NASCAR: Martinsville Speedway Making Notable Change to the Track

The NASCAR Cup Series will not head to Martinsville Speedway until April 10, but the track will [...]

By John Newby

The NASCAR Cup Series will not head to Martinsville Speedway until April 10, but the track will look a little different once they arrive. Construction crews are making some changes to the famed short track, which will be complete prior to the race weekend. Martinsville will no longer have a strip of infield grass and will instead have concrete.

The speedway's social media account posted a short video on Saturday that showed the work in progress. A concrete truck sat in the background while multiple workers tried to smooth the freshly-poured material. The sight of the changes created sparked multiple responses on social media. Some fans supported the removal of the infield grass while others took great offense to the decision.

"It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things but the grass was a picturesque natural aesthetic and this will make the track look considerably more drab. It's like Wrigley Field adding lights and removing the ivy," one racing fan commented on Twitter. Others disagreed and said that the grass didn't really matter in the grand scheme. They proclaimed that only the racing on the actual track was important.

The shortest track on the Cup Series circuit at .526 miles, Martinsville Speedway is unlike Daytona in that there isn't much room for decorative infield grass. There is a small strip that lines a turn on the track. Removing it means that the grounds crew will not have to worry about maintaining the area on race day and repairing it if any stock cars go off the track at inopportune times.

With the changes taking place, the fans can now look forward to intense action at the short track. Martinsville hosted two races in 2020 amid a unique schedule. Martin Truex Jr. won the Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 in June and then Chase Elliott raced his way to victory during the Xfinity 500 in November.

Martinsville will once again host two races during the 2021 season. The Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 will take place in early April. The drivers will then return to Martinsville on Halloween for the final cutoff race of the playoffs. The Xfinity 500 will once again determine which four drivers head to Phoenix Raceway for the championship race. The list of drivers will remain a mystery until then, but fans can make predictions while watching the rest of the season unfold.

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