It’s inevitable that Martinsville Speedway will eventually host a night race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but don’t expect it to happen immediately.

That was the message from track president Clay Campbell as he answered fan questions in a series of videos posted to the Martinsville Speedway Twitter account last week. The track installed a state-of-the-art LED lighting system last season and first flipped the switch for its annual Late Model Stock race in September.

The playoff race in October finished under the lights, highlighted by several bump-and-runs, an on-track confrontation and a fan attempting to throw down with Denny Hamlin.

It’s that sort of atmosphere fans want to have from start to finish at some point, and Campbell said he and everyone who makes those decisions are having the initial conversations to make it happen.

"I think the biggest thing you need to understand, there's no one that wants a night race here more than I do," Campbell said. "I think everyone in the business wants to see a night race here. NASCAR wants to see it. Our parent company, International Speedway Corporation, wants to see it.

"I know you, the fan, want to see it. So, where we're going with that is. It's not as easy to say, pick a day, flip the lights and let's do it. There's a lot of moving pieces to that and we don't own all the pieces."

Of course, Campbell is referencing the schedule logjam created with two companies owning dates for 93 percent of the Cup Series schedule. Pocono, Dover and Indianapolis are independents. For a Martinsville race to have a date moved, it would either have to be swapped with another ISC track’s date or an SMI track would have to be willing to swap dates with Martinsville.

The current spring date, scheduled for late March, has proven to be problematic from a weather perspective. It’s often cold, even in the afternoon, and this year’s race was snowed out from a Sunday afternoon to a Monday morning.

"We would love to swap dates with somebody, but who wants to give up a date and give it to us, give up something that works for them and give it to us?" Campbell said. "I think everyone wants to see it. We talk to NASCAR on a regular basis, and they want to see us in a better spot. But we have to work on the dates. They're nice guys and we're nice guys, but hey, they have to look out for themselves, too.

"It's difficult, it's complicated and I'm not saying it's not going to work out ... but hopefully it happens because fans aren't the only ones who want it to happen."

Another question posed to Campbell regarded Martinsville hosting races for series in addition to Cup -- like the Xfinity Series, K&N Pro Series or ARCA.

"It goes back to the conversation about dates and a night race," Campbell said. "NASCAR has so many great divisions: Modifieds, K&N, Xfinity as well as ARCA now. If it made sense for us, we'd think about doing it. Cup and Trucks are our bread and butter. Trucks have always done really well here. We don't see that changing.

"With NASCAR owning ARCA, maybe that becomes a possibility. I don't know if ARCA and K&N will become one series or what. I'm just talking off the top of my head. But we have options."

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