Honoring 'The King': Richard Petty named Grand Marshal for next week's Cup race at Martinsville - MotorSportsTalk

It’s going to be a very busy weekend for Richard Petty next week at Martinsville Speedway.

First, his namesake company, Richard Petty Motorsports, is expected to make a major sponsorship announcement for the No. 9 car of Sam Hornish Jr. for the 2015 season.

Then, Petty will serve as Grand Marshal for the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Sprint Cup race, where in a fitting honor for the man known as “The King,” he’ll parade around the track and then issue the command to drivers to start their engines.

It’s a fitting honor at a fitting venue for Petty: of his 200 career Cup wins, the King won 15 races at the half-mile bullring, tying his 15 wins at now-defunct North Wilkesboro for the most career wins at a NASCAR track.

Petty is a longtime endorser for Goody’s.

“Having Richard Petty serve as the Grand Marshal of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at a historic track like Martinsville is a testament to his legendary career in NASCAR and his long-time partnership with the Goody’s brand,” Joseph Juliano, Goody’s Brand Director, said in a media release.

“It is a true honor to be associated with the King of Speed, and we are extremely fortunate to have a living legend like Richard Petty on the Goody’s team,” Juliano added.

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Travis Pastrana waited until the final trip around ERX Motor Park to take his Joker Lap – a longer way around the course that all drivers must do at least once in a race – and came out cleanly to win his first Nitro Rallycross race of 2022. With this win, Pastrana is the third driver to visit Victory Lane in the first three rounds of the 2022-23 season.

“This is the closest to a motocross track,” Pastrana told Katie Osborne on Peacock. “Thank you so much for a beautiful facility. It’s been a rough start to the season and I’m so thankful to be back out here. We had a good run in the side-by-side and now for this. This is much needed.”

Another thing needed was the sense of improvement. And Pastrana earned that affirmation each time he completed a lap around the course.

“I get my lap times read out and they said ‘fastest time of the week,’ ‘fastest time of the week’ (each time around) ” Pastrana said. “This is really special. We’re a long way behind in the championship, but welcome to America.”

In a pre-race press conference, Pastrana said that as Nitro Rallycross heads back to America, it was time for an American to win and he made good on his promise. Pastrana took the early lead over Robin Larsson and let the back of his Subaru hang out, taking risks he might not otherwise take if not for his need to win.

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Larsson’s second-place finish completed a perfect sweep of the podium in three rounds. In fact, he has not yet finished worse than second after winning the opening round at Lydden Hill in the United Kingdom and finishing second at Strangnas in Sweeden.

Fraser McConnel rounded out the podium for his best result of the season. He finished fourth in each of the first two rounds.

Last year, Pastrana finished second in this race to Scott Speed before narrowly edging his teammate for the championship.

Andreas Bakkerud crashed in prelims, but rebounded to finish just off the block in fourth. Bakkerud won the second round ahead of his teammate Larsson.

Oliver Bennett completed the top five.

Minneapolis is the first of three rounds scheduled in the United States. Next on the schedule is Glen Helen, Calif. on Octo 30 and then Phoenix at Wild Horse Pass on November 12th. Nitro Rallycross will then head to Saudi Arabia in December to continue their 2022-23 season.

Honoring ‘The King’: Richard Petty named Grand Marshal for next week’s Cup race at Martinsville

Travis Pastrana leads flag-to-flag in Nitro Rallycross as the series returns to America

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