NASCAR's Mark Martin
Articles Relating To His Coca-Cola 600 Win In May 2002Martin, Viagra® Racing Team Take Checkered Flag
Mark Martin and the #6 Viagra® Ford Taurus
Lowe's Motor Speedway /May 26, 2002
Roush RacingConcord, N.C. – Mark Martin held off a late charge from teammate Matt Kenseth to take the checkered flag in Sunday’s Coca-Cola Racing Family 600. Martin took the lead for good with 40 laps to go in the 600-mile race, and held off the late charge to take his 33rd career Winston Cup victory.
Martin, who ran in the top five for the last 235 laps of the race, entered the pits for the final time of the day on lap 360; running in second place. The Viagra® Racing team used excellent work in the pits – adding four fresh tires and making a rear-end adjustment – to re-enter the race in first place with 40 laps remaining. The rest would be up to Martin, who ran to an 11 car lead before holding off Kenseth’s final charge.
“Those last 40 laps were really tense. I wanted to win really badly,” said Martin after the race. “I wanted to win for my team probably as much as for myself. They wanted this really bad and they worked really hard for this victory and my hat goes off to those guys.”
Martin was able to maneuver between lapped traffic in the final laps of the race to help pull away from the field and Kenseth.
“We just didn’t have time to waste on those lapped cars,” added Martin. “To be able to win this race is a great feeling. There are so many guys on this team that haven’t tasted victory at this level and it’s just wonderful to be a part of this win and a part of the Viagra® racing team.”
Martin started the race 25th, but broke into the top 20 by lap two. By the 21st lap of the race Martin had maneuvered the Viagra® Ford Taurus into 15th position. Two laps later, Martin was running in 13th place when the day’s second caution came out. Martin entered the pits to take on four tires and make air pressure and rear-end adjustments. Not everyone pitted and Martin returned to the field running in 17th position when the field went green on lap 28.
Working his way up the field, Martin broke back into the field’s top 15 on lap 43, before moving to 14th on lap 50. Over the next nine laps, Martin gained four more positions, breaking into the field’s top 10 for the first time of the day on lap 59; The Viagra® car would not run outside the top-10 for the remainder of the race.
Martin was running in seventh place when caution broke again on lap 69. Martin came into the pits for the second time on the day, taking four fresh tires. Excellent pit work by the Viagra® Racing team (14.33 seconds) sent Martin back out onto the track in fifth place when the field went green on lap 74.
Martin worked his way up to fourth place by lap 87 and remained there until caution came on lap 101, and the team came into pit to take four tires and make further adjustments to the rear of the car. Another excellent stop of 14.80 seconds sent Martin back out in third place when the field went green on lap 108. Martin passed Kenseth on lap 113 for second place, before overpowering the 28 car one lap later to take the lead. The car began to push and Martin dropped back to fourth place on lap 126.
When caution broke on lap 131, Martin came in for four tires and to put a spring rubber in the right rear. Again everyone did not come into pit and Martin returned to the track in ninth place. He dropped back to 10th pace on lap 142, and was running there when caution came out on lap 163.
Martin again entered pit road, making a track bar adjustment and taking four fresh tires. Another outstanding stop of 14.70 seconds sent Martin back out in fifth place when the field returned to green flag racing on lap 167. Martin would not run outside the top five again.
At the halfway mark on lap 200, Martin had run to third place, before taking over second on lap 204. Martin took over the top spot when green flag pitting began and was running at the top spot when the No. 6 team came in for a stop on lap 228, making more track bar adjustments and taking four tires. The No. 6 Ford Taurus returned to the field in second place.
Martin dropped back to third on lap 240, where he ran for the next 34 laps. With the car ‘pushing really badly’, Martin dropped back to fourth place on lap 288. He would run in fourth place, behind teammates Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch for the next several laps coming in for a green flag pit stop on lap 309.
After the stop Martin returned to the field in third place and moved up to second on lap 355, where he was running when caution broke on lap 360. With the car running loose, the Viagra® Racing team pulled off a clutch pit stop, taking four tires and a wedge adjustment in only 14 seconds and sending Martin back out in the top spot; setting up Martin’s 40 lap dash to the finish line.
“The team just did an outstanding job,” said Martin. “We went all out for this win. This was a No Bull Five race and we had a million dollars on the line. I told them that I would split that up with the guys and they just worked really hard for this. The team just wanted this so bad."
By virtue of Martin’s victory in the No Bull event, fan Janet Hogan of Sterling, Va. who was paired with Martin in last week’s drawing also went home with a million-dollar prize on the night.
“This is just a huge win for us,” added Martin. “I love this race track. It’s probably the best race track I’ve ever driven on and it just feels so good to leave here with the victory."
“The last few laps were just a nail biting experience,” added crew chief Ben Leslie, who collected his first win as a Winston Cup crew chief. “I know how good Matt Kenseth is, but I know how good Mark Martin is too. It was gut wrenching to watch, but in the end it’s all worth it.”
The win marks the first for Martin since the 2000 season. It also is the fourth straight time that a Roush driver has won the Coca-Cola 600 (Jeff Burton 1999, 2001 and Matt Kenseth 2000). It is Martin’s third straight top-five finish and his fifth top-10 finish in his last six races.
Martin has now finished in the top-five on five occasions this season and in the top ten in eight of 12 races this season. The win is Martin’s 33rd career Winston Cup victory, his 301st top-10 finish and his 193rd top five in 506 starts.
The win moves Martin into third place in the Winston Cup point standings, just 143 points out of first place and 56 points behind second-place Matt Kenseth.
Martin and the No. 6 Viagra® racing team will hope to carry the momentum to the track next week, when NASCAR takes to the track at Dover.
Martin Shared The Spotlight After Win
By: Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.comHe is one of the toughest interviews around, often grizzled and blunt in his demeanor and replies.
He refuses to deal in hypotheticals. If an unsuspecting reporter decides to throw that kind of softball question at him, Mark Martin fires right back, normally answering with "I don't know," or "What does that matter?"
He can be downright frustrating to a scribe looking for an astute or humorous quote. In short, Martin tells it like it is: plain, simple and to the point. He doesn't have time or the patience to deal with, as he is wont to say, "something that's out of my control."
Yet in Sunday night's celebration in Victory Lane after winning the Coca-Cola 600, we saw an uncharacteristic side of Martin that will stay with many observers for a long time. He finally was able to do something that was in his control -- and made a lot of people happy in the process.
I know what I saw after Sunday's race will stay with me, and will likely forever favorably color my impression of Martin and his sometimes acerbic personality. For it was Sunday night that we saw the usually hidden soft and generous side of Martin, the side most people don't know about and even fewer write about.
Just seconds after climbing out of his No. 6 Ford, Martin jubilantly lifted his arms in the air in triumph for the first time in two years, enjoyed a few well-deserved pats on the back from team members and then uttered two words that showed a remarkable amount of class for a guy who can be difficult to work with at times.
"Where's Janet?" Martin asked, scanning the crowd, seeking Janet Hogan, an average, every day NASCAR fan who Martin had just made a millionaire by winning the race and earning the Winston No Bull 5 million-dollar prize that goes with it.
Here was the diminutive Martin, coming off his biggest race in a long time, and his first thought was to share the spotlight with the fan he just made rich, rather than hogging the glory he so richly deserved after last season's miserable run, perhaps the worst year of Martin's career.
Mark Martin was gleeful after winning a Winston Cup race for the first time in two years.
No one would have blamed Martin if he had wanted the spotlight all to himself. But instead, after driving a grueling 400 laps around the Lowe's Motor Speedway in suburban Charlotte, Martin wanted to share it with a middle-aged woman from Sterling, Va., who coincidentally was attending her first Winston Cup race.
To be precise, Martin won two million bucks from Winston -- a cool million for himself and another just-as-cool million for Hogan, a sergeant with the U.S. Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. That was just icing on the cake to the $280,033 Martin earned for winning the 600-mile race, the longest, most grueling event on the 36-race schedule.
"Pretty cool, isn't it," Martin said in his characteristic mild-mannered persona.
But wait, there's more.
Rather than keeping his own seven-figure Winston check for himself, Martin graciously decided to give the lion's share to his loyal crew members, who have stuck with him through the last two tough years.
"I'll just keep a little bit of that No Bull million, but the rest of it, most of it, I promised to my guys," Martin said. "They deserved it for all the hard work they put in and the rough times they've had to go through."
And who says loyalty, honesty and integrity doesn't pay?
Ironically, as I watched the events in Victory Lane unfold, I thought back to last August when I last interviewed Martin. I was sitting on the 10th-floor of a hotel, enjoying a working vacation in Hilton Head, S.C., when I answered the phone and heard, "This is Mark Martin. I'm supposed to do an interview with you."
I was in a great mood. The vacation, the beach and the sun were near-perfect. But Martin wasn't in as great of a mood, due mainly to the ongoing frustration he had been experiencing week after week along with his three Roush Racing teammates. Needless to say, virtually nothing was going right for Martin in 2001, and it was almost a carbon copy with his teammates.
I immediately started tossing Martin the kinds of questions he hates -- hypotheticals and what ifs. I was looking for the cute quote, but he wasn't giving an inch. At two points in the 20-minute conversation, I even stopped to tell Martin I wasn't trying to be combative, just merely looking for what I thought were simple answers to my questions.
To his credit, while his tone grew a bit perturbed at times, Martin remained professional. He even turned the tables and asked me a few what if questions. He wanted to see how I liked that line of questioning. He wanted me to know the true meaning of frustration, when you can't give legitimate answers to questions that ask things out of your control. He wanted me to see what it was like to be him, knowing everyone wanted to know what was wrong with his team, why it wasn't winning and why it just wasn't very good.
And why he didn't have the answers.
Sunday night, I finally understood what Martin went through last season and why he acted the way he did during that interview. And despite the much better start he's had in 2002, I realized the burden he has been carrying with him for two years. I understood what it was like to be him, to be faced with questions you can't answer.
Martin wasn't being difficult in August. He was merely dealing in reality -- both the overwhelming harshness, as well as the precious few times he saw the good side in the last 24 months.
It may sound trite, but Martin showed why, even with all the frustration he experienced last year, he's still such a class act -- albeit sometimes a tad difficult -- after Sunday's race. At a time when he should have been thinking about himself, he thought about everyone else who was on hand to help him share in such a sweet win: his wife, children, crew members and a very happy Janet Hogan.
Despite the $2 million plus on the table for the taking, that Martin was able to make so many people happy and to share in their joy -- that, perhaps, was the most rewarding part of Sunday's victory. It was the one thing he could control, and he did it with inspiring aplomb.
Martin Ends Winless Drought
By: Team Ford Racing Correspondent
fordracing.comConcord, N.C. — Backing up Ryan Newman’s impressive run last week in The Winston, Mark Martin drove his Taurus to Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s Victory Lane, a move that helped Ford sweep the Charlotte Speedweeks events. The win by Martin breaks a drought dating back to April of 2000, when he last visited victory lane at Martinsville, Va.
The win by Martin, besides breaking the undesirable streak, earned the No Bull 5 bonus from series sponsor R.J. Reynolds, which posted $1,000,000 for both Martin and his “They Win You Win” partner Janet Hogan of Sterling, Va.
Keeping the Blue Oval the talk of the town Ford swept the top-four spots of NASCAR’s longest race of the year when Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven and Ricky Rudd followed Martin across the line.
The run for Rudd was historic when he became the undisputed “Ironman” of NASCAR taking the green flag on his 656th consecutive career start.
The race looked as though it was going to be another nail in the coffin for the graying Winston Cup drivers when rookie sensation Jimmie Johnson dominated the event. However, Johnson, who led 263 laps of the 400-lap event, can up short when a blown late-race pit stop took him from contention.
The backstop for the youth drive came in Ford driver Kurt Busch, who fought back to the lead after spinning out on lap 12 of the event. Busch looked like he’d be a force to be considered after Johnson had his problems, but a snafu on pit road led to a “drive-through” penalty. Busch, hustling the car too much, apparently broke the motor in his Roush Racing Taurus and ended up finishing 31st in the 600-mile event.
Martin was there to seize the opportunity and once on the point Martin gave a clinic of how to drive a NASCAR Winston Cup race car as he sliced his way through lapped traffic, working to keep teammate Kenseth behind him.
The show that Martin put forward at the close was simply masterful as he did things with his car that might have made you believe that one of those oft mentioned “young guns” was behind the wheel. Martin slid his 3,400 pound car around the track with crisp moves that had the crowd going berserk as the laps wound down.
As Martin sliced through the lap traffic the checkered flag came into view and the two-year old winless monkey was thrown off his back like just so much junk.
"I’m giving most all [my winnings] away to these guys,” said Martin as he gestured towards his race winning crew. “I might keep just a little bit. I can’t win in a slow car. They put me in a race car that could win; they gave me the lead with four new tires."
Martin’s run for the checkers was complicated by lapped traffic, but it was either a wreck or win situation for the 43-year-old driver.
"He [Kenseth] wasn’t going to beat me in traffic, I would have wrecked that thing than just give it up," Martin said after the win. "He could have beat me fair and square, but he was going to have to race hard. So I just stayed after it."
Kenseth said that he knew what he was dealing with when as he raced Martin for the win. "I knew he wasn’t going to let me win, he was in the gas, he always is,” Kenseth said. “I had the better car, but I never could get up on him and he told me in victory lane I was going to have to spin him out to win.”
Martin’s No Bull 5 partner, Hogan, is a 46-year-old sergeant on the U.S. Capitol Police force and was on hand for Martin’s victory as a guest of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. It marked the first NASCAR Winston Cup Series event Hogan has ever attended.
NASCAR officials are claiming that Martin’s car was an eighth-inch low in post race inspections. Similar findings have brought crew chiefs’ $30,000 fines for the same violation.
The win in the Coke 600 is Roush Racing’s fourth consecutive victory in this event after teammate Jeff Burton won in 1999 and 2001 and Matt Kenseth took victory in 2000.
Martin Wins 600, Ford Cars Take Top-4
fordracing.comConcord, N.C. — Mark Martin brought his 73 race winless streak to an end at tonight’s Coca Cola Racing Family 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He and Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth, whose car is partially owned by Martin, battled for first through a maze of cars in the final laps.
Roush Racing has won the last four 600 races at Lowe’s. Kenseth earned his first Winston Cup victory at the 2000 Coca Cola 600.
The Taurus success continued with Ricky Craven placing third and NASCAR’s new Iron Man Ricky Rudd finishing in fourth place. Rusty Wallace topped off the top 10 with his finish.
MARK MARTIN –6– VIAGRA TAURUS – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW
"I never drove that hard in my life to win a race. I thought he was gonna beat me. It’s just great. This Viagra team, I’m gonna share a huge portion of my winnings with them because I can’t win this race with a slow car. The money don’t matter. We’re taking this trophy home to Florida and that’s what I care about. I want to thank these fans for coming out here tonight and let’s keep that Winston here at Charlotte."
MARTIN PRESS CONFERENCE
WHAT ABOUT THE LAST COUPLE LAPS? "The last couple of laps really boiled down to one thing. If I gave Matt the opportunity to get beside me, we were gonna lose. That wasn’t gonna happen that way. Now, if he was fast enough to pass me, then we were gonna run second and we were gonna hold our heads high. But, based on lapped cars, it wasn’t going down that way. I couldn’t waste any time. I had to keep the momentum up and I had to put the car somewhere and I had to plan ahead of time because the car doesn’t change directions as fast as people think watching – especially when the tires get hot and slick like that. So, direction changes aren’t made on the spur of the moment, you have to plan them. It put a lot of pressure on me. That last 40 laps, we wanted to win bad. It’s been a long time since we’ve won. I probably wanted to win for my team worse than I even wanted to win for myself or for Matt and my family. It was really, really important to win this race. There are so many guys on this team that either hadn’t been to victory lane or hadn’t been in the capacity that they’re working in and they wanted it really bad. When we got invited into the No Bull Five after the Vegas run for Charlotte, everybody knew that I run good at Charlotte. Everybody knew that I loved this place and they wanted to do it all and they did it. This is their win, it’s not mine and I told them if they could win this race for me, they would share in my portion of the million dollars that we win and that seemed to be an extra-special motivator for them. They built a new car. They practiced pit stops. They came up with the idea to come and test here, which I hadn’t planned to do – just a lot of things. I like to see people motivated to the max. We could have held our heads up if Matt would have beat us, but it wasn’t gonna go down easy. Matt is a friend of mine, but he was gonna have to race me like an enemy there at the end. He was fast, but my team had put me out front on four new tires and we were fast too and we were able to pull it off."
WHAT MADE YOU MORE DETERMINED THIS TIME IN THE NO BULL FIVE? "These guys. I mean, I can’t do it by myself. I can’t win anything in a slow car. They seemed to be especially motivated to go after this thing and I like that. Hey, as long as I get to take this trophy him, I don’t care and that seemed to be special motivation. I wanted it for them and, obviously, it’s done my career good too, but we made a fan a millionaire tonight for about the 12th time. Thank you Winston. I salute Winston for that. I think at the same time we should throw in and say that I feel we should keep The Winston at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. There is no better race track to have that race at than this place and there are no better race fans than what we get at this speedway. This is what it’s all about. You need to get your share once in a while. These guys have worked really hard and they deserve this win. I would have hurt for them more than I would have hurt for me if Matt would have beat us."
BEN LESLIE, CREW CHIEF –6– VIAGRA TAURUS
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND THE LAST FEW LAPS? "The last few laps was a pretty nailbiting situation. I know how good Matt is. He’s real motivated. He gets up on the wheel really hard. He won the Coca-Cola 600 here in his rookie year and I was fortunate enough to be a part of that deal. It was a gut-wrenching situation because, like I say, Matt is nobody to be fooled with."
HAS HE SAID HOW HE’LL SPLIT THE MONEY? "No. I haven’t even asked. I don’t care about it."
MARTIN CONTINUED
TALK ABOUT YOUR POST-RACE CELEBRATION. "I’m more tired than I’ve ever been. I will tell you that I’ve never won a race and drove that hard. There have been a few times I drove that hard, but I got beat. Those last 40 laps and even about 40 before that we were coming big time. I think even without that caution we could have won the race. We were reeling the 48 in just a ton per lap. We had a great set of tires on the car, but look, let’s all remember I said in 2000 that this may be the last one and I’ll say it again. This may be the last time I ever stand down there. I don’t know. I feel pretty good about it now. I think we’ve got a good shot at next Sunday at Dover to be honest with you, but, still, yeah, this is special. I don’t know, there may not be 32 or 33 of these things waiting for me in my career. You’ve got to be honest when you look at it and it is special. It is special to see these guys go for the first time and they’ve really dedicated themselves to me."
WHAT ABOUT WHEN THE 4 CAR SPUN? "I didn’t let off. It was real intense, man, I tell you. Matt had a strong car. We stretched it out and kept it out on him for a long time, but with about 15 to go he closed in pretty good there. How do you drive faster than you can go and not make a mistake. This is a very tough situation. I wasn’t fast enough and if I went any faster I was gonna make a mistake, so there was a lot of stress and strain but we kept the pedal down and kept hunting and searching for things. Certainly lapped traffic, I couldn’t let that deter my chances, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to be lined up with something and not delay."
SO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE CAUGHT THE 48? "Well, I can’t see. I only see what I see out my windshield. When Ben was calling the lap times to me and we were never worse than two-tenths a lap faster. They called leader at the line one time and before I got to turn three they called leader at the line. I was sitting there looking at him and the way I gauge it, with 40 to go, it was gonna be a no-brainer to catch him based on the speed our car was running and the speed his was running. I can’t see much, but that’s what I could see. Now, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t riding around on a Sunday drive and maybe set up when he saw me coming, but I think his car was backing up and I don’t think he had a very good run going there. It was my opinion that we were gonna catch him. Ben can answer that. He should know. I didn’t ask him if we were gonna catch him, I was pretty sure we were gonna catch him based on the first lap time they told me where the leader was and then the second time, and we still had 40 to go. I was convinced we would get him."
LESLIE CONTINUED
"He was like a tenth-and-a-half to two-tenths of a lap faster when I started calling lap times and we finally cleared and got into third place. We were about six-and-a-half second back and then before the caution came out we were about 2.7, so he was closing a great deal and with 40 laps to go it was a no-brainer."
MARTIN CONTINUED
"Forty laps is a long time. I mean, I could see him now and he had been way ahead, so, I don’t know what would have happened, but, in our little world, that’s what we saw."
COULD YOU HAVE WON THIS RACE IF YOU RAN 500 MILES AT INDY EARLIER? "I don’t know how those guys do it and I also had a lot of people ask me how I ran a Busch race – 300 on Saturday and 600 on Sunday. I just kind of shrugged it off and said it’s no big deal. I believe that you spend what you have. If you’ve got a dollar, you spend it. If you only spend 75 cents of that dollar, you weren’t trying hard enough. If I’m not tired after a race, I haven’t raced hard enough in my opinion and I sure used everything I had tonight."
WAS IT IMPORTANT TO SEE YOU SON, MATT, SEE YOU WIN AT THIS STAGE OF HIS LIFE? "He wasn’t even there at Martinsville. He and Arlene weren’t able to be there. He was there for many, many, many wins – many wins – Winston Cup and Busch wins and it was just part of the routine and we haven’t seen as much of that. His racing career is going real well. He’s won a lot of races and I want him to be able to be proud and he should be able to be proud of what happened tonight, so, yeah, it means a lot. Between what it means to my family and what it means to Ben Leslie and his team, my team, these guys, I enjoy going to the race track with and to quote Matt Kenseth, I’m in a better mood, but I have been in a better mood just for getting to work with these guys."
WHAT DID JACK ROUSH HAVE TO SAY ON THE PHONE? "I really couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I know Jack Roush real well. I’ve been with him since the middle of ’87, so I know how happy he is. I know that brought tears to his eyes, that he couldn’t be hear. We’re all so blessed. I think he was a little bit crushed. He takes breaking engines personally and he was crushed last week in The Winston because we were running so well. I think he’s real pleased with the result. He and I have a special relationship. He loves all the people that work for him and all his drivers, but he and I have a lot of history and I’m sure that he’s very happy about it."
WHAT WERE YOU FEELING AT THE END THAT YOU DID DONUTS? "I wasn’t gonna do any donuts on the asphalt because those kids know how to do it and I don’t. We didn’t do that back when I won 32 of these things, so I wasn’t gonna make a fool of myself, but I felt like it might make good pictures – tearing up Humpy’s painted grass. It might make for some good exposure for the folks that are making us millionaires tonight. I again salute Winston for making a fan a millionaire and doing all these special things. I’m not a donut kind of guy, but I can’t be guaranteed that I’ll ever win another race and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I just don’t know, but I also think we can win Sunday at Dover. But, you know, I wanted to celebrate this one. I’ve thought about it for a while and if we get another one next week, I might be a little more subdued, but this has been a long time coming and it was real special for these guys and it was real special for me. I’d like to touch on one other thing to about Ben. I’ve had the good fortune of working around Ben for probably 10 years. It’s been a long, long time he’s worked at Roush Racing. He’s worked on Ted Musgrave’s car and Matt Kenseth’s and he’s been around. He’s a tremendous racer. There was no chance of making this team switch fail. The only thing I was worried about was I was afraid that Kurt might be mad at me because I got what I thought was gonna be best for me in these guys. Kurt got what turned out to be best for him too and what a fantastic season they’re having. It’s worked well and I’m real lucky. I’ve known Ben for a long, long time and we didn’t take any chances when we made that switch."
WHAT DOES THIS DO EMOTIONALLY FOR YOUR TEAM? "For the 6 car it’s real special because Matt’s won twice and Kurt’s won once. We’ve been very consistent, but we really haven’t been in a position to go win one of these things – I don’t think. Maybe close at Richmond, but I can’t think of another race where I really thought we were in shape to do that. So it’s good for all of us. It gives us that trophy and a little bit of confidence. Our guys are charged up because that gives a lot of them their first win and a lot of times the next ones come easier than that first one and I’m hoping that.
"I think we have a great race team and these guys proved to me the last two weeks that we can go out and race like I used to race in the mid-nineties and drive really spectacular cars and beat people on pit road and beat people on the race track. It’s good for all of us. We were doing pretty good before tonight, but we needed that shot in the arm. This is why you work so hard. These guys all make big sacrifices in their lives to do this, big, big, and you need to taste it once in a while. It’s the reward for all the blood sweat and tears."
Martin's Memorial Day Million
Lee Montgomery, Staff Writer
racingone.comCONCORD, N.C. – The night was too perfect for Jimmie Johnson. The night was perfect for Mark Martin.
Well, almost.
Johnson’s dominating night all but ended with a bad pit stop with 40 laps to go. Martin’s fortunate night got going with an excellent pit stop that got him the lead.
Once there, Martin had to fend off Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth as the two battled for the Coca-Cola 600 victory Sunday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
But Martin had plenty of incentive. He hadn’t won since April 2000, a span of 73 races. And he was going for Winston’s No Bull 5 $1 million bonus.
Were there team orders? Would it be a Ferrari repeat? Would Kenseth dare take a million bucks out of Roush Racing's pocket?
The last five laps told the story, especially the 397th lap. With Kenseth a few car lengths back, Martin sliced through lapped traffic, using the middle line to knife between Kurt Busch and Joe Nemechek – a move that looked more like a young gun than a grizzled veteran.
But Martin proved he has plenty of time left as a race-car driver, winning the Coca-Cola 600 for the first time. He celebrated like a kid, sliding through the tri-oval grass and doing a Polish victory lap to mark his 33rd career victory.
“I’ve never won a race and drove that hard,” Martin said. “There’s been a few times I’ve drove that hard before but didn’t win. … But look, let’s all remember. This may be the last one. This may be the last time I’ve ever stood (in victory lane).
“This is special. There may not be 32 or 33 more of those things waiting for me in my career. You’ve got to be honest when you look at it. It’s special to see these guys go for the first time. They’ve really dedicated themselves to me.”
Martin’s glorious night was tainted in post-race inspection, when Martin’s car failed to meet minimum height requirements. NASCAR spokesman Danielle Frye said it was “approximately an eighth of an inch too low” and any fines or penalties would be announced Tuesday since Monday is Memorial Day.
Kenseth’s team was fined $30,000 after his victory at Rockingham, N.C. for a similar infraction.
Kenseth made it a Roush 1-2 by finishing second Sunday night, a half-second behind. Ricky Craven started third and finished third, with Ricky Rudd breaking Terry Labonte’s consecutive race streak – his 656th straight race – by finishing fourth. Jeff Gordon edged Tony Stewart at the finish line to take fifth, with Stewart sixth.
Johnson came come seventh, with Michael Waltrip eighth, Bill Elliott ninth and Rusty Wallace 10th.
Johnson had led 263 laps, but with 41 laps to go, Johnson accidentally clipped the rear of Hut Stricklin’s in Turn 4. Stricklin’s car kicked sideways, right in front of Johnson, who slammed on the brakes and somehow avoid hitting Stricklin.
Johnson needed a caution, for he didn’t have enough gas to make it the rest of the way, but Johnson didn’t need THIS kind of pit stop. He slipped past the end of his pit box and had to back up. By the time Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team was done, he was in ninth place.
With the dreaded aerodynamic push that hampers cars these days, Johnson was done.
“I can’t blame anyone else but myself,” Johnson said. “I was trying to get everything I could on that pit stop and slid about 2 or 3 inches too far through my pit stall, and the nose was across the line. We had to back up before we could start our pit stop. The couple of seconds we lost there cost us nine positions on the race track.
“I was stuck back in ninth with the lapped cars on the inside, and you’re pretty much doomed. … I’m very disappointed.”
As Johnson foundered back in the pack, the focus turned to Martin and Kenseth, one of the old guard against one of the young guns.
But it was the old guy who wanted it more.
“It wasn’t going to go down easy,” Martin said. “Matt is a friend of mine, but he was going to have to race me like an enemy there at the end.”
Martin was driving has hard as he’s driven in a long time, trying to hold the lead. Kenseth appeared to have a faster car, but passing Martin was going to be tough.
“It really boiled down to one thing,” Martin said. “If I gave Matt the opportunity to get beside me, we were going to lose. That wasn’t going to happen. If he was fast enough to pass me, then we were going to run second and we were going to hold our heads high. But based on lapped traffic, it wasn‘t going down that way. I couldn’t waste any time. I had to keep the momentum up, and I had to put the car somewhere.
“I had to make plans ahead of time because the car doesn’t change directions as fast as people think. It put a lot of pressure on me. The last 40 laps, we wanted to win bad. It’s been a long time since we’ve won. I probably wanted to win for my team worse than I even wanted to win for myself or my family. It was really, really important to win this race.”
Kenseth wanted to win, too, and believed he could pass Martin.
“I actually really did think I had enough for him,” Kenseth said. “I really, really believe that we were going to catch him and pass him. But when I got to him, I just couldn’t do nothing.”
Kenseth said his car wouldn’t run in the outside groove, meaning he had to pass Martin on the low side. But martin protected the bottom of the track.
“When we were one-on-one, my car was pretty good, and I think I could have made a move on him,” Kenseth said. “We caught that lapped traffic so much faster than I anticipated. We were two- and three-wide and all over the place. I almost spun out two or three times the last three laps trying to get around those lapped cars.
“He was the first one to them and could kind of pick the holes. I couldn’t really find a different place to get around him. I did everything I could except for wrecking him. That’s just all I had.
“He was pretty determined to win that race. He told me in victory lane that I was going to have to spin him out to get by him.”
The first half of the day-to-night race was punctuated by six cautions, all for single-car incidents. Busch, who had to drop to the rear of the field because he changed engines, was the first to have trouble, doing a half-spin in Turn 4 on Lap 11. Robby Gordon, who was spun by Busch last week in The Winston in a controversial incident that left Busch $10,000 poorer, was in front of Busch and had nothing to do with Busch’s spin.
Busch had more trouble late in the race. He had taken over the lead when Johnson pitted, but when Busch headed to pit road on Lap 333, it all fell apart. First, Busch overshot his pit stall and had to back up, costing precious seconds. During the stop, a tire got outside the pit box, and NASCAR brought Busch back for a stop-and-go penalty.
While leaving the pits after the penalty, Busch was too fast off pit road, precipitating a pass-through penalty. He fell to 28th, three laps down. To make matters worse, Busch slowed on the track, the apparent victim of a dropped cylinder, and he finished 31st.
Rookie Ryan Newman, who started fourth, blew an engine and retired on Lap 103. A few laps later, Ward Burton blew a tire and slammed into the Turn 1 wall. Burton was treated for a slight concussion in the infield care center but was otherwise OK.
Under that caution, Robby Gordon complained of a cramp under his left rib. Gordon, who finished eighth earlier in the day in the Indy 500, was running 14th at the time but was lapped by leader Johnson on Lap 222.
Gordon finished 16th, one lap down.
Steve Park, on the hot seat at Dale Earnhardt Inc., did nothing to help his cause by hitting the wall in Turn 4 on Lap 163. Park’s damaged car went behind the wall for repairs, and he limped home 38th.
Under that yellow, Rudd went from the lead – where he had been for 49 laps – to 11th on the restart after a botched pit stop.
That gave the lead back to Johnson, who stormed out to a six-second lead at the halfway point.
Earnhardt Jr. was running second to Johnson but was run into the outside wall by Ron Hornaday. The damage wasn’t severe, but it was bad enough to slow Junior down a tad. Later, he brushed the wall in Turn 1.
Earnhardt Jr. ran in the Top 10 but had engine troubles late in the race, dropping him to 35th.
Johnson lost the lead on a pit stop on Lap 227, which was slower than usual because Johnson overran the pit stall and had to back up. Kenseth took the lead, but Johnson passed him on Lap 243.
The next race is the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover International Speedway next Sunday.
Martin takes first career Coca-Cola 600 win
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports InteractiveCONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson was untouchable for most of the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 Sunday evening, but overshot his pit stall on the race's final pit stop, handing the lead -- and eventually the win -- to victory-starved Mark Martin.
With the win, Martin terminated his highly publicized winless streak, which had climbed to 73 races entering Charlotte, and earned himself and Janet Hogan of Sterling, Va., the Winston No Bull 5 Million Dollar Bonus.
"This feels so good," said an exhausted Martin in Victory Lane. "I'm out of breath. Matt Kenseth run me so hard. I've never driven that hard in my life to win a race.
"It's just great, this team, I'm going to share a huge portion of this money with them. The money don't matter. We're taking this trophy home to Florida. That's what matters."
While in Victory Lane, Martin pulled out his cell phone for a quick conversation with team owner Jack Roush, who continues to rest at home in Michigan following an airplane crash last month.
"Thank you, man!" Martin shouted to Roush in elation. "We're going to win Dover, too. But we'll start worrying about that about 3 a.m."
As he was for 263 of the 400 laps, Johnson was the race leader on lap 359 when he encountered the lapped-car of Hut Stricklin. Coursing through Turn 4, Johnson hit Stricklin, sending the No. 23 Dodge into the Turn 4 wall and bringing out the day's ninth caution.
Johnson locked up the brakes as Stricklin slid up the track in front of him, and only barely avoided contact. Unable to make it the final 41 laps on fuel, Johnson was forced to pit. The rest of the leaders followed suit. That's when Johnson's dominance ended.
"To dominate like we did throughout the day and a mistake on my behalf -- I can't blame it on anyone but myself," Johnson said. "That tells the tale. You're a hero one lap, and another you're a zero."
On the same stop, Martin's pit crew got him off pit road first. He then stretched his lead a bit before Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth made a race of it.
Kenseth, the 2000 Coca-Cola 600 champion, surged to Martin's rear bumper. Feeling the pressure, Martin darted through lapped traffic as if possessed.
Kenseth was unable to catch him and make the pass, handing Martin his 33rd career win, and first ever in the Memorial Day classic.
"I couldn't wait," Martin said. "Matt was faster than me, and I had to go. I couldn't afford to get him up on me. He was going to beat me fair and square. This was big for us. It was a great race."
Roush Racing has won four consecutive Coca-Cola 600s, four of the season's first 12 events, including three of the past six. Kenseth leads the way for the organization with two victories. He nearly did it again.
"I was just doing everything I could to catch (Martin)," said Kenseth, who now trails Sterling Marlin by 87 points in the championship points race. "He had a good car. I could get to him but I couldn't get around him, didn't have enough to get around him. I'm thankful for our whole day.
"(Johnson) was the class of the field by far, so for Mark to win and us to finish second, it's awesome. He's taught me everything I know about Charlotte. I was trying to do everything he taught me, but I couldn't get around him."
Ricky Craven finished third, followed by Ricky Rudd in fourth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five.
"I think it was one of the fastest cars we've ever had, but you never know unless you get out front," Gordon said.
Kurt Busch had an interesting day. Busch started 43rd in the field after changing engines prior to the event. Then, on lap 12, he spun out, barely missing the inside pit wall as he slid down the track. No matter. By lap 216 he was fifth. By lap 333 he was the leader.
On that very lap, Busch entered pit road for a routine green flag stop, but missed his pit stall and had to be pushed back into proper pit position. Hence, the stop took 29 seconds -- nearly twice as long as a typical stop.
He was then black-flagged when a tire rolled outside his pit box. After coming back down pit road, his car stalled. Once re-fired, he was caught speeding on pit road. He was then assessed a pass-through penalty.
After all that, he returned to the track three laps down in 28th position. He finished 31st.
Still yet, his headache didn't compare to Johnson's.
"I had my fork dug into the cake and I was ready to take a big ol' bite out of it," Johnson said. "Well, that cake fell off my fork right onto the floor."
Martin Breaks Winless Streak
By: Jenna Fryer
AP Sports WriterCONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Mark Martin took advantage of rookie mistakes to win the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night, ending a two-year victory drought and giving Roush Racing its fourth straight win in NASCAR's longest race.
Martin, at 43 the anchor of Jack Roush's four Winston Cup teams, held off teammate Matt Kenseth over the final laps to end his 73-race winless streak with the victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Roush, recovering from serious injuries sustained last month in a plane crash in Alabama, also fielded winning cars for Jeff Burton in 1999 and 2001 and Kenseth in 2000.
Martin took over the lead when rookie Jimmie Johnson, who dominated the race and led 263 of the 400 laps, made two errors while on his way to a seemingly easy victory.
Running away from the field, Johnson bumped the lapped car of Hut Stricklin trying to pass. Stricklin spun out and Johnson had to hit the brakes to keep from plowing his Chevrolet into him.
Johnson, the polesitter, made it through, but it brought out a caution period with 42 laps to go.
Johnson was still the leader when the cars headed in for final pit stops, but he overshot his stall and NASCAR made him back up — costing him precious time as the rest of the leaders beat him back onto the track.
Martin moved to the front, while Johnson came out in ninth place.
From there Martin only had to hold off numerous challenges from Kenseth, the 2000 race winner. But lapped traffic played into Martin's favor, as he used the slower cars to put space between the two Fords and hold Kenseth off for the win.
It was his fourth victory at Lowe's, tying him with Jeff Gordon for the most wins at the track among active drivers, and he won a $1 million bonus from the series sponsor for winning the race.
Kenseth was second, followed by Ricky Craven, Ricky Rudd, Gordon and Tony Stewart.
Johnson ended up seventh, Michael Waltrip was eighth and Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace rounded out the top 10.
Robby Gordon successfully completed ``double duty'' racing in the 600 after finishing the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day. He finished eighth in Indy, flew to Charlotte and was in his Richard Childress-owned car for the start of the second race.
But his Chevrolet was never a factor en route to a 16th-place finish.
Stewart, who opted out of the Indy 500 this year to concentrate on his NASCAR job, was one of the drivers eligible for the $1 million bonus if he won here, but his Pontiac never even led a lap.
Rudd became NASCAR's Iron Man, breaking Terry Labonte's record for consecutive starts when he took the green flag for the 656th straight time. He was strong, too, leading 49 laps.
The race started a little earlier than usual, meaning more racing in daytime conditions than teams were used to. The 5:45 p.m. EDT start meant more sunlight and a track temperature of 125 degrees when the green flag dropped.
Teams had to adjust as it cooled off, which it did in a hurry. Less than 90 minutes later, the track surface had dropped 20 degrees and the trend continued as the lights came on.
The changing elements effected all the cars — some for the good, some for the bad.
That's what happens during the 600, a race that's as much about keeping the fenders on the car from start to finish as it is keeping calm for the duration of the event.
Kurt Busch, another Roush driver, couldn't do that, losing his temper during a late pit stop. He had taken over the lead when Johnson pitted and gave it up when he made his stop under green.
But he stalled the car during the stop, and angry about the delay, he sped off pit road and was called back in for a stop-and-go penalty. It cost him any shot at winning the race and he finished 31st.
A big concern heading into the event was NASCAR's new one-engine rule, which forces teams to use just one motor over an entire weekend. With an extra 100 miles on the event, teams worried the extra strain would wear out the motors.
Four teams gambled before the race even started and put fresh engines in the car, an action punished by sending cars to the back of the starting field.
Rookie Ryan Newman wished his team had done the same after he blew his engine early in the race. Newman, who won The Winston here last week, has had a history of engine troubles at this track. He was winning a qualifying race last year here when he lost his motor on the final lap.
Martin's crew chief fined $50,000
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
May 28, 2002DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After the third height violation in the last 18 Winston Cup races, NASCAR Tuesday hoped it sent a stronger message with a $50,000 fine to Mark Martin's crew chief, Ben Leslie.
Martin's winning No. 6 Pfizer/Viagra Ford was found to be a 1/8th-inch under the 51-inch minimum height requirement in post-race inspection following Sunday night's Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Martin won $280,033 from the race purse, plus a $1 million bonus from series sponsor R.J. Reynolds Tobacco for winning the second Winston No Bull 5 event of the season.
Leslie, who per the rule book is responsible for the presentation of the car, was penalized under Section 12-4-T in the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series rule book, "Any car that is found to be under the specified height requirement after the completion… of the race."
NASCAR has ratcheted its fines for height violations up gradually since Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief Tony Eury was docked $25,000 for a 1/8th-inch discrepancy after last fall's EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway -- also a No Bull 5 event, where Earnhardt Jr. won $165,773.
Martin's teammate Matt Kenseth, who finished second Sunday night, was fined $30,000 after he was low in the post-race inspection following the season's second race, the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway. Kenseth won $157,400 there, his first of two victories this season.
"Our system of fines is designed to send a message to the garage area," NASCAR spokesperson Danielle Frye said. "We have increased the level of fines for this infraction because we are still seeing similar offenses."
The fine was the second to a member of Roush Racing over two weekends of competition at the 1.5-mile speedway in Concord, N.C. Kurt Busch was fined $10,000 after he spun Robby Gordon during The Winston all-star race.
Busch was not penalized during the event, but the fine was levied after he said on the FX cable television post-race broadcast that he spun Gordon because the race needed a caution to create some excitement.
It was the second fine for a height violation in two weekends. Following the NASCAR Busch Series Stacker 2 200 at Nazareth Speedway, Fred Wanke, the crew chief for Bobby Hamilton Jr., was fined $20,000 when the team's No. 25 U.S. Marines Ford was found to be a half-inch under the required minimum height.
Hamilton won $22,300 for his sixth place finish. It was the second time in five races that the team had been penalized.
Reaction To NASCAR's Fine Of No. 6 Crew Chief Ben Leslie
Roush Racing PRConcord, N.C. (May 28, 2002) - NASCAR announced on Tuesday that it would fine No. 6 team crew chief Ben Leslie $50,000 after Mark Martin's winning No. 6 Pfizer/Viagra Ford was found to be a 1/8th-inch under the 51-inch minimum height requirement in post-race inspection following Sunday night's Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"NASCAR set the height rule and it doesn't matter whether it is one inch or 1/8 of an inch," said Leslie. "With 600 miles of racing there is a great deal of wear and tear and adjustments that have to be made on the car.
"If you think of it that way, with the race being so long and all of the adjustments that are required in that type of the race, 1/8 of an inch is not a lot. On top of that, we had some cooling problems to work on throughout the race and between that and the normal adjustments, it's hard not to lose some height. It didn't have any impact on the outcome of the race at all.
"Still, NASCAR has to draw the line somewhere and we didn't measure up to that line. It's a steep fine, but those are the rules of the game."
Neither Ben Leslie nor Roush Racing plans to appeal the fine.
