MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Brad Keselowski didn’t get the finish he hoped for two weeks ago when NASCAR’s Cup Series ran on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, but the 2012 series champion didn’t dwell too long on his 11th-place finish.
“When we got out of Bristol, I left with a smile on my face knowing that we had Martinsville, we had Richmond — those are two of my best racetracks,” the Team Penske driver said. “At Martinsville we’ve been just so solid the last few times, and then Richmond was kind of a dominant race for us last fall.”
NASCAR’s premier series is in the midst of a stretch of three races in a row on tracks shorter than a mile, and while many of his fellow competitors also cut their racing teeth on such ovals, Keselowski has a particular affinity for them. He has won twice each at Martinsville and Richmond and three times at Bristol.
Both of his wins on Martinsville's 0.526-mile oval, the series’ oldest and shortest circuit, came in the spring, and Keselowski said it’s a track that often vexes drivers, especially early.
“Some tracks it just seems like it takes longer for things to click and Martinsville seems to be one of them in my mind,” he said, adding that there’s a certain patience required, something he had to learn before winning in April 2017 and March 2019.
“The first thing I would say is if Martinsville were a golf course, it would be a 50-hole golf course,” he said. “It’s a 500-lap race, so you get behind early there is plenty of opportunities to catch up, and even to expand upon that with the advent of the wave arounds and the lucky dogs and stages, it’s never been easier to catch up from behind in NASCAR, so I think having the mental strength and capacity to acknowledge that, work through it and play that to your advantage is super important.
“Not everybody has it, but the best do and they’re able to succeed.”
Martin Truex, Jr., the 2017 series champion, has learned that, too, winning two of the last three races at Martinsville, including the spring race last June.
“Definitely patience is key,” he said Friday. “It's a long race and obviously, you need to be around at the end.”
There have been seven different winners through seven races this season, Truex among them, and the next five tracks will also host races during the 10-race playoffs.
Conditions are likely to be different at those venues in the fall, but every bit of information helps, he said. “Look forward to hopefully running well and hopefully getting a few more wins and building a notebook for the playoffs. It's definitely an important thing."
Chase Elliott won in the fall on his way to the championship, with three Team Penske teammates — Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Keselowski — next in line.
That race proved disappointing for William Byron, who’d driven his Hendrick Motorsports car to an eighth-place finish in the spring. He felt like he had another top-10 run going until mechanical issues surfaced and relegated him to a 35th-place finish.
The eighth-place run came despite Byron starting at the rear several times.
“You have to adapt to kind of how the rubber lays down. It's just a very difficult rhythm place. A little bit off is a lot,” he said Friday. “You can go a lap down pretty easily. It's just kind of a rhythm place. You have to find that.”
It's also a place, Byron said, where many champions win.
“It's an experience place," he said. “It's a really tough place.”
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio covererage of Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series Blue Emu 500 from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 6:30 on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
NASCAR Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 – April 10, 2021
Saturday Night’s Starting Line Up
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 0.000 0.000
2. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 0.000 0.000
3. 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
4. 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Pennzoil Ford 0.000 0.000
5. 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
6. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Crest Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
7. 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Toyota 0.000 0.000
8. 6 Ryan Newman Guaranteed Rate Ford 0.000 0.000
9. 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 0.000 0.000
10. 2 Brad Keselowski Autotrader Ford 0.000 0.000
11. 99 Daniel Suarez Camping World Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
12. 18 Kyle Busch Snickers Peanut Brownie Toyota 0.000 0.000
13. 8 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
14. 34 Michael McDowell Fr8Auctions Ford 0.000 0.000
15. 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 0.000 0.000
16. 43 Erik Jones Petty’s Garage Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
17. 37 Ryan Preece Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
18. 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
19. 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
20. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
21. 1 Kurt Busch GEARWRENCH Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
22. 21 Matt DiBenedetto Motorcraft Quick Lane Ford 0.000 0.000
23. 20 Christopher Bell Toyota Toyota 0.000 0.000
24. 14 Chase Briscoe # Rush Truck Centers Ford 0.000 0.000
25. 23 Bubba Wallace DoorDash Toyota 0.000 0.000
26. 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 0.000 0.000
27. 42 Ross Chastain Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
28. 53 JJ Yeley(i) Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
29. 00 Quin Houff Gardner Marsh Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
30. 77 Justin Haley(i) Diamond Creek Water Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
31. 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Anytime Favorites Ford 0.000 0.000
32. 51 Cody Ware(i) Nurtec ODT Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
33. 52 Josh Bilicki Ford 0.000 0.000
34. 7 Corey LaJoie ARK.io Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
35. 38 Anthony Alfredo # iRacing Ford 0.000 0.000
36. 78 BJ McLeod(i) CorvetteParts.net Ford 0.000 0.000
37. 15 James Davison Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
