Qualifying will take on a double
story line at Martinsville, not just for
the handful of drivers that need to make
the show, but for the top competitors
who want a decent chance for a good
finish or to win the race. Sunday’s race
will actually begin on Friday. Barring
circumstances on the track when you see
single digits in the driver’s starting
position column, you also see a lot of
single digits in their finishing column
as well.
Pit Selection This is an important
element at just about any track with the
advantage being able to choose a stall
that’s easy in or out, but none more
than at the close confines of
Martinsville. Being among the fortunate
drivers that get a choice of the few
desired pit stalls can equate to good
fortune throughout the race.
Having the first pit stall allows the
driver an easy exit, avoiding pit road
contact and possible damage to the race
car. In addition to the first stall, a
few others have openings on one side or
the other that gives the drivers more
room to maneuver in out of their box.
With only about five stalls considered
to be an advantage over the rest you can
bet that the top qualifiers will be the
ones to take advantage of getting their
pick. Because of this fact, the
struggling teams and the go or go-homers
will be up against the top teams pulling
out all of the stops in order to put
down a good qualifying lap. This will
place the rest that do make the show to
the back of the pack as well as being
relegated to whatever pit box they get
adding even more frustration to their
efforts.
Track Position. It’s so difficult to
pass at Martinsville that track position
may be the most valuable asset a team
can have. In addition, the advantage of
starting up front at the drop of the
green flag is paramount to staying out
of the brawl that will develop from
about position 10 back. It’s also easier
to keep the fenders on your car and
preserve your brakes when you are the
one setting the pace. At Martinsville
it’s almost easier to “ride” and log
laps while leading as it is at the back
of the pack at other tracks.
Pit Strategy During cautions that
occur fairly soon into a run there will
always be a group of cars that will
gamble on staying out or taking just two
tires just to get track position. There
are an incredible amount of lead changes
that occur simultaneously with cautions
at Martinsville just for this reason,
almost more than you will see on the
track. Tires are important there, but
sometimes not as much as track position.
Playing with pit strategy will pay off
if another caution comes out within a
specific range and everyone else pits so
that the teams that gambled can get back
on sequence with the rest of the field.
If there happens to be an
uncharacteristic 50-60 lap run it can
backfire big on the teams that rolled
the dice. Usually the only time that the
leader is safe not to get shuffled back
because of pit strategy is after a long
green flag run or the even more rare
green flag stops.
An extra element to pit strategy. It
always adds to the excitement on the
track when you have 43 cars running on
the half mile “paperclip” on various pit
strategies, a mix of old & new tires,
lap traffic and one line racing. Last
year at Martinsville there were 13
cautions and 21 cars on the lead lap at
its conclusion. There will be plenty of
“Luck Dogs” to ensure the racing is as
tight as Pit Road throughout the entire
race. On re-starts with the lap down
cars getting the preferred line at the
bottom, the saying of cautions breed
cautions will definitely come into play.
The leaders will have to drive hard into
turn one on re-starts to try to clear
the lap cars and some will not give up
the position easily.
For those who missed the old-style
Bristol, bumping & banging, stay tuned
for this weekend’s race at Martinsville.