RCR Event Preview – Martinsville Speedway

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway … In 182 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, RCR has seven victories, including five by Dale Earnhardt (1985-fall, 1987-spring, 1988-spring, 1991-spring, and 1995-fall). Ricky Rudd won the fall race at Martinsville in 1983, which was RCR’s first Cup Series win on an oval. Kevin Harvick won the 2011 spring race at Martinsville, his first victory at the .526-mile paved speedway. The team owns 31 top-five and 65 top-10 finishes entering Sunday afternoon’s race. Team owner Richard Childress made his first start at Martinsville Speedway on April 10, 1972, and reeled off four top-10 finishes sprinkled across the 1976-1978 seasons.  

 

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Martinsville Speedway … RCR has one NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Martinsville Speedway. Kevin Harvick captured the 2006 event in dominating fashion, leading 149 of 250 laps. Clint Bowyer, Harvick’s teammate, finished a close second, crossing the finish line .271 seconds behind. Harvick and Bowyer combined to lead 207 of the event’s 250 laps enroute to a 1-2 finish. In seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville, the Welcome, N.C., based team has one win, one pole and three top-five finishes. 

 

Introducing the Carolina Cowboys … Driven by the same passion for performance that guides his race team, Richard Childress’ latest endeavor brings Professional Bull Riding to the Carolinas. The Carolina Cowboys represent Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the PBR Team Series, an elite new league featuring the world’s top bull riders in games that began in July 2022. The team is operated by Richard Childress Racing with 2018 Daytona 500 Champion Austin Dillon serving as General Manager. 

 

Catch the Action … The NASCAR Xfinity Series Dead On Tools 250 at the Martinsville Speedway will be televised live on Saturday, October 29, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

 

Follow Sunday’s Action at Martinsville … The NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at the Martinsville Speedway will be televised live on Sunday, October 30, beginning at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

 

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This Week’s Dow Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway … In 17 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Dillon earned his best finish of third in April 2022 at the half-mile short track after starting from the 23rd spot. He also has a fifth-place finish at the track (April 2017). He has made five appearances at Martinsville Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series, earning his best finish of third in October 2011.

 

Dow brings a science and engineering crew who is driven by limitless curiosity to the RCR Team … Austin Dillon and the RCR team are again supported by Dow’s materials science expertise and technologies this season. Backed by the power of data analysis and virtual modeling, Dow develops and manufactures high-performance components and materials custom-made for the No. 3 car. Dow and RCR’s partnership has expedited innovation and shortened testing time in the automotive industry by recreating in the lab one of the most extreme environments – the racetrack. After eight years of collaboration, Dow scientists and RCR engineers are continuing to work together to make the No. 3 car faster, safer and more precise. Stay up to date with Dow’s exciting developments at www.dow.com/sports and follow us on Twitter @DowSports & @DowNewsroom.

 

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:

How do you feel about short tracks like Martinsville Speedway?

Martinsville Speedway is a place where you get in there and can really race hard, so I’m really excited to get there this weekend. It’s a short little paper clip, with hard-braking corners. We’ve had some solid runs there, including a third-place finish in the Spring race. I think that we can go back and do it again. We have Dow back on the car, and we’ll be pumped when we get there with all of their customers from DAP. I haven’t gotten that Martinsville clock yet, but we’ve had good runs on all of the short tracks this year..”

 

 

 

This Week’s 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway …Tyler Reddick will be making his sixth NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. The driver of the 3CHI Chevrolet has a best finish of eighth in the 2021 spring event and has been running at the finish in all five events he has competed in. Reddick has an identical average starting and finishing position at the .526-mile Virginia speedway (16.80). He enters this weekend’s race at Martinsville 12th in the Cup Series drivers standings.  

 

3CHI Blazed the Trail for Another Industry First … 3CHI and Richard Childress Racing created another first with their partnership for the 2022 NASCAR season. 3CHI began with roots as a CBD producer and quickly became a pioneer in science-based hemp and cannabis innovation. The company was the first to commercially develop and market Delta 8 THC, and today, 3CHI is an industry leader with unsurpassed product quality and purity as verified by top independent labs and benchmark organizations. 3CHI products are sold in a majority of the United States, and the company produces and markets a variety of gummies, tinctures, lotions, edibles and vape products. All 3CHI products meet federal requirements for full legal compliance, with a commitment to promoting responsible adult use. See 3CHI.com for more information.

  

TYLER REDDICK QUOTE:

A lot of things have changed with the Next Gen car since the first Martinsville race earlier this season.

“The teams are a lot closer after our first race at Martinsville. Looking at this weekend for us, finishing solid at Homestead-Miami Speedway would have been very important because it gets us toward the end of either Group A. In the spring we were like the third car on the racetrack for qualifying and track still had a bunch of rubber on it from practice and the track just doesn’t have the speed. We’ve seen that at Richmond and a number of tracks so you want to go out toward the end of your group. Unfortunately for us our DNF is going to put us at the front of Group A. Hopefully our 3CHI Chevrolet has good race balance when we get there and we’re able to get a decent pit stall, but more than likely we’ll have to claw our way to the front. I know I don’t sound very optimistic but that’s just the reality of how qualifying has been with this car. I’ve got two more chances to finish this year on a high note. From here on out I want to get a couple more spots in the points if I can but it got a lot harder after Homestead.”

 

 

This Week’s Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Camaro SS at Martinsville Speedway…

Sheldon Creed will make his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Creed qualified fifth and led six laps in his first Martinsville start in April before mechanical problems derailed his solid run. He led 34 laps in the most recent NASCAR Xfinity Series short track event in Bristol, Tenn., before he was involved in an accident. Creed has two top-10 finishes in five Truck Series starts at Martinsville with a best finish of eighth-place in 2020. The driver of the Whelen Engineering Chevrolet enters Martinsville 14th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings.     

 

About Whelen … Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

 

 

 

SHELDON CREED QUOTES:

 

You ran well at Martinsville Speedway earlier this season so you must be looking forward to going back there this weekend …

“I was able to qualify inside the top-five and ran top-five a lot of the day at Martinsville Speedway in the the Spring, plus we led some laps. I feel good going back. We have some short tracks under our belts and we’ve learned some more and have gotten better. Hopefully we can go back and run up front again.”

 

How big of a factor are brakes at Martinsville Speedway?

“I don’t think it will be as big of a factor when we go back. You do have to take care of the brakes and honestly the balance of the car can play a big role in how much brake we’re using. If you’re really tight or really loose you might use more brake just to keep it turning or keep the rear tires underneath you. I don’t see brakes being an issue. Hopefully we can have speed in general.”

 

This Week’s Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro SS at Martinsville Speedway … Austin Hill enters this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway fifth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings, two points below the fourth-place cutline and a spot in the Championship 4. Hill grabbed a fourth-place finish in his first Martinsville Speedway start in the Xfinity Series earlier this season, one of 11 top-fives he has racked up. Hill made 11 NASCAR Truck Series starts at the paperclip shaped oval, scoring three top-10 finishes including a second-place finish in 2021.

 

About Global Industrial Company … Global Industrial Company (NYSE:GIC), through its operating subsidiaries, is a value-added industrial distributor. For more than 70 years, Global Industrial has gone the extra mile for its customers and offers more than a million industrial and MRO products, including its own Global Industrial exclusive brands. With extensive product knowledge and a solutions-based approach, Global Industrial helps customers solve problems and be more successful. At Global Industrial, “We can supply that®.”

 

 

 

AUSTIN HILL QUOTES:

How much did you learn at the spring race at Martinsville Speedway that will help you this weekend?

“I think the biggest thing over the season, racing on all different types of racetracks, is just being a little more vocal on what I need in the Global Industrial Chevrolet. I felt like our car was tight and we needed to be better at Martinsville. I don’t think I was vocal enough of voicing my opinion on wanting the car freed up as much as I needed it. I’ve learned that over the season, to be able to trust my instincts and what I need to be better if I am really tight and to make the car better on pit stops so we’re not always one adjustment behind. I think we’ve done a really good job at that throughout the year and that’s one reason you see us run a lot better even if we aren’t that great at the start of the run. We get a lot better at the end of the run because I’m a lot more aggressive on my calls on what I need in the racecar. At Martinsville you have to be aggressive. You have to stay up front all day, try to get stage points, and stay inside the top-10 and if the melee happens you’re out of the way.”

 

If you lose track position at Martinsville, can you make it back up?

“If you lose it early in the race and your car is very, very good, I think you can make it up. If you get past halfway your car has to be really, really fast to even have a chance. It’s so tough in this series especially at a place like Martinsville because everybody is so close on lap times. When you go out to qualify, half a tenth can put you qualifying fifth or back to 15th. It’s so close and if you have to go to the back I just don’t see you recovering. You can’t get caught up in someone else’s mess but still be aggressive at the same time. You have to keep that track position. Restarts are crucial. You don’t want to lose two or three spots because it’s hard to get those spots back especially when you’re running inside the top-10.”  

RCR PR