NEWS & NOTES
PHOENIX FUN: Driving the No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet, Mark Martin earned his first victory of the season last Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. In NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, it was the 36th win of his career, his first since October 2005 and his first in a Chevrolet. Martin started from the pole position and led 157 laps en route to the victory.
400 CLUB: Martin’s Phoenix victory also marked the 400th top-10 finish of his Sprint Cup career. He is just the fourth driver in Cup history to reach the plateau, joining legends Richard Petty (712 top-10s), Bobby Allison (446) and Dale Earnhardt Sr. (428).
THREE IN A ROW: Mark Martin’s win last week at Phoenix International Raceway came on the heels of two other Hendrick Motorsports wins—Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Jeff Gordon at Texas Motor Speedway—and marked the third time Hendrick Motorsports has won three consecutive Cup events with three different drivers. Hendrick, the only team in NASCAR’s modern era to have three different drivers win in three straight races, accomplished the feat in 2007—with Johnson, Gordon and Casey Mears—and in 1989—with Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader and Geoff Bodine. In 1956, Carl Kiekhaefer’s drivers won three in a row twice. Buck Baker, Speedy Thompson and Herb Thomas contributed to the first streak, while Baker, Jack Smith and Thompson were part of the other.
Click Here to View More NASCAR Photos
TO THE POINT: With last weekend’s win, Martin and the No. 5 team advanced to 13th in the Sprint Cup Series standings, just nine points out of 12th place and the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Martin and the team have advanced 21 positions during the past four races.
POLE MAN: Martin earned his third pole position of the season at Phoenix International Raceway. It was the team’s third pole in the last five Cup races and its fourth front-row start this year. Martin is the only repeat pole winner in 2009, having earned his two other poles at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
TALLADEGA VICTOR: Martin, driver of the No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet, is a two-time Sprint Cup winner at Talladega Superspeedway. Martin started third and led 88 laps en route to the April 30, 1995, win. Two years later, on May 10, 1997, Martin climbed from his 18th starting spot to earn his second win at the Alabama racetrack.
TRACK STATS: In 42 career Cup starts at Talladega, Martin has earned two wins, 10 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s. He also earned back-to-back pole positions there in 1989 and has led a total of 315 laps at the restrictor-plate track.
TALLADEGA TIMEOUT: Martin has not raced at Talladega since Oct. 8, 2006, when he rebounded from a 30th-place starting position to finish eighth. In 2007 and 2008, Martin competed part-time in the Cup Series and left Talladega off his schedule both years.
THE NO. 5 TEAM AT TALLADEGA: In eight races under the leadership of crew chief Alan Gustafson, the No. 5 team has earned one top-10 finish at Talladega—a seventh-place run last April. Most recently, the team started on the outside pole for the 500-mile race there on Oct. 5, 2008.
HENDRICK AT TALLADEGA: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has recorded at least one top-10 finish in the last eight events at Talladega. Overall, Hendrick Motorsports has scored 10 wins, 40 top-five finishes and 58 top-10s in 50 races at the superspeedway.
RESTRICTOR PLATE SHOWING: Martin and the No. 5 team have had one restrictor plate outing together, which happened at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February. During the course of that race weekend, Martin qualified second for the Daytona 500 and led 36 laps of his Gatorade Duel. He competed inside the top 10 for the majority of the Great American Race before finishing 16th when the event was called due to rain.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-472 for Sunday’s race at Talladega. It is the same car Martin drove in the Feb. 15 Daytona 500.
QUOTES
MARK MARTIN, DRIVER, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET (ON WHY TALLADEGA WAS NOT ON HIS SCHEDULE THE PAST TWO SEASONS.): “There are too many wrecks there! (LAUGHS) The real reason is that, as a driver, you just can’t control your own destiny at Talladega. There’s too much up in the air and too much left to chance. It’s a lot different than the other tracks we go to.”
MARTIN (ON IF YOU MENTALLY CAN PREPARE FOR TALLADEGA.): “Really, I don’t think about the race too much. I just want to have a really good car, although at Talladega, that doesn’t really matter that much with the way racing is there. The key is to just go into it with no expectations. That’s the best strategy. Just race.”
MARTIN (ON DEFENSIVE DRIVING AT TALLADEGA.): “It’s just all around a different race than anywhere else. Handling is not a factor, especially with the new pavement. You have to find a strategy and race minute by minute. All you can do is race your race and see what transpires.”
| 
|