Martinsville gets SAFER.

Martinsville Speedway has been "spruced up" for the inaugural NASCAR Nextel Cup 'Chase for the Championship' with a new track surface and some well-received SAFER Barriers.

Competitors in Sunday's Subway 500 will be racing across a new surface following the highly publicised 'break-ups' during April's Advance Auto Parts 500 as on the exits of turns two and four, where concrete extends onto asphalt, the concrete has been extended an extra 100 feet.

The SAFER barriers, installed last month, extend 832 feet on the outside wall of the first and second turns; 640 feet on the outside of the third and fourth turns; 706 feet along the inside front stretch wall; and 569 feet along the inside of the backstretch wall.

"The first thing I saw when I got to Martinsville [to test] was the addition of the SAFER barriers," said Elliott Sadler. "Believe it or not on such a little track we are carrying a ton of speed into the corners. They also added the barriers on the inside of the straightaway walls. The addition of the barriers means that the track owners put safety first and it's a great thing to see.

"The track [surface] is smooth and from what I was told they really, really put a lot of effort into making sure it was as close to perfect as a track can be," added the Robert Yates Racing driver. "They did a great job because the transition from the concrete to the asphalt is unbelievable. I'm glad they added another 100 feet of concrete. That will be a lot easier on the motor guys and on the driver. That was always the biggest obstacle here at Martinsville, getting the car hooked up from the concrete to the asphalt."