, joining Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia.

BLANEY REPEAT?

The last time NASCAR came to Martinsville Speedway, Ryan Blaney passed Aric Almirola with 22 laps to go and never looked back to win the Xfinity 500 and clinch a spot in the Championship 4. Blaney came into the race with a 10-point cushion, but extended that by finishing second in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2. In all, Blaney led four times for 145 laps enroute to his third victory of the year, which matched his career-best for a single season. One week later, Blaney was celebrating his first championship. Overall, Martinsville is Blaney’s best track in terms of averaging finish. In 16 career starts, the Team Penske driver has a 9.0 average finish, which includes a current streak of four consecutive top-10 runs.

LOGANO LIKES MARTINSVILLE

Only one other track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit has been better for Joey Logano when it comes to qualifying than Martinsville Speedway. Logano enters this weekend with an average starting position of 8.4 at the half-mile facility and is only bettered by his 7.8 average at Las Vegas. He has six poles, including three in a row in 2015-16, and had an active streak of 18 straight top-10 starts (including races where qualifying was rained out) at one point. In 30 career races at Martinsville, Logano has an average finishing position of 10.9 and has been running at the finish of every event. He come into Sunday’s race with a streak of nine straight top-10 finishes, including runner-up finishes in this event each of the past two years.

BUESCHER SHOWING TOP 10 CONSISTENCY

Chris Buescher heads into this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway looking to extend a top-10 finishing streak that reached four after his ninth-place run Sunday night in Richmond. After an 18th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Buescher has registered five top 10 efforts in the last six races with Las Vegas being his only hiccup as a wheel issue resulted in him hitting the wall and finishing 37th. Other than that, he’s been a model of consistency at Atlanta (9th), Phoenix (2nd), Bristol (7th), COTA (8th) and Richmond (9th). In 17 career series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Buescher has only a pair of top-10 results, but one of those came on his last visit when he finished eighth.

RYAN BLANEY: “Bristol and Martinsville are the same size, but very different shapes and banking and speed. I feel like at Martinsville I find myself getting into more of a rhythm than Bristol. At Bristol things are happening super quick and you’re always loaded up in the corner. Martinsville is more finesse. You ease it down in the corner and try to find your own rhythm there if you get a little bit of a break from someone pressuring you or you trying to pressure somebody else. You kind of get in this mode at Martinsville 50 or so laps into a run onwards and you just kind of find yourself in a little bit of a trance of making laps and adjusting for what the track wants. It’s a big rhythm racetrack.”

CHASE BRISCOE: “Five hundred laps is definitely a long time at Martinsville. Physically, it’s one of the harder races we go to. When we got done with the fall race there last year I literally couldn’t even bend over to take my shoes off because my back hurt so bad just with all of the braking we’re doing there constantly, so it’s hard from a physical standpoint. Mentally, I feel like it’s harder for some guys than others just to stay mentally focused for that long and just always being around somebody and keeping your emotions in check, but it is a marathon. It’s 500 laps, but it goes by super quick. At the same time it’s super long. There are a lot of opportunities to make mistakes, but you’ve got to be so aggressive there now with this Next Gen car because it is so hard to pass. It’s so hard to get track position that, honestly, you run 500 qualifying laps and it’s a challenge to do that well. I’m looking forward to getting to Martinsville. That’s been a place where I feel like we’ve done everything but win there the last four times, so that’s probably the one race I’ve had circled on the schedule for a while now.”

HARRISON BURTON: “I feel great about Martinsville. It’s always fun to go there because the Wood Brothers have a huge following there and we have a lot of support. I think we’ve run well there at times, but Martinsville is either a good run or a bad run for a lot of people and it all depends on qualifying recently. You’ve got to really qualify well and if you don’t, you can have one of the best cars and still go a lap down. Martinsville, for me, qualifying is everything and it’s going to be half-a-tenth that makes the difference in five or six spots, so we’re gonna have to just really nail that and have a good lap. Once you get in the race, it’s really managing the runs and trying to restart well. I think restarts are really important to get spots early and then hopefully tuck back in line and try to manage your tires and run a little bit. For me, it’s super exciting to go there. I love Martinsville. It’s one of my favorite racetracks.”

KESELOWSKI WINS FIRST CLOCK

Brad Keselowski outdueled Kyle Busch down the stretch to win his first grandfather clock after capturing the STP 500 on Apr. 2, 2017. The two drivers waged a memorable battle that saw them swap the lead five times in the last 160 laps, but Keselowski ended up making the decisive pass on lap 458 and led the final 43 circuits to become the first repeat winner in 2017. Prior to winning at Martinsville, Keselowski took the checkered flag at Atlanta in the second race of the season.

BOWYER NETS FIRST FORD WIN

Clint Bowyer snapped a 190-race winless stretch by leading the final 114 laps to win the weather-delayed STP 500 in 2018. The win was Bowyer’s first with Ford and ninth of his career. He passed Ryan Blaney on lap 285 to gain the lead for the first time, and when Jamie McMurray brought out the caution 100 laps later after hitting the wall, Bowyer’s pit crew got him back out with the lead and that proved to be the difference. That capped a big day for Ford, which had five drivers finish in the Top 10 and saw Blaney win Stage 2.

A FIRST FOR FORD AND FRED

The first time Ford won a NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway also marked the first career victory for 2015 NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen. The date was April 9, 1961 and Lorenzen battled Rex White, who led the first 118 laps after starting on the pole. Lorenzen, driving for Holman-Moody, grabbed the lead on lap 119 and held it until rain came ending the race prematurely after 149 circuits. Little did anyone know that 54 years later both men would be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of the same induction class. Martinsville was a place Lorenzen dominated, winning six times, including four straight from 1963-65 – the only driver to date to accomplish the feat. He was absolutely unbeatable in 1964 as he led 990 out of a possible 1,000 laps (487 in the first and 493 in the second) in winning both races.

CUSTER EXTENDS TOP 10 STREAK

Cole Custer had to drive through the field during the latter stages of last week’s race at Richmond Raceway, but he was able to extend his streak of top-10 finishes to four after a 10th-place finish. The streak started with a runner-up finish in Las Vegas and continued with runs of fifth at Phoenix Raceway and fourth at Circuit of the Americas. Custer, who is third in the point standings, has two career series starts at Martinsville Speedway. He sat on the pole and finished third in 2023 before ending up 19th last year.

MAJESKI SECOND IN POINTS

Ty Majeski is still looking for his first win of the season, but he comes into Friday night’s race at Martinsville Speedway second in the point standings and only 10 points out of the overall lead. Majeski, who has started in the top 10 in all five races this year, has finished 11th and fourth in his two previous series starts at Martinsville Speedway.

FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS

AT MARTINSVILLE

1961 – Fred Lorenzen (1)

1962 – Nelson Stacy (2)

1963 – Fred Lorenzen (2)

1964 – Fred Lorenzen (Sweep)

1965 – Fred Lorenzen and Junior Johnson

1966 – Fred Lorenzen (2)

1969 – Richard Petty (Sweep)

1986 – Ricky Rudd (1)

1990 – Geoffrey Bodine (Sweep)

1992 – Mark Martin and Geoffrey Bodine

1993 – Ernie Irvan (2)

1994 – Rusty Wallace (Sweep)

1995 – Rusty Wallace (1)

1996 – Rusty Wallace (1)

1997 – Jeff Burton (1)

1998 – Ricky Rudd (2)

2000 – Mark Martin (1)

2001 – Dale Jarrett and Ricky Craven

2002 – Kurt Busch (2)

2017 – Brad Keselowski (1)

2018 – Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano

2019 – Brad Keselowski (1)

2023 – Ryan Blaney (2)

FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS

AT MARTINSVILLE

1994 – Kenny Wallace

FORD NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT MARTINSVILLE

1995 – Joe Ruttman

2003 – Jon Wood (2)

2004 – Rick Crawford (1)

2005 – Ricky Craven (2)

2015 – Joey Logano (1)

2020 – Grant Enfinger

CHASE BRISCOE
Martinsville Advance
No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Cook Out 400 (Round 8 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 7
● Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
● Layout: .526-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/210.4 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 100 laps / Final Stage: 220 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The NASCAR Cup Series’ short-track attack resumes with a second straight race in Virginia, and Chase Briscoe is eyeing improvement after finishing 18th last Sunday at the .75-mile Richmond Raceway. Martinsville Speedway is next up for the driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, and the .526-mile oval has been the site of a streak of front-running consistency for Briscoe that has improved each time he has turned a wheel on the paperclip-shaped bullring.

● Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville will mark Briscoe’s seventh career NASCAR Cup Series start at the venerable track. Since his Cup Series debut at Martinsville in April 2021, when he finished 27th, Briscoe had made steady and significant improvement. He finished 22nd in his return to Martinsville in October 2021 and has not finished outside of the top-10 in his last four Martinsville starts, finishing ninth (April 2022), ninth (October 2022), fifth (April 2023) and fourth (October 2023).

● Briscoe’s best Martinsville race as a NASCAR Cup Series driver came last April when he finished fifth. He started fourth and took the lead on lap 186 and paced the field for the next 71 laps. A series of green-flag pit stops jumbled the running order, but Briscoe came back to take the lead on lap 307 and he stayed out front for another 38 laps to bring his laps-led total for the race to 109, second only to his Stewart-Haas teammate Ryan Preece, who led 135 laps.

● Briscoe has three other Martinsville starts outside of the NASCAR Cup Series – one in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and two in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Briscoe finished seventh in his lone Xfinity Series start at Martinsville in October 2020, and in his two Truck Series starts at the track, both taking place in 2017, Briscoe finished 11th (April) and 19th (October).

● Briscoe won the pole for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville in October 2017. He promptly led the first 39 laps and was a front-running fixture until he was collected in an accident on lap 138 of the 200-lap race. The winner that day was Noah Gragson, Briscoe’s current teammate at Stewart-Haas.

● Mahindra Ag North America is in its third year as the anchor sponsor for Briscoe and the No. 14 team after extending its partnership with Stewart-Haas during the offseason. The multiyear agreement with the NASCAR team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and industrialist Gene Haas continues to feature Mahindra Tractors, a brand of Mahindra Ag North America, on Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang for the majority of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Houston-based Mahindra Ag North America is part of Mahindra Group’s Automotive and Farm Sector, the No. 1 selling farm tractor company in the world, based on volumes across all company brands. Mahindra offers a range of tractor models from 20-75 horsepower, implements, and the ROXOR heavy-duty UTV. Mahindra farm equipment is engineered to be easy to operate by first-time tractor or side-by-side owners and heavy duty to tackle the tough jobs of rural living, farming and ranching. Steel-framed Mahindra Tractors and side-by-sides are ideal for customers who demand performance, reliability and comfort. Mahindra dealers are independent, family-owned businesses located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You come into Martinsville with four straight top-10 finishes at the track. In fact, in each of your last four races there, you’ve gotten better – ninth, ninth, fifth and fourth – and you led 109 laps in last year’s spring race. Talk about your progression at Martinsville and how you’ve gotten better there with each race.

“I feel like Martinsville is one of those places where the more you run there, the better you’re going to get. It’s such a unique racetrack. It seems like guys, once they figure it out, they’re always good there. You look at Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and people like that, it’s one of those place where once you figure it out, it seems like your technique always works there. We’ve been really good at Martinsville every time we’ve gone there over the last two years, and have probably done everything but win the race, it seems like. We’ve led a ton of laps and things like that, so hopefully this will be the time we can improve on our recent finishes – ninth, ninth, fifth, fourth – hopefully we can finish better, but would love to obviously bring home a grandfather clock. It’s one of the more iconic trophies and we’ve been really close and almost close enough to where we could see it – see where we want to put it, we just haven’t been able to put it there, yet.”

How physical is a race at Martinsville? You’re on the brakes hard at least 800 times, so your lower body gets a workout as much as your upper body.

“It’s really hard. I probably didn’t realize how hard it was until the last time we were there in the fall. For whatever reason after the race, I couldn’t even bend over to take my shoes off. I had to have my wife help me because my back was in so much pain from all the braking we were doing. It’s a really hard place to run, and even mentally it’s a place where you’ve got to be on your game. So Martinsville is probably overlooked a lot of the time, the physicality of it, just because the speeds and the G-forces are what we would have at other places. There’s a lot that goes on with your body at those races so you definitely feel it the next day. Martinsville’s definitely gotten a little more challenging with the NextGen car because, before, you would leave it in fourth gear and just run the whole time in fourth. Now, we’re downshifting every single corner, and then upshifting down the straightaway, so you’re just busier inside the racecar. It definitely has made Martinsville more physical overall. Your arms are getting more of a workout, your feet are doing a lot more with the pedals and things like that, so there’s just a lot going on at Martinsville in a very short lap.”

When you have a race that’s as physical as Martinsville, how does the simulator help prepare you?

“The sim’s really hard at Martinsville. It seems like the shorter the racetrack is, the harder it is sometimes to manage the simulator. Really flat tracks and really, really high-banked tracks sometimes throw it for a little bit of a loop. But I will say I feel like we’ve done a really good job over the last year trying to make our Martinsville simulator better, in general. I think that is some of the reason why we’ve seen us have success on the real racetrack, as well. Martinsville’s a hard one just because there are so many variables that go into it. The weather is always really important there with how the rubber gets laid down. At that racetrack, just where the rubber is laid down and things like that really change the grip level. That’s what makes the simulator so challenging there.”

When it comes to on-track contact at Martinsville, what’s OK and what isn’t?

“It’s hard to say until you’re in it. It’s hard for me to say this would be OK, or this wouldn’t be OK. Once you’re in the moment, you kind of make up your mind as soon as it happens what you’re going to do to somebody else. It’s one of those deals where if you’re getting held up by a guy time and time and time again, you finally just kind of get fed up with it and you go and move him and go on. I feel like early in the race you try to give him at least a little bit of the benefit of the doubt, but anymore, it’s so hard to pass that as soon as you get to him, you try to move him and go on. It’s definitely evolved a lot over the last couple of years with the NextGen car.”

When do you need to just let something go and when do you need to stand up for yourself and give a shot back?

“I think it’s different for everybody. I don’t ever really get worked up, but I think there are some drivers who get worked up and just go ballistic, and that’s when it’s better if you just let it go and forget about it. You see some guys where somebody does them wrong early in the race, it just derails their whole race because they’re more worried about getting that guy back than just trying to run their race. I think it’s different for everybody. Everybody’s personalities and attitudes are so different that it’s a different answer for all. For me, it’s hard to say what you’ve got to do. If somebody does you wrong, you definitely have to get them back at some point just to stand up for yourself because, if you don’t do it and you let somebody walk all over you on the racetrack, they’re just going to do it time and time again because they know you’re not going to do anything about, so you have to stand your ground.”

How challenging is pit road at Martinsville, from navigating the curves, the tight boxes and all the traffic?

“Martinsville’s hard. It’s just so narrow on pit road and there’s not a whole lot of room. It’s always hard when you’re leaving your pit box there just because there are normally cars coming around on the outside line. It’s only two lanes wide, in general, so then you’re in the inside lane while those other pit crews are trying to change the right-side tires and it’s really, really tight. And just with how slow the speed is, the RPM change is very, very tight, and that’s why you see so many speeding penalties at a place like Martinsville.”

No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe

Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell

Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey

Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala

Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal

Hometown: Holland, Michigan

Jack Man: Dylan Moser

Hometown: Monroe, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams

Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads

Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips

Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable

Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Dale Lackey

Hometown: Taylorsville, North Carolina