Mark Martin and the No. 8 U.S. Army team battled to a 12th-place finish in Sunday’s Dickies 500 Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway. Martin held on for the solid finish after taking two tires on the final pit stop with 14 laps remaining.
“That was just a great effort by this U.S. Army team today,” said Martin. “The car wasn’t that good and we needed a little more speed, but I’m extremely proud how we battled back to finish 12th. We had excellent pit stops and that really helped to save the day.”
Martin started the race 20th after a disappointing qualifying lap on Friday. He quickly moved inside the field’s top-10 on Lap 64 of 334 but struggled with a loose handling car early in the race. He dropped back to 18th by Lap 100, but then recovered and moved inside the top-15 on Lap 118, where he would virtually run the remainder of the race.
Race winner Carl Edwards put Martin a lap down on Lap 231, despite the fact that Martin’s No. 8 Chevy was running in 14th position. However, the Army team stayed patient and eventually earned its way back on the lead lap.
“We had a really great effort on pit road today,” noted crew chief Tony Gibson. “All of the stops were fast and the guys on this U.S. Army team really made the most of the hand they were dealt. Now it’s time we turn our attention to Phoenix and hopefully get a little redemption for what happened there in the spring.”
During the April race at Phoenix, Martin led 68 laps and was the class of the field, before settling for a fourth-place finish when the team came up short on fuel mileage.
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