Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.
Originally, there were going to be two scheduled 50-minute practice sessions on Friday, October 26. However, rain would cancel both sessions.[2]
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Saturday, October 27, at 10:05 AM EST.[2] Since Martinsville Speedway under 1.5 miles (2.4 km), the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 15 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 15 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.[3]
Todd Gilliland of Kyle Busch Motorsports would set the fastest time in Round 3 and win the pole with a 19.909 and an average speed of 95.113 miles per hour (153.070 km/h).[4]
