RFK Advance | Martinsville II

Martinsville II Event Info:
Date: Sunday, October 26
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Speedway, Virginia
Format: 500 Laps, 263 Miles, Stages: 125-250-500
TV: NBC
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 4:30 p.m. ET, Cup Practice (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 5:40 p.m. ET, Cup Qualifying (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 2 p.m. ET, Cup Race (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Martinsville Speedway hosts the penultimate race in the 2025 NASCAR season this weekend as the final event in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
• “The Paperclip” is the site of four Cup Series victories for Jack Roush over the years, and is the only track on the schedule to have hosted a race in every season dating back to 1949.
• Chris Buescher has the fifth highest average starting position (12.1) in the Cup Series this season, anchored by 12 starts inside the top 10.
  • Buescher is also one of eight drivers with 16+ top-10 results this season, and has an average finish of 14.0 which is the sixth highest among Cup drivers.
• Brad Keselowski has posted four top-10 finishes over his last six races, including one in the top five, and boasts an average finish of 14.1 dating back to Dover in late July.
  • Keselowski is coming off a 9^th-place finish in last season’s fall race at Martinsville after leading a race-high 170 laps.
• Ryan Preece has set Cup Series career highs this season in top-fives (3) and top-10s (12), and is coming off a 15^th-place result at Talladega last Sunday.
  • Of Preece’s 308 career laps led in the NASCAR Cup Series, 135 of them have come at Martinsville Speedway (43.9%). He also earned his first career pole at the “The Paperclip” back in 2023.

6 Team Info:
Driver: Brad Keselowski
Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com

17 Team Info:
Driver: Chris Buescher
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Kroger / Core Power

60 Team Info:
Driver: Ryan Preece
Crew Chief: Derrick Finley
Partner: Castrol

Keselowski at Martinsville
Starts: 31
Wins: 2 (2017 & 2019)
Top-10s: 18
Poles: 1 (2020)

• Keselowski, a two-time winner at Martinsville, is set for his 32^nd Cup start at ‘The Paperclip.’
• Martinsville stands as one of Keselowski’s best tracks statistically with an average finish of 13.8. He’s coming off a 9^th-place finish last fall after leading a race-high 170 laps.
• He has finished top-10 in nearly 60 percent of his starts there. Of the 18 top-10s, 12 have been inside the top five. He earned his first Grandfather clock back in 2017 and won the same race two years later in the spring.
• He carries an average starting position of 12.2 into the weekend with 16 starts inside the top-10 and one pole (2010). He’s qualified 10^th or better in seven of the last 11 races at Martinsville, including P13 last spring and P18 last fall.
• Keselowski also made four Truck Series starts from 2004-07.

Buescher at Martinsville
Starts: 20
Wins: —
Top-10s: 2
Poles: —

• Buescher is set for his 21^st Cup start at ‘The Paperclip’ this weekend, where he finished 24^th in the spring.
• He has two career top-10 finishes and holds an average finish of 19.4 at Martinsville.
• Buescher has an average starting position of 21.4 at Martinsville and has started inside the top 15 six times. Earlier this year he rolled off sixth, his second best starting position ever at Martinsville (2022, fourth).

Preece at Martinsville
Starts: 12
Wins: —
Top-10s: 2
Poles: 1 (2023)

• Preece will make his 13^th career Cup start at Martinsville this weekend, where he earned his first career pole and led a career-high 135 laps in the 2023 spring race.
• He posted the highest finish of his career at the track earlier this season, finishing seventh.
• Preece has started inside the top-10 in three of his last five races at Martinsville, including a P8 start in last season’s fall race.
• He is a two-time winner in the NASCAR Modified Tour at Martinsville, earning his first career win in 2008 and finding victory lane once again in 2023.

RFK Historically at Martinsville
Cup Wins: 4 (Mark Martin, 1992, 2000; Jeff Burton, 1997; Kurt Busch, 2002)

• For Whom the Bell Tolls: RFK has earned four Grandfather Clocks at Martinsville with former drivers Mark Martin (two), Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch. RFK most recently went to victory lane with Busch in Oct. 2002.
• Rock Around the Clock: RFK had its overall most-successful outing at Martinsville in the spring of 2002 when it placed all four of its cars inside the top 10 with drivers Martin, Burton, Busch and Matt Kenseth.
• Closing Time: RFK earned a one-two finish in the April 9, 2000 event at Martinsville with former drivers Martin and Burton. Martin paced the field for 64 laps en route to the victory.
• Short-Track Prowess: RFK has started a total of 733 NCS races on short tracks, recording a total of 24 wins, 130 top-five finishes, 263 top-10 finishes and 8,433 laps led.
• Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 235 NCS races at Martinsville, recording four victories, 26 top-five finishes, 72 top-10 finishes, an average finish of 17.9 and has led 1,555 laps. RFK also boasts two NASCAR Truck Series wins in 46 starts at Martinsville (fall of ’03 and ’05).

RFK Martinsville Wins

1992-1  Martin  Cup
1997-2  Burton  Cup
2000-1  Martin  Cup
2002-2  Busch    Cup
2003-2  Wood         Truck
2005-2  Craven       Truck

Last Time Out
Talladega: All three RFK Racing drivers led laps at Talladega last Sunday in what was a strong performance for the organization. Brad Keselowski pulled together his fourth top 10 in the last six races. Chris Buescher had RFK fans holding their breath in the closing laps, and Ryan Preece continued to impress.