NASCAR Cup Series

In 156 NASCAR Sprint 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).

Bless NASCAR’s pea-pickin’ hearts. You have to admit that they keep on trying. With both the junior and truck circuits pretty much irrelevant these days due to the inclusion and the total domination of Cup drivers, NASCAR once again is trying to do the right thing.

Talladega is already a stressful race. Add the fact that it's also a Chase elimination race and the stress factor rises even more. That makes sense. That's a given. That way, in a sense, the disagreement between Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick following the Hellmann's 500 on Sunday almost has some merit, even if they are Stewart-Haas Racing teammates.

“Martinsville is another great short track,” McDowell stated. “Our short track program has been really good this season and we will look to build off what we learned at New Hampshire and Richmond at this race. I think we will go to Martinsville and have another solid run. It’s one of my favorite racetracks – I love Martinsville.”

CHASE CRUNCH TIME: Following Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field was reduced to eight drivers and all four Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry drivers – Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth – advanced to the ‘Round of 8.’

Brian Scott and the No. 44 Ford team are partnering with the American Red Cross this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, raising awareness for the victims of Hurricane Matthew, which struck the East Coast of Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia two weeks ago.

Martinsville Speedway: “It is a place where you can do everything right and on the last restart get crashed,” Allmendinger said. “It’s a tough place to get around for 500 laps. Even if you do everything right, it’s a challenging track to have everything go right.”

Heading into Sunday's 500-mile event at the "Paper Clip", the No.32 Keen Parts/Rain-X team will travel to the "The Old Dominion State" with Mooresville, NC native Jeffrey Earnhardt for the 68th annual Goody's Fast Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway, in Ridgeway, VA.

As the 2016 season heads into the homestretch, Martin Truex Jr. has only two thoughts in mind with four Sprint Cup Series races remaining.

Starting next season, premier series drivers with more than five years of full-time experience will be eligible to compete in a maximum of 10 races in the XFINITY Series and seven races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.