Richard Childress Racing at Martinsville Speedway… In 175 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Richard Childress Racing has earned four pole awards and posted seven victories with drivers Dale Earnhardt (five times), Ricky Rudd (1983) and Kevin Harvick (2011). RCR Chevrolet teams have earned 30 top-five and 63 top-10 finishes at Martinsville dating back to the team’s first start there on April 10, 1972. Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, contributed four of those top-10 finishes from 1976-1978. The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to Martinsville Speedway this weekend after a 14-year hiatus from the Virginia short track. The Welcome N.C. organization’s only two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the half-mile paperclip came in 2006. Kevin Harvick scored the victory, followed by a runner-up finish from Clint Bowyer. Collectively, Harvick and Bowyer combined to lead 207 out of the 250 laps en route to a 1-2 finish for RCR.
Catch the Action… The NASCAR Xfinity Series Draft Top 250 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live Saturday, October 31, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
The NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live Sunday, November 1, beginning at 2 p.m. ET on NBC and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
This Week’s Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Martinsville Speedway… In 13 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Dillon earned his best finish of fourth in April 2016 at the half-mile short track after starting deep in the field from the 29th spot. He also has a fifth-place finish at the track (April 2017). He has made four appearances at the track in the NASCAR Truck Series, earning his best finish of third in October 2011.
Tracker Off Road… Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE prominently features TRACKER ATVs, a game-changing new line of all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides offering breakthrough performance, service and value in the off-road industry. TRACKER OFF ROAD was born out of a powerhouse partnership formed between Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER founder Johnny Morris and Textron Specialized Vehicles, bringing together the undisputed world leader in boating with a global leader in innovation and technology.
Bass Pro Shops… Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Founded in 1972 when avid young angler Johnny Morris began selling tackle out of his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Missouri, today the company provides customers with unmatched offerings spanning premier destination retail, outdoor equipment manufacturing, world-class resort destinations and more. In 2017 Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s to create a “best-of-the-best” experience with superior products, dynamic locations and outstanding customer service. Bass Pro Shops also operates White River Marine Group, offering an unsurpassed collection of industry-leading boat brands, and Big Cedar Lodge, America’s Premier Wilderness Resort. Under the visionary conservation leadership of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitat and introducing families to the outdoors and has been named by Forbes as “one of America’s Best Employers.” Bass Pro Shops has a long relationship with NASCAR, dating back to 1998. For more information, visit www.basspro.com.
E-Z-GO… E-Z-GO is an iconic, world-renowned brand in golf cars and personal transportation vehicles. Products sold under the E-Z-GO brand include RXV® and TXT® fleet golf cars, Freedom® RXV and Freedom TXT personal golf cars, E-Z-GO Express™ personal utility vehicles, and the 2Five® street-legal low-speed vehicle. Known for innovation in electric-vehicle technology, E-Z-GO’s newest offerings include the ELiTE series of lithium-ion powered golf cars and PTVs, and the company’s exclusive 72-volt AC electric powertrain found in its latest Express series vehicles. Founded in 1954 in Augusta, Ga., E-Z-GO became part of Textron Inc. in 1960, and today operates as part of the company’s Textron Specialized Vehicles division.
AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:
How do you feel about short tracks like Martinsville Speedway?
“I love going to Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is one of those places where you go through so many emotions during the course of the race. Someone might bump you and that give-and-take can get frustrating. It’s a short little paper clip, with hard-braking corners. Earlier this year I got cooked at Martinsville Speedway because we had a tire go down before the race even started. I love that it’s one of the NASCAR Playoff cut off races this year. That will make it a blast for fans to watch.”
Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 MotorTrend Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Martinsville Speedway… Tyler Reddick has one NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway, finishing 16th at the short track earlier this year. Reddick also has six NASCAR Truck Series starts at the track, during which he had two top-five and three top-10 finishes.
About MotorTrend’s NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure… From learning how to communicate with their teams remotely due to Covid-19, to the cultural themes of social change and standing united, watch as NASCAR navigated one of its most tumultuous seasons in history in the all-new docuseries “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure”, premiering Saturday, October 31, on the MotorTrend App, the only subscription streaming service dedicated entirely to the motoring world.
As the first major sport in the U.S. to re-open, “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure” provides an all-access inside look at all of the major themes of the 2020 season with a sharp focus on who will qualify for the 16 playoff spots, and how they were each eliminated on the road to crowning the 2020 NASCAR Cup Champion. The all-new 7-part docuseries streams on the MotorTrend App beginning Saturday, Oct. 31.
About MotorTrend Group… MotorTrend Group is the largest automotive media company in the world, bringing together Discovery’s fast-growing MotorTrend TV, formerly Velocity, and a vast automotive digital, direct-to-consumer, social, and live event portfolio, including MOTORTREND, HOT ROD, ROADKILL, AUTOMOBILE, and more than 20 other industry-leading brands. With a monthly audience of 26 million across web, TV, and print, and 110 million social followers, culminating in 2 billion monthly content views across all platforms, the company encompasses television’s #1 network for automotive superfans, a leading automotive YouTube Channel, and the MotorTrend App, the only auto-dedicated subscription video-on-demand service. MotorTrend serves to embrace, entertain, and empower the motoring world.
Subscribe to the MotorTrend App and start your free trial now! Stream more than 3,600+ hours of the best in automotive entertainment and access the entire MotorTrend library from original series, hit shows from MotorTrend, live events, motorsports and more. Watch the best series, classic races, exciting documentaries and more with the NASCAR Collection from “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure”, The MotorTrend 500: NASCAR Heads West, The Wood Brothers and more, all ad-free across your favorite devices anytime, anywhere.
TYLER REDDICK QUOTE:
What are some lessons from the race we had at Martinsville Speedway earlier this year that you can apply to this weekend?
“We had a really good Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE the last time we went to Martinsville Speedway and learned a lot about the track that I think will help us this time around. The race we had back in June was my first time back at Martinsville since 2016, so I had to adapt quickly to figure out how to get around there in a Cup car since we went into that race without any practice. The track changed a lot over the course of that race, a lot more than we were expecting, so we’ll take that into account when setting up our strategy for it this time around. This is one of my crew chief’s favorite tracks, so we’re all looking forward to getting back there in our No. 8 MotorTrend Chevrolet to see what we can do.”
This Week’s No. 21 Taxslayer Chevrolet Camaro at Martinsville Speedway… Myatt Snider will return behind the wheel of the No. 21 TaxSlayer Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Saturday will mark Snider’s first Xfinity Series start at the Virginia short track. Snider has three career Truck Series starts at the half-mile speedway. He finished in the top-10 in all three of his previous starts, including a third-place finish in 2018.
About TaxSlayer… TaxSlayer makes online tax filing accessible for millions of Americans, with an easy-to-use platform and unlimited support at a fraction of the cost of the competition. Trusted for over 50 years, the Augusta-based tech company successfully completed more than 10 million federal and state e-filed tax returns in 2020 and processed $15 billion in refunds. TaxSlayer achieved a 4.5/5 TrustScore on consumer review site Trustpilot, with 87% of its customers rating the tax filing platform Great or Excellent. For more information, visit www.TaxSlayer.com.
MYATT SNIDER QUOTES:
You are back with RCR to run the final two races of the season. What kind of excitement level do you have entering Martinsville Speedway this weekend?
“Absolutely, I am very blessed to have this opportunity to finish off the season with Richard Childress Racing. It has been a really interesting year for me personally, with a lot of new experiences, going to new tracks and bouncing back and forth between teams throughout the season. I am just very thankful to be back in the No. 21 TaxSlayer Chevrolet this weekend to compete at one of my favorite tracks, Martinsville Speedway. We have a really cool Halloween scheme with TaxSlayer on board this weekend, so hopefully we can park it beside a clock at the end of the day Saturday.”
You have some strong stats at Martinsville Speedway from your NASCAR Truck Series starts. What is it specifically about Martinsville that seems to fit your driving style so well?
“Martinsville Speedway is one of the best short tracks on the schedule. I’ve had the opportunity to run races at Martinsville in late models and trucks for several years now, so even though this is my first start in an Xfinity Series car there, I still have a lot of laps and experience under my belt. It’s just a lot of fun. It has got a nice combination of hard-braking zones and getting back hard on the gas. It also requires a lot of patience out of the driver, so I think the one who can be the most patient and most intelligent with taking care of the car will find themselves in a really good position to win this race. Hopefully, that will be us.”
What are your expectations coming into this weekend at Martinsville Speedway? What will you consider a good day?
“Honestly, I think with how both myself and the entire No. 21 team have advanced this year our expectation is to go out and contend for the win this weekend. My crew chief, Andy Street, and our entire RCR team have been bringing extremely fast race cars to the track every week, and I don’t expect that to change at all. We’re all going to give it 100 percent this weekend, and hopefully, we’ll be right there contending for the win at the end of the day with our TaxSlayer Chevrolet.”
