Ford 300 - Mark Martin Notes

PREVIEW: MARK MARTIN (NO. 5 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD/HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET)
VENUE: HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY (1.5-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 35 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2007 (200 LAPS, 300 MILES)

MARTIN BACK IN ACTION: Mark Martin will return this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Autoguard/HendrickCars.com Chevrolet in the NASCAR Busch Series. Martin most recently drove the Hendrick Autoguard/HendrickCars.com Chevy to a 14th-place finish at Michigan International Speedway in August and a runner-up result at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May.

2007 BUSCH SEASON IN REVIEW: Saturday's Busch Series race at Homestead will be Martin's fifth this season and his third for the No. 5 Hendrick Autoguard/HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. He has earned two top-five finishes, including the second-place result at Darlington, in 2007 Busch Series action.

MARTIN AT HOMESTEAD: In seven Busch Series starts at Homestead, Martin has posted six top-five finishes -- with five of those in the top three -- and six top-10s in addition to leading a total of 130 laps. Martin's average start and finish at the 1.5-mile oval is 9.6 and 4.7, respectively.

MARTIN'S BUSCH SERIES STATS: Saturday will mark the final race for 26-year Busch Series sponsor Anheuser-Busch and, appropriately, Mark Martin will be in the show. Martin is the winningest driver in Busch Series history with 47 victories in 224 career starts since 1987. He has earned 143 top-10 finishes, 106 top-fives and won 21 percent of all the Busch Series races he's entered. Martin has posted top-10 results 64 percent of the time and led 5,345 laps on the circuit.

BUSCH'S GREATEST DRIVER: In a 2006 NASCAR poll of both fans and media, Martin ranked No. 1 among the "25 Greatest NASCAR Busch Series Drivers."

CHASSIS 416: Crew chief Chad Walter has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 416 for Saturday's Busch Series race at Homestead. Casey Mears has driven the car six times this season, posting four top-five finishes -- at Atlanta, Texas, Lowe's and Kansas -- in addition to a ninth-place result at Michigan back in August.

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MARK MARTIN, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD/HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET: (ON DRIVING FOR RICK HENDRICK.) "It's just a real honor and a privilege to drive for Rick Hendrick and all the guys on that car. It's been the time of my life, just the things I've gotten to do this year, and that's one of the major things. I'm really looking forward to climbing into that race car and trying to get that win. Rick's a huge cheerleader and he really wants to share that trophy. It's awesome and I look forward to the future. Rick has proven to be a tremendous friend -- one of the coolest guys I've ever dealt with in racing. I've really been privileged to have the opportunity to do this and look forward to doing it some more in the future."

MARTIN: (ON HIS FIRST TWO NASCAR BUSCH SERIES STARTS THIS SEASON FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS.) "We had good runs in the first two races. Qualified not so good and it was very difficult to overcome that. We almost had a shot to win Darlington, coming from behind the whole race to finally get to second place right at the end. Sort of the same thing in Michigan, too. We came from the middle of the pack. It would be nice to get qualified well, so that we'd not have that deficit to start with. So we're working on that."

MARTIN: (ON HIS STRONG SUIT AS A DRIVER.) "Busch cars do fit my driving style, maybe even better than a Cup car. My strong suit is momentum, possibly a little less horse power where momentum is really, really critical. That's sort of my strong suit."

MARTIN: (ON DRIVING IN THE FINAL ANHEUSER-BUSCH-SPONSORED RACE.) "I've been racing in the Busch Series for a long time and I have a lot of memories from that series. It's kind of hard to imagine it being called anything else, but if you stay around long enough just about everything changes. I'm glad that we'll be running in the last 'Busch' race this weekend. I've been fortunate enough to collect quite a few Busch Series trophies over the years and it would mean a lot to be able to take home that last one."

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CHAD WALTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD/HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET: (ON HAVING MARK MARTIN AS HIS DRIVER THIS WEEKEND.) "It is an honor and a privilege to have Mark Martin in our car this weekend. That's an understatement. I think that anytime Mark's name comes up in a conversation, be it broadcasters, car owners, crew chiefs, or fellow competitors, they all echo the same sentiment. Mark gets the job done in a race car, end of story. And that, in racing terms, is showing respect. When a driver of his caliber gets in your race car, I think it elevates everyone on the team to work that much harder. Few people can have that kind of impact on a race team; Mark Martin does. I feel like it would be great for Mark, who is the all-time NASCAR Busch Series leader in victories, to win the last race with Anheuser-Busch as the title sponsor for the series. We would like nothing more than to help him do that."