Rewatch John Andretti’s first Cup Series win at Daytona in 1997

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Jonathan Merryman

John Andretti struck gold twice in the NASCAR Cup Series. Pay dirt was hit for the first time at Daytona International Speedway driving for Cale Yarborough in the 1997 Pepsi 400.

The win was huge and it was far from a fluke. Andretti took the field to the woodshed that day in Daytona leading 113 of 160 laps including the final 24 circuits. Three future Hall of Famers finished in the top five that day: Terry Labonte (second), Dale Earnhardt (fourth) and Dale Jarrett (fifth) with Sterling Marlin coming home third.

While the win wasn’t the only victory for Andretti, it was the only win NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough would earn as a team owner. An incredible stat when you consider his 83 career wins as a driver.

Andretti would have to wait two years before he was able to win again, and that victory came at Martinsville Speedway in April of 1999 when Andretti took Richard Petty’s No. 43 to Victory Lane.

MORE: Listen to the MRN radio call of the race

Relive the day John Andretti took his famous last name to Victory Lane in this week’s NASCAR Classic Full Race Replay of the 1997 Pepsi 400 from Daytona.

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Staff Report

Though its length was a bit longer than anticipated, the wait for NASCAR fans to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel once more is almost over.

The 15-time NMPA Most Popular Driver Award winner is set to pilot the No. 8 JR Motorsports Hellmann’s Chevrolet in Saturday’s Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

Before waving the green flag in February’s Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, Earnhardt told the media that the pull of driving grows stronger every day he’s not in the seat of a race car.

“I really miss racing. I really miss driving, and it’s getting worse,” Earnhardt said. “I thought as I got out of the car and the further I got from my full-time career, the less that would bother me, but it actually is getting worse for some reason. I really look forward to getting some seat time, smelling the smells and hearing the noises and just enjoying being in the car.”

This was said, of course, when Earnhardt thought he’d be racing a few weeks later on the originally scheduled date of March 21. That race was postponed and eventually rescheduled for June 13 as the COVID-19 pandemic put the race calendar on hold.

Since retiring from his full-time role as a NASCAR Cup Series driver after the 2017 season, Earnhardt has participated in one Xfinity Series race each year with his JR Motorsports operation. He finished fourth at Richmond Raceway in 2018 and fifth at Darlington Raceway last year. This season, he’ll take on the 1.5-mile Homestead track, where he’s made five previous series starts with a best finish of second in 1999.

PHOTOS: Dale Earnhardt Jr. through the years

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Zack Albert

Bubba Wallace said he hadn’t gotten much sleep in recent days, an understandable deficit for the sport’s lone African-American driver who’s had plenty on his mind as the country experiences a movement to right racial injustice and NASCAR makes steps to evolve alongside it.

RELATED: Race results | Cup Series standings

Wallace drove with purpose Wednesday night, carrying more than mere on-track hopes with a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme on his Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 at Martinsville Speedway. It netted him an 11th-place finish, falling just shy of a top-10 result after a late-race mixing of fenders with seven-time champ and Martinsville master Jimmie Johnson.

“Man, our car was so good,” Wallace told FOX Sports after the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. “Our Black Lives Matter Chevrolet — that’s good to say right there — was so good on the long run. … But all in all, great job to come here and execute, no practice. My favorite place, and it just continues to show. I’ll tell you what was badass, racing with seven-time there at the end, Jimmie Johnson. You think, Jimmie Johnson wins so many times here and we’re running him down. That’s hat’s off to my guys, so good job, fellas.”

Wallace finished among the top 10 at each stage break, his team battling through a mechanical issue that required extra pumps of the jack during pit stops. His affinity for the .526-mile track helped to offset that, aiding his cause at the site of two wins for him in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

Though he slipped toward the end of the lead-lap cars during the final stage, he rallied down the stretch to vie for his third top 10 of the season.

But Wednesday’s result carried much more meaning than his outcome on the scoring sheet. For the second straight race, he wore a T-shirt with messages of “I Can’t Breathe” and “Black Lives Matter” in the wake of protests surrounding the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minnesota. His statement, lifted by support from his fellow drivers and the sanctioning body, helped Wallace lead the call for the confederate flag to be banned from NASCAR tracks and grounds in a Monday night interview with CNN.

Less than 48 hours later and just hours before Wednesday’s start at Martinsville, NASCAR issued a condemnation of the flag and its prohibition from those settings. Wallace drove home what the event meant to him in a pre-race message to his crew.

“Like that message I sent you guys, biggest night of my life right here,” Wallace said over the No. 43 radio. “I’ll give it my all. … Everybody watching, new faces watching. Appreciate y’all’s support. Support this week’s been pretty unreal, so definitely didn’t go unnoticed.”

New faces seemed to take notice, too. NASCAR’s decision, Wallace’s paint scheme and the sport’s substantial steps toward real change drew new fans to social media and garnered support from famous names in other walks of life — notably NBA star LeBron James, soccer pro Jozy Altidore, actress Reese Witherspoon and Bernice King, Martin Luther King’s youngest child.

“I think it’s great, the initiative he’s showing and wanting to be a part of change, the right change,” said Ryan Blaney, a close friend to Wallace and Wednesday’s runner-up. “I feel like he’s on his way, man. He’s doing a really good job. I think he was on CNN the other night, he did a great job on that. Like I said, I’ve just known him a long time and he’s just Bubba to me. I think of him as a brother. It’s good to talk to him, but I think he’s definitely not getting sleep because he’s so busy. It’s good things, a good cause that he’s striving toward.”

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Staff Report

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. passed post-race technical inspection Wednesday after winning the NASCAR Cup Series’ Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

RELATED: Official race results

Truex’s race-winning car was found to be compliant with the 2020 NASCAR Rule Book after the 263-mile event at the .526-mile Virginia short track.

With post-race teardown complete, the race results are official. Meanwhile, there were two cars with one lug nut not safe and secure in post-race inspection, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott and the No. 18 JGR Toyota of Kyle Busch. Those safety infractions usually mean a $10,000 fine for the crew chief, according to guidelines in the NASCAR Rule Book.

This is the second year of a post-race process to bring a more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced before the 2019 season that thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the NASCAR Research & Development Center. Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions.

NASCAR will still inspect cars at the R&D Center as needed to monitor trends and parts compliance.

Posted on June 10, 2020June 11, 2020 by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr. won his second consecutive Martinsville Speedway race Wednesday night, ultimately cruising to a 4.232-second victory over a trio of Team Penske cars in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500.

Compared to his dominating victory at the half-mile track last fall (when he led 464 of 500 laps), Truex had to negotiate and muscle his way to the front this time.

RELATED: Official results | SHOP for Truex gear

“We’ve been working a long time on trying to figure this place out and just been chipping away at it,” said Truex, who drives the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.

“The last couple years we’ve been really strong; 2018 was a heartbreaker at the end of the race there. Last year to get the win and this year, hats off to the guys.”

All three Team Penske cars hounded Truex and kept him honest, ready to seize upon any late race lapse in concentration. But the 2017 series champion was strong and determined, earning his first victory of the season in the first official NASCAR Cup Series night race since the historic track installed lights in 2017.

Penske teammates Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano finished second, third and fourth. They combined to lead 273 laps with Logano’s 234 laps out front the most for any driver on the night.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman finished fifth and sixth. Matt DiBenedetto, whose iconic Wood Brothers Racing team hails from Virginia, finished seventh. William Byron, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10.

Bubba Wallace, who drove the No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports, earned his career-best NASCAR Cup Series finish at Martinsville (11th) — he and Johnson had a close competition for the 10th position in the final laps.

“All in all, great job to come here and execute with no practice,” said Wallace, who has two NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series wins at Martinsville. “My favorite place and it just continues to show.

“I’ll tell you what was badass was to race with ole seven-time (Johnson) there at the end. You think Jimmie Johnson wins so many times here and we’re running him down. Hats off to my guys. Good job fellows.”

At times it felt like three distinctive races in one. Logano won the first stage handily. Johnson won the second stage — his 70 laps out front the most he’s led in a single race since 2017. And then Truex took control of the third stage and was able to keep the field at bay and pull out to a comfortable lead. It was a tame night by short track standards with seven total caution periods — three for single-car incidents on track.

Truex’s good fortune was in stark contrast to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates who suffered through a long night of frustration. Reigning series champion Kyle Busch went a lap down early and finished 19th, just ahead of teammate Erik Jones. Denny Hamlin — a two-race winner in 2020 — reported problems with his No. 11 Toyota almost immediately after the green flag dropped and went three laps down by night’s end, finishing 24th.

Tyler Reddick’s 16th-place finish in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet made him the top-finishing Sunoco rookie.

Kevin Harvick’s 15th-place finish marked only the second time in the season’s 11 races that he did not finish among the top 10, but it was still good enough to retain the championship lead — by 28 points over Joey Logano and 47 points on third place Chase Elliott.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race, the Dixie Vodka 400, is Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

MORE: Homestead-Miami Speedway weekend schedule

Posted on June 10, 2020June 10, 2020 by Staff Report

Jimmie Johnson grabbed the lead from Joey Logano on Lap 202 and did not let go on the way to winning Stage 2 in Wednesday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. For Johnson, it was his first stage win of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Johnson, who is a nine-time winner at the short track, finished ahead of Ryan Blaney, the pole sitter to start the night. Logano was third, and Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman finished fourth. Kevin Harvick, in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Bubba Wallace, in the No. 43 Black Lives Matter Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports, was sixth.

The top-ranking Toyota in the stage was Martin Truex Jr. in 15th, the last car on the lead lap. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, two laps down at the end of the stage, and Denny Hamlin, three laps down, were a couple of the surprise cars toward the back of the field.

Finish	Driver	Team	Points
1	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	10
2	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	9
3	Joey Logano	Team Penske	8
4	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	7
5	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	6
6	Bubba Wallace	Richard Petty Motorsports	5
7	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	4
8	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	3
9	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	2
10	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	1

Stage 1 recap

Joey Logano dominated the early going in Wednesday’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, leading 104 of the first 130 laps to win Stage 1. For the driver of the Team Penske No. 22 Ford, it was his third stage win in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Logano pulled away from Clint Bowyer, who finished second in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson in third place was the top Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr., the top Toyota in the stage, and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Wallace, whose No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet was sporting a Black Lives Matter scheme, said this was the biggest race of his career in response to NASCAR’s announcement earlier in the day that it was banning the confederate flag at its events and properties. Wallace took two tires on the final pit stop to gain track position en route to the fifth-place showing.

Finish	Driver	Team	Points
1	Joey Logano	Team Penske	10
2	Clint Bowyer	Stewart-Haas Racing	9
3	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	8
4	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	7
5	Bubba Wallace	Richard Petty Motorsports	6
6	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	5
7	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	4
8	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	3
9	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	2
10	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	1

Posted on June 10, 2020June 10, 2020 by NASCAR Statement

“The presence of the confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry. Bringing people together around a love for racing and the community that it creates is what makes our fans and sport special. The display of the confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties.”

Posted on June 10, 2020June 10, 2020 by Staff Report

Capitol Records recording artist Devon Gilfillian will sing the national anthem tonight prior to the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR fans will recognize Gilfillian from his single “Get Out & Get It,” which was featured on the NASCAR on FOX broadcast last Sunday during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gilfillian’s debut album, Black Hole Rainbow, is available now.

Wednesday’s race at Martinsville marks the seventh event in NASCAR’s return to racing following a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first-ever regularly-scheduled NASCAR Cup Series event at the speedway to be held under the lights.

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville, Virginia, for the first time since the COVID-19 shutdown postponed its original scheduled date in May. Martinsville Speedway will play host to Wednesday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

As with other events held since NASCAR returned to action after the coronavirus outbreak, the 263-mile race will take place without fans in attendance, and only a limited amount of essential personnel will be permitted on the track’s grounds. It will mark the seventh Cup Series race in NASCAR’s return and the 11th race overall this season.

Here’s everything you need to know with helpful information on the track’s first official race under the lights at NASCAR’s highest level.

TRACK DETAILS

Martinsville Speedway is a .526-mile oval that held its first NASCAR Cup Series event on September 25, 1949, the oldest track on the circuit. Red Byron was the winner of the race.

With an 800-foot frontstretch and backstretch, each 588-foot turn is banked at just 11 degrees. The turns also feature a concrete preferred bottom groove, while the upper grooves and straightaways are asphalt.

Wednesday night’s 500-lap race will be the 143rd race for NASCAR’s top division on the Virginia track.

STAGE LENGTHS

Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 130, Stage 2 at Lap 260, and the final stage is slated to conclude on Lap 500.

STARTING LINEUP

Wednesday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 will be held without practice and qualifying as NASCAR tries to limit exposure for on-site personnel to control the spread of coronavirus. The lineup was determined by a random draw among groups in the team owner standings:

Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points

Ryan Blaney will start on the pole in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang alongside Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.

MORE: Starting lineup for Martinsville

Pit-stall selection will be ordered based on finishing positions from the NASCAR Cup Series’ previous race — last Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway — followed by new entries in order of points.

For more information about starting-lineup procedures for national-series races scheduled without qualifying, click here.

RULES PACKAGE

In March, NASCAR officials introduced a reduced-downforce package designed to enhance competition on road courses and the circuit’s shorter oval tracks. The changes include significantly smaller spoilers, splitters and other aerodynamic devices in an effort to place a greater emphasis on handling and driver input with less stabilizing downforce on those tracks. The package draws inspiration from similar rules used in the 2017-18 seasons.

Among the changes for those specific tracks:

A significantly smaller rear spoiler, which shrinks from an 8-inch height to 2.75 inches.
The front splitter’s overhang will now measure a quarter-inch (down from 2 inches), with approximately 2-inch wings (reduced from 10.5 inches).
Alterations to the radiator pan, removing its vertical fencing in an effort to reduce front-end downforce. The dimensions of the pan remain the same.

GOODYEAR TIRES

Unique set of challenges: Wednesday’s stop at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway presents one similar challenge and one that is quite different, compared to the series’ first short-track race of the year at Bristol Motor Speedway. Similar to Bristol, Martinsville’s corners are concrete, and the tread compounds Goodyear chooses to bring are specifically designed to lay rubber on that surface. The difference is the banking as Martinsville is virtually flat while Bristol is steeply banked. As a result, the constructions of these two tire codes have been designed to optimize the acceleration, deceleration and handling needed on Martinsville’s flat, tight turns. Also of note, since this is the first night race at Martinsville, the Goodyear test at this track last summer that yielded this tire setup was held partially under the track’s new lights.

“Moving the first Martinsville race later in the schedule will have an impact on tires and the track’s ability to take rubber,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Originally scheduled for May and now being held in June, ambient temperatures will be warmer, which will help the cars’ ability to lay rubber in the concrete corners. Even though this race will be held at night, track temperatures should be warmer than what we ‘normally’ have for this event. In addition to the concrete corners, Martinsville’s lack of banking, long straightaways and tight turns combine for the other challenge teams face. Drivers are hard on the brakes entering the corners and hard on the gas exiting, so our constructions have to be very robust in handling those conditions.”

Goodyear debuts new tire setup: There are two new tire codes NASCAR Cup teams will run at Martinsville Speedway. Compared to what was run at this track last season, this tire setup features construction updates on both sides of the car and compound changes on both sides that will give the cars more grip and introduce more tire wear. This tire setup came out of a test at Martinsville last July. Drivers, and teams who participated in that test were Team Penske (Ryan Blaney), Stewart-Haas Racing (Clint Bowyer) and Wood Brothers Racing (Paul Menard). This is the only track where NASCAR teams will run either of these two tire codes. Also, like most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at Martinsville.

STATS TO KNOW

— Both Martinsville Speedway winners in 2019 swept all three stages. Brad Keselowski won both stages and the race in the spring and Martin Truex Jr. won both stages and the race in the fall.

— Team Penske (three) and Joe Gibbs Racing (two) won five of the last six at Martinsville Speedway.

— Ford drivers have won four of the last six races at Martinsville Speedway after the manufacturer failed to win any of the prior 28 races. Brad Keselowski won two of the last six Martinsville races and is the only repeat winner in the last seven races there. Chevrolet has 56 Martinsville wins but has won only once in the last eight races.

— The last five Martinsville Speedway races were won by the driver who led the most laps, while the last five winners led a stretch of over 100 laps in each of their victories. Two of the last five races ended with a last-lap pass; the final lead change in the other three races was with 114 laps to go or more.

— Only once in the last seven Martinsville Speedway races has a driver earned their first win of the season. Clint Bowyer accomplished the feat in the spring 2018 race.

— The past five races at Martinsville Speedway have produced five different winners — Kyle Busch (fall 2017), Clint Bowyer (spring 2018), Joey Logano (fall 2018), Brad Keselowski (spring 2019) and Martin Truex Jr. (fall 2019).

Source: NASCAR statistics, Racing Insights

LIVE COVERAGE

Tune in Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET to television coverage from Martinsville Speedway on FS1 and the FOX Sports App. For full radio coverage, listen in to MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on-air.

RELATED: Ways to follow the races

For a more interactive experience, head over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner (which is FREE for both races), and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).

Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the NASCAR Finish Line App.

2019 RACE WINNER

Brad Keselowski, who has already won two races in 2020, took his No. 2 Team Penske Ford to Victory Lane in last season’s first of two trips to Martinsville Speedway. Keselowski led a dominating 446 of the 500 total laps and finished with a .594-second margin of victory over Chase Elliott. Keselowski also won the spring race at the track in 2017.

RELATED: 2019 STP 500 recap

ACTIVE MARTINSVILLE WINNERS

Jimmie Johnson (nine); Denny Hamlin (five); Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch (two); Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman (one)