MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS * POCONO
Sunday, June 13, 2004
POCONO RACEWAY (2.5 - MILE) * 200 LAPS
MARTIN LOOKS TO MAINTAIN WINNING WAYS AT POCONO
Fresh off an impressive win at Dover, Mark Martin and the Viagra Racing Team will look to repeat the feat
at a track where Martin has never won, despite having a great deal of success. Martin has finished
second at Pocono on five occasions,
including a strong run last spring.
Chassis Number: (RK-231) - The team will run RK-231 this week at Pocono. RK-231 finished fifth at Las
Vegas in its only other run. The team tested the car a Pocono last week.
* The last time Martin won back-to-back races was in May of 1997 (Sonoma and Talladega).
Worthy Note: Martin has never won at Pocono, despite having finished second on five occasions,
including the last two Pocono 500s.
IN THE POINTS
The victory moved Martin up two places to 13th in the Nextel Cup point standings, only 75 points outside
of 10th and just 11 points behind 11th place. Martin is 442 points out of first.
SWEETEST VICTORY
Martin's victory last weekend at Dover was the 34th of his distinguished Cup career and his first in the
past 73 races. The victory total is the fourth most among active drivers. The last time Martin scored
back-to-back wins was in May of 1997 when
he won at Sear's Point and then Talladega.
MARTIN AT POCONO
This will be Martin's 35th race at Pocono, where he has finsihed inside the top 10 on 23 occasions. Martin
boasts 16 top five finsihes at Pocono. He has finished inside the top five in the last four Pocono 500's and
inside the top five in seven of
the last eight spring races at Pocono. Eleven of Martin's 16 top fives at Pocono have come in the spring
race.
LOOKING FOR NUMBER ONE
Martin has never won a Pocono, but he has finished second there on five occasions. In fact, Martin has
finished second in the two previous Pocono 500's, while starting sixth in both races.
QUOTING MARK AND PAT...
ON POCONO
"I like racing at Pocono. It's always one of our strong tracks and we've been really good there over the
years. It's a differnt race track, because it has really long straight-aways and you have to really be able to
drive the car in the corners, so
it makes for my kind of racing. It's strange because I really like the place and we've never won there.
We've been second a bunch of times, but never first. Maybe we can change that this year and go out and
win us two in a row.
"Last week's win at Dover was awesome. It's something that this race team deserved. They've done such
a great job and they deserved to be rewarded like that. But that's last week and it won't really matter
much what happened in Dover, once we get to
Pocono. We have to keep fighting our way back up. We have to keep going all out and fight our way back
into that top 10.
PAT TRYSON
"Last week was gerat. Mark really got up on the wheel and the team just did an outstanding job. This
week the challenge is Pocono and it's a track that Mark loves. We'd love nothing more than to help give
him his first win there. We tested there
last week and were really happy with the results. We are taking the car we used in Vegas and it finished
fifth there, so we are really excited about this weekend.
Mark Martin Fast Facts * Pocono
Martin's 17 top-five finishes at Pocono is the most of any driver.
Martin's 24 top-10 finishes at Pocono leads all drivers.
Martin has finished second a Pocono on five occasions.
Martin has qualified sixth and finished second in each of the last two Pocono 500's.
The last time Martin scored back to back wins was in 1997 when he won at Sears Point and
Talladega.
JUNE 8, 2003 * Pocono Raceway
POCONO 500 * Started 6th, Finished 2nd
A 13.90 second pit stop by the crew helped move Mark Martin's No. 6 Ford Taurus into third place with
just over 40 laps remaining in Sunday's Pocono 500, helping Martin attain a second place finish - his sixth
top-five of 2003. Martin, who earned
his 17th top-five finish in 34 races at Pocono, boasted one of the fastest cars all day, leading on three
separate occasions. In the end, Martin would run to his fifth second-place finish at Pocono Raceway. The
ViagraŅ Racing team was fast all
weekend, running some of the quickest times in Friday's practice session, en route to a sixth-place
qualifying effort. Position in much of Sunday's race relied heavily on pit sequence. Excellent pit strategy,
combined with a fast car and fast pit
stops, helped Martin stay in the front of the pack for much of the day. In the end, Martin found himself in a
10-lap race to the finish with leader Tony Stewart. The shootout was short-lived however, as caution
came out on lap 192. The race returned
to green on lap 197, but the day's fifth and final caution on that same lap, put an end to Martin's strong bid
at his first ever win at Pocono.
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 523 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 579 Cup races, finishing inside the top 10 on 330 occasions, inside the top five
207 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.
