NASCAR Cup Series

Memorial Hospital of Martinsville & Henry County has joined the elite list of Martinsville Speedway sponsors as the Official Onsite Care Provider at Martinsville Speedway.

Dodge’s Brad Keselowski leads the Chase for the Sprint Cup driver standings by seven points over Jimmie Johnson. He has led the point standings after five of the six Chase races. It’s the first time in the history of the NASCAR playoff format that a Dodge driver has led the Chase standings. Keselowski has an average finish of 5.6 through the first six Chase races.

Carl Edwards on racing at Martinsville Speedway: “I am pretty slow at Martinsville. We have just been terrible there the last couple of years. The test in August helped a little bit. I think we have a better game plan there and if we can get a top five at Martinsville and run up front all day that would be a huge step forward for us. I think that 2013 test helped a little bit and it is time for us to have a good run. I think Chad and all the guys are working really hard on it.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this weekend at Martinsville, Va., after being medically cleared for competition.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been medically cleared to return to NASCAR competition and will be back in the seat of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Per NASCAR policy, NASCAR’s medical liaison office received official notification of his clearance to resume racing late this morning. Earnhardt announced Oct. 11 that he would miss two races (Charlotte and Kansas) while he was recovering from a concussion.

Miguel Paludo heads from the largest track on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) schedule to the smallest for the second visit of the season to Martinsville Speedway.

Nelson Piquet Jr. heads to Martinsville Speedway this week, for the 19th race of the 22-race season. Piquet Jr. has had three previous starts at NASCAR's smallest track, and claimed his best finish in the spring of this year when he captured his first top-10 of the 2012 season.

Short Track fun…James Buescher and the No.31 Great Clips Chevrolet Silverado team return to the paperclip short track of Martinsville Speedway. Coming off a third-place finish at the series biggest track, Talladega Superspeedway, Buescher looks to continue his Championship hunt. Heading into the weekend, there are just four races left in the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season.

NASCAR Bashers will sponsor Nationwide Series driver Cole Whitt in the JR Motorsports # 88 car to create on-track buzz among fans. The NASCAR Bashers car will run the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on November 3 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The car will showcase prominent NASCAR Bashers badging and detailed graphics simulating the logo and the number 88 crashing through the paint scheme.

Following the success of an ongoing partnership to positively impact the environment while benefitting science, technology and math education, Michigan International Speedway and Adrian College have developed plans for a first-of-its kind science center and science-related field trips at NASCAR’s fastest racetrack.