“You gotta go fast slow”: Kyle Busch spills beans on effective racing at Martinsville

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch recently shared his thoughts on running a smooth race at Martinsville Speedway. The Cup Series playoffs will head to Martinsville this Sunday (November 3) for the Round-of-8 finale and decide the field for the championship race.

Two-time Cup Series champion Busch, now driving the #8 car for Richard Childress Racing, stands among NASCAR's elite with 231 career wins. His 63 Cup Series victories place him ninth all-time, and he also holds all-time win records in the Xfinity and Truck Series. Beyond his Cup success, Busch is also the owner of an Xfinity Series championship.

The former champion has raced at Martinsville on 38 occasions in his Cup Series career. in 38 starts, Busch has secured 17 top-five finishes and two race wins. During a recent episode of the newly introduced 'NASCAR Inside the Playoffs' show, Kyle Busch weighed in on the correct way to run at Martinsville (via NASCAR on X, formerly Twitter).

"Martinsville is a rhythm track. And the crazy part about Martinsville too, when you look at the data, the driver data, you're off the throttle rolling or part throttle longer on around the lap than you are wide open throttle. So it is all about figuring out how to go the fastest slowly," Busch said.

"You gotta go fast slow, I don't know. You're off the gas on the brakes or doing something more than just being wide open throttle for more of the lap. That's when I finally started to figure out Martinsville. It wasn't just getting on the gas, how soon can I get on the gas? It was like, 'Okay, how can I roll the best speed off throttle?'" he added.

Meanwhile, the former Cup and Xfinity Series champion narrowly missed out on the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. He saw back-to-back P2 finishes in the final two regular-season races at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway.

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Christian Eckes joins Kyle Busch's exclusive club following Martinsville Speedway decider domination

NASCAR driver Christian Eckes dominated the Truck Series playoff race at Martinsville Speedway and secured his fourth win of the season on Friday. Following his commanding run, a NASCAR insider confirmed the news of the McAnally Hilgemann driver's presence in a prestigious club of overachievers in the sport.

Eckes was caught up in controversy at Martinsville after making a risky race-winning move on Taylor Gray during a race restart, with six laps to go. However, he came out in front and secured his berth in the final four.

Joseph Srigley of TobyChristie.com revealed Eckes' achievement on X (formerly Twitter), writing:

“Leading 137 laps at Martinsville, @ChristianEckes becomes the fifth driver in NASCAR Truck Series history to lead 1,000 laps in a season. Eckes joins Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague, and Kyle Busch in that exclusive club.”

Kyle Busch achieved the same feat in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where he led 1076 laps.