2000 Cup Series Champion Overtaken by Long Time Rival Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Martinsville Again

The IMSA-sanctioned Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup has brought some famous rivalries back on the asphalt. In a two-day span of testing with four cars and eight drivers, we saw another installment of Dale Earnhardt Jr. vs. 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte. The Hall of Famers took part in the testing session that Martinsville Speedway track president Clay Campbell also graced.

The primary reason for the session was to decide on the workability of the series on a short track like Martinsville, which is the shortest track on the Cup Series schedule. As the proceedings suggest, there might be some positive news about the MX-5 Cup coming to the oval in the near future.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Bobby Labonte meet again at Martinsville, but this time in a Mazda

Fresh footage from the two days of quality racing at Martinsville has emerged. One of them shows a view of the race from 2-time Xfinity champion Dale Jr.’s viewpoint as he shifts the gears in pursuit of the former champion, Labonte, who is seen initially leading Junior. Junior picks up the pace to get away from Bobby’s taillights, and this will undoubtedly take the duo back in time when they used to go toe-to-toe on the track.

The series has only visited road courses and street courses so far since its inception and as for Martinsville, the track has not witnessed open-top car racing since 1959, when NASCAR brought the Convertible Series to Virginia. NASCAR also contributed this time around apart from IMSA, track authorities, and race car building organization, Flis Performance. The series has also been a popular name in the segment of iRacing, which Dale Jr. has been a big proponent of.

With many people having experienced this form of racing in a simulator setup, they felt like it was a video-game experience coming alive and even more so with the legendary drivers showcasing their skills.

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Labonte expressed his opinion about the up-and-coming series in a positive light. He believes that it can provide the racing action that many of the fans have been longing for, and he could see it at the testing session.

“I can see where you can start to run two-wide as the race goes on, and I know this is not a drafting place, but you can still feel it. I think that it would be for sure a little side-by-side battle and rubbing on each other a little bit, pretty exciting, said the former Cup Series champion.

For track president Campbell, this could be an interesting opportunity to work on. His vision has always been to bring in new events that will attract the fans and keep them entertained at every turn, which is exactly what the Mazda MX-5 Cup stands for. He said, “We’re always trying to attract new fans to our events here at Martinsville, I hope to be able to run one of these in the very near future, I think the fans would love it. Drafting, passing, side-by-side, that’s what fans want to see.”

“I think it’s just so unique; it’s never been done before. To run at an iconic facility like Martinsville brings something that is traditionally a road course car; it just has everybody pumped”, he further added.

The BFGoodrich Tires-sponsored tourney will move to Virginia International Raceway this weekend and have two races there for its penultimate race weekend. For the final races, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Georgia has been chosen as a host.

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