The Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 is an annual 500-lap NASCAR Cup Seriesstock car race held at the Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. It had no name from 1950 to 1955, before taking the name Virginia 500 in 1956. It is the first of two races at the track, the other one being the First Data 500 in the NASCAR playoffs. Longtime sponsor Goody's Powder returned as race sponsor for the 2007 spring race with their new orange-flavored brand with the race title being Goody's Cool Orange 500; the Goody's 500 was originally the name of the fall race, which since 2008 has also been sponsored by the British pharmaceutical conglomerate, as the TUMS QuikPak 500. The race on April 1, 2007, was the second race for NASCAR's car design, the Car of Tomorrow. This event is currently the twelfth race of the season. It was previously the sixth race of the season and the first race where current points standings determine exemptions. Martin Truex Jr. is the most recent winner of the race, having won it in 2020. Blue-Emu took over naming rights for the race as part of a multi-year deal with NASCAR. Unlike other races, the trophy is in the form of a grandfather clock, which has been a tradition since 1964.
Notable races
1953:Herb Thomas was originally declared the winner, but a recheck showed that he had been credited with an extra lap.
1971: Controversy dogged Richard Petty's win as he lost his gas cap during the race but was not black flagged; there had been incidents of drivers flagged to get gas caps under green.
1999: John Andretti lost a lap after being tagged by Ward Burton; he made up the lap and ran down Jeff Burton; in the final ten laps he and Burton raced nose to nose for several laps before Andretti rallied to the win, his first for Petty Enterprises, the 200th short track win for the team, and the first for the team since 1997.
2002:Bobby Labonte posted his first career short track win.
2004: Rusty Wallace posted his final Nextel Cup win.
2010:Denny Hamlin stormed four-abreast through traffic on a late restart to steal the win.
2014:Kurt Busch posted his first win with Stewart-Haas Racing after passing Jimmie Johnson with eleven laps to go. The win was Busch's first in two seasons following his firing from Penske Racing and numerous confrontations with media. The race lead changed 33 times, a track record, breaking the 31 set in Kevin Harvick's 2011 win.
2018: The race was postponed to Monday due to snow. Clint Bowyer won the race, breaking a 190-race winless streak dating back to 2012.
2019:Brad Keselowski dominated by leading 446 laps and winning the race.
2020: The race was scheduled to be the track's first-ever night race in the Cup Series.
