Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered Martinsville Speedway with high hopes after scoring his first Grandfather Clock last fall. However, he wouldn't have anything close to the day that he wanted, finishing 36th.
From the first short track of the season with the grandfather clock as the trophy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from Martinsville Speedway’s STP 500.
Will Power dominated the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but Juan Pablo Montoya would get the advantage following the final set of pit stops. He then held off his Team Penske teammate throughout the final laps, scoring the victory.
Team Penske has dominated so far this weekend in St. Petersburg, and that continued during qualifying as the organization would sweep the top four spots.
The box score shows that Cole Custer finished 16th, but that doesn't represent the speed that the 17-year-old showed at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday.
It will be the 133rd time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the .526 mile paper clip in southern Virginia, and the winner of the STP 500 will go home with one of the most unique and coveted pieces of hardware in the sport - a grandfather clock from the Ridgeway Clock Company.
On Friday, Team Penske swept the top three spots with Will Power, Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves. On Saturday, they swept the top three spots once again, just with a new face mixed in the middle.
When Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his first trip to Martinsville Speedway, it didn't go well as he hit everything, even the pacecar. In his eyes, "it looked like that it was going to be quite a challenge to sort it out and understand what I needed to do." However, a test in the early 2000s paid dividends as Earnhardt was able to hit on something during that time and has since done well at Martinsville, scoring the victory last year.
Following only a pair of top-fives to start the season, Denny Hamlin feels that Joe Gibbs Racing's program could be improved to match the likes of Stewart-Haas Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Penske Racing. He also feels last week "showed signs of progress" as he ran inside the top-10 all day, before a pit road penalty for an "uncontrolled tire" took him out of contention, resulting in a 28th place finish.
Building on one of the most successful INDYCAR partnerships in recent memory, Team Penske and Hitachi Group announced today that Hitachi will return as a sponsor for all of the team’s cars competing in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
The intensity and excitement for the Sept. 12 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race has been amplified with World Wide Technology Raceway added as the second race in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series Chase and with the addition of 25 miles for the event.
Jack Aitken, one of four drivers of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, won the pole for the prestigious Rolex 24 At Daytona with a fast lap of one minute 33.939 seconds / 136.429 mph.
Alexander Sims sped to the GTD PRO pole position Thursday for the Rolex 24 At Daytona to lead a strong showing for all five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs to start the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
After an incident leaving Myers unable to finish the 2025 Clash, he looks to bounce back in 2026. Team AmeriVet will give Burt another attempt in 2026 while still racing in the #50.
