NASCAR at Martinsville: Why do race winners receive a grandfather clock?

NASCAR fans watching the action unfold at Martinsville Speedway will notice the winner of Sunday's Cook Out 400 Denny Hamlin receive a rather unique trophy in victory lane post-race — a grandfather clock.

No seriously, there's been a massive grandfather clock awarded to the winner of NASCAR races at the Martinsville Speedway for the last 60 years.

The trophy is seven feet tall, it's valued at around about $10,000, it's hand-crafted, and to reiterate, they're giving one of these out at Martinsville this Sunday.

It isn't a tradition that dates back to the very start of Martinsville hosting NASCAR races, back in the original 1949 series, but it was brought in for the 1964 race and it has become iconic ever since.

Why is the NASCAR Martinsville trophy a clock?

Clay Campbell, track president, told ESPN in 2009: "My grandfather wanted something that reflected this area and this town. He didn't have to look far. This area was built on the furniture industry and Ridgeway was based right here and they made the clocks right here. It was perfect. Still is."

Or course, not every driver knows the history of the trophy inside and out. Kurt Busch, winner in 2002, said: "I had no idea you won a grandfather clock. We pose for so many photos in Victory Lane I just thought we posed with the clock and that was it.

"The week after the race these guys started wheeling this thing in the house and I was like, 'What the heck is this?!'

"But every time I hear that clock start chiming I think about those old school guys running at Martinsville sixty years ago when it was dirt. And I think about my grandfather, who passed away the week before I won my Martinsville race. His name was Al, so I named my grandfather clock after my actual grandfather."

Which driver has the most Martinsville grandfather clocks?

NASCAR legend Richard Petty is the all-time winningest NASCAR driver at Martinsville Speedway with 15 race victories.

However, with the clock not introduced until 1964 as mentioned, he did not receive a grandfather clock as his trophy for three of those victories.

Still, Petty did receive 12 clocks in total, which still makes him the NASCAR driver with the most grandfather clocks from Martinsville.

READ MORE: NASCAR Results Today: Denny Hamlin produces DOMINANT drive as Martinsville hoodoo ended

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