Martinsville Speedway

Darlington is the oldest superspeedway, but Martinsville is the oldest track, period. What is now known as Nextel Cup began as Strictly Stock in 1949, and there have been races at Martinsville in every NASCAR season. Almost flat, the turns here are also very narrow, giving the track the shape of a paper clip when viewed from aerial shots. The "beating and banging" is probably even more prevalent here than at Bristol, but the speeds are slower so the damage is a bit less severe.