RIDGEWAY, Va.— Tire wear and tire management will be crucial in today’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Goodyear has brought a new right-side tire to Martinsville. This new tire was developed to help rubber-in the concrete-asphalt combination at Martinsville. The concrete corners at Martinsville provided a challange for Goodyear because they behave differently and the density of the surface.

Goodyear hopes this tire combination will optimize acceleration, deceleration, and cornering that is required at the track.

Teams have eight sets of tires to use for the STP 500. That is two sets less than what teams had last year.

With Friday’s rains washing away the rubber laid down on the track from one Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) practice.

Two MENCS practices, NCWTS qualifying, and the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 helped rubber in the track on Saturday,

Chase Elliott, the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 race winner, talked about how the complexion of that race changed and expectations for today’s race.

“The temperatures are definitely up from what we typically see in this race. To me, the race track is taking on lots of rubber way quicker than it typically does. Typically, you don’t see rubber laid down in the truck race and don’t see it laid down until halfway through the Cup race. The fact that it is blackening up today, I think will probably lend itself to see some Martinsville of old with guys moving around. It’s going to be darkened up really fast,” said Elliott post-race.

When asked about tire wear on the left side, Elliott showed no concern.

The STP 500 is slated to drop the green flag at 2:13 p.m. EST on Fox Sports 1 and Motor Racing Network.

RIDGEWAY, Va.—  After beating and banging for 250 laps and a late race charge from Johnny Sauter, Chase Elliott was victorious in the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 from Martinsville Speedway.

“Obviously, we had a little help with (Bell’s) misfortune, but once we got by him, I thought our truck was a little better than his,” said Elliott to FOX in Victory Lane. “It was just a matter of getting by (Sauter) quickly and doing it decently, in a quick manner. Luckily, we only had to do it once with it staying green until the end.”

This is Elliott’s second victory in 12 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events, his first of 2017.

The first stage was dominated by Chase Elliott. Elliott chose the inside lane to start the race. The caution flew shortly after the green flag fell for oil on the track by the No. 1 car of Bryce Napier. NASCAR did warn Elliott after the initial start about pulling down too soon on restarts. Towards the end of the stage, Johnny Sauter was catching Elliott while they were in lapped traffic. Elliott went on to win the stage, Sauter finished second, Matt Crafton finished third, Christopher Bell finished fourth, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-five in the first stage. The caution flew twice in this stage for eight laps.

Elliott lost that lead as the field went down pit road between the start of the second stage. Bell took two tires on pit-road to gain the lead.

When the second stage began, Sauter was able to pass Bell to dominate the stage. On the first restart in this stage, Sauter chose the inside lane, but Bell tried to push him down. However, Sauter was able to hash the lead. The complexion of the stage changed as drivers like Elliott and Bell hit pit toad with 12 laps remaining in the stage. The stage ended under the caution due to Elliott dumping Ross Chastain on lap 137. Sauter went on to win the stage, Crafton finished second, Chase Briscoe was third, Timothy Peters was fourth, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-five at the conclusion of the stage. The caution flew five times in the stage for 38 laps.

As the leaders pitted between the stages, Bell moved up to the first position, Elliott was second, Brett Moffit was third, Enfinger,and Joe Nemechek were the top-five on the restart to begin the final stage.

Bell was the dominate car in the final stage, but late-race aggression and lapped traffic cost him the victory.  As the stage was in the final 50 laps, Bell, Elliott, Sauter, and Noah Gragson were within a second of each other battling for the lead. As they progressed through the field, lapped traffic began to separate the drivers. As Bell reached Austin Cindric, Cindric attempted to stay on the lead lap. Bell was frustrated with Cindric and dumped him in the first turn. However, with the move to dump Cindric, Bell lost the lead to Elliott. As the race restarted with 12 laps remain, Elliott throw a successful block on Sauter to go on and score the victory at Martinsville.

Sauter finished second, Bell finished third, Gragson finished fourth, and Ty Dillon rounded out the top-five in the Alpha Energy Solutions 250.

The race ran for two hours, one minute, and 38 seconds. The average speed of the race was 64.867 mph.

The next race for the drivers will be at Kansas Speedway for the Toyota Tundra 250 on May 12th at 8:30 p.m. EST on Fox Sports 1 and Motor Racing Network.

RIDGEWAY, Va.—  Chase Elliott will start from the pole in today’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250 from Martinsville Speedway.

In the first round of qualifying, Chase Briscoe was fastest at 94.789 mph,Elliott was second fastest at 94.463 mph, Grant Enfinger was third fastest at 94.279 mph, Johnny Sauter was fourth fastest at 94.256 mph, and Timothy Peters rounded out the top-five at 94.106 mph. Austin Wayne Self, Norm Benning, and Charles Buchanan Jr. are the three drivers who will be heading home and not racing today.

In the second round of qualifying , Sauter was fastest at 94.855 mph, Elliott was second fastest at 95.543 mph, Christopher Bell was third fastest at 94.265 mph, Peters was fourth fastest at 94.200 mph, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five at 94.143 mph.

In the final round, Elliott was fastest at 94.951 mph, Sauter will start second with a speed of 94.803 mph, Peters will start third with a speed of 94.331 mph, Matt Crafton will start fourth at a speed of 94.214mph, and Ross Chastain will round out the top-five at a speed of 93.891 mph.

Truck drivers will hit the track at 3:00 p.m. EST for the Alpha Energy Solutions 250. FOX and Motor Racing Network will have the TV and radio broadcasts.

After a weekend in Atlanta, penalties were handed down in all three of NASCAR’s top series.

AJ Allmendinger’s No. 47 Kroger Click List Chevrolet team has received a L1 level penalty for lug nuts not properly installed. At the end of the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it was discovered that Allmendinger’s machine had only 17 out of 20 required lug nuts intact.

The JTG Daugherty Racing team’s 26^th-place finish is encumbered per Section 12.10. No. 47  crew chief Randall Burnett has been fined $65,000 and suspended for the next three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events, which includes NASCAR’s ‘West Coast Swing’. The team has also lost 35 driver as well as 35 owner points.

Under Sections 20.17.3.2.1.2, Kyle Busch’s winning Rinnai 250 machine failed post-race inspection. The No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota’s finish is also encumbered per Section 12.10 and was found to have measurements outside of NASCAR’s allowed tolerances.

Crew chief Scott Graves has been fined $10,000 and suspended from the next NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. Joe Gibbs Racing also loses 10 owner points.

The No. 23 Allegiant Airlines/NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet piloted by Chase Elliott in the Active Pest Control 200 also failed post-race inspection as it was found to have measurements outside of NASCAR’s tolerances. The NCWTS entry also did not have lug nuts properly installed.

Along with an encumbered finish, the team lost 10 truck series owner points. Crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz was fined $5,000 along with an additional $2,500 for the lug nut violation. Stankiewicz has also been suspended from the next NCWTS event at Martinsville Speedway.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.— The Dawsonville Pool Room will not be sounding the siren after the 59th running of the Daytona 500. Chase Elliott was just three laps from scoring his first career victory before running out of fuel.

"It was a disappointing finish to a good day. Just one of those things you can't do anything about. I'm happy with how the NAPA team performed, and we are going to learn from it. I'm proud of how hard everyone worked all week. We're looking forward to getting back at it in Atlanta."

With 25 laps to go, Elliott was leading a single file line around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. As the run went on, crew chiefs were telling drivers to conserve fuel as they were a lap to a half lap short. Many drivers were telling spotters that as the laps wound down, Elliott was slowing down the pace. As the leader, Elliott was using a little bit more fuel than everyone.

Elliott is no stranger to being close to victory. Elliott’s frustration culminates from numerous races in 2016 of being close. Despite the loss, Elliott is excited to head to his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway.