MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS – Southern 500, May 7, 2005
RACE 10
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
(1.36 - MILE) - 367 LAPS
MARTIN, NO. 6 TEAM LOOKS TO REBOUND AT DARLINGTON
After exhibiting one of the strongest cars in the field, Mark Martin and the No. 6 Viagra Racing Team were forced to settle for a disappointing 33rd place finish after getting caught up in a massive 25-car accident at Talladega. The team will look to rebound this weekend at Darlington where Martin finished second last fall.
Chassis Number: (RK-231) - The team will run RK-231 this weekend at Darlington. RK-231 finished seventh in its only other start this season at Fontana. It was considered Martin's strongest car last season.
AT DARLINGTON
Starts: 38
Wins: 1
Top 5's: 16
Top 10's: 23
Poles: 2
Highest finish: 1st (9/5/93)
First time: 4/4/82 (7th)
Last time: 11/14/04 (2nd)
Worthy Note: Martin won the famed Southern 500 in 1993. In addition, he has finished inside the top 10 in sixty percent of his races there.
IN THE POINTS
Sunday's finish dropped Martin to 11th place and outside of the top 10 in the Nextel Cup point standings for the first time in 20 weeks. However, after nine races, Martin is only one point behind 10th and 98 points behind fifth.
MARTIN AT DARLINGTON
Martin has finished inside the top 10 in sixty percent of his 38 starts at the 'Track Too Tough to Tame.' All in all Martin has 16 top-fives, 23 top-10's, two poles and a win in the 1993 Southern 500. In addition, Martin won eight Busch races at Darlington, making him one of the most successful drivers in the tracks famed history.
FIRST AND THE LAST
Martin earned his first top-10 finish at Darlington in his first start, a seventh place finish in the the 1982 Rebel 500. He finished second there last fall in his last race at the 1.36-mile track. He'll be looking to close his Darlington career out in the same fashion with a strong run.
MARKMARTINSALUTE.COM LAUNCHES
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 DARLINGTON
"Darlington is a cool track that I've always liked. I ran second there to Dale Earnhardt twice in '89 and '90 and finally won in '93. Sometime I think that people seem to forget that I won a Southern 500. I've had a lot of success at Darlington and an enormous amount of Busch wins. The place brings back some great memories of some great battles. Actually the win in '93 was four in a row and that was a big deal.
"It's a jagged oval. It's not a smooth radius turn. The wall goes in and out and in an out. Your line is as smooth as anywhere else, but the tracks all over the place. You go from touching the apron to touching the wall and you've never even changed directions. It's really narrow and banked a lot. The cars go really fast and the track goes everywhere so it's always a challenge, but after Talladega you can't help but really look forward to that kind of racing again.
"We had a tough finish last week and Darlington could be the perfect place to get back on track. We really need a solid run and we are really looking forward to the next round of tracks we have coming up."
PAT TRYSON
"Darlington is a great race track and I can't wait to get out there. It's one of those tracks with a lot of history and it's a great place to race. We are looking forward to getting Talladega and restrictor plate racing behind us and getting out there at Darlington and hopefully making some noise."
Mark Martin Fast Facts – Darlington
Martin won the Southern 500 in 1993.
Martin has 16 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes in 38 races at Darlinton, including a second place run last fall.
Martin finished seventh in his first race at Darlinton on April 4, 1982.
Martin has finished in the top 10 in sixty percent of his races at Darlington.
Martin has eight Busch wins at Darlington.
LAST YEAR AT DARLINGTON...
NOVEMBER 14, 2004 –
Darlington Raceway
MOUNTAIN DEW SOUTHERN 500 Started 5th, Finished 2nd
Martin’s No. 6 Viagra Ford was the fastest car on the racetrack as the final laps winded down on the Southern 500. The veteran picked up five spots in the final 14 laps to run to an impressive second-place finish in Darlington Raceway’s final fall Nextel Cup event. After running the majority of the race in the top two, Martin found himself in sixth place when the field went green on lap 349 after the ninth and final caution of the afternoon. Martin spent the next three laps battling past persistent lapped traffic, before he began to mount his move back to the front with only 14 laps remaining. Martin broke back inside the top five, passing teammate Carl Edwards on lap 355. Four laps later he moved by points leader and Roush teammate Kurt Busch for fourth. Martin used the next three laps working his way around the No. 9 car and he found himself in third place with just five laps to go on lap 362. Martin would move back into second place – moving by the No. 42 car – with only one lap remaining, as he closed in on the leader and eventual winner Jimmie Johnson as the checkered flag fell. The race was Martin’s second top-two finish in the past three races.
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 554 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 611 Cup races, finishing inside the top 10 on 344 occasions, inside the top five 217 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.
