MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS * MBNA AMERICA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (1- MILE) 400LAPS
RACE 28 * 2 OF 10 IN CHASE
MARTIN LOOKS FOR DOVER SWEEP
Martin heads back to Dover where the Viagra Team will look to make it a clean sweep at the Monster Mile, a track Martin considers one of his favorites. Martin won there in June for his 34th Cup victory.
Chassis Number: (RK-231) - The team will run RK-231 this weekend at Dover. RK-231 is considered the fastest car in Mark's stable and has boasted top-five finishes at California, Michigan and Las Vegas, as well as strong runs at Chicago, Indy and Pocono.
DOVER
Starts: 36 (18)
Wins: 4 (3)
Top 5's: 16 (7)
Top 10's: 21 (9)
Poles: 4 (3)
Highest finish:1st (4 times)
First time: 9/19/82 (33rd)
Last time: 6/6/04 (1st)
Worthy Note: Martin's 16 top-five finishes at Dover are the most of any active driver. His four wins tie for the most.
THE RACE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP - EIGHT TO GO
Martin's 13th place run at Loudon was good enough to move him into seventh place in the Nextel Cup standings as the teams head into Dover - one of Martin's strongest tracks. Martin is currently 71 points outside of first place in the Chase.
BREAKING DOWN THE CHASE
Martin has won on seven of the 10 tracks that will decide the winner of the Nextel Cup. In fact Martin has multiple wins at five of the nine tracks remaining, including four wins at Dover where he won earlier this season. Martin has combined for 16 wins, 87 top-fives, 136 top-10's and 14 poles in 247 starts at the remaining nine tracks. Martin has finished in the top 10 in 55 percent of his starts at those tracks.
FAST FROM THE START TO FINISH
Martin was comfortable at Dover from the start, running to a fifth-place finish in the Mason-Dixon 500 in his first ever start at the 1.0-mile track on 5/16/82. Martin started the event seventh, the first of 22 top-10 starts for him at the track. In fact, Martin has four poles at Dover and started in the top 10 in 22 of his first 29 races there. Coincidentally Martin started seventh in his last race at Dover as well back in June, where he ran to his 34th Nextel Cup victory.
MARTIN AT DOVER
This will be Martin's 37th start at Dover, where he has won four times, with all but this year's June win coming in the fall. The four wins tie for the most at the track. Considered one his favorite tracks on the circuit, Martin has 21 top-10 and 16 top-five finishes at the Monster Mile. The 16 top fives are the most of any active driver.
QUOTING MARK AND PAT *ON DOVER
"This is one that we've been looking forward to. Dover is a great race track - and it may even be my favorite - so I always look forward to racing there. There are six tracks of the nine left that we really feel like we should run strong and Dover is the first of those. We won there in the spring and we've been really good on those types of tracks in the past few weeks. Hopefully we can build on that and put the car back in victory lane and gain some ground in the Race for the Championship.
"The team has done an outstanding job so far this season. We needed to get through Loudon last week and we were able to do that. Now it's time for us to go do some racing up at Dover, which should be one of our strong tracks. We know what our goal is and now it's just a matter of doing what it takes to get there."
PAT TRYSON
"I know the team is really excited about going back to Dover. The win there in June will always be special to me and this team, and we are excited about the chance to do it again there. Dover is Mark's kind of track and he'll be racing his favorite car this weekend, so it should be a good run for us. It'll just be our job to make sure that Mark has what he needs to go out and do what we all know he can do and that's win this race."
Mark Martin Fast Facts * DOVER
Martin has four wins at Dover, three of which came in the fall race. The other came this spring.
Martin holds the track race-record at Dover winning on 9/21/97 in 3:00:50 (132.717 mph avg).
Martin's 17 top-five finishes are the most of any active driver at Dover.
Martin has 21 top-10 finishes at Dover.
Martin finished fifth in his first Cup race at Dover on 5/16/82.
Martin has finished in the top 10 in almost 60 percent of his races at Dover.
LAST YEAR AT DOVER...
SEPTEMBER 21, 2003
Dover International Speedway
MBNA All-American 400 *
Started 16th, Finished 22nd
Martin had a fast car, but once again the No. 6 team would fall victim to bad luck. The bad news in Sunday's race was that Martin would finish 22nd and two laps down. The encouraging factor to be taken from the race was that Martin had one of - if not the * fastest cars on the track for much of the day. Martin was loose early, cutting a tire and dropping all the way to 35th place before having to come into the pits to change tires. By the time the No. 6 car returned to the track Martin was running in last place at 43rd. Martin and the team would have their work cut out for them at that point, but in the end they would answer the challenge. With NASCAR's new rules, Martin would be unable to gain back the lost laps, but the No. 6 would continue to post the fastest times on the track.
ONE OF NASCAR'S ALL-TIME ELITE, MARK MARTIN
Martin's 34 Nextel Cup wins put him fourth on the win list among active drivers and 17th on the all-time list.
Martin has currently started 536 straight Nextel Cup races, the third-longest current streak and the seventh-longest streak in Cup history.
Martin's 41 Nextel Cup poles are the fifth most in Cup history.
Martin ranks fifth all-time in the Nextel Cup point standings.
Martin has started 593 Cup races, finishing inside the top 10 on 337 occasions, inside the top five 212 times and visiting winner's circle 34 times.
Martin's 45 career wins in the Busch Series are a NASCAR record.
Martin's 11 victories in IROC competition ties Dale Earnhardt for the most ever. In addition Martin has won four championships in the IROC series, including a record three straight.
