MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS – RACE: 26
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY .75 MILE 400 LAPS
Rock and Roll 400, September 10, 2005
SPOT IN THE CHASE CLINCHED, MARTIN EYES RICHMOND
Mark Martin moves into Richmond firmly locked in the top-10 and a with a spot secured in the second ever 10-race Chase to the Nextel Cup, as he goes for his career sixth Cup win at Richmond.
Chassis Number: (RK-221) - The team will run RK-221 at Richmond this weekend. This will be RK-221's sixth run this season. It finished seventh and third in the two Pocono races this season, fourth at Atlanta, 10th at Chicagoland and it won the All-Star race in May.
AT RICHMOND
Starts: 41 (20)
Wins: 1 (-)
Top 5's: 12 (6)
Top 10's: 22 (11)
Poles: 3 (1)
Highest finish: 1st (2/25/90)
First time: 9/13/81 (7th)(Pole)
Last time: 9/11/04 (5th)
5/14/05 (15th)
Worthy Note: Martin has clinched a spot in the Nextel Cup top 10 and cannot finish worse than eighth in the final 26-race standings.
IN THE POINTS - CLINCHED
Martin clinched a spot in the 10-race 'playoff' that will decide the Nextel Cup Champion last week in Fontana. Regardless of where Martin finishes at Richmond this weekend, he will make the chase and Martin, who is currently fifth, cannot finish any worse than eighth after the 26-race cutoff.
MARTIN AT RICHMOND
This will be Martin's 42nd start at Richmond, dating back to Sept. 13, 1981 when he earned his second career Cup pole in only his fourth career start. Martin rolled on to a seventh place finish, the first of his 22 career top-10 finishes at Richmond, where he's finished top 10 in five of his last seven.
TRIPLE THREAT
Martin and the team will run the 'reverse' white paint scheme this weekend in California, as well as the next week at Richmond.
FIRST AND THE LAST
Martin's first and last Sept. runs at Richmond would have to rank among two of the most memorable of his celebrated career. Martin earned his second career pole and first career Cup top-10 finish at his first Richmond start in 1981. He clinched a spot in the inaugural Race for the Nextel Cup top-10 there last year on Sept. 11, capping off a mad furry of top-five finishes and surviving a multi-car wreck and 360 degree spin down the backstretch to clinch a spot in the playoff run for the championship with a fifth-place finish at the .75-mile track.
ON THE POLE
Martin earned his second career Cup pole at his first start at Richmond in 1981 and his 41st pole there in Sept. of 2001.
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 RICHMOND
MARK MARTIN
"Richmond has been a good track for us over the years. We've been pretty good there and we've had a lot of big races there. It always makes for an exciting race and we are looking forward to going there and just seeing what we can do. We were kind of off there in the spring, so we'll have our work cut out for us getting back on track and hopefully running up front.
"Obviously clinching our place in the chase last week takes some of the pressure off and we hope to just go there and let it all hang out. We definitely have to shift our focus and look towards that championship. Our goal has been to make the chase and now we shift to winning the championship."
PAT TRYSON
"We are locked in the chase now, so we've accomplished our first goal. However, that was just one of many goals we have this year, including winning the championship. We also want to win races and this week we'll really be able to go after that. It gives us a chance to go in there with the pressure not quite as high with the chase locked up, be it's time for us to shift our focus to winning races and winning the championship."
MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS – RICHMOND
Martin has finished inside the top 10 in five of his last seven races at Richmond.
Martin earned his first career Cup top-10 finish at Richmond on Sept. 13, 1981 finishing seventh.
Martin sat on the pole at his first career Cup race at Richmond in 1981.
Martin has one win, 22 top-10 and 12 top-five finishes in 41 races at Richmond.
Martin earned his 41st career Cup pole at Richmond in Sept. of 2001.
Martin has five Busch wins at Richmond and will race in the Busch race this Friday night.
Martin has clinched his spot in the Nextel Cup Chase top-10.
LAST YEAR AT RICHMOND...
SEPTEMBER 11, 2004
Richmond International Raceway
CHEVY ROCK & ROLL 400 – Started 2nd, Finished 5th
“I think it might have been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said an exasperated Mark Martin as he climbed out of his Viagra Ford Taurus just moments after securing a place in the 10-race playoff that will decide this season’s 2004 Nextel Cup Champion. Eight cars went into the weekend’s race with a shot at the final three spots in the playoff. The race was the final piece in a puzzle that saw Martin and the team battle back after being in 15th place and trailing by as many as 123 points only five races ago. Much like the team’s year, Saturday night’s race was a battle as well. Martin overcame an array of obstacles, including a multi-car accident midway through the race that actually saw Martin’s Viagra Ford spin a complete 360 degrees around as several other cars crashed around him. In the end the car sustained minimal damage and like so many times before this season, Martin battled back. Pitting after the accident had put Martin and a couple of other cars on a different pitting sequence than the majority of the field that started to pit shortly after lap 270. As the leaders all came into pit, Martin moved up to as high as second place. The team caught another huge break on lap 292, when the day’s 10th caution was issued just moments before Martin was set to come into the pits. The caution put several of the cars that had already pitted either a lap down or on the tail end of the lead lap, and after pitting for four tires and fuel, Martin returned to the field in fifth place when green-flag racing resumed with just under 100 laps remaining. Martin was able to hold onto to fifth place and a place in the Nextel Cup Chase for the championship.
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 570 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 626 Cup races, finishing inside the top 10 on 352 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.
