MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S IMPALA SS, POLE WINNER
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO GET YOUR SEVENTH POLE OF 2009?: “That’s pretty incredible. 1989 was the most poles for me in one year—I remember it was 1989, we got six so that’s a crazy stat right there.”
HOW DOE IT FEEL TO HAVE THE YOUNGER DRIVERS LOOK UP TO YOU SO MUCH AND ENDORSE WHAT YOU’RE DOING?: “It’s been incredible. I try not to think too far forward right now. I’m thinking about the present, but not too much forward because I don’t want to think about the possibility of letting all those people down. I will race with all my heart like I have all my life. I’m incredibly blessed. Hendrick Motorsports swept the top-three spots today in qualifying and I was really excited for Dale (Earnhardt) Jr., he really needed a shot in the arm and got it. It would have been nice to see him on the pole, but it’s still front row is great. I’ve been blessed. Let me ask you guys something. Has any of you ever stepped on a cat’s tail? Have you? I have accidentally stepped on a cat’s tail before and it’s pretty funny how fast, they make a noise and they go really fast. That’s kind of like when I stepped on the gas in that 5 car today, it was like stepping on a cat’s tail. This thing has so much horsepower, I’m really impressed with everything —with the engines, with the chassis, with the fabrication. What Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and I have going is really something special—it’s really something special. I hope for Alan that he will continue in his career to have something special with other guys in his career. I won’t. The communication that we have, the faith and belief that we have in one another—it doesn’t matter if they don’t fix my car. If I tell them that it’s not good and I walk away, when I come back, I believe it’s fixed and I’ll drive it like it is fixed, which is pretty much what we did today. We believe in each other —I don’t see how you can believe any more than this team believes. We are new together this year. That’s one thing that we have going for us really, to be honest with you. We have never let each other down, never. I think that’s worth something to us right now and we’re just going to fight for it with all our heart.”
DO YOU FIND IT AS EASY TO STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE NOW WHEN YOU NEED TO?: “I must because I’m stepping out of it every time I qualify. And I’ve been driving really hard this year, really pressing my luck. The equipment has been great and I’ve had good luck with it. I hadn’t let us down yet, I hadn’t messed up and had to take the blame for messing our day up because I wrecked the car driving over my head. We are going for it—no matter where we are on the race track. If we happen to be out there running 25th on Sunday, you can believe we are racing our guts out. We’re not leaving anything on the table, no matter if we’re leading or we’re running in the back, we’ll be racing and fighting with everything we’ve got.”
DO YOU KEEP TRACK OF WHERE JIMMIE JOHNSON IS ON THE TRACK DURING THE RACE? DO YOU THINK OF IT JUST BEING THE TWO OF YOU THIS WEEKEND?: “No, I would think that would be ridiculous. We’re 20 percent in to this Chase. We don’t even know whose going to be the contenders yet. You would expect the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) to be, they have been before. No, I have not kept up with the 48 as of yet, but it’s very early in the running. We were really fighting to get in the Chase and I kept up with our competitors then so obviously when I believe the race is on, I probably will. I don’t think that will probably come until something like four to go. It’s just very early.”
HAVE YOU HAD THE SENSATION OF STEPPING ON A CAT’S TAIL IN A RACE CAR BEFORE AND IF NOT, WHAT IS IT LIKE TO SUDDENLY REALIZE THAT THIS IS WHAT IT’S SUPPOSED TO FEEL LIKE?: “I have used that reference before because I have really stepped on one before, it was an accident, but it was pretty incredible how a cat will move and the noise that it makes. And I was referring really to the engine, our engine today was amazing. Down every straightaway, it felt like I had a tail wind going both directions. I know the guys are bringing their A-game from the engine shop for this Chase. I’ve driven really good race cars and I’ve had a lot of success, but I haven’t had this much success this late in my career before.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE AS STRONG AS DICK TRICKLE USED TO BE AT I-70 SPEEDWAY?: “That was one hell of a compliment—that’s how it feels, I’m humbled. I spent a lot of time chasing him too.”
DID YOU CONSIDER RUNNING OUT OF GAS AT MICHIGAN THE TEAM LETTING YOU DOWN OR IS THAT A SIGN THAT YOUR TEAM DOES NOT LET THINGS LIKE THAT LINGER?: “That’s technical and that’s a technical question. I guess my response to that is, selective memory. I never, ever felt like my team let me down because we ran out of gas. I felt like that we as a team ran out of gas. You could take what I said and technically say that’s not true, but certainly our history is much shorter and much more successful for the short period of time when you think we haven’t worked together, we went to California in February and we did not run good. We’re excited about going back because we’ve learned so much about our cars and that was our first time and we really have learned a lot and come a long way. When we came from 34th in owner’s points to make the Chase, I don’t think there was any letting nobody down. We all had to dig to do that. Technically, you could say what you want to say, but for me, they could not possibly, I told Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) right there in the lounge after that race, I said ‘Alan, it’s okay, I don’t care if we make the Chase or not man, we’ve run four races. It’s been Christmas every day this year for me.’ That’s how I felt right then and there. If we didn’t make the Chase, I absolutely did not care. We had won four races. Way beyond my expectations and I really meant that. It’s been Christmas for me every day this year. And he says, ‘We’re gonna make it.’ And I was like in the back of my head saying, ‘I don’t think so, I don’t know how we’re going to do it, there’s not much time left and everybody that we’re racing is running good.’ We really stepped it up and since then we’ve had top-fives after top-fives. It’s really gotten stronger.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS – Qualified 2nd:
ON HIS LAP:
“Yeah, this is a good run for us. This is the car we run at Indianapolis, which was a pretty good car and it was new then. We worked real hard in practice. We didn’t show as much speed as we had in the car in practice, but we just were a couple adjustments short and got those in right before qualifying and we had a pretty good draw going out 25th. But the track was about the same for everybody, I felt. The wind was pretty good all day long, I mean it was pretty rough and pretty windy, but I think I might have caught a window during my lap because I didn’t have any gusts or anything that bothered my car. It’s a good front row starting spot for us and we need that type of performance and have needed it for some time. It’s got all the guys on the team excited and we’ll see how that rolls over in tomorrow’s practice and see if we can carry some momentum throughout the day and try to turn out a pretty good race car for Sunday.”
WITH THE HUBBUB SURROUNDING JIMMIE JOHNSON, MARK MARTIN, AND JEFF GORDON, HAVE YOU FELT LEFT OUT? IS THIS GOOD TO GET BACK ON STAGE?
“Well, it’s good to burn good. I’ve always felt like I belong in the upper percentage of our sport and when you don’t perform that way, it’s definitely tough on you. But I’ve maintained my confidence and I’m maintained good confidence in my team and in (crew chief) Lance (McGrew) and I just feel like the more we work together the better we understand each other and the better our opportunity is to do something like we did today. But we looked at the rest of the season as any time we can get on the race track to try to prove ourselves and prove our worth to the rest of the sport, that’s what we’ll do for the rest of the year.”
ON WORKING WITH LANCE MCGREW, HAVE ANY DECISION BEEN MADE ABOUT HIS COMING BACK NEXT YEAR AS CREW CHIEF?
“Well, I just want to make it clear, I guess, that the decision is Rick’s (Hendrick) and his management team. I like working with Lance. I get along great with Lance. We have had some great runs and I feel like I can build on that type of success and it happened more often, more consistently with Lance. And I hope that we’re successful the rest of the year and that we go into next season with the same group of guys. But the decision isn’t mine, and never will be mine. So, I hope that we’ll have more success and continue to give Rick and the people that do make those types of decisions good reason to keep us as a team and keep us working together because I really do enjoy working with him. I feel like I’m a different race car driver than I’ve been over the last several years; just my temperament and my disposition throughout the races and the weekend. I still have to check myself every once in a while; I get a little angry, but just during practice and stuff when something you do to these cars can frustrate you. But for the most part, Lance is really great at controlling the situation and controlling our team and directing our team throughout the weekend and the races themselves. I’ve enjoyed the experience working with him.”
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