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Martinsville SpeedwayThe shortest track in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (length 0.526-mile), one of NASCAR's first paved "superspeedways", and the only speedway you can see a Norfolk Southern train roll by. The track was also one of the first paved "speedways" in NASCAR (in 1955), originally built as a dirt track in 1947 by H. Clay Earles.
The track is often referred to as paper clip-shaped and is banked only 12° in the turns. The combination of long straightaways and flat, narrow turns makes hard braking going into turns and smooth acceleration exiting turns a must. The first NASCAR sanctioned event was held on July 4, 1949. Currently, Martinsville hosts two Sprint Cup Series races - the Goody's Cool Orange 500 in April and the Subway 500 (round six of the Sprint for the Cup).
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