Mark Martin became the second oldest pole winner in the history of Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, clocking a lap time of 15.256 seconds at 125.773 mph to roll off first for Sunday’s Food City 500.
“It feels really good to show everybody that we’ve still got speed, and we are going to keep digging,” Martin said.
Prior to the series’ last stop two weeks ago in Atlanta, the 50-year-old Martin had gone 257 races without a pole, dating back to 2001.
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Martin went out 16th among the 45 cars that attempted to qualify for Sunday’s race. Jeff Gordon was just ahead of Martin and set low time to that point, but Martin’s first lap was smooth and quick to move atop the scoring pylon and stay there.
“It feels really good,” Martin said. “The car was so fast at the finish line on the first lap I said I was going to quit. But I was going so fast there was no way I could get it to pit road. So I had to make a second lap.”
While Martin has had two straight races with good starting spots, he is waiting for a good finishing position.
“As soon as we have one good run, one good finish, we’re going to start feeling better,” said Martin, whose finishes include two 40ths and a 31st in four races this year. “We’ve been a little bit nauseous.”
“It felt really, really good,” said the 50-year-driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who edged Ryan Newman (125.740 mph) for the pole by .004 seconds. “The car was really fast and it was really comfortable.”
“With the things that have happened to us in the races, it was good to show people that we’ve still got speed in the car,” said Martin, who claimed the 43rd pole of his career. “We’ve got speed, and the other part will come around sooner or later.”
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Martin’s teammate, Jimmie Johnson (125.453 mph), will start third, followed by Greg Biffle (125.289 mph) and Kasey Kahne (124.954 mph). David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson, Dave Blaney, Jamie McMurray and series points leader Jeff Gordon will start from positions six through 10, respectively.
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