News & Notes
MICHIGAN VICTOR: Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, has earned five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at Michigan International Speedway, a personal best for the 52-year-old driver at any track. His most recent win at the two-mile oval was on June 14, 2009. Martin also has posted 17 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s in his 50 career Sprint Cup starts at Michigan.
TRACK STATS: Martin ties fellow competitor Bill Elliott for the most top-10 finishes (29) at Michigan International Speedway. He trails his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, by one for the most top-fives (18) at the track. Martin leads all competitors with 34 lead lap finishes.
POLE MAN: Martin’s next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole will be the 50th of his career and will place him eighth on the all-time pole winner’s list. With all of his success at Michigan, Martin never has earned the pole position there, but did start from the top spot in 1990 when qualifying was rained out.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: Martin and the GoDaddy.com team are currently 15th in the Sprint Cup standings, 34 points outside of the top 10.
DOUBLE DUTY: Martin will make his third Nationwide Series start of the season in the No. 32 Turner Motorsports car on Saturday. In 11 previous Nationwide starts at Michigan, Martin has earned two wins, one pole award, eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes. Earlier this year, Martin posted his 49th Nationwide win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which was the first win ever for Turner Motorsports.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5- 672 for Sunday’s race at Michigan. This is a new chassis that has not yet been raced, but it was tested at Kentucky Speedway earlier this month.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Matt Martin, son of Mark, also has a passion for healthy living. After spending his childhood behind the wheel of race cars, Matt decided his true passion was in physical training. He now works at Hendrick Motorsports as a strength and conditioning coach for the four pit crews.
HENDRICK AT MICHIGAN: In 170 Cup starts (55 events) at Michigan, Hendrick Motorsports has scored five wins, 38 top-five finishes, 71 top-10s, nine poles and has led 1,890 laps. Hendrick Motorsports’ most recent win at Michigan came in June 2009, when Martin overcame a 32nd-place starting position, took the lead on the last lap and held on for his third win of the 2009 Sprint Cup season.
APPROACHING 200: With Gordon’s win at Pocono Raceway, 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 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON HIS SUCCESS AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.):
“If you look at statistics, Michigan could be labeled my best track on the circuit. Last year, we struggled a bit, suffered damage in the fall race that we could never really overcome. But back in 2009 we got the win on the final lap and when you win them like that, on the last lap, it’s so much fun. Those are the best kind of wins I think. We’ve got some work to do on our intermediate program, but we’ll get there. This is a great track for us to turn that all around on.”
MARTIN (ON RUNNING DOUBLE DUTY THIS WEEKEND.):
“I’m really looking forward to getting back in that Turner Motorsports car this weekend. We didn’t have the result at California that we were looking for, but still got a solid top-10 finish out of it. I’m hoping we can go out there and do what we did in Vegas and get another win for all those guys. Engines are super important at Michigan, and, of course, we have Hendrick horsepower, so that’s encouraging, too. I love racing in the Nationwide Series and hope whatever we learn on Saturday we can use on Sunday, too.”
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