DFS NASCAR: STP 500 Track Breakdown

Depending on who you ask, this week is either the first or second short track race of the year depending on if you count Phoenix as a short track or not. Personally this is the first short track of the year with the typical bumping and banging and tight quarters that short tracks are known for. To be specific this is also the shortest track on the schedule at just 0.526 miles per circuit.

Martinsville Speedway is one of the oldest tracks on the NASCAR lineup and it is the only track to hold a race every year that NASCAR has existed, in case you wanted that interesting piece of knowledge. It’s known affectionately as “The Paperclip” because of it’s shape when seen from above or in the stands and it is also the only track on the NASCAR circuit to have asphalt straightaways and concrete in the turns which can make finding the balance in the car a tricky setup task especially depending on the weather.

The track is a pretty flat lap with just 12 degrees of banking in the turns and none on the straightaways. Those straights are just 800-feet in length each which are the shortest on the schedule much like everything about this track. It’s also a very narrow racing surface making it tough to pass especially in the turns were an actual physical curb keeps you from going below the bottom groove of the track. Now, that being said, Goodyear brought new tires the last couple of years and it has increased the amount of side-by-side racing that can happen because of how much rubber gets laid on the surface. That’s the key to passing here is having a rubbered up track to increase the grip, especially in the turns where the concrete doesn’t hold the rubber as well as the asphalt does.

Starting Positions of Race Winners

As the above table shows, there have been 140 races at Martinsville since 1948 and 21 of them have been won by the pole sitter, 15-percent, with it happening three times since 2010. The top-four starting spots in the grid have accounted for 65 winners or 46.4-percent of all winners. In four of the last five STP 500s the top-two laps led leaders have accounted for 350-plus laps led of the 500 in the race.

The data will be a bit different this week since there is no comparable track to Martinsville there is no “Similar Track” section but there is a new section going forward called “Momentum”

Track Data

Drivers To Watch This Week

Last Five STP 500s

Top-15 Drivers Over Last 10 Races At Martinsville Speedway

Momentum

This table will be a way to see who’s hot and who’s not over the last five races of the 2019 season overall. Each week it will count the past five races and update the stats over that span.

DraftKings Scoring for Last Five STP 500s

FanDuel Scoring for Last Five STP 500s

Rankings for STP 500 (1=Best, 40=Worst)

The Race Hist column ranks the average finish over the last five specific races at the track. The DK and FD Avg columns rank the drivers scoring averages over that span on those sites amongst the field. The Track History ranks the average finish over the last 10 races overall at the track.