Yahoo Autos Mazda MX-5 Cup makes oval debut at Martinsville Speedway
The time has finally come for the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin to take on Martinsville Speedway. The Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 will see the series racing on an oval for the very first time, with more than $60,000 in prize money on the line at the historic NASCAR facility.
Saturday, October 26, is the culmination of months of planning to bring Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup racing to Martinsville Speedway. What started as a fun idea has officially morphed into reality and the Michelin rubber is about to meet the Paperclip.
A mix of Mazda MX-5 Cup regulars and some oval specialists make up the entry list for this first-of-its-kind event. This includes newly crowned Mazda MX-5 Cup champion Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and two-time champion Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering), who had the chance to experience the track in the open test at Martinsville in August. Wagner did not but is still familiar with Martinsville.
“I wasn’t at the in-season test with all the other teams and drivers, but I was fortunate enough to be able to drive in the first feasibility test at Martinsville over a year ago,” Wagner said. “So, I know what to expect, and I’m very lucky to have Chad [McCumbee] and MMR, who obviously know what they’re doing when it comes to going quick at an oval. Between the team and my MMR teammates that were at the test, I know they’ll have everything sorted for me to be quick. I grew up around short track racing in Virginia and the first time I ever tested a racecar was at Langley Speedway. So, even though my firsthand experience is limited, it’s not too foreign to me.”
All three Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout Scholarship recipients will be on the grid at Martinsville. Both Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports) and Sally Mott (No. 15 Spark Performance) turned laps at the August test, but 2024 MX-5 Cup Rookie of the Year Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) did not.
Tom Long (No. 8 McCumbee McAleer Racing) who is usually in race control for MX-5 Cup events is putting his driving suit on at Martinsville. His professional racing resume is so vast that fans might not know Long was the 2005 Miata Cup Champion, the precursor to MX-5 Cup.
A name that’s been missing from the entry list for a while, Selin Rollan (No 87 Rollan Racing/BSI Racing) returns to take a crack at Martinsville. It’s something he’s had his eye on ever since it was announced.
“MX-5 Cup has been a huge portion of my life for the last seven years so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to do the biggest one-off event in series history,” said Rollan, who has moved his focus to his career in aviation. “Also being a NASCAR fan for my whole life, Martinsville has been a bucket list track for me. I cannot wait to make history and chase a clock!”
Of the new faces, several have Spec Miata experience, including Ruben Caceres Jr. (No. 01 Hendricks Motorsports), Bobby Gossett (No. 44 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Martinsville local Capers Zentmeyer (No. 99 Spark Performance).
Will Mazda experience or oval experience be the winner at Martinsville? CARS Tour regulars Brandon Pierce (No. 02 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Landen Lewis (No. 31 McCumbee McAleer Racing) are hoping their oval backgrounds are the key to winning on Saturday, as is ARCA and Whelen Modified driver Andy Jankowiak (No. 2 Hendricks Motorsports).
At stake is $25,000 and a Martinsville grandfather clock for the winner who will have to survive a 100-lap race with a stage break at lap 50. Yellow flag laps will not count until after the stage break, which means nobody can lose a lap during the first half of the race. Prize money will be paid out to the top three at the stage break, as well as to the top 10 finishers at the checkered flag.
All of it will be streamed live on IMSA’s YouTube channel, with the green flag slated for 6pm ET.