Mark Martin Fastest Impala SS Qualifier at Las Vegas

Las Vegas - February 29, 2008 - Mark Martin, No. 8 U.S. Army Impala SS, will start third in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The winner of the inaugural LVMS race (1998) laid down a lap of 29.786 seconds/181.293 m.p.h. as the fastest of the 13 Impala SS drivers who will take the green flag in the UAW-Dodge 400.

A total of four Team Chevy drivers landed top-10 starting spots for the 267-lap/400-mile race. Two-time winner Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont / Nicorette Impala SS will start fourth in the 43-car field.

Scott Riggs, No. 66 State Water Heaters Impala SS, qualified seventh and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Impala SS captured the eighth starting position.

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards make up the front row for round three of the '08 NSCS season.

Sunday's race has a scheduled start time of 1:30 p.m. PST on Sunday. Fox, PRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide live coverage of the event.

MARK MARTIN, NO. 8 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS will start third in Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, round 3 on the 2008 tour of 26 races.

ON HIS QUALIFYING: “We made all the right changes to the car. And it was a great lap. The car really stuck well. We were 27th fastest in practice. I told those guys that I was getting all of it then. It wasn’t like I had a whole lot left (laughs). I’ve got to give those guys credit. They have such big hearts and such a good attitude. It really is fun to go to work everyday when you’re working with those guys.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE SENSATION OF SPEED AND HOW FAST YOU’RE GOING HERE? “For me, the sensation of speed wasn’t very big compared to testing here in January. We were about one second slower, all of us, the times in the Nationwide cars and the Cup cars and everything. It didn’t seem so fast. Qualifying was a little bit better. The speeds were getting more like it. I think you really noticed it when something goes wrong (laughs).”

AS WELL AS YOU’VE RACED HERE OVER THE YEARS, WHAT IS YOUR CRAZIEST LAS VEGAS STORY? “Well, I don’t know. There are a lot of things that come to mind. We won that first race and those big ol’ tall showgirls were up there. I remember that vividly. I’m not saying they were pretty. But they were something else, for sure. They’re all in the pictures from that. I’ll tell you. We won that first race. And you know I never took a minute to think about or to enjoy any of that. All I could ever think about was how were we ever going to do this next week. But we stayed a long time because it was the inaugural race. There was a lot of press stuff afterwards. The place was cleared out quite a bit by the time I left by helicopter. I remember when the helicopter lifted up and I could see down, that’s when I realized what I had accomplished; that’s burned into my mind, that look down, and realizing because from behind the wheel, it’s the same thing as winning at the local short track. It is just a race, when you’re doing it. It might be a big race, but it’s still a race. I guess that’s the memory that I have. Just for one second I realized what we accomplished. And it was a big accomplishment. As you remember, it was a new team and three races into a season and I was sweating pretty big the change that I had made – even though it was still the No. 6 car.”

EVEN THOUGH IT’S EARLY BUT KYLE BUSCH NOW HAS SIX RACES, SIX TOP FIVE FINISHES, A POLE TODAY. ARE YOU SORT OF IN AWE AT THE STAR OF THE YEAR HE’S HAD BECAUSE OF WHAT IT TAKES TO DO THAT? “I’ve seen this coming for quite some time. Right now, he is the wheel man of the series. I can’t us the explanation that I might in the garage. But he’s doing it. He’s getting her done this year. He’s doing it.” When you watch Jeff Gordon drive, Jeff Gordon goes really fast. But you don’t see a whole lot there other than going fast. You watch Kyle Busch drive and not only is he going fast, but you see he’s taking your breath too (laugh). I’ve been there before. When you’re at the very, very top of your came. He’s got car control and he’s smart enough to be able to make it. He’s not wrecking them and bringing them back on a roll back. He’s putting it all together.”

ON DRIVING FOR DALE JUNIOR IN THE NO. 5 CHEVY IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES: “This is our kickoff to the season in the No. 5 car this season. Delphi is on the car and Dale Jr. has been really good in it the first two races with a third and a seventh place finish. The car is good enough to be a contender, I think. It’s always hard to tell but we tested really well here and I’ve been relatively pleased with the car of today. I’m looking forward to it and it’s such a privilege to work with the folks from Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Junior and his whole organization. I’ve been over to his shop several times and boy, I’d sure like to get that trophy for all of us tomorrow.”

TALK ABOUT WORKING WITH LANCE MCGREW THIS WEEKEND, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, AND HOW THAT SWITCH IS AFFECTING YOU THIS WEEKEND “For the past 14 months, it’s been put the blindfold on me and spin me around and jerk it off. So it’s just one more new guy. It actually is working well. I worked with Alan Gustafson last year with the No. 5 car until we got down to Homestead and then it was Chad (Knaus) we had a great run there. We were starting to know each other pretty well because we did the test out here. And now with Lance, another great guy with tremendous depth coming out of the Hendrick organization and all those guys that work on that car, worked on it last year when I did three races. So, I’m comfortable. I’m with new guys in my Cup car too and to be real honest with you, I can’t even tell it. I know all their names now (laughs) believe it or not, and I’m very comfortable working with them. I’ve been working with a lot of people and as long as they give me great race cars and they give me good communication and feedback, it seems to be working well.”

HAVE THEY FIGURED OUT THE TIRE FOR THIS TRACK AND THE COT? “We didn’t see any tire trouble in the test and some guys did long runs in the test. But the grip was so high during the test that I wasn’t really super comfortable. The grip level is a lot lower now, which makes me feel a little bit more confident in the tire being able to hold up. So, we’ll find out some more tomorrow, but we didn’t see any troubles in the test.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 8th:

"We haven't qualified well yet, but we did turn a good lap for the time of day, but I think the track is going to get quite a bit faster. It is going to get pretty quick, so those guys going later are going to get a little bit of an advantage. "I can't say enough about how great it is to work with Tony, Jr. (Eury). The trust factor and the talent that he is, it is amazing to me to be able to continue to work with him. He does a great job with his guys, getting his guys built up, rallying around him and believing in him. I am very fortunate in that respect. We have a good relationship. It is going great. The team is real excited about our future, so am I. We are just all sort of wishing that this season would get going. It just seems like it has taken forever to get started. We just had bad luck last week, we had a great car, just didn't get the run that we wanted. Hopefully this week we will have some better luck, we have a good car.

"The car was better than it was this morning, we had a good car in practice, I just wish we had a better qualifying draw, these guys are going to speed up later. We have a good car, we had a great test, we seem to still have the speed we had in the test and I am pretty happy about that. Just trying to get us a good starting spot so I am pretty happy about that.

"When you have a great team and a great car, you can overcome pretty much everything. I don't know if these cars are any more difficult, it was difficult before. We are going to have some great pit stops to get us out in front of some guys on pit road, which will help a lot. We have a good car. This track you can run two grooves, but we will be able to pass a little bit easier here."

SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 66 STATE WATER HEATERS IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 7th:

"We have changed the car a lot, just since we have been here today. With what we learned in California and tried to apply for here before we even unloaded here, and I think it helped. What little bit of practice we got today, we really got a chance to identify some trends and see which way the car is going and make some adjustments. Bootie (Barker, crew chief) wanted to be a little more conservative and be safe. I was probably the loose cannonball and sort of pushing for more. So we found a balance very good and able to come up with a good qualifying effort for our State Water Heaters Chevrolet.

"That was a pretty big change from what we had in practice. I probably extracted about 90% speed out of the car. If I had that same setup in practice, I would have known what we had, we could maybe made a small tweak or adjustment. I am just real proud of the guys; we picked up a second from what we practiced. We probably spent too much time in race trim; we know we need to qualify well. We just did two runs in qualifying trim, made some calls to make adjustments so I think it will be a good starting spot for us."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/NICORETTE IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 4th:

"That was just a lot of fun. We had a great car when we unloaded our DuPont/Nicorette Chevrolet, but we got a little off track with our travels and we just couldn't put up a good lap after that. I wasn't sure what we were going to have. But when I came through turn three to come to the green and said 'oh, that felt pretty good'. Drove down in to turn one and I flew through one and two. Unfortunately it got me a little bit faster in to three than I have been all day, so I missed three and four. It was faster than I had been all day, so we left a little bit on the table. I think it is a great lap for us. We have to be very proud for what we have accomplished here because it could have gone either way from the way practice went.

"I have been in struggling in one and two all day so when I went through there like that, I knew we had a great car. I probably got a little over zealous going in to turn three and carried a little too much speed and got off the white line but still carried good speed. The car drove great. I am just really proud of the guys on the DuPont/Nicorette Chevrolet, I am really proud to have Nicorette on the car this weekend."

MARK MARTIN, NO. 8 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 3rd:

"I love this place. This No. 8 team is just fun to work with and we are having a blast here. I just told the guys, we got a great laugh here, cause I told them that is I had the lap of my life, we will be about 25th and if I don't, it will be worse than that. So coming off the corner, that must be why I went so fast, I guess I didn't know what I was about to hit. We are just having fun. I appreciate driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and the Army."