Martinsville Speedway
| "The Paperclip" | |
|---|---|
 
|
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| Location | 340 Speedway Road Ridgeway, Virginia, U.S. 24148 |
| Time zone | UTC−5 / −4 (DST) |
| Capacity | 55,000 |
| Owner | International Speedway Corporation |
| Operator | International Speedway Corporation |
| Broke ground | 1947 |
| Opened | 1947 |
| Architect | H. Clay Earles |
| Major events | |
| Oval | |
| Surface | Asphalt Concrete |
| Length | 0.526 mi (0.847 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Banking | Turns 12° Straights 0° |
| Lap record | 18.746 seconds (Greg Sacks, , 1986, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) |
Martinsville Speedway is an International Speedway Corporation-owned NASCAR stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (847 m) in length, it is the shortest track in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948. Along with this, Martinsville is the only NASCAR oval track on the entire NASCAR track circuit to have asphalt surfaces on the straightaways, then concrete to cover the turns.
The track is often referred to as paper clip-shaped and is banked only 12° in the turns. The combination of long straightaways and flat, narrow turns makes hard braking going into turns and smooth acceleration exiting turns a must. The track was paved in 1955 and in 1956 it hosted its first 500 lap event. By the 1970s, a combination of high-traction slick tires and high speed were putting excessive wear on the asphalt surface. In 1976 the turns were repaved with concrete (a rare concept in the 1970s). By 2004, the then 28-year-old concrete had shown significant wear. On April 18, 2004 a large chunk of concrete had become dislodged from the track's surface and caused severe damage to the body of Jeff Gordon's car. In reaction to this, the track was fully repaved with new concrete and asphalt.
Until 1999, Martinsville was notorious for having two pit roads. The backstretch pit road was generally avoided because if a team had to pit there during a caution, any car pitting on the frontstretch had the advantage of pitting first and not having to adhere to pace car speed upon exiting their pit road. This was rectified when pit road was reconfigured to extend from the entrance of turn 3 to the exit of turn 2. This move allowed for a garage to be built inside the track, and leaves Bristol as the only active NASCAR track with two pit roads.
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