MARTINSVILLE, VA. — MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Denny Hamlin’s dazzling season could potentially collapse if things go sideways Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR’s oldest and shortest track that has been slotted as the final playoff elimination race.
NASCAR's needed horsepower for its stale playoffs so Martinsville was shuffled to the back of a revamped schedule. The same guys raced the same 10 tracks in the same 10-week order every year, and the schedule had to change.
So Martinsville was moved to the final elimination race and NASCAR created a high-stakes last-chance Sunday at the historic Virginia paperclip.