Five thoughts after NASCAR’s race weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Formula One’s Australian Grand Prix and IndyCar’s Long Beach Grand Prix…1. Cold-ClockedThe alarm bells started sounding well before the checkered flag waved on NASCAR’s Martinsville Speedway race on Saturday night. Or at least they should have for anyone who loves short track racing.Martinsville, one of the greatest tracks to ever host a stock car race, saw a dud of a night that turned into one of the biggest disappointments in recent years. This was supposed to be an action-packed showcase for NASCAR’s new Next Gen cars, with all the elements lined up for an exciting race: A Saturday night under the lights, more durable cars that promised full-contact racing, better brakes to help drivers dive into the tight corners and 100 fewer laps than normal to create urgency throughout the event.None of that happened. Drivers, limited by a number of factors, couldn’t do anything to put on a good show and it turned into one of the tamest Martinsville races ever. They knew it, too.Four cautions — two for stage breaks, two for slowing cars — were tied for the fewest yellow flags at Martinsville since 1977. For context, last year’s two Cup Series races at Martinsville had 15 cautions apiece; a whopping 52 Martinsville races have had double-digit cautions since 1990.But on Saturday, there were no spins, certainly no multi-car incidents and barely any tempers.That doesn’t mean a good short track race needs cautions to be thrilling. But in this case, that low number was accompanied by zero on-track passes for the lead (all five lead changes came in the pits).For those of us in the camp pleading for more short tracks, this was a very bad night.

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