TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
BLUE-EMU MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
RIDGEWAY, VIRGINIA
JUNE 10, 2020
MARTINSVILLE FOR RACE #11
Originally slated for May 9 on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) schedule, but postponed due to the COVID-10 pandemic, the Blue-Emu Maximum Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway is now set for the mid-week date of Wednesday evening, June 10 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The event marks the 11th of 36 races on the revised calendar.
The 500-lap, 263-mile race at the .526-mile paper clip-shaped oval venue will be an historic night for both NASCAR and Martinsville Speedway when they turn on the lights for the first time in the track’s 73-year history. The Speedway installed a state-of-the-art LED Lighting system in 2017 and became the first major motorsports facility in the United States to do so.
STARTING LINEUP
The event will be a one-day show without fans in attendance. With no practice and no qualifying, owner points and a random draw will again set the starting lineup. By virtue of the random draw, here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters:
8th Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Adam’s Polishes Camaro ZL1 1LE
9th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE
11th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE
14th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Cat Fleet Monitoring Camaro ZL1 1LE
15th William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE
17th Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., No. 47 Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE
20th Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE
BOWTIE BULLETS
· Jimmie Johnson is Chevrolet’s most recent winner at Martinsville – Oct. ’16. Of all active drivers, the career-Chevrolet driver leads the way in runner-up finishes (4), top-five’s (19), and top-10 finishes (24).
· Victories by current Chevrolet drivers include:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, has nine wins (2004, ’06, ’07-twice, ’08, ’09, ’12, ’13, & ’16)
Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE has two wins (2002, & ’14)
· Behind the wheel of his famous 1957 Chevrolet 150 ‘Black Widow’ stock car, Buck Baker was awarded the first win for the Bowtie Brand at Martinsville. Sporting its black & white paint scheme, the iconic Chevy is part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Glory Road. Other models to claim victories at the half-mile track are Bel Air, Biscayne, Impala, Monte Carlo, Lumina, Impala SS, and SS.
· Chevrolet team, Hendrick Motorsports, has led 806 laps so far this season, the most of any team.
GOING FOR A TENTH TIME
· With nine wins at Martinsville Speedway, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, leads all active drivers in victories at the popular Virginia track. A tenth victory would put Johnson ahead of former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, who also holds nine wins; and place him third on the all-time Martinsville win list. Only Richard Petty (15 wins) and Darrell Waltrip (11 wins) have more.
TEAM CHEVY SUCCESS
· Since 1949, Chevy teams and drivers have scored 56 wins in 142 races held at Martinsville Speedway, the oldest track on the circuit. Chevrolet has also registered 53 pole starts, 261 top-five’s, and 495 top-10 finishes.
· Hendrick Motorsports has captured more NCS victories at Martinsville than any other organization, all under the Chevrolet banner. In 1984, Geoff Bodine collected the team’s first win, and the current total has grown to 24: Jeff Gordon (nine), Jimmie Johnson (nine), Darrell Waltrip (four), Geoffrey Bodine (one) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one).
TUNE IN
FS1 will telecast the 500-lap race live at 7:00 p.m. ET Wednesday, June 10th. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 3rd IN STANDINGS
WHILE THE TRACKS ARE DIFFERENT, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU ALL LEARNED AT THE FIRST TWO LOW-DOWNFORCE RACES THIS SEASON THAT COULD TRANSLATE TO MARTINSVILLE?
“I am looking forward to Martinsville Wednesday night. I think we should be able to bring over a few things we learned in Phoenix earlier this year. The biggest thing with the low-downforce package is just that the braking is going to be different. The good news is this package is pretty similar to what we ran a good bit over the past few years and I think we can look back into what we were doing at some of those races. Hopefully, with that information, we can give ourselves a pretty good starting point for Wednesday night. ”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM / ADAM’S POLISHES CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 8th IN STANDINGS
BOWMAN’S THOUGHTS ON SHORT-TRACK RACING:
“Martinsville is a fun track to run at. Our short track program is getting better, but we still have a little way to go on the No. 88. This ChevyGoods.com/Adam’s Polishes team has been bringing some fast Chevrolet’s to the track and I know that we will put everything we have into our car for Wednesday.”
BOWMAN ON MID-WEEK RACES:
“Racing mid-week is still something I have to get used to. I typically have more time to prepare during the week for a race, so I think this is a good challenge for us. Everyone at Hendrick Motorsports is working hard every day building strong cars and I think it is really showing on track.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 SYMBICORT CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 14th IN STANDINGS
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SHORT TRACKS LIKE MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY?
“I love going to Martinsville Speedway. It’s an hour away from my house, so it feels like home. Anytime you can get to a short track and beat and bang and really work on those hard-braking corners you feel like you got a chance so I can’t wait to get there. Our cars have had speed this year, and I’m really looking forward to going to the flat paperclip that is Martinsville. We’re all racers at heart so we love short track racing.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 17th IN STANDINGS
“Martinsville is one of my favorite tracks. I’ve really gotten into a flow and rhythm that you need for that racetrack to run consistent lap times for such a long period of time and be consistently successful. I’ve enjoyed it a lot for that reason and it’s been fun. We ran so well in the fall and I hope that we run just as well on Wednesday. Regardless, I still enjoy going there so this is a race I’ve had circled for when we went back racing.”
BYRON ON THE SHORT TRACK PACKAGE:
“I think there’s going to be a lot more passing at Martinsville. With the low downforce, it’s going to really allow us to get up on each other. There’s going to be a lot of beating and banging not just because it’s Martinsville but because we saw that just a few races ago at Bristol (Motor Speedway). Hopefully we can keep our nose clean as much as possible and keep the splitter on it, and if we do, we should have a good shot at the end.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT FLEET MONITORING CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 18th IN STANDINGS
THIS WILL BE YOUR FIRST RACE AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY IN ABOUT FOUR YEARS. HOW ARE YOU PREPARING FOR THE RETURN TO THE HALF-MILE TRACK?
“This is a track that I’m excited for because my crew chief Randall Burnett is very excited for it. Martinsville Speedway is one of his favorite tracks, and he has a good notebook and game plan for it. That makes me motivated to go out and run well on Wednesday night. It’s going to be special running 500 laps at Martinsville under the lights for the first time, but with no practice beforehand, we will have a lot of variables. All our notes are from the day, so the night brings a new variable with it. Back during my NASCAR Truck Series days, I had good long run speed before they implemented the stage racing to shorten up the runs. The long run seemed to be where I was really comfortable at Martinsville, so hopefully we will get long runs like that in the Cup race where we can get in a rhythm and adjust on our car from there. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it and really looking forward to returning there for the first time in over three years.”
YOUR CHEVROLET WILL HAVE SPECIAL MESSAGING FROM CATERPILLAR ON THE QUARTER PANELS THAT HELP RECOGNIZE THEIR FLEET MONITORING DIVISION. ARE THERE ANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THAT AND RACING THAT RACE FANS MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT?
“Yeah, there are a lot of similarities between the world of Caterpillar and the world of racing that fans may not know about. The fleet monitoring division is a big one, and it relates a lot to our command center we utilize during the races. During these times when we’re dealing COVID-19 and the changes it’s bringing to the amount of people at the racetrack, but also on Caterpillar job-sites around the world, these two systems are so important. Our command center is staffed with engineers we normally have at the track for these races, and they’re working overtime to find any little advantage or strategy to help us on the track. With Cat’s Fleet Monitoring division, they’re doing the same thing in a way. They’re just focused on finding the most efficient strategies to provide operators with that will maximize their efforts and production during the workday while not being physically at the site. We’re both trying to get our respective jobs done as quickly and efficiently as possible. We actually unveiled the scheme to a group of Cat customers late last week, and it was really cool to see their reactions when we said we were going to run the car at Martinsville Speedway. We definitely want to get in a good run for them.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 20th IN STANDINGS
“We’ve had some solid runs the last couple of weeks at short tracks and intermediate tracks, and I think we can definitely carry that over to Martinsville Speedway Wednesday night. It’s going to be really cool to race there under the lights. Track position is always key, and our last couple of races have moved us into the bracket on the random draw that gets us a decent starting position of 17th. Martinsville has always been tough for me, but it’s Brian Pattie’s favorite track. I know JTG Daugherty Racing has had some really strong runs at Martinsville in the past, and I’m looking forward to keeping our momentum going that we’ve earned the last couple of races back in the No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 27th IN STANDINGS
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE FIRST NIGHT RACE AT MARTINSVILLE?
“I think racing at night is going to be something to adapt to. We’ve had a couple races recently at Martinsville that have ended at night with the lights being turned on, but just for a few laps. I’m hoping it’s going to be similar to how we unload and practice there in the spring when it’s really cold outside and the track is clean. Our GEICO Camaro has always been really fast in first practice at Martinsville, so hopefully that overlays into what we are stepping into on Wednesday night. I think it will be conducive to our typical setup that we bring there. We always seem to be fast the cooler it is and the cleaner the track is.”
RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 PURINA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 30th IN STANDINGS
“Martinsville Speedway is one of those tracks that I have circled on our NASCAR Cup Series schedule. I’ve been fortunate enough to run a couple of Modified races at Martinsville and even get a win in 2008. We were planning to run the modified race during the originally scheduled NASCAR weekend, and I’m really hoping we can still run it sometime this year. I’m really looking forward to running the No. 37 Purina Chevrolet paint scheme under the lights with our friend ‘Bentley’ on the hood. We had a couple of strong runs last year at Martinsville, and we’re still working to get some positive momentum going on our side. I’m a short track guy, so any time we can do short track racing under the lights is good for me.”
MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 31st IN STANDINGS
“Martinsville is a very challenging race track. It’s a track you have to be decent on the short runs so you can hold position or hopefully make some passes when your tires are fresh, but you also have to have enough traction to be good on the long run because you do get some long runs there. It’s a track that’s very tight with a lot of contact and it’s hard to be patient there, but you have to be. You have to use a lot of restraint, keep your fenders and brakes on the car, and try to be in position at the end of the race. 500 laps is a really long time there. Chad and the guys have been bringing me really fast Chevy’s each week. I’m looking forward to getting to Martinsville on Wednesday night and hopefully getting a complete race put together.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)
Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 31
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)
Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016
Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)
2020 STATISTICS:
Wins: 2
Poles: 3
Laps Led: 938
Top-five finishes: 15
Top-10 finishes: 37
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 788 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 717
Laps led to date: 235,244
Top-five finishes to date: 4,029
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,319
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,122
Chevrolet: 788
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 792
Ford: 692
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 145
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
