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VanHoose: Martinsville hurt by case of the Mondays

There's plenty to clean up as we head into an off weekend of racing. Let's jump right into it.

NASCAR needed a great race like it got at Martinsville Speedway on Monday.

The problem is that the sport needed that race to happen on Sunday.

Few people got to watch the epic finish at the world's biggest paperclip. Those who did know they saw a treat.

A handful of drivers - Jimmie Johnson not included - swapped the lead around all day. At the end, Matt Kenseth showed he was willing to punt Jeff Gordon out of the way to win the race.

Of course, Gordon showed on the same lap that he was willing to plow over Kenseth to make sure he didn't win the race.

With those guys wrecking each other, Denny Hamlin drove on past to victory.

► Short-changed: Short-track racing could be on NASCAR's extinction list, however. About 25,000 fans showed up Monday to watch the 500-lap affair. That's not good.

We'll never know how bad the crowd would've been had rain not washed out the race on Sunday, but it's well noted that Martinsville officials have had trouble selling tickets lately.

But it should also be noted that Martinsville, the smallest track on the NASCAR circuit, also produces the best racing on the circuit.

Having two races in rural Martinsville, Va., every year doesn't make great business sense. But it makes perfect sense if NASCAR execs really do care about the racing.

Don't change a thing.

► BACK FROM the GRAVE: Speaking of old race tracks, the North Wilkesboro Speedway in the Brushy Mountains of North Carolina is coming back to life.

Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer tested their Sprint Cup cars at the 5/8-mile track on Thursday. It's a big leap forward for the old speedway that just reopened after 14 years of inactivity.

North Wilkesboro Speedway was built in 1947 and hosted NASCAR races until 1996 when it closed. Now i

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