News & Notes
MOST RECENT WIN: Mark Martin earned his most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, and his first career New Hampshire Motor Speedway win, in September 2009 driving the No. 5 Chevrolet. He entered the race as the points leader, started 14th and led 68 laps en route to Victory Lane. The victory left Martin with only six active tracks on the Cup schedule where he has yet to win.
NEW HAMPSHIRE TOTALS: In 29 Cup starts at New Hampshire, Martin has earned one win, nine top-five finishes and 14 top-10s. His average finish of 12.1 is his third-best average finish at an oval track. Martin has finished every race he’s started at New Hampshire.
POLE MAN: Martin, driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, has earned 50 pole positions in his Sprint Cup career, with two of them occurring at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He earned his first career pole at the track in July 1993 – his first-ever appearance at the short track. He then earned the pole position again in July 1995.
LOOP STATISTICS: Martin is tied with July’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway winner Ryan Newman for the seventh-best average finish—13.8—of all Sprint Cup competitors in the last 13 races at the Loudon track. He has the fourth-best average mid-race running position—10.2. In those same races, Martin has improved an average of 3.3 positions in the final 10 percent of the race – the third-most among all Cup drivers in that timeframe.
POINT STANDINGS: Martin and the GoDaddy.com team did not qualify for the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field, however, the team achieved a ninth-place finish on Monday at Chicagoland Speedway that moved them to 16th in the standings. Martin ranks just 27 points behind 13th, the highest the team can finish this season.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-695 for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This is a brand new chassis that never has been raced or tested.
HENDRICK AT NEW HAMPSHIRE: In 36 Cup races (118 starts) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has eight wins, 33 top-five finishes and 52 top-10s. Jeff Gordon leads three statistical categories among drivers all-time there. He owns the most top-five finishes (14), most top-10s (18) and has led the most laps (1,226 total).
APPROACHING 200: With Gordon’s win on Sept. 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 198 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 THE TEAM’S RECENT PERFORMANCE.):
“I’ve felt since mid-season that we were figuring some things out. At Indy we had a great run and would’ve battled for the win if we just had a little more fuel. This team is really good. More so than we’ve shown. And we’re capable of good things. We’re putting our nose down right now and really working hard and it’s showing. We had a good run at Richmond (Va.) recently and another one at Chicago. Hopefully we can continue to build on that.”
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