Martinsville short track racing is on just about every fans’ bucket list of tracks to visit. And for drivers in NASCAR’s élite series, Martinsville is on their bucket list too, whether it comes to racing there for the first time or winning at the historic track. For several, this weekend’s race at Martinsville will be their first as NASCAR drivers in the Camping World Truck Series or Sprint Cup Series. Both rookies and veterans of the sport, look for magic at the flat short track, as they all want to bring home a coveted Martinsville clock.
There are six Camping World Truck Series drivers that have already visited Victory Lane at the 0.526-mile oval. And six others are attempting to make their first NASCAR national series appearance.
Forty-two different competitors have made their first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Martinsville.
Among the group is NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski, who debuted in the Kroger 250 on April 17, 2004. Timothy Peters is the only competitor to claim both first series start (2005) and victory (2009) at Martinsville.
Peters, Johnny Sauter, Ron Hornaday Jr., Kevin Harvick, David Starr and Scott Riggs are Martinsville winners expected to compete in Saturday’s race.
Kyle Busch Motorsports brings a pair of first-timers to the event: NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate Darrell Wallace Jr. and Erik Jones. Although this is a first-time visit for Wallce in NASCAR’s truck series, it’s not his first time at the track. Wallace finished third in a 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at the track. He’s 19; Jones is 16.
“I’ve got the same truck that Denny [Hamlin] won with here last year so there’s no reason we shouldn’t be up front,” said Wallace during a recent test day. “It’s going to be key for all of us to learn as much as we can from Kyle [Busch]. If we can pick his brain to get as much as we can, we should be pretty good right off the bat.”
Other debuting are Chase Elliott, 17, son of 1988 NSCS champion Bill Elliott and a NASCAR Next9 driver; Grant Galloway, 18, an Indiana midget racer; Devin Jones, 16, a transplanted Californian racing out of Hickory, N.C., and Jonathan Davenport, a 29-year-old late-model dirt touring competitor.
In the Sprint Cup Series, first-time visits to the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway rarely prove successful for even the biggest of talents. Rattle off the names, and then check out their debuts. Jimmie Johnson – now a seven-time winner at Martinsville – opened his Martinsville career with a 35th-place finish in 2002. Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart finished 20th in 1999. Kevin Harvick, finally a Martinsville winner in 2011, slogged to a 34th-place finish in his début at the Virginia short track.
Among those who blossomed into Sprint Cup stars, the latest and greatest example of immediate Martinsville success is Denny Hamlin, who finished eighth in his 2005 début. It was a foreshadowing of Martinsville brilliance, as the Virginia native has four wins there. He’ll miss this weekend’s race while recovering from a back injury.
All that begs the question: How will Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Danica Patrick fare this Sunday? Because the NASCAR Nationwide Series has only raced at Martinsville once – 2006 – since 1994, neither Stenhouse nor Patrick has much competitive seat time there.
At this point of the season, Stenhouse and Patrick are tied for the Sunoco rookie standings, each with 54 points. Stenhouse is now 12th in point standings, and in contention to become only the second rookie to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – only Hamlin has this distinction so far.
If Patrick makes the field on Sunday, she’ll make history once again as the first female to start a race at Martinsville. Likewise, neither have much short-track experience to lean on in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Patrick has two Bristol starts with a best finish of 28th this season; Stenhouse’s lone short-track start resulted in a 16th at Bristol three weeks ago. Stenhouse did, however, tally three short-track wins in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, all at Iowa Speedway.
