Martinsville Speedway
Location: 340 Speedway Road, Ridgeway, VA 24148 Track Type: Oval (paperclip-shaped) Length: 0.526 miles Surface: Asphalt Banking: 12° in turns Seating: 60,000+ Opened: September 7, 1947
Overview
Martinsville Speedway is the oldest continuously operating track in NASCAR and the only facility that has hosted NASCAR Cup Series races every year since the sport's founding. The paperclip shape — two eight-hundred-foot straightaways connected by tight hairpin turns — produces a style of racing that emphasizes braking, patience, and the willingness to use a bumper. At half a mile and change, Martinsville is the shortest track on the Cup Series schedule.
The grandfather clock trophy is the most iconic prize in motorsports. H. Clay Earles started giving them out in 1964. Fred Lorenzen won the first one. Richard Petty collected twelve. When Howard Miller ceased production in 2025 — tariffs on imported clock components — Hermle North America, operating out of Amherst County, Virginia, picked up the contract and named the new clock after Earles.
History
H. Clay Earles built the track in 1947 on thirty acres near Ridgeway. Original budget: ten thousand dollars. Final cost: sixty thousand. Red Byron won the first fifty-lap Modified feature. The track didn't turn a profit until its eighth year. Earles paved it in 1955.
Clay Campbell, Earles' grandson, is the longest-serving track president in NASCAR. The hot dogs are a tradition older than most of the drivers.
Key Drivers at Martinsville
Peyton Sellers — Five Virginia Triple Crown championships. Won the ValleyStar 300 in 2022.
Lee Pulliam — Won the ValleyStar 300 twice (2011, 2014). Two VTC titles. Made his O'Reilly Series debut at Martinsville in March 2026 — led forty laps, finished fifth, nearly in tears on pit road.
Connor Hall — 2025 Virginia Triple Crown champion. Finished eleventh at the ValleyStar 300 for a 4.66 average across three tracks. Took the title but not the clock.
Carson Kvapil — Won the 2024 ValleyStar 300 before moving to JR Motorsports in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Josh Berry — Led all two hundred laps in 2019 and set a track record in qualifying before going to the Cup Series.
Key Events
- ValleyStar Credit Union 300 — Virginia Triple Crown finale (September 2026). Two hundred laps of Late Model Stock cars. The crown jewel of Virginia short-track racing.
- NASCAR Cup Series — Two race weekends per year (spring and fall)
- O'Reilly Auto Parts Series — Annual race weekend