Drivers ambivalent about track

Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

At .526 miles, it’s the shortest track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.

Its name also is inextricably linked to the most famous hotdogs in auto racing.

And it’s the only racetrack that has been host to an event in NASCAR’s foremost series since the original Cup schedule was unveiled in 1948.

Then why is paper-clip-shaped Martinsville Speedway the very embodiment of ambivalence to so many of the drivers who compete there?

And why are drivers who’ve acquired a taste for the challenging short track willing to fight rather see NASCAR switch a race date from Martinsville to a more opulent facility somewhere else?

Talk of taking a date from Martinsville always seems to surface before the series arrives for the spring race there. To driver Tony Stewart, however, the talk is unjustified.

“I’ll fight with you,” Stewart said during a recent appearance at the speedway to promote Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Sprint Cup race.

“I’ll stand right beside you and fight with you, if that’s what it takes to keep two dates here. This place deserves two dates.

“I know of tracks that don’t deserve two dates, but this is not one of them. This place deserves two dates, and all you’ve got to do is come here and watch the race to realize that. There’s no bad finishes here at Martinsville.”

Stewart wasn’t alwa a fan. Earlier in his career, before track president Clay Campbell made significant capital improvements to the facility — and before the racing surface featured two workable grooves — Stewart had several unkind suggestions for the property. Now he looks forward to competing for the grandfather clock trophy that goes to the winner of the Cup race.

“I remember saying that we could fill it up with water and have a Bassmaster Classic one year,” Stewart said. “I remember saying that we could demolish the whole infield and pave it and make it a mini-mall.

“But since then, [owner] Clay Campbell’s done a lot of work here and made huge improvements and taken the effort and taken the time to make it what it is now. Now it’s a fun, racy racetrack.”

The mixed feelings Martinsville evokes are nothing new to Campbell.

“This track is unique in the fact that drivers either love it or they hate it, because, No. 1, it’s not an easy track,” he said. “Although it’s a half-mile track, and it’s a short track, it’s unlike any short track you’ll find anywhere in the country, with the long straightaways, the tight turns, very minimal banking.

“It makes for a long day. From what I understand, if you’ve got a car that handles, a car that works good, it can be fun. If you’ve got one that’s not doing too good, it can be a real long day. It’s a lot of work, versus some other places where you’re not in tight confines all day long.”

Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle is a driver who knows all too well how demanding Martinsville can be. In 10 races at the classic short track, Biffle has posted an average finish of 24th, and it wasn’t until his 10th start there last October that he ran better than 17th.

Nevertheless, the speedway is starting to grow on the driver of the No. 16 Ford.

That’s especially significant, because the October race at Martinsville is one of 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“Martinsville over the years has not been my best track, but certainly the last couple of times I’ve been there I’ve gotten tremendously better,” said Biffle, who finished seventh there last October. “I remember the last race there I was bumping on the back of the 48 car [race winner Jimmie Johnson] for the lead, so that was a highlight of my career, if you will. ... I’m really looking forward to going back this week.

“Every time I’ve been there, I’ve been a lap down, or the brakes quit working — things have happened, and we have not run as competitive there as we have everywhere else in the series. So to be legitimately up front and beating and bumping the leader for the lead and running there, that was certainly a confidence-builder for me personally, because Martinsville is in the Chase. If I can’t run in the top 10 consistently at Martinsville, it’s going to be tough to win a Sprint Cup title.”

That hasn’t been a problem for Stewart, who finished second in the Chase race at Martinsville when he won his second Cup championship in 2005 and picked up his second victory there the following spring.

Stewart’s success on the track, along with Campbell’s commitment to upgrading the facility, has helped transform the driver’s earlier dislike for Martinsville into a love affair.

“You’ve got a cool trophy that’s one of a kind,” Stewart said. “It’s not cookie-cutter. It’s got its own personality and its own style of racing.”