Saturday marked the final race in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, with two spots up for grabs in Championship 4 race at Phoenix next weekend. Now that Saturday night’s race at Martinsville Speedway has drawn to a close,

The NASCAR Cup Series begins the Martinsville race weekend with practice and qualifying for the Xfinity 500. Follow here as the Cup Series sets the Martinsville lineup.

William Byron picked a good time for his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole at Martinsville Speedway, qualifying first for a race that he is treating as a must-win.

Talk about perfect timing. William Byron, one of four drivers realistically needing a victory at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4 race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, picked the ideal moment to win his first pole position at the historic short track.

In court on Thursday, NASCAR produced nearly publicized evidence from discovery to make its point that there was a cartel conspiracy to force NASCAR to reach unfavorable terms with the teams. This included a text message thread in which Polk said the following about his end goal with NASCAR negotiations:

Half of the remaining field in the Cup Series playoffs is facing essentially a must-win situation at Martinsville Speedway, where NASCAR weathered a race manipulation scandal in last year's third-round finale.

NASCAR and two of its teams returned to court Thursday after two failed days of mediation and resumed their bitter antitrust fight with a hearing that included team owner Michael Jordan laughing in disbelief at some of the testimony as the two sides hurtle toward a trial.