MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For the first time since 2021, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to Martinsville Speedway for the penultimate race of the playoffs on Friday evening.
The historic 0.526-mile track has hosted 47 Truck Series races since its inaugural event on September 25, 1995 – a race won by Joe Ruttman piloting the No. 84 Irvan-Simo Racing Ford.Â
Notably, there have been 34 different race winners at Martinsville in the Truck Series. Johnny Sauter, who will be making his return to the series with ThorSport Racing this weekend, leads the Truck Series with four wins at Martinsville.
In total, nine of the 34 races have been won from the pole, most recently by Chase Elliott in 2017.
Entering the cutoff race for the Championship 4, Grant Enfinger, who has won two consecutive races, is the only driver locked into the title fight for the final race of the season Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway.
The following driver has clinched a spot in the four-driver field of the next round: Grant Enfinger.
Corey Heim is the current point leader, while the other six drivers still alive for a spot in the Championship 4 are Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Rajah Caruth, Taylor Gray, Tyler Ankrum and Nick Sanchez.
Enfinger is the only one of the eight playoff drivers who has won a playoff race at Martinsville.
Martinsville Speedway has occupied three different spots on the postseason schedule: the fourth race (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021), the fifth race (2019), and the sixth race (2020, 2024) – the same event as this year.Â
The previous six playoff races hosted at Martinsville Speedway have produced five different winners, led by Johnny Sauter with two postseason victories (2016 and 2018).Â
In addition, two of the six previous Martinsville Speedway Truck Series Playoff races were won by non-playoff drivers – Noah Gragson (2017) and Todd Gilliland (2019).
Martinsville Speedway continues to uphold its race winner streak with 11 different NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winners in the last 11 races at the historic track. The streak is currently second to Bristol Motor Speedway with 12 (8/20/2014 – 09/19/2024) for the longest active streak in the Truck Series.
The different winners streak began in 2017 when Chase Elliott took the checkered flag in the spring race, followed by Noah Gragson in the fall, John Hunter Nemechek (2018 spring), Johnny Sauter (2018 fall), Kyle Busch (2019 spring), Todd Gilliland (2019 fall), Grant Enfinger (2020), Zane Smith (2021), William Byron (2022), Corey Heim (2023), and most recently, Christian Eckes (2024 spring).
Three playoff contenders, one of which is already locked into the Championship 4, are the only previous winners are entered in Friday night’s 200-lap tilt: Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim and Christian Eckes.