MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS – THE ALL-STAR, May 21, 2005
NON POINTS RACE
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY
(1.5 - MILE)
MARTIN SET FOR 16TH STRAIGHT ALL-STAR RACE
After a 15th-place finish at Richmond, Mark Martin and the Viagra Racing Team will take a week off from point racing at the Nextel All-Star Challange at Lowe's Motor Speedway, where Martin will be making his 16th consecutive appearance in the All-Star event.
Chassis Number: (RK-221) - The team will run RK-221 this weekend at the All-Star. RK-221 finished fourth at Atlanta in its only other run this season. Last season, it finished second in the fall at Atlanta and Darlington.
THE ALL-STAR
Starts: 15
Wins: 1
Top 5's: 4
Top 10's: 6
Poles: -
Highest finish:1st (1998)
First time: 1990 (3rd)
Last time: 2004(10th)
Worthy Note: Martin will run a special throw-back Retro '93 paint scheme in this his 16th consecutive All-Star.
IN THE POINTS
Martin goes into the All-Star break in 10th place in the Nextel Cup point standings, 69 points out of fourth place and 218 behind first. He is currently only nine points behind ninth and only 20 out of eighth.
A TRUE ALL-STAR
This will be Martin's 16th straight and most likely final All-Star Challenge. Martin won the event formerly known as The Winston in 1998. Martin has posted six top-10 and four top-four finishes in "The All-Star."
GOING RETRO
Martin's car will feature a Retro-93 paint scheme this weekend at the All-Star. The scheme is the same as Martin ran during the 1993 season and is the second of the special throw-back schemes that Martin will run during his "Salute To You" Tour this season.
MARKMARTINSALUTE.COM
Mark Martin will make his final run at the Nextel Cup title in 2005. Martin has dubbed 2005 as his "Salute to You" tour, a year in which he hopes to take the time to thank each and everyone that he feels played a role in his success, including team members, fans, NASCAR and the media.
QUOTING MARK AND PAT …ON THE ALL-STAR
“We always enjoy the All-Star race. It's not a points race, so it takes a little bit of the pressure off, while at the same time you can really go out there and go for it. I love racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway so that's always something we look forward to. We won the All-Star back in 1998 and it was a great win. It would be nice to win that thing again. Hopefully we can have another strong run this weekend in the All-Star race and them come the next week and go after that 600 again.
"We had a bit of an off weekend at Richmond, where we normally run well, so I think we'll be ready to come back with a couple of strong runs over the next two weeks. Charlotte is probably my favorite race track and I always love racing there. This could be my last All-Star, so we'd love to go out with a trip to victory lane."
PAT TRYSON
"We tested at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago and were really happy with what we had there. We are looking forward to going back there this weekend for the All-Star race and then next week for the 600. The All-Star race is always a great event for the team. We get to go out and have a little fun and do some great racing. Hopefully we can cap it all off with a couple of trips to victory lane over the next couple of weeks."
Mark Martin Fast Facts – THE ALL-STAR
Martin will compete in his 16th straight All-Star event.
Martin won the event in 1998.
Martin has posted four top-five and five top 10’s at the All-Star event.
Martin finished third during his first All-Star, back in 1990.
Martin finished 10th last year in the All-Star..
LAST YEAR AT THE ALL-STAR...
ALL-STAR EVENT, MAY 22, 2004 Lowe’s Motor Speedway
NEXTEL ALL-STAR CHALLENGE – Started 4th, Finished 10th
Martin boasted one of the top cars all weekend at the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The team qualified fourth on Friday and Martin ran in the field’s top five for most of night, before an incident on lap 61 with the No. 8 and No. 5 cars ended Martin’s bid for the win. The No. 8 car appeared to bump Martin’s car from the rear, getting Martin’s car loose. Martin was able to save the car, but not until after he had made contact with the No. 5 car of Terry Labonte. The contact caused severe damage to the sheet metal and exhaust system of Martin’s car and the No. 6 Ford was never the same again. Martin was able to run on to a 10th place finish, but he would not be a contender for the remaining 29 laps of the race. Martin had finished the first segment of the race in third place.
ALL-TIME ELITE, 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 556 straight Nextel Cup races, the third-longest current streak and the sixth-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 613 Cup races, finishing inside the top 10 on 345 occasions, inside the top five 218 times and visiting winner’s circle 34 times.
Martin’s 47 career wins in the Busch Series are a NASCAR record.
Martin’s 12 victories in IROC competition are the most ever. Martin has won four championships in the IROC series, including a record three straight.
