Chase Elliott recalls his "terrible" but "special" first race at Martinsville as HMS enters its 40th anniversary 

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott remembered his best memories at the Martinsville Speedway as the Georgian native gears up for his eighth Cup Series weekend at the venue.

The 400-lap Cook Out 400 will flag off on Sunday, at 3.00 PM ET, and will witness 37 drivers running for the highly-coveted spot at the Martinsville Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson locked the P1 grid start after setting the fastest speed, at 96.034 mph, during the time-testing stint. The #5 driver will be followed by Bubba Wallace in P2, who fell shy by a minuscule margin of 0.001 seconds.

Chase Elliott will return to the 0.526-mile track for the second time after recovering from a fatal snowboarding incident last year, that fractured his left tibia, resulting in six Cup Series weekends without his presence.

The 210-mile race marks the Hendrick Motorsports' 40th anniversary, ahead of which Chase Elliott shed light on one of his "terrible" outings at the Virginia-based oval, saying (via Frontstretch on X):

"Other than just the race being my first one and the things that were special around that, the race itself was terrible, so it was such a special weekend."

He added:

"I just remember being here and trying to make the race and then the rain was an issue. We didn't think we were gonna get to qualify...rang out of here just in time, got the track dried off, and was able to qualify and run. So it was, yeah, a special place for that."

Elliott's first race at Martinsville Speedway was at the STP 500 on March 29, 2015, where he finished P38 despite starting his stint from P27.

Chase Elliott weighs in on the evolution of stock car racing at Martinsville

The 0.526-mile paperclip is the shortest track on the NASCAR calendar. With a banking of just 12 degrees on the turns and 0 degrees on the straights, the high-speed action makes gaining track position an exhausting affair.

NextGen vehicles introduced significant aerodynamic modifications where horsepower hasn't been greatly looked upon but made overtaking a significant obstacle on the track. Teams had to develop various techniques beyond purely pressing the throttle.

Following the same notion, the 2020 Cup Series champion revealed how the dirty air from the rear of the NextGen cars, that too on a track where straightaways are very small, has made swooping past the opponents a tough task to achieve. Chase Elliott said (via speedwaymedia.com):

"Martinsville Speedway has always been a challenging place, but it’s become even more challenging with this new car...it puts a lot of emphasis on qualifying and a lot of emphasis on your pit stops."