There is huge winter storm pounding the northeastern United States. Unfortunately for us the first short track of the season is right up in the middle of it almost. According to the official twitter page of the speedway was quoted saying on multiple replies to fans that racing conditions look good for Sunday. So lets take a pre-race look into the first short track of the year.
STP 500
Martinsville give the drivers a test in ability and patience. Short track racing at Martinsville brings out the purest form of racing in a driver. There is no aero push and no drafting partners, well unless you count the endless amounts of collisions between front and rear bumpers through out the half mile short track. Take double digits cautions and sprinkle in short tempers and low patience with a handful of drivers and now we are back almost to where the sport got its start. With all that being said there are still some unanswered questions coming into the race. Will the Toyota camp be able to continue there dominance they showed last week? Will the Fords show up once again like they have done all season to this point? Might be the biggest question of all will any Chevrolet car be able to take home a win at a track that has been historically pretty good to them?
Toyota has amassed in a short time in the sport seven wins at the short track in Virginia. Denny Hamlin has been the driver behind five outta the seven wins for the manufacturer. The other two wins, come from his teammate Kyle Bush. In seven wins at the "paper clip" Toyota has led 572 laps combined. Martin Truex and FRR has come on as of late along with Kyle Bush, if it wasn't for a late race mistake on pit road arguable Bush could've won last week. Toyota, specifically JGR has showed dominance at Martinsville and there is no reason they can not come back and do it again. Hamlin could easily show up this weekend at his "home" track. Kyle could come back with a chip on his shoulder and capture his third grand father clock. Maybe we could even see a first time winner in Suarez who has not been historically good here but could shock some people. Then you've got the FRR guys and well we all know how once they start rolling its hard to slow em down. Toyota and all there cars have come on as of late and for the fans of all those driver it couldn't have come at a better time considering Ford has there run of dominance.
Speaking of the blue oval teams, all fords have a total of twenty seven wins at the half mile of chaos. Second only to one manufacturer and that would be Chevrolet, but we'll get to them shortly. Ford has shown to be a force to be reckoned with on the aero tracks and the slick older surfaced tracks. With that being said there numbers at Martinsville haven't exactly be extravagant in the last fifteen years. The blue oval has exactly one win in almost thirty races. Honestly you can even go back twenty five years and they have only amassed twelve total in that span. Ford just has not been historically good at the half mile short track in Virginia. Now with that being said; Ford has been on a path of vengeance this year obviously with Harvick, and even the Penske car having a solid time in Daytona. So this very well could be the year that Ford takes another track for there own.
Well were do we start with the next group of cars here? Some might say the most dominant manufacturer at the half mile, low banked track. With a whopping fifty six wins, whether it be Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Sr "the bowtie" has been historically dominate at this track. With the recent struggles from the Chevrolet camp as a whole, adapting to the new car multiple Hendricks drivers have been quoted about being excited coming to Martinsville. Jimmie Johnson was quoted saying on the track website saying "For me I just love that little race track, Martinsville has been a great place for me." For a team that is mostly dominated by youngsters they all realize what Rick Hendrick and that team bring to this track, but don't count out Kyle Larson, or Ryan Newman even. Newman is a savy veteran with a lot of laps at this track and could easily bring the second win home for RCR. Kyle Larson has the chance of winning at any race he comes too and this short track is no different. Martinsville could easily be the break that the new Chevrolet Camaro needed early in the season because this track is a great show of driver ability and patience.
So lets conclude this entry with the weekend schedule for the cup guys. Weather permitting first practice will start Saturday the 24th at 10:05 on FS1. The second practice will be at 12:30 again on FS1, and knockout qualifying will start at 5:10 that evening. The 500 lap race once again weather permitting will start a 2:00 Sunday evening. There is a chance of snow and bad weather so of course as us fans know this could change but regardless of the time of the race this race is gonna be one you don't wanna miss. Stay tuned guys I will have a post race entry to talk about the events that transpired during and after the race. Thank you guys for once again reading my blog and I hope it kept you interested!
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