Is Martinsville like Bristol (Tenn.) when it comes to dealing with lapped traffic?
“It’s probably worse there than it is at Bristol from the standpoint that the cars are so tightly bunched. Normally the traffic isn’t terrible there. The guys who are a lap down are pretty good about letting you by.” How does a qualifying lap differ from a race lap at Martinsville? “Probably just with the chassis setup. You drive it about the same.” Is Martinsville similar to any track you’ve raced on before? “Yeah, probably Calistoga, Calif. I think it’s a strip mall now, so maybe that explains why Martinsville feels like a parking lot. It was the same thing. It had really long straightaways and really tight corners. The same things applied when it came to driving technique. It was easy to use too much brake there, and it was always hard to get forward bite. It was just on a smaller scale.” Do you have a love/hate relationship with Martinsville? “I haven’t loved it yet. I still hate it. If it’s a love/hate relationship, then we’re missing the love part of the equation. Like I said, th
