Martinsville Speedway
“Martinsville Speedway track map” by Nascar1996
is licensed under CC by SA 4.0
Nickname
The Paperclip
Location
Ridgeway, Virgina
Length
0.526-mile (0.847 km)
Type
Short Oval
Seating
55,000
Opened
1947
Series
Monster, Gander
Bio
Martinsville Speedway is an International Speedway Corporation-owned NASCAR stock car racing short track located in Henry County, Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (847 m) in length, it is the shortest track in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by partners H. Clay Earles, Henry Lawrence and Sam Rice per Virginia House Joint Resolution No. 76 on the death of H. Clay Earles. (Whereas Clay Earles and his partners, Sam Rice and Henry Lawrence, opened the Martinsville Speedway in 1947 on a 30-acre site, one of the first of its kind in the nation …) It is also the only race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948. Along with this, Martinsville is the only NASCAR oval track on the entire NASCAR track circuit to have asphalt surfaces on the straightaways, then concrete to cover the turns.