Martinsville 101: Story lines, track facts and more

Xfinity 500 is the final race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series. It takes place at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.

Teams will be broken into two groups for 20 minutes of practice on Saturday. Following practice, the series will roll into 2 rounds of single-car, two-lap qualifying. The fastest five drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying, where they will set two more laps to fight for the Busch Light Pole Award.

Martinsville Speedway hosted its first race on September 7, 1947. Bill France Sr. convinced track founder Henry Clay Earles that stock cars were the future of racing. Martinsvile appeared on the first Cup Series schedule in 1949. The first 12 Cup races at Martin's were run on dirt. Richard Petty won the most at 12, Darrell Waltrip won 11, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each won nine. Fred Lorenzen took the last win on Sept. 27, 1964. LED lighting will be installed at the track starting in 2017. In 2022, Martsville will celebrate its 75th anniversary.

Teams return to Martinsville Speedway with a new tire compound. Goodyear is providing a different tire setup than what was previously run in April. The June tire test featuring Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric helped guide Goody's direction on updated tire codes. The compounds worked extremely well in the test.

Joey Logano is the only driver locked into the Championship 4 for the fifth time in the past nine years. Kyle Larson’s Homestead-Miami win locked the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team into Championship four for owners” championship. Only twice in Cup have there been a separate owners champion and driver champion. William Byron won the last race at Martinsville Speedway in April. Joe Gibbs Racing “s next win is its 200th.

Chase Elliott is the favorite to win Sunday's race at Martinsville at 6-1 odds. Ryan Blaney is 8-2 favorite, but he has yet to have a win at the half-mile track. Ross Chastain is 14-5 favorite and is not locked into the Championship 4.

The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (1,141), Joey Logano ( 1,052), and Ryan Blaney (1000). NASCAR.com is offering the Playoffs Grid Challenge during the playoffs.

NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more.