MARTINSVILLE 1
Friday, March 28 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, March 29 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 5 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, March 30 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (FS1)
Ford teams in all three of NASCAR’s top series will be in action once again as another tripleheader is scheduled for this weekend at historic Martinsville Speedway. The half-mile paperclip-shaped short track will kick off the first of its two weekends with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday night, followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series Saturday and NASCAR Cup Series Sunday.
BLANEY RIGHT ON TIME
One of the most unique trophies in NASCAR is Martinsville’s grandfather clock, which goes to the winner of any major series race at the track. Ford’s Ryan Blaney has won two over the past two seasons after winning the playoff race in 2023 and ’24. When the series visited last November, Blaney was in need of a win in order to advance to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4. He passed Chase Elliott with 14 laps remaining after taking on tires under caution with 100 laps to go. Blaney worked his way up to fourth with 54 laps to go and then third 13 laps later before running down Elliott and passing him as they came to the start-finish line on lap 486. In addition to earning his third win of the year, Blaney’s triumph was the 100th all-time Cup win for Team Penske with Ford.
LOGANO LIKES MARTINSVILLE
Only one other track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit has been better for Joey Logano when it comes to qualifying than Martinsville Speedway. Logano enters this weekend with an average starting position of 8.4 at the half-mile facility and is only bettered by his 7.7 average at Las Vegas. He has six poles, including three in a row in 2015-16, and had an active streak of 18 straight top-10 starts (including races where qualifying was rained out) at one point. In 32 career races at Martinsville, Logano has an average finishing position of 10.8 and has been running at the finish of every event. He comes into Sunday’s race with a streak of 11 straight top-10 finishes.
PREECE MOVING UP IN STANDINGS
Ford driver Ryan Preece is coming off his second straight top-10 finish after running ninth on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That performance backed up a third-place effort at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and has helped him move up eight spots in the standings from 24th to 16th. As the series heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, Preece looks to continue that upward climb. He finished ninth in this event a year ago while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, and captured the only pole of his Cup Series career at the track in 2023.
TEAM PENSKE LEADING THE WAY
The only thing Team Penske drivers Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric haven’t done this year is win, but when it comes to spending time at the front of the field, the three Ford drivers have had moments of domination. Through the first six Cup races of 2025, the trio has combined to lead 554 laps or 39 percent of all laps run so far (554-of-1408). Logano leads the way with 247 and has led at least 40 circuits four times while Cindric has done the same on three occasions. In addition, all three drivers have led the most laps in at least one race this season – Cindric (Daytona with 59), Logano (Atlanta with 83) and Blaney (Homestead with 124).
RYAN BLANEY: “Winning there is nice and getting your clock. I’ve been fortunate to win there a couple times. The softer tire has been good, and I think it’s helped. I think we can continue to be aggressive on it because that’s the place to be the most aggressive with tires. It’s the slowest racetrack and you don’t have to worry about massive blowouts at high speeds, so I think Goodyear has continued to work their way softer, which is a good thing. I think it’s important as we continue to work on short track racing that you have fall off, and I think they’ve just been getting better at it.”
RYAN PREECE: “When I think of Martinsville, we’ve gotten a pole there. We’ve had speed there. It’s just putting everything together. I’ve got a few tracks that I’m really comfortable at that we go to throughout the year, and then there are other ones that I need to continue to work on, but when I think of Martinsville, Darlington and Bristol, those are all places that I’m really comfortable at. I’m a huge fan of what we’ve been working on with the Cup Series and Goodyear and making the tire better and better to race. They’ve done a great job.”
KESELOWSKI WINS FIRST CLOCK
Brad Keselowski outdueled Kyle Busch down the stretch to win his first grandfather clock trophy after capturing the STP 500 on Apr. 2, 2017. The two drivers waged a memorable battle that saw them swap the lead five times in the last 160 laps, but Keselowski ended up making the decisive pass on lap 458 and led the final 43 circuits to become the first repeat winner in 2017. Prior to winning at Martinsville, Keselowski took the checkered flag at Atlanta in the second race of the season.
BOWYER NETS FIRST FORD WIN
Clint Bowyer snapped a 190-race winless stretch by leading the final 114 laps to win the weather-delayed STP 500 in 2018. The win was Bowyer’s first with Ford and ninth of his career. He passed Ryan Blaney on lap 285 to gain the lead for the first time, and when Jamie McMurray brought out the caution 100 laps later after hitting the wall, Bowyer’s pit crew got him back out with the lead and that proved to be the difference. That capped a big day for Ford, which had five drivers finish in the Top 10 and saw Blaney win Stage 2.
HAAS FACTORY TEAM ROLLING
Through six races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the Haas Factory Team has already served notice that they’re going to be contenders for Ford on a weekly basis. The newly-branded organization has had new drivers Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed both finish in the top five of the same race twice (Daytona and Homestead). Mayer finished second in both of those events and that’s where he currently sits in the point standings while Creed, whose best finish is a third at Daytona, is fifth overall.
FRONT ROW FINDING ITS GROOVE
The Front Row Motorsports tandem of Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith have both been solid for Ford through the first four races of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. Smith, who is currently third in the point standings, is one of only two drivers to post a top-10 finish in every race while Riggs has registered back-to-back top-5 runs, including a runner-up effort last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT MARTINSVILLE
1961 – Fred Lorenzen (1)
1962 – Nelson Stacy (2)
1963 – Fred Lorenzen (2)
1964 – Fred Lorenzen (Sweep)
1965 – Fred Lorenzen and Junior Johnson
1966 – Fred Lorenzen (2)
1969 – Richard Petty (Sweep)
1986 – Ricky Rudd (1)
1990 – Geoffrey Bodine (Sweep)
1992 – Mark Martin and Geoffrey Bodine
1993 – Ernie Irvan (2)
1994 – Rusty Wallace (Sweep)
1995 – Rusty Wallace (1)
1996 – Rusty Wallace (1)
1997 – Jeff Burton (1)
1998 – Ricky Rudd (2)
2000 – Mark Martin (1)
2001 – Dale Jarrett and Ricky Craven
2002 – Kurt Busch (2)
2017 – Brad Keselowski (1)
2018 – Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano
2019 – Brad Keselowski (1)
2023 – Ryan Blaney (2)
2024 – Ryan Blaney (2)
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
AT MARTINSVILLE
1994 – Kenny Wallace
FORD NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT MARTINSVILLE
1995 – Joe Ruttman
2003 – Jon Wood (2)
2004 – Rick Crawford (1)
2005 – Ricky Craven (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (1)
2020 – Grant Enfinger
