Martinsville Speedway expands the 2022 fall NASCAR Playoff Race Weekend to host the season finale of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. This will be sixth time Martinsville has hosted the Whelen Modified Tour season finale (1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991).
“For our 75th anniversary season, we will go back to the roots of racing at Martinsville with the return of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour,” said Clay Campbell, Martinsville Speedway President. “With the season finale of the Mods joining the fourth consecutive season of penultimate races for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series in the fall, the road to a NASCAR championship will now include the crowning of a champion.”
Martinsville hosted a modified race in NASCAR’s inaugural season on July 4, 1948. The race was the third NASCAR sanctioned race in history in the Commonwealth of Virginia. NASCAR’s National Modified Championship, the predecessor to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, competed at Martinsville from 1960-1984. The modern-day NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour continued to race at the historic half-mile short track from 1985-2002, 2005-2010 and 2021.
Racing Virginia legend Ray Hendrick, who is the career leader in wins at Martinsville with 20, is the all-time leader in modified wins at the track with 13. NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans is second with 10. NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik, one of the Modified Tour’s 10 greatest drivers of all-time, holds the modern-day record with five wins at Martinsville.
In this season’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 Whelen Modified Tour race, Ryan Preece set the Martinsville Speedway track record with a 101.768 mph lap in qualifying. The previous record was set in qualifying for a 1986 modified event, Greg Sacks had a one-lap average of 101.014 mile-per-hour.
“Martinsville Speedway will be an exciting venue to return to for our season finale with the Whelen Modified Tour,” said Jimmy Wilson, Senior Director, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “We’re excited to be a part of the larger Martinsville 75th anniversary celebrations next year and look forward to crowning our champion at Martinsville for the first time since 1991.”
In the spring, Martinsville will host its first-ever consecutive three race weekend of night races with all three premier series featuring the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 8:00 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series on Friday, April 8, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. and the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 Cup Series race on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.
Racing Virginia will be active in the month of April as the Commonwealth will host two Cup Series race weekends in the same month for the second consecutive season as Richmond Raceway will host a race on April 3, 2022. Martinsville and Richmond have hosted back-to-back race weekends five times with the first time being in the spring of 1955.
Martinsville will host the Whelen Modified Tour season finale on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022 and penultimate races of the Xfinity Series on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. and Cup Series with the Xfinity 500 on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. In short track battles that can only happen at Martinsville, the races will crown the Whelen Modified Tour champion and set the field for the Xfinity and Cup Series championships the following week at Phoenix Raceway.
2022 NASCAR race tickets are available for purchase via phone at 877-RACE-TIX or online at martinsvillespeedway.com.
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