The legends of Bristol Motor Speedway came together for a 35-lap charity race around the Tennessee bullring. As a two-time track winner, Mark Martin was certainly qualified to join the action.
Marlin collected $25,000 with the win to donate to charity. He also will race in the Sprint Cup Series event Sunday.
The event teamed past winners at Bristol with a “celebrity.” The celebrities ran an earlier heat race that set the starting field for the main event.
Rusty Wallace and Jimmy Spencer, recent NASCAR retirees, both signed up for the chance to mix it up Saturday with old-timers Harry Gant, Junior Johnson and Jack Ingram. And even though partially retired driver Sterling Marlin, who won the “Saturday Night Special,” is driving in both the charity event and the Sprint Cup Series race, Martin wasn’t interested in a similar double-duty.
Sterling Marlin says everything worked perfectly and he thanked Goodyear for the tires. Then he says the late-model car worked better than his Cup car.
At 50, Martin is certainly eligible for a career in exhibition races. But that would be assuming Martin is past his prime, which clearly isn’t true.
“It’s such a pleasure to drive that car,” Martin said of his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet. “They’re hitting the race track with great, great setups based on learning about what I like in the race car. We’ve got a great race team.”
| 
|