With the regular season done and dusted, the playoffs loom closer than ever. NASCAR is preparing for a solid run in the post-season, even on tracks harboring bad reputations. Case in point: Martinsville Speedway.

The flat, 0.526-mile course is a usual cause of frustration for most Cup Series drivers. A combination of track peculiarities and Next-Gen car troubles make it difficult to pass. Yet NASCAR is on a mission—to overturn this overarching view about the short track. After the spring race, drivers will head back to Martinsville for the crucial semi-final playoff race. Yet their disappointment may be lower as officials have a card up their sleeves.

Testing wheels at Martinsville Speedway

The short track that hosted the Next-Gen car tests in 2022 recently tested tires that would axe that car’s faults. NASCAR came a full circle, as this year’s tire-wear phenomenon played out in Bristol. Then it was implemented in North Wilkesboro and Richmond, with increasing success. This time, officials conducted an option tire test at Martinsville Speedway, along with a test of a variety of underbody and transaxle reconfigurations. However, the first endeavor produced better results.

Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace undertook the tire test and were mostly content. “I actually liked it as my first favorite set at Martinsville,” said two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch.

Bubba Wallace also quipped, “All in all, it was a good test.” However, aerodynamic problems persisted at the paperclip-shaped Martinsville Speedway, as some of the drivers observed. Journalist Matt Weaver also updated on X, “The tires produced more optimism but a conviction that there’s still a power/aero problem.”

Kyle Busch observed this nagging problem when he tried to pass Carson Hocevar during the test. He mentioned, “I just don’t think the tire is going to be the all-out fix for Martinsville and I say that because I was on 20-lap fresher tires than Carson Hocevar and I ran him down and then got stuck behind him for 10 laps and had a hard time passing him and that to me is an aero problem still.” 

Additionally, Carson Hocevar, who tested the underbody changes, did not feel any change either. “They tried some camber things in the rear and tried some stuff with the transaxle just to make the left rear spin more but it didn’t really do anything.”

It seems like a tall order to try and improve the notorious Martinsville Speedway. The tight turns, long straightaways, and lesser grooves leave little room for passing. And the Next-Gen car’s lower horsepower and bigger brakes make it harder for competitors to outbrake each other. So despite the tests, hopes are still gloomy. This closely resembles a tire test conducted in 2022, although things were worse then.

NASCAR’s test failure back in the day

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This year’s spring race at Martinsville Speedway was a snoozer and drew widespread criticism. There were just five lead changes, with three occurring during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Chase Elliott led 397 laps and had difficulty going around slower traffic, and Denny Hamlin used aero-blocking to keep up and finished 28th, reflecting NASCAR’s drawback at the half-mile track, where in 2022 the Next Gen car disappointed drivers way more. Back then, the Martinsville race saw four cautions and five lead changes, unlike the trademark beating and banging action.

So following that 2022 race, NASCAR conducted a tire test, which yielded little result. Tyler Reddick believed the lower horsepower dampened the product anyway. “A lot of time, research, and development have gone into the horsepower package that we are at now and you can’t just flip a switch or change the tapered spacer or go to a different horsepower level and have the same engine reliability across all the engine manufacturers,” he said. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch harped on the less wear. “They’re falling off more due to heat than they’re falling off due to wear so I think we missed on the tire selection that that we had there. We didn’t gain anything on the tire.”

Reddick’s complaint may not have seen a solution, but Kyle Busch’s definitely did. Tire wear was this season’s highlight at the Bristol race and hopefully would produce positive results at the infamous Martinsville Speedway as well.