UNDER THE LIGHTS OF RICHMOND
Martin and the Viagra Racing Team take to the short track of Richmond
International Raceway this Saturday night, looking to reverse their
recent fortunes. Martin has gotten caught up in accidents the last two
weeks at Bristol and Darlington, despite having strong cars and
qualifying inside the top 10.
THE CAR
The Viagra Racing Team will take RRC- 97 to Richmond. This will be the
fifth run for RRC-97 in 2003. The car ran to a fifth-place finish at the
spring race at Richmond. It also finished fifth at Texas. The car last
ran to an 18th place finish at Loudon, where it fell victim to pit
sequence. In 2002 the car posted four top-five finishes in five runs. It
also finished sixth a year ago at Richmond in the fall.
CLOSING IN ON 500
Richmond will mark Martin's 499th consecutive Winston Cup Race, the
third longest running streak of any driver. In honor of the milestone,
the team will run a special paint scheme at Loudon to commemorate
Martin's 500th consecutive start.
IN THE POINTS
Martin is currently in 15th place in the Winston Cup point standings,
204 points outside of 10th place.
MARTIN AT RICHMOND
This will be Martin's 37th run at Richmond, where the veteran driver
has one victory, 11 top-five finishes and 20 top 10's. Martin has posted
three straight top-six runs at Richmond, and he finished fifth there in
the spring. Martin has finished inside the top six in seven of his last
11 races at the ¾-mile track.
DID YOU KNOW?
Mark Martin earned his first ever Winston Cup top-10 finish in his
first Winston Cup race at Richmond in the Wrangler 400 on Sept. 13,
1981, with a seventh place finish. He started the race on the pole, his
second career pole in a cup car.
FAST FACTS
· Martin has posted three straight top-ten finishes at Richmond,
including a fifth-place run earlier this season.
· Martin has finished ninth or better in 15 of his past 22 races
at Richmond.
· Martin has 11 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes in 37 races at
Richmond.
· Martin has won once at Richmond (2/25/90) and he has three poles
there as well, the last coming in May of 2001.
· Martin finished seventh in his first career race at Richmond
(9/14/81) and fifth in his last race there (5/3/2003).
QUOTING MARK AND BEN
MARK MARTIN ON RICHMOND:
"Richmond is an exciting track and I always enjoy going there to race.
We had a good finish there in the spring and we ran well there both
times last year. As I recall we had all kinds of problems to work
through in the spring with the steering and a flat tire, but we were
still good enough to get back to the front. Hopefully we can do that
this weekend. I don't know what to say about the luck that we've been
having, but we have to believe that if we keep working, that it will get
better. The team has worked hard and we've had really good cars the past
few weeks. Hopefully this will be the week our finish shows that."
CREW CHIEF BEN LESLIE ON RICHMOND:
"We are taking the same car that we used there in the spring and we had
a good run then. It's also the same car that we ran there last year in
the spring. We've been pretty good there over the past year or so and we
are hoping that we can continue that. The guys are working really hard
and Mark has been doing a great job behind the wheel. Or qualifying runs
have showed that, although we haven't had a lot of chances to show it
during the race. Hopefully we'll get that chance this week."
LAST SEASON AT THE CHEVY MONTE CARLO 400
SEPTEMBER 7, 2002 - Richmond International Raceway-Chevy Monte Carlo
400 - Started 4th, Finished 6th
The Viagra Racing Team was strong the entire weekend, posting fast
times right off the truck and running to one of its best qualifying
positions of the season; a fourth place starting position. By the final
practice on Friday evening, the No. 6 Ford Taurus was running so strong
that Martin and the team opted to forgo the final half-hour of the
session. Martin avoided several early accidents, and ran in the top 10
for most of the race. The car began to level off late in the race and
Martin dropped back to 14th, by lap 290. Martin was able to gain most of
the positions back and moved to the sixth-place finish.
