Following the visit to Homestead-Miami, the NASCAR Cup Series field will move a thousand miles north this weekend, to what many consider to be one of the toughest tracks in the circuit —Martinsville.
Advertisement
The 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway has always presented a formidable challenge to drivers, but Kevin Harvick’s words on Harvick Happy Hour recently have served to boost its stock further as a venue which challenges the best of drivers.
Through his career, the retired icon (well, semi-retired, since he was standby for Kyle Larson in the 2024 NASCAR All Star race at North Wilkesboro) was rated one of the most skilled drivers in stock car racing history. But even Harvick considers Martinsville to be one of the tracks consistently bested him.
“Not one of my favorite race tracks. Great race track. Great for everything we do. Just wasn’t one that I was personally very good at,” Harvick said.
The former Stewart Haas Racing driver continued, “I was always happy when Martinsville was over. If we had anything remotely close to a top-10 finish, it was like a victory.” Surprising words indeed from the 2014 Cup Series champion. But a deep dive into his records confirms that his performances at Martinsville were much poorer than elsewhere.
Harvick started 45 Cup Series race there. Out of these 45 starts, he managed a win only once and secured a mere five top-5 finishes. Embarrassing numbers, considering his caliber. But then, what was it that made the track so difficult for him to perform at?
Harvick explained that it was a tough place to understand how his car needed to drive in traffic. Past experiences and practice sessions did him no good there.
How the car needed to be set up and how he needed to drive had to be determined by a progression of what he’d done in the past. He said, “In the race, the track gets super-rubbered up. The guys that are good at it can move up the race track, dime in the corner — Denny Hamlin is the best at it — can dime in the corner and get around it.”
But to do this, drivers had a unique way of setting up their cars. And that is what Harvick struggled with. He said, with a hint of regret in his voice, that his style never really fit what Martinsville needed. The one time that he won was in 2011 when he was a driver for Richard Childress Racing. He started ninth in the No. 29 Chevrolet and raced to victory lane in first place.
As he mentioned, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin is quite adept at taming Martinsville, and he has done it five times. He will be a part of the field this Sunday. The chances of him securing his first win of the season are very real. The ones with far lower experience, however, will be buckling up tighter after Harvick’s revelations.
