NASCAR Cup Series

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.

When Martin Truex Jr. says he is less perplexed about the paper clip-shaped Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, he has real numbers to support his statement.

Trevor Bayne heads into the first short-track race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) season this weekend at Martinsville Speedway looking for his fourth top-15 finish of the year.

Auto Club Recap: Denny Hamlin secured a 14th-place finish in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway, dropping right outside of the top-10 in the closing laps of the 200-lap event after multiple cautions and a last-minute move to forgo a pit stop with only a few laps remaining.

ANOTHER CLOCK: Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned his first victory at the historic 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 26, 2014. He held off former teammate and nine-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon to score the win, taking home the iconic grandfather clock that the speedway gives as its trophy. In the last 12 races at the paperclip-shaped oval, Earnhardt has earned five top-five finishes and eight top-10s, which bodes well for the 42-year-old veteran’s chances to capture his second grandfather clock this weekend.

1. Kyle Larson: Larson survived four late restarts and pulled away for the win at Fontana, finally snatching a win after three consecutive runner-up finishes.

The successful Driven to Give Gloves campaign will kick off at Martinsville Speedway this weekend to benefit Nationwide Children’s Hospital and four Patient Champions, The Dale Jr. Foundation announced today. This year, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s race-worn driving gloves will be auctioned off four times during the NASCAR season to raise funds for the groundbreaking work done by the researchers and physicians at the Columbus, Ohio-based hospital.

Bayne makes his sixth career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start at Martinsville Speedway this weekend.