Tracking Glory with Hal Martin

This past weekend marked the seventh race of the year for me in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The race was the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway, a fast ¾ mile D-shaped oval that boasts high speeds and close side-by-side short track racing action.

On-track activity began on Thursday with a 3 hour testing session that NASCAR setup to allow teams extra track time. We decided to try a new setup on our #44 American Custom Yachts Toyota Camry, something different from what we had run at any track so far this year. We worked on the car’s setup throughout the testing session, but we couldn’t get the car to handle the way we wanted. We decided to put the original setup back in the car for the following day.

Friday started off with a two and a half hour final practice session. We started the session with a few seven-lap runs to ensure that we were moving in the right direction for the setup on our car. Throughout practice, we made slight changes to get the car handling better and driving the way I wanted. Because the practice session took place during the day and the race would be later that night, we didn’t want to get the car setup exactly to the hotter conditions as we knew that the track conditions would be different for the race.

After practice, I attended an event for Toyota at the racetrack where lucky fans were able to get a ride with me through an obstacle course in a Toyota Tundra CrewMax. I was able to do a little mud riding with them as well as climb a steep incline, test the Tundra on a banking that tipped it to its limits, and a few other tests for the truck. It was a lot of fun interacting with the fans and the Tundra performed very well!

After the Toyota event, I made my way back into the infield for qualifying. I put down a solid lap and timed in 28th fastest to start the race. The race began, and I quickly moved up to the 24th position. We fought handling issues throughout the entire race and could not get the car to turn as well as we needed it to in the center of the corners. I finished 24th which was another solid top 25 for me and my team. My next race is Talladega Superspeedway. I am really looking forward to racing at Talladega as it is what I consider my home track because it is close to home and a track I attended many races as a fan growing up. Follow me on Twitter (HalMartinRacing) and Facebook (Hal Martin – Athlete) for all the latest news.