The fifth race of the 1952 NASCAR Grand National season was held on April 6 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. The half-mile dirt track hosted a 200-lap event with a small 22-car field and an attendance of 6,500 fans.
Buck Baker won the pole with a qualifying speed of 54.945 mph. Dick Rathmann, starting ninth in the No. 120 Walt Chapman Hudson Hornet, drove to his first career victory. He won by five seconds over Bill Blair. Perk Brown finished third, Lee Petty fourth, and Bobby Courtwright fifth.
Rathmann earned $1,000 for the win with an average speed of 42.862 mph. The race featured seven lead changes among five drivers and was slowed by five cautions. This breakthrough victory came in Rathmann’s 16th start and highlighted the competitiveness of the early Hudson Hornet machines on dirt tracks. (
