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)
NASCAR & Martinsville
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 all-time, behind only Daytona International Speedway at 156.
