Race weekend at Martinsville is about two weeks away, and on Wednesday the speedway welcomed three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart to the track.
Stewart first spoke to the Chamber of Commerce, fielding questions from the group, and then met with the media.
NASCAR drivers got their first short track action under their belts in the new Gen-6 car last weekend in Bristol, which was a nice warm up for the April 7th Sprint Cup Race in Martinsville.
One of the topics Stewart addressed was the new Gen-6 car and what he thinks of it. Although the drivers are all still getting a feel for them, Stewart doesn't think they'll make a big difference in the short track racing at Martinsville.
"I don't think it'll matter a lot. This is the one track on the schedule that aerodynamics don't mean anything,” Stewart said. “I think the body styles this year don't really matter a lot as far as the action on the track. It's strictly going to be mechanical balance. This car's got a lot of down force in it, which helps the guys who aren't as good of drivers maybe, stay with the guys that are on top of their game. The great thing is I think this car out of the box has been a really good car and that's something that none of us could say when we had the COT car. It was a huge struggle. It never felt comfortable. It never felt balanced and this Gen-6 car at least has stability, has balance to it."
Stewart would know. He’s had success at the short track, winning three times at Martinsville. But he hasn't had the same good luck so far this season.
In four Cup Series races, Stewart's best start was eighth and his best finish was also eighth. He had a rough time in Bristol this past weekend, finishing 31st, and currently sits 24th in the Cup standings.
"Not been very good so far. Just a lot of bad luck,” Stewart said. “We had a couple respectable runs in there but two races that just bad luck early, things that were out of our control. Really, really hard race last week to sit there and less than 10 laps and to have a flat tire that puts us down 20-plus laps right off the bat. You're not going to, I don't care how many cautions they have, you're not going to get back on the lead lap from that and recover. It made the next 490 laps a long day. Hopefully that's not an indication of what the rest of the year's going to be like. I definitely would like to get the bad luck out of the way early like this but it's definitely not the way you want to start the season for sure."
