News & Notes
ROAD COURSE REPORT: Mark Martin has made 41 starts on the two road course tracks currently on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule. During that time, he has earned four wins, 19 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s. He has led 367 laps combined at Infineon and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
INFINEON VICTOR: Martin, who has competed in 20 Sprint Cup races at Infineon Raceway, earned his sole victory at the Sonoma, Calif., road course in 1997. Martin started from the pole position and led all but five laps before taking the checkered flag.
INFINEON LEADER: Martin leads all Sprint Cup competitors in two categories at the road course – most lead lap finishes with 18 and the most laps completed with 1,865. He ties Terry Labonte for the most starts – 20—at Infineon Raceway.
AT INFINEON: Martin averages a 9.6 starting position at Infineon Raceway and an 11.5 average finishing position. Martin, who has scored seven top-five finishes and led 161 laps at the 1.99-mile road course, has earned a top-10 finish in all but seven starts there.
POLE MAN: Martin’s next Sprint Cup pole will be the 50th of his career and will place him eighth on the all-time pole winner’s list. Martin earned a pole position at Infineon in 1997 when he raced from the top starting spot to take the win, leading 69 laps on the way. Martin’s 9.6 average starting position at Infineon ranks second for him behind Pocono Raceway, where he has an average start of 8.9.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5- 674 for Sunday’s race at Infineon. This is a new chassis that has not yet been raced or tested.
POINTS: Martin and the No. 5 team rank 14th in the Sprint Cup point standings, 37 points behind 10th-place Clint Bowyer.
HIGH FIVE: Ricky Rudd scored three of his four Infineon Raceway pole positions while driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports from 1990-1992. The record for most Sonoma poles belongs to Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, who has five. Gordon is the only driver in the track’s history to have won three times from the pole (1998, 1999 and 2004).
HENDRICK AT SONOMA: In Sprint Cup competition at Infineon Raceway, team owner Rick Hendrick holds track records in the following categories: victories (six), top-five finishes (25), top-10s (35), pole positions (nine) and laps led (572). Gordon owns five of Hendrick Motorsports wins at Infineon, while Jimmie Johnson earned the most recent victory there last year.
APPROACHING 200: With Gordon’s win at Pocono Raceway this month, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 197 Cup victories. The organization ranks first in NASCAR’s modern era for wins and second all-time behind Petty Enterprises, which has 268 victories.
Quotes
MARK MARTIN, DRIVER, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ROAD COURSES.):
“Road course races are taken more and more seriously every year. I mean, look at the race teams who have tested on a road course the past month or so. You can’t just say ‘It’s only two races, so we won’t concentrate on these.’ With how competitive this sport is, there are no races you can pay less attention to than any others. I remember when I started no one took road course races seriously. There were only a handful of cars back then that were competitive on a road course. It’s just not that way today. Every team out there can win. It’s a tough, tough weekend.”
MARTIN (ON INFINEON RACEWAY.):
“Infineon is a very demanding course and a demanding race. I think it’s difficult for all oval racers. I know, when I took a few years off from road course races, it was really hard for me to get back into it when I came back in 2009. It’s tough mentally, and it’s a tough adjustment to get used to these tracks again. Hendrick Motorsports has put a lot of emphasis on its road course program. I know I haven’t performed the way I wanted to the past couple of years in Sonoma and Watkins Glen, but I’m hoping that changes this week.”
LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO 5. FARMERS INSURANCE/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON FUEL MILEAGE BECOMING A FACTOR SUNDAY AT INFINEON RACEWAY.):
“Fuel mileage has always been an issue on road courses, typically more than it is on ovals. Now, this year, it’s been an issue nearly everywhere, so I’m sure it will come into play again this weekend. The difference on Sunday could really be the tire that Goodyear brings. No team has been there with this tire, so no one really knows what to expect. The new tires may offset track position. We just don’t know. It’s kind of a wait and see game right now.”
McGREW (ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN OVAL AND ROAD COURSE RACE WEEKEND.):
“Everything is different. Road racing is a give and take game. If we’re good in the left handers and bad in the right handers, then chances are if you make your right handers better, the left handers will be worse. So, we really battle with the ‘greater good’ aspect. Making the best decision that will have the least negative impact. But every decision, no matter what part of the car it’s on, will have both an up- and downside.”
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