NASCAR Cup Series

The ratings are in. They continue to sink, with anything not being raced at Daytona all down. Daytona was great, the rest were okay. There used to be a time when okay was good enough.

Wood Brothers Racing, Ryan Blaney, driver of the No 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion, spoke to media members Wednesday introducing the 2017 Shelby Mustang GT 350 as the official pace car for this weekend’s NASCAR event at Martinsville Speedway. Joining Blaney were Wood Brothers, Eddie and Leonard Wood.

Did you know that Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 56 wins at Martinsville Speedway? Chevrolet has gone to Victory Lane more than any other brand at the oldest track on the circuit. Buck Baker took Chevrolet to Winner’s Circle for the first time in 1957. The winning tradition of the Bowtie Brand and Martinsville Speedway continues on; last year’s winner was Jimmie Johnson proudly driving a Chevy into the famous Winner’s Circle at the paper clipped-shaped track.

Roush Fenway Racing gears up for the first short-track race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) season at the .526-mile paper-clip shaped oval of Martinsville Speedway, where the organization has earned six victories across the three major touring series.

Martinsville Madness: Toyota drivers are no strangers to victory lane at Martinsville with the manufacturer enjoying a combined 20 victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS - six wins) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS - 14). In the MENCS, Denny Hamlin reigns supreme with five Martinsville victories (March 2008, Oct. 2009, March 2010, Oct. 2010 and March 2015) while Kyle Busch captured his first win at the short track last spring. Busch’s win completed the first NASCAR national series sweep at Martinsville after he visited victory lane in the NCWTS a day earlier. It was also Toyota’s 14th overall NCWTS win at the track, marking the most series wins for a manufacturer at The Paperclip.

The STP 500 will be the true test of the No. 43 team's short track program. Almirola and team felt good about the program at Phoenix but know that Martinsville is a different beast. Hard on the car and its brakes, the No. 43 STP team is ready to take the paper-clip shaped track.

Growing up on Long Island, Andrew Murstein was a huge sports fan. He was even a big WWE fan cheering on the likes of Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino. In fact, one of the three objectives that he had when entering the real world, along with owning a bank and entering politics, was to own a sports team.

Michael McDowell will return to Martinsville Speedway, the site of his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start, for the STP 500.

Richard Childress Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history at Martinsville Speedway ... In 159 Monster Energy 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 29 top-five and 60 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.

28th in Points: Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 32 Keen Parts/CorvetteParts.net team currently sit 28th in owner and driver points in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The series will be traveling from one of its' biggest racetracks on the circuit at California, a two-mile oval, to Martinsville Speedway which sits at just under a half-mile.