If Mark Martin is to lock himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, he’s in the best position to do so—with the rest of the field in his rearview mirror.
With a lap at 126.808 mph (21.292 seconds), Martin claimed his sixth—and probably most important—pole of the season Friday at Richmond International Raceway. Currently 10th in the Cup standings, with a 69-point lead over 13th place Brian Vickers, Martin will lead the field to the green flag in Saturday’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400. NASCAR
The rejuvenated Martin, still showing the speed of his prime at age 50, tied a career-best with his sixth pole of the year, matching the total he set in 1989. More importantly, he’ll start first in his quest to turn his season into a championship-caliber effort.
“It just feels so good to be driving that 5 team’s car,” said Martin, in his first year with the powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports team. “To be able to do stuff like this is just ... I can’t describe it to you.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond - Race Line-Up
“No matter what happens tomorrow night, we don’t have to make the Chase to save our year. It’s been phenomenal,” Martin said. “Some of these teams, they need to make that Chase to save their year. For us, I’ll use this again, it’ll be icing ...and then we like to see if we can put a cake to put it on. We’ll go race, see if we can get the cake, but we can’t do that if we don’t make it. If we miss it tomorrow night, there isn’t going to be any icing or cake. It’ll just be a great year.” USA Today
Martin edged Martin Truex Jr. (126.731 mph) for the top spot. Denny Hamlin (126.630 mph) qualified third, followed by Jimmie Johnson (126.541 mph) and Kasey Kahne (126.452 mph). Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch (14th in points and 37 behind 12th place Matt Kenseth), Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards will start from the sixth through 10th spots, respectively. NASCAR
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