They Said it…
BRAD KESELOWSKI:
“Martinsville is the smallest track that we race on full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series for points. It’s known as the paperclip because, quite honestly, it looks just like a paperclip from above, but it drives like two drag strips in a Walmart parking lot. You’ve got these really long straightaways and then two very tight corners. You’re super heavy on the brakes and there’s a lot of room for contact because generally there’s one groove around the bottom. There’s no other track like it in the Cup Series and it’s got a set of challenges.”
RYAN BLANEY: “Even though they’re the same length, they’re 180 different from each other. There’s a lot of shifting at Martinsville, and I feel while you’re chasing lanes at Bristol, there’s more brake technique at Martinsville. Bristol is a little bit more high speed and more commitment, where Martinsville is more of a patience kind of thing, so even though they’re the same length, there’s really nothing you can take from one to apply to the other.”
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
What comes to mind when you think about Martinsville?
“Brandon McSwain (crew chief) has won there before with the 24 team. I hope I have the next two decades to keep trying to win it. I want to be better there. I’ve been working on things in the simulator to try and be better there and help my driving. No matter how the car is, it could be tight or loose, or whatever it wants to be, there’s things that I inherently do that just aren’t great there with the wheel and pedal. I’m working to be better.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
“I’m looking forward to Martinsville Speedway. I think we made some ground there at the end of the race last time we were there. I felt like our car was pretty good, so we can build off of that. Martinsville’s a fun track. I can’t wait to get there and try to chase after the grandfather clock.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Coming off your second top-10 of the season, how are you feeling heading into Martinsville?
“I am so proud of this No. 7 Spire Motorsports team. We are bringing really fast cars to the track, and I am super excited to keep the momentum going and to keep building off what we have done in the past six weeks. Martinsville is a place that I love, but in the past few years, it’s been very bad for me. I’m looking forward to working with my group of guys and hopefully, I can turn my numbers around there.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
At Martinsville, how do you balance aggressiveness?
“Martinsville is a tricky track. It has concrete surface in the corners, so it changes a lot during the race. When you have these long runs, and you get these rubber build ups, especially when it’s over 70 degrees outside, you get the clumping of the rubber on the racetrack, so you have to start searching around and trying to find a groove that your car will really work in. Obviously, the shortest way around is always the fastest way around, because there’s not really much momentum that you can build up on the outside at Martinsville. It’s a paper clip and its very stop and go. But then when you have cautions, all that rubber gets cleaned off and you’ve got to start all over again. So, a lot of changes happening there at Martinsville.”
