Martin Helps Himself To Vegas Nationwide Win

Mar 02, 2008

“I have to apologize before I do any celebrating, I have to apologize to Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski. I hate that it happened but, I sure didn’t intend for that to happen. ”

--Martin said of his third victory here in the Nationwide Series.

“You fear that, that’s the worst thing that happens when you have multiple cars in a race, but Mark is one of the cleanest, neatest drivers in racing, It’s going to happen sooner or later and I hate that it happened today. “

—Rick Hendrick(team owner)

“I’m not happy getting a DNF (did not finish) in a race I felt we had a chance of winning, we’re going to win some races if we keep this up. “

--Brad Keselowski

“I’d like to be really mad at Mark, but Mark is a heck of a guy and has a lot of respect, I’m sure it was just a mistake. ”

--Carl Edwards

“Everything was going well, we were a little bit tight and we were going to free it up on the next stop in order to make a better charge there toward the end of the race. We just weren’t able to make it.”

--Kyle Busch

“First, I want to apologize. I didn’t intend it to happen, I went high and ran hard… and got into the back of Carl, and once it started I couldn’t stop it. I think everyone knows I give everyone the greatest respect. I made a mistake. I feel bad. I don’t like to make mistakes. I have high standards, and there was some intense driving, really intense coming right down to the finish. “ “Drivers were having trouble because the tires stuck so good and the race track is so fast that once the tires start slipping it’s hard to gather back up, hard to keep the car under control. We saw a lot of that today, The main thing is you’ve got to try and keep the car under you and not let it slip. ”

--Martin

“It’s the wrong tire for here, it’s too hard, “ who crashed midway through the 200-lap event. “They’re trying to slow us down, and everybody’s wrecking. You even have experienced guys that are wrecking. ”

--Kyle Busch

“He’s a good kid and he’ll be stronger because of what happened today, we’ll put it behind us. It’s hard to stomach. We’ll be stronger the next race. He knows the type of driver Mark is and it’s awesome to hear Mark be honest about the situation. We all know he’s one of the cleanest drivers out there. He’s taught this entire garage how to drive clean and how to drive respectfully. It’s guys like him that taught a lot of drivers how to race. I’ve known Mark forever, and he’s taught me a lot, on and off the track, and he’s such a talented driver. We’re really fortunate to have that kind of talent behind the wheel of our car. Anytime you put him behind the wheel of a car, you’ve got a shot to win. ”

--Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“The right front tire went down. I just don’t put them in the fence on purpose, no warning. No vibrations. No nothing with the tire. Going down the back straightaway, a smooth ride into the fence on the corner. Just a bummer day here in Las Vegas. ”

--Kyle Busch