MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS - RACE 21
Brickyard 400, August 7, 2005
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
(2.5 - MILE) - 160 LAPS
MARTIN, NO. 6 TEAM READY FOR SHOT AT INDY
Mark Martin moves into Indy boasting top-10 finishes in five of the last eight races, including a third-place run last week at Pocono. Martin will be looking for his first career win at the famed 2.5-mile race track. With only five races before the cut-off, Martin has been consistent, finishing inside the top-15 in seven of the last eight races.
Chassis Number: (RK-314) - The team will run RK-314 at Indianapolis. RK-314 is a brand new car that boasted impressive times at the Indy test two weeks ago.
AT INDY
Starts: 11
Wins: -
Top 5's: 4
Top 10's: 6
Poles: -
Highest finish: 2nd ('98)
First time: 8/6/94 (35th)
Last time: 8/8/04 (25th)
Worthy Note: Martin has finished top 10 in seven of 11 starts at Indy.
IN THE POINTS
Martin's third-place finish at Pocono kept him in seventh, but more importantly gave the No. 6 118 points of breathing room from 10th place. After 20 races Martin is currently 47 points out of fifth and 309 behind first.
MARTIN AT THE BRICKYARD
Martin has finished inside the top 10 in seven of his 11 starts at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He ran inside the top five for much of the race last season, before cutting a tire on the final lap and dropping back to a 25th-place finish. Martin's success at the Brickyard has been a story of hot and cold. He finished 35th in the inaugural race there in '98 after getting caught up in an accident, before reeling off five straight top-six runs from '95-'99. Martin has finished either top nine, or 22nd or worse in all 11 of his starts at Indy.
MARTIN TO GO RETRO AT INDY
Martin will run the third of four special retro-paint schemes that commemorate his 'Salute To You' tour this weekend at the Brickyard. Martin will run the Retro-90 scheme that he originally ran on the car in 1990 and 91. Martin finished second in the points with the scheme in 1990. He scored 30 top-top five and 40 top-10 finishes, eight poles and four wins in that two year span, with wins at Richmond on 2/25/90, Michigan on 8/19/90, North Wilkesboro on 9/30/90, and Atlanta on 11/17/91.
MARKMARTINSALUTE.COM
Mark Martin has dubbed 2005 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 BRICKYARD
MARK MARTIN
"Indianapolis is a race track with a lot of history and we'd love to go win one there this weekend. We really liked the car when we tested there a few weeks ago and we do expect to be pretty strong. We had a strong car there last year and would have gotten a good finish, but we ran over something on the last lap and had to settle for 25th. Hopefully we can go there and finish the job this week. I enjoy racing at Indy and we've had some really good runs there over the years. I think we finished second there once but we'd like nothing more than to put another retro car in victory lane there this weekend.
"We've had some pretty good runs lately and we've finally put some breathing room between us and 10th place, which is something that we wanted to do. We would prefer to be locked into that top 10 down the stretch, rather than having to fight our way in tooth and nail like we did last year. Hopefully that way we can put all our emphasis on those last 10 races and going after that championship."
PAT TRYSON
"We tested there two weeks ago and we really liked the car that we are taking, which is a new car. We had a really good race there a year ago and Mark was able to come up through the field on a couple of different occasions, so we know what he is capable of doing there. If we can get the car set up the way he needs it, then we should be a factor on Sunday."
MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS – THE BRICKYARD
Martin has finished inside the top 10 in seven of 11 starts at Indy and inside the top six in five of the 11.
Martin has finished top five in four of 11 starts at Indy.
Martin has won three IROC races at Indy ('98, '99 and 2000).
Martin has scored top-15 finishes in seven of the last eight races and top 10's in five of the last eight.
LAST YEAR AT INDY...
AUGUST 8, 2004 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
BRICKYARD 400 – Started 16th, Finished 25th
Martin and the Viagra Team suffered one of their biggest heartbreaks of the season, when the left front tire of Martin’s Ford blew out going into turn one of the last lap of the Brickyard 400. The blown tire put an end to what moments before had looked to be a sure top-five finish and relegated Martin, who had been one of the fastest cars in the race, to a 25th-place finish. Martin had battled his way through the field on two separate occasions, first when he hit the wall during the race’s early laps and again after a blown tire under caution 30 laps into the race. Martin had run in the field’s top six for the previous 68 laps of the race, before blowing the tire on the final lap of NASCAR’s newly instituted green-white-checkered rule.
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 565 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 621 Cup races, finishing inside the top 10 on 350 occasions, inside the top five 220 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.
