ESPN Analyst and 1989 NASCAR Cup Champion Rusty Wallace on Racing at Martinsville Speedway

The Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup is on ABC

Q - Aside from the expected beating and banging how hard is Martinsville Speedway on the car itself?

“At Martinsville Speedway you’ll see a lot of brake problems, and next is the rear-end gear. You turn so many RPMs that the rear-end gear ratio heats up real fast. It’s such a short track and you have to get up to speed real fast.

“Tempers, brakes and rear-end gears, those are the three things that can fail at Martinsville. On top of that, the fenders get beat in, the sides of the doors get beat up and tire marks end up all over the car.”

Q – How hard is the 500-lap race at Martinsville on a driver?

“The 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway is very hard on a driver. It seems like the race is never going to end. The drivers get very fatigued; the cars get hot; the engine and brakes produce a lot of heat and all of that radiates up into the car and causes the drivers to be pretty worn out when the race is over.”

Q - What should ESPN on ABC viewers watch for that is unique to Martinsville?

“Viewers will see a lot of physical contact between cars this weekend at Martinsville. It is one of the oldest and prettiest racetracks on the circuit. You will literally see fire coming out of the brakes and expect a lot of wrecks. One thing unique to Martinsville is a curb, like what you find on a regular street, running along the inside of the track. When a driver hits that curb, he will typically shoot up the racetrack. It is one of the oldest, all-American short tracks, and neither drivers nor race fans will get bored there at all.”

Sixth Race in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup is Sunday on ABC

The Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup continues Sunday, Oct. 21, when the series visits Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, the smallest track in NASCAR’s top series, for the Subway 500. ESPN on ABC will have live coverage of the Martinsville event and all 10 races in the Chase. The telecast begins at 1 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown.

Dr. Jerry Punch will handle play-by-play for the race, joined in the booth for analysis by 1989 NASCAR Cup champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Wallace is the only national TV analyst who has competed in the Chase as a driver. Pit reporters will be Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN DISH Tech Center. Suzy Kolber will host NASCAR Countdown along with analyst Brad Daugherty, a former winning team owner in NASCAR’s Busch and Truck series, in the ESPN Pit Studio.

NASCAR Busch Series: Weekend Off; Racing Returns Oct. 27 at Memphis Motorsports Park on ESPN2: The NASCAR Busch Series has the weekend off, but ESPN2 will resume its season-long coverage live on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. ET from Memphis Motorsports Park with NASCAR Countdown. The race telecast begins at 3:30 p.m. ET.

About NASCAR on ESPN:

ESPN and ESPN on ABC has comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup” championship on ESPN on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Busch Series all season. For the first time in the history of televised motorsports, all programming is produced totally in High Definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, SportsCenter, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPNRadio, ESPN360.com and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981. The network's award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN was honored with 17 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

For complete ESPN NASCAR NEXTEL Cup TV listings, click here .

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