NASCAR's Mark Martin
2004 Season Articles - March

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    • 2004 Mark Martin Track Notes - Sunday, April 4, 2004
    Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Roush Racing #6 Ford Taurus
    Samsung/Radio Shack 500 / Texas Motor Speedway
    Roush Racing
    March 31, 2004

    The Viagra Racing Team experienced a bit of an off weekend last week in Bristol, but still managed a 23rd-place finish, keeping Martin within striking distance of the circuit's top 10. This week the team takes to Texas, where Martin will be gunning for his fourth straight top-10 finish.

    DRIVER: Mark Martin
    TEAM: No. (6) Viagra® Ford Taurus
    OWNER: Jack Roush

    CREW CHIEF: Pat Tryson

    CHASSIS RK-241

    The team will run RK-241 at Texas. RK-241 ran earlier this year in Atlanta, finishing 14th. RK-231 will serve as the backup.

    IN THE POINTS

    Despite dropping from 12th to 15th in the Nextel Cup points standings after Bristol, Martin moved to within just 50 points from 10th position in standings.

    WORTHY NOTE

    Martin has posted three straight top-10 finishes at Texas, including two straight top fives.

    BY THE NUMBERS AT TEXAS

    Martin has been strong at Texas where he won in 1998 in only the track's second Cup race. All-in-all, Martin has totaled four top-10 and three top-five finishes at Texas Motor Speedway, including three straight top-10 runs and a fifth-place finish there a year ago.

    WINNING AT TEXAS

    Martin won the track's second Nextel Cup event in 1998. In addition Martin won a record three Busch races at Texas ('97,'99 and 2000), including a record setting 1 hr, 55 min, 08 sec win in March of '97.

    OFF TO A GOOD START

    Martin has started the Texas race inside the top 10 in six of seven Cup races at Texas.

    MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS - TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

    • Mark Martin has posted three straight top-10 finishes at Texas and two straight top fives.
    • Martin won the Texas 500 in 1998, the track's second Nextel Cup race.
    • Martin has started six of the seven races at Texas inside the field's top 10.
    • Martin has four top-10 and three top-five finishes in seven starts at Texas.

    QUOTING MARK MARTIN AND CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON

    Mark Martin on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

    “We didn't qualify well there last year, but we had a fantastic race. We managed to get a top five and we had a great race car on race day. We hope to have a great race car again this week. We are taking our Atlanta car with some updates on it that we think we'll make it even more competitive. Based on how we've performed on 1.5-mile tracks so far this year, our expectations are to be a top- five car.

    "Texas is really fast, but that's not a problem unless you have a problem. It's one of my favorite tracks and we are excited about going there this weekend. We got a little off last week at Bristol and didn't get the finish we would have liked, so hopefully we'll get back on track this weekend with the strong finish we are looking for in Texas.”

    Pat Tryson on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

    “Texas can be a challenge because you have to find speed. It's a fast track and that can be a lot of fun if you are one of the fastest. We are taking the same car that we ran in Atlanta. It had a pretty good run there, although the result may not have been a true indicator of how fast we ran there. Mark likes racing at Texas and he's been very good there over the years. We need to have a better showing during qualifying in order to get better track position, so we are hoping to be fast right from the start.”

    LAST YEAR'S RACE WINNER: Ryan Newman:

    Ryan Newman passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 10 laps to go and went on to win the Samsung/RadioShack 500 to become the seventh different winner in as many races at Texas Motor Speedway. Earnhardt edged Jeff Gordon in a photo finish for second.

    MARK MARTIN - LAST YEAR'S RACE - Started 32nd, Finished 5th (Part of 2003 Race Re-cap):

    Martin was hot out of the gate, and despite a 32nd-place start, the veteran driver had cracked the field's top-20 by lap 43, when he came into the pits for the first time to help

    After a 15.54 second stop to take four tires and make a wedge adjustment, Martin returned to the field in 21st place and once the field went green on lap 49, Martin began to embark on an upward movement that would see the Viagra® Ford Taurus break inside the field's top 10 on lap 83. The Viagra® Ford, which had struggled heavily in Saturday's practice, was running the fastest times of any car on the track. Martin had moved up to sixth place by lap 155 when the day's fourth caution was called.

    Martin passed both the No. 38 car of Elliot Sadler and the No. 48 car of Jimmie Johnson on lap 166 to move into fourth place, breaking into the field's top-five for the first time of the race. Continuing to blaze up the field, Martin's chances for a top-five finish looked certain and victory lane was glimmering in the distance.

    However, the road to Sunday's finish line would not come that easy. Martin was running in sixth-place when he came into the pits for a planned green-flag stop to take on fuel and tires on lap 221. As the remainder of the field cycled through their stops, the day's seventh caution was called on lap 226. Everyone in the field had not pitted and Martin had to restart the race on the tail end of the lead lap once the field went green on lap 232.

    Martin was able to stay on the lead lap, fending off leader and eventual race-winner Ryan Newman for three laps until the day's seventh caution was called on lap 235. The caution aided Martin in his quest to stay on the lead lap, but Martin's car sustained light damage to the front end. The team came into the pits for series of stops to take on fuel, add fresh tires and tape up the damaged front end.

    Martin was running in 16th place when the field went green on lap 239. The race saw two more cautions in the next 14 laps and Martin was running in 14th place when the field went green on lap 254. With 89 laps remaining, Martin would have to slice and dice his way back towards the front, despite the fact his car had been damaged.

    True to form, Martin and the No. 6 team did not fold. Instead, Martin mounted yet another charge towards the front. Martin passed teammate Kurt Busch on lap 281 to break back into the field's top10, just prior to the day's 10th and final caution on lap 282. Quick work in the pits saw the Viagra® Racing Team take on four tires and fuel in 14.86 seconds and Martin returned to the field in ninth place once the field went green on lap 288, with only 46 laps remaining in the race.

    However, Martin wasn't finished. By lap 300 he was running in seventh place. Four laps later he moved into sixth place with just 30 laps to go. On lap 326 Martin passed Jimmie Johnson to claim fifth place, where he would eventually finish the race for his third top-five finish in only seven races in 2003.

    Martin Finished 23rd at Bristol
    Mark Martin and the #6 Viagra® Racing Team
    Bristol Motor Speedway/March 28, 2004
    Roush Racing

    BRISTOL, TENN. – “We just didn’t have a good day,” said Mark Martin after Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Things just didn’t go our way and we did a lot of things wrong.”

    The No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team was just never able to get a firm grasp of the car over the weekend, qualifying 21st on Friday, despite having one of the fastest cars in practice on Friday. In the end track position and a ‘tight’ handling car would put an early end to Martin’s bid for a third victory at Bristol. In the end Martin had his hands full just securing the finish, after engine problems struck his car late.

    Martin never dropped below 25th place during the race, but he never ran any better than 18th either. The location of the team’s pit would also hurt the team’s effort as Martin – despite a solid effort on the pit stops – struggled getting on and off pit road all day.

    The car started off the race ‘tight’. By lap 139 Martin felt the leaders bearing down on his bumper. However he was able to hold the leaders at bay, racing his way through lapped traffic to stay on the lead lap. Running in 19th place on lap 362 the team came in for its fifth stop of the day and the day’s only green flag stop. The day’s sixth caution was called a few moments later on lap 380, and Martin was caught a lap down.

    The team gambled by not pitting after the day’s ninth caution was called on lap 462. Martin started the run the first car one lap down in hopes that he could get around the leader, thus gaining his lap back. However the plan backfired, as the cars behind him all took fresh tires. On the new tires, he was quickly passed and the No. 6 Ford had fallen to 23rd place by lap 482 when the day’s 10th caution was issued. Smoke started to come from Martin’s car during that time and Martin radioed that he was having trouble with the engine.

    The field was red-flagged with just five laps to go and Martin was able to hang on to the 23rd spot. Despite the off-weekend, Martin was still able to avoid trouble and post his best finish at Bristol since March of 2002. Kurt Busch, Martin’s teammate, went on to win the race.

    “We should have qualified better,” said Martin. “We should have had better track position and we should have run better, but then we broke our engine late anyway. We were pretty lucky to finish as well as we did considering we started having problems with 20 laps to go. So I guess in that way we were actually fortunate today.

    “Still, we have to do better,” added Martin. “We have a great team and we just have to rebound and move forward going into to Texas. It’s a long season and we’ll just have to put this one behind us and move forward.”

    After six races, Martin is 15th in the Nextel Cup points race, only 50 points outside of 10th place.

    2004 Mark Martin Bristol Track Notes - Sunday, March 28, 2004
    Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Roush Racing #6 Ford Taurus
    Food City 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway
    Roush Racing
    March 23, 2004

    DRIVER: Mark Martin

    TEAM: No. (6) Viagra® Ford Taurus
    > OWNER: Jack Roush
    CREW CHIEF: Pat Tryson

    BRISTOL, Tenn. -- After a strong run in Darlington, Martin and the No. 6 Viagra Racing Team head to Bristol, Tenn., for the circuit's first short-track race of the season. Bristol racing is intense and Martin will not only be looking for his third win at the track, but to break into the Nextel Cup top 10 for the first time in 2004. Martin had the car to beat in last spring's Bristol race, leading 49 laps before getting wrecked on lap 346.

    2003 WINNER AT BRISTOL: Kurt Busch

    LAST YEAR: Kurt Busch overcame a caution in the final laps and became the sixth different winner in 2003 by taking the Food City 500 for the second straight year. Busch went on to win the Sharpie 500 at Bristol on August 23.

    MARK MARTIN LAST YEAR AT BRISTOL

    March 23, 2003 - Bristol Motor Speedway - FOOD CITY 500 - Started 19th, Finished 29th

    The race saw 17 cautions before the checkered flag dropped, but it was the day's ninth caution that proved to be the most costly for Mark Martin and the Team. The accident, which occurred on lap 198 of the 500-mile race, halted what had been a strong run for the No. 6 Viagra® team. Martin went on to fight his way to a 29th-place finish. Martin had rebounded from an early problem with his throttle, and was steadily moving his car through the field, where he was running in 19th-place on lap 198. Martin's car was running some of the most competitive times on the track, when several cars in front of him started 'checking up.' The cars behind Martin were unable to stop and Martin's No. 6 Ford was struck from behind and sent into a tailspin towards the apron. After being struck by another car, Martin's Ford had received considerable damage on the left side and the No. 6 Viagra Racing Team was forced to go behind the wall for repairs. The No. 6 crew worked feverishly to repair the severely damaged car, and Martin was able to return to the track 48 laps later; 47 laps down and in 33rd position. Martin's car proved to be so strong on Sunday, that despite the severe damage he was able to run lap times comparable to that of the race leaders.

    CHASSIS NUMBER

    (RK-215) - The team will run RK 215 at Bristol. This will be RK-215's first run in 2004. The car finished 10th last season at Phoenix and also ran at Martinsville. RK-231 will serve as the backup.

    WORTH NOTE

    Martin's seven poles tie for the most ever at Bristol. Martin has started in the top five in 16 of 34 races at Bristol.

    ON THE MOVE - IN THE POINTS

    Martin has climbed from 43rd to 12th in the Nextel Cup point standings in just four races. Currently Martin is 53 points outside of 10th place and 160 points behind the leader. Martin moved up five spots after the team's strong effort in Darlington.

    MARK MARTIN AT BRISTOL

    Martin's treck at Bristol is tale of streaks. In 34 races at Bristol, Martin had finished top 10 20 times (59%) and inside the top five 15 times. From 1995-2000 Martin had a total of 10 straight top-10 finishes at Bristol. He won four straight poles in 1995 and 1996. However, Martin had not finished inside the top 10 at Bristol in the past seven races, five of which he was involved in accidents that put an end to his chance of a strong run.

    GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START AT BRISTOL

    Martin's seven poles at Bristol ties for the most of any driver (Rusty Wallace). Martin just narrowly missed his record eighth pole there last spring. All-in-all Martin has started inside the top five in 16 of 34 races at Bristol and inside the top 10 25 times.

    QUOTING MARK MARTIN AND CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON

    Mark Martin On Bristol:

    "Bristol in an intense place to race. I used to like it a lot, but it's been pretty tough on us lately. We've gotten wrecked the last five or six times we've been there, including last spring when we had a really good car there. It's a different type of track and 43 cars are a lot of cars for the room you have there, so you have to expect trouble and just hope it stays away from you.

    "I always equate Bristol to trying to fly a jet fighter around the inside of a basketball arena. That's pretty crazy, but that's what it's like. You just have to do your best to stay away from troube and it always helps to qualify well, or you'll find yourself a lap down when the thing starts.

    "Our race team has done an outstanding job so far this year and I consider them the best team in the business. The guys did one of the best jobs on pit road last week that we've ever had and they helped us get a top-10 finish at Darlington. We have more work to do to make the cars a little faster, but I couldn't be happier or more proud of Pat Tryson and this team this year."

    Pat Tryson On Bristol:

    "Bristol is a good track for Mark and this team and of course it will always be a special place for me because we were able to win there with the Wood Brothers and Elliot Sadler in 2001. As for this weekend, we can't wait to get out there and do it again. We had great stops last week and we need to give Mark a better car to go with those stops and we'll be on our way to winning some races this year."

    MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS

    • Martin has two victories at Bristol (8/98 and 8/93 from the pole).
    • Martin's seven poles at Bristol tie for the most ever. He just narrowly missed the pole there last spring.
    • Martin won four consecutive poles at Bristol in 1995-96.
    • Martin has posted 20 top -10 and 15 top-five finishes in 34 races at Bristol.
    • From 1995-2000 Martin scored 10 straight top-10 finishes at Bristol, but a rash of accidents have prevented him from finishing inside the top 10 since.
    • Crew chief Pat Tryson led the Wood Brothers to a victory at Bristol in 2001. Tryson's pit strategy was vital in the No. 21 car's victory there.

    Martin Finishes Seventh at Darlington
    Nifty work in the pits propels No. 6 Viagra® Racing Team to top-10 finish
    Roush Racing
    March 22, 2004

    DARLINGTON, S.C. – Darlington Raceway has been long noted as the track ‘too tough to tame,’ but Sunday belonged to the No. 6 Viagra pit crew, as the over-the-wall crew gained the team a net of 17 positions en route to a 7th-place finish in the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. The finish was Martin’s second top-10 in the past three races and helped move Martin to 12th place in the Nextel Cup point standings - capping off a 31-place climb in the past four races.

    Martin qualified 20th on Friday, partly due to an early draw that saw track temperatures cool down considerably during the session. However, the team continued to work with the car and by happy hour on Saturday, Martin was the fastest car on the track. Still, the car was never quite right during Sunday’s race, but the considerable effort turned in by the No. 6 over-the-wall team over-shadowed any imperfection in the car’s setup.

    The team posted five stops under 14-seconds on Sunday and helped gain the No. 6 Viagra® Ford 25 positions over the course of Sunday’s race. The team’s next to the last stop on lap 233, (13.67-seconds), put Martin up to fourth – his highest position of the day.

    "I've got the best race team in the business right now,” said Martin after the race. “We've just got to get our cars a little bit faster and we'll do that. I love Pat Tryson and my guys. I want to keep them charged up and keep them together. We're fighting right now, so I'm real proud of that finish.

    “We struggled at times today with the car, but the guys made up for that with an awesome effort in the pits,” added Martin. “We have a great team and a great bunch of guys and I couldn’t be more excited. We weren't as good with the race car as we hoped, but I'm really proud of Pat Tryson and the Viagra® team.”

    The car started the day loose and Martin had fallen back to 21st place when the day’s first caution was called on lap eight. The Viagra® Team went to work taking four tires and fuel in a 13.54-second stop that moved Martin back inside the top 20 to 17th place.

    The car had become ‘really loose’ by lap 27 when the day’s second caution was issued. The team came into the pits to take on four tires, fuel and make a massive wedge adjustment in hopes of tightening the car’s handling. Another lightning fast stop of 13.26-seconds gained Martin five positions on the track and moved the Viagra® Ford into the top 10 for the first time of the day.

    The team’s only miscue came on their third stop of the day under caution on lap 56. With the car ‘pushing’ Martin had dropped back to 15th place when the team came in for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. A problem with the right-rear tire resulted in the team’s slowest stop of the day and Martin lost eight positions back to 23rd when the field returned to green on lap 59.

    Not to be slowed, Martin went to work moving his way back inside the top 20 by lap 75. Running 17th on lap 116, crew chief Pat Tryson made the decision to short pit, gambling that Martin would be able to gain on the field with fresh tires. Once again the team came through with a 13.88-second stop. In the end the move proved brilliant and Martin had advance all the way to ninth place when the remainder of the field had cycled through their stops.

    The team reeled off a pair of solid stops under caution on laps 146 and 165 (14.27 and 14.06 seconds) that moved Martin inside the top five for the first time of the day when the field sent green on lap 169. However, the car’s handling once again became too loose and Martin dropped back to eighth place when caution was called for the seventh time on lap 230. That’s when the team’s 13.67 stop on lap 233 moved Martin into fourth place as the field went green on lap 238.

    Again, Martin struggled on the start and dropped back to eighth place when caution was called for the eighth and final time on lap 274. The team would have to come into the pits one final time to secure the solid finish. Once again the ‘blue crew’ came through with a 13.91-second stop that moved Martin into seventh place when the field went green with a single-file restart with only four laps remaining. Martin was able to hold off all charges from behind to seal up the seventh-place finish, his 22nd top-10 finish in 37 races at Darlington.

    “We'll keep working on it and try to get faster,” said Martin. "We wrestled the chassis setup today. We weren't really right. We got the car pretty good, but it just never was quite right. But it was a top 10 car and we stayed there once we got there."

    "I'm happy with the finish,” added Martin. “This is the best team - in my opinion - in the business right now and I'm really lucky to have these guys. We've got to get our cars going a little bit faster, but we've got the team. I love these guys and I love working with them. I'm proud to run seventh here today and we’ll go to Bristol and try to improve on it.”

    Martin moved up five places to 12th in the Nextel Cup Point standings, just 53 points outside of the top 10 and only 160 points behind the leader. Jimmie Johnson went on to win the race, as Martin joined four other Roush cars in the field’s top 12.

    The team will return to action next week at Bristol as the Nextel Cup Series goes short track racing for the first time of the season.

    2004 Mark Martin Darlington Track Notes
    Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Roush Racing #6 Ford Taurus
    Carolina Dodge Dealers 400/Darlington Raceway - Sunday, March 21, 2004
    Roush Racing
    March 17, 2004

    DRIVER: Mark Martin
    T TEAM: No. (6) Viagra® Ford Taurus
    OWNER: Jack Roush
    CREW CHIEF: Pat Tryson

    2003 WINNER: Ricky Craven

    MARK MARTIN 2003 EVENT: Started: 27th Finished: 4th

    LAST YEAR

    The car was fast off the truck on Friday and continued to get better as the weekend progressed, running times inside the top-10 in all three practice sessions. Despite fast times in practice, Martin struggled in qualifying running to a 27th-place start. Once the race started Martin wasted no time moving through the field; by lap 116 the ViagraÒ Ford was the leader. Martin would go on to lead 71 laps of the race, as the No. 6 proved to be the strongest car in the field, but a mishap with a lugnut in the pits late in the race would force Martin to return to the pits. Once the stop was over, the No. 6 car found itself in 11th place with 53 laps remaining. On the strength of the car, Martin patiently worked his way through the field picking off several cars and running to an impressive fourth-place finish.

    MARK MARTIN LOOKS TO "TAME" DARLINGTON

    Darlington is noted by many as a track so difficult on drivers that it has two dubious nicknames, "The Lady in Black" and "The track too tough to tame." However, Martin and the No. 6 team have held their own over the years at the 1.366-mile quad oval. In fact in 18 spring races at Darlington, Martin has finished in the top 10 on 14 occasions and inside the top five nine times, including a fourth-place finish last year. The No. 6 team will be gunning for another strong finish this weekend, as they climb their way back into the Nextel Cup top 10.

    MARK MARTIN AT DARLINGTON

    This will be Martin's 37th start at Darlington Raceway where the veteran driver has tallied 21 top-10 finishes and 14 top fives. Martin ran his first race at the track on April 4, 1982 where he finished seventh. Martin finsihed fourth a year ago in the spring race at Darlington and was on course for a victory before a mishap in the pits forced him to the back of the lead lap. While racing in the Busch series, Martin won a record seven poles and tallied a record seven victories at Darlington.

    THE CAR

    Chassis Number: (RK-213) - The team will run RK 213 at Darlington. RK-213 is the same car the team ran to a 12th place finish earlier this year at Rockingham. RK- 231 will serve as backup.

    IN THE POINTS

    The team's 14th-place run in Atlanta moved Martin up three spots and into 17th (tied for 16th) place in the Nextel Cup point standings. Martin is just 32 points outside of the top 10 as the team heads to Darlington, one of Martin's strongest tracks on the circuit.

    MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS

    • Martin has won once at Darlington (9/5/93), but never in the spring.
    • Martin has won two poles at Darlington, both in the spring race ('89 and '98).
    • Martin won a record seven times at Darlington in the Busch series. He also recorded a record seven poles there in the series.
    • Martin has finished inside the top 10 in 77 percent of his spring races at Darlington (14-of-18) and in the top five 50 percent of the time (9-of-18). The 14 top 10's are more than any other active driver.
    • Martin finished seventh in his first ever race at Darlington in April of 1982.
    • Martin has finished inside the top 10 in 21 of 36 total Cup races at Darlington.
    • Martin has climbed from 43rd to 17th in points in the last three races.

    QUOTING MARK MARTIN AND CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON

    Mark Martin On Darlington:

    "I really like racing at Darlington, because it's a 'handling' race track where guys like myself excel because we can help out so much in the handling department. You have to be able to go really fast through the corners, and you have to be able to handle well in order to put the car where it needs to be. It's a great track for racing and I always look forward to going there.

    "The addition of the safer barrier will be interesting, because it's already the narrowest track that we race on by far, so it's going to be interesting to see how that affects the racing. But, I've been going there for a long time and it's already changed a lot over the years. In fact the track is almost opposite of what it used to be. Now the emphasis is really in turns one and two, but you still have to go fast through those corners.

    "Pat (Tryson) and the team have done a great job this season and we are just going to keep chipping away at it until we are in that top 10 after the first 26 races and then it will be a new race from there."

    Pat Tryson On Darlington:

    "We are looking forward to going to Darlington this weekend. It's the kind of track where Mark excells. It's our job as a team to make sure that the car handles well and is fast enough for Mark to drive it to the front. We look forward to that challenge. The team did a great job last weekend at Atlanta and we hope to build on that this weekend."

    Martin, Viagra® Racing Team Finish 14th in Atlanta
    Martin moves into a tie for 16th in the Nextel Cup standings; 32 points outside of top 10
    Roush Racing

    Hampton, Ga. – “We had a really good car today” said Mark Martin after Sunday’s Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “The car was loose early and we badly needed to be able to come into the pits and make adjustments, but those long green-flag runs really hurt us and we ended up going a lap down.”

    “Once we adjusted the car it got a lot better and we were the first car on our lap for most of the race, but we never were able to get a caution at the right time that would have allowed us back on the lead lap. We were in the lucky dog spot forever at the end there and didn't get the caution. We seem to get them when we're not in the right spot, but that's OK. If we had caught that break, then we would have finished a lot better, but it was another solid run.”

    Martin’s car was fast right off the truck on Friday morning, but the car’s handling became looser and Martin had to run a more conservative lap in qualifying, and the team had to settle for a 27th-place start. However, Martin wasted little time on Sunday as the checkered flag drop, powering the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Ford Taurus inside the top 20 by lap 17.

    Martin had moved into 15th place by lap 55, but the car’s handling became even looser and Martin went a lap down to race leader Tony Stewart on lap 104. The team came down pit road on lap 118 for its second stop of the day to take on four tires, fuel and attempt to tighten the car’s handling with a wedge adjustment. However, the crew had a problem in the pits fueling the car and valuable time was lost on pit road. After the stop Martin returned to the field in 21st place and would have to fight his way back through traffic.

    Knowing the first car to be one lap down will receive its lap back upon caution, Martin battled his way through the field. An excellent pit stop of 13.78 seconds under caution on lap 151 gave the team a bit of pit road redemption, while moving Martin up to 17th place when the field returned to green.

    Martin ran lap times as fast or faster than the leader and he worked his way to the front of his lap, overtaking the No. 40 car of Sterling Marlin to take the ‘lucky dog’ position on lap 167. Martin ran in 15th place – the first car a lap down – for the next 46 laps, until loose handling conditions forced him to lose the position to the No. 0 car on lap 205.

    Caution was called for only the third time of the day on lap 245, with Martin running as the second car one lap down. Another 14-second stop helped Martin move back to the front of the lap, where he would run for the remainder of the race. Despite being one of the fastest cars on the track for several runs, and passing several of the lead-lap cars, Martin would be unable to gain the lap back. On the day, Martin ran 122 laps in the ‘lucky dog’ position, but the team was stuck waiting for a caution that would never come, as they were forced to settle for a 14th-place finish, the first car one lap down.

    “We had a top 10 car today,” added Martin. “I just didn't get my lap back. I was real close and I would have if a caution had come out in the last 75 laps. If that would have happened, then we could have gone right up into the top 10.”

    "But I tell you what, we have a great race team and had a better car than our finish showed today. We had a great effort and a reasonable finish.”

    “We are just going to keep chipping away at it,” said Martin. “We're running good and working well together as a team. Pat is doing a heck of a job and we’ll get better and put together some solid finishes that will get us in that top 10 after 26. Then it’s an all new deal and we’ll make a run at it down the road."

    The run moved Martin up three places to 17th in the Nextel Cup point standings, only 32 points outside of the top 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on to win the race.

    Mark Martin and the No. 6 Viagra® Racing Team return to action next week at Darlington Raceway.

    No.6 Viagra Racing Team Getting The Job Done On Pit Road
    Several quick stops down the stretch helped propel Martin to a top-five at Vegas
    Roush Racing

    CONCORD, N.C. (March 10, 2004) - A loose handling car made it difficult for Mark Martin to maneuver his Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Ford Taurus to the outside and around other cars during the early laps of last Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Las Vegas; a pretty large problem considering track position was key during the race.

    Luckily for Martin, the No. 6 Viagra pit crew was ready for the challenge. The team advanced Martin four positions during its first stop, moving Martin up to 15th place with a 14.65-second stop, that saw the team take tires, fuel and make a wedge adjustment.

    Later on, Martin's 'blue crew' would move him inside the top 10 for the first time of the day, gaining four spots up to 7th place with a 14.94-second stop on lap 168. However, Pat Tryson's crew was just getting warmed up. Less than 20 laps later the team reeled off it's best stop of the day, a 13.5-second stop that put Martin inside the top five with 75 laps to go. Moments later the team hit another 13.6-second stop that secured Martin's position inside the field's top 10 for what would be the final stretch run of the race.

    "The team really stepped up in the pits," said Martin. "We were having problems with track position early and they were able to give us some really good stops. Down the stretch our quick pit stops were critical to our success on Sunday.

    "Pat (Tryson) and the guys are just doing an outstanding job," added Martin. "They gave me a great car and then they backed it up on pit road. I'm not kidding when I say that I really do love this team, and I'm excited about going down the road with them this year. I think the best is definitely yet to come."

    On the day, the team gained Martin 14 positions on the track. In addition, the team came in on lap 87 and put a spring rubber in the right rear to help the car's handling. A 17.45-second stop only cost Martin one position, despite the massive adjustment made in the pit.

    The day in the pits was one of the best for the No. 6 Roush Racing team in recent memory and in the end a top-five finish was the reward.

    "The guys did a great job in the pits on Sunday," said Tryson, who is three races into his first year as Martin's crew chief. "The two stops at the end were key to our run today. We had a good car and we have a great driver, but in this day and age it takes everything. The quick pit stops were the finishing touch for what it takes to have a great run.

    "We are just going to try and build on that and move forward this weekend in Atlanta. If we can continue to give Mark good cars and we can continue to work like that in the pits, we'll be celebrating in victory lane sooner than later."

    Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Livonia, Mich., based Roush Industries that operates nine motorsports teams; five in NASCAR Nextel Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle, two in the Busch Series with Martin, Burton, Kenseth and Biffle and two in the Craftsman Truck Series with drivers Jon Wood and Carl Edwards.

    2004 Mark Martin Golden Corral 500 Track Notes
    Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Roush Racing #6 Ford Taurus
    Golden Corral 500/Atlanta Motor Speedway - Sunday, March 14, 2004
    Roush Racing
    March 10, 2004

    DRIVER: Mark Martin
    TEAM: No. (6) Viagra® Ford Taurus
    OWNER: Jack Roush
    CREW CHIEF: Pat Tryson

    2003 WINNER: Bobby Labonte

    MARK MARTIN 2003 EVENT: Started: 29th Finished: 42nd

    GEORGIA ON MY MIND - MARTIN NO. 6 TEAM LOOK FOR SPEED IN ATLANTA

    This week the team rolls into Vegas where the odds have clearly been in Martin's favor over the years. In six races at Las Vegas Motorspeedway, Martin has posted five top 10 finishes and three finishes of third or better, including a victory in the inaugural event in '98.

    Fresh off the momentum of their fifth-place run at Vegas, Mark Martin and the Viagra Racing Team take to Atlanta for the fourth race of the season. Martin is no stranger to Atlanta Motor Speeway, which is regarded as one of the fastest tracks on the circuit. This will mark Martin's 37th start at the 1.54-mile speedway, where he first raced in a Cup car in March of 1982.

    MARTIN AT ATLANTA

    This will be Martin's 37th start at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where the veteran driver has tallied 17 top-10 finishes and nine top-fives. Martin ran his first race at the track on March 21, 1982 where he finished 19th. He returned that same year and drove to a top-10 finish in the spring. The No. 6 team posted a pair of top-10 finishes there in 2002, but fell victim to mechanical failures in both races there last season. The team will look to expand on Martin's accolades there this weekend.

    GETTING STARTED

    Martin started the Atlanta race inside the top five in 16 of his 36 races there. Despite having only one pole at the track, Martin has started the race on the front row on six occasions. In addition, Martin has started inside the top 10 in 23 of 36 races at the track.

    THE CAR

    Chassis Number: (RK-241) - The Viagra® Racing Team will run RK 241 at Atlanta. RK 215 will serve as the backup. RK 241 is a brand new car. RK-215 ran last season at Martinsville and Phoenix.

    MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS

    • Martin has scored 17 top-10 and nine top-five finishes at Atlanta
    • Martin has won twice at Atlanta, with both wins coming in the fall ( '91 and '94).
    • Martin has started inside the top 10 in 23 of his 37 races at Atlanta. He has started inside the top five on 16 occasions.
    • He has earned one pole (3/92) and has started on the front row six times.
    • Martin scored the first of his 17 top-10 finishes at Atlanta in only his second start at the track on Nov. 7, 1982.

    QUOTING MARK MARTIN AND CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON

    Mark Martin On Atlanta:

    "Atlanta is the fastest track that we go to, that's not a restrictor plate race and for that reason it's a really fun place to race. It's my kind of race track. You have to figure out how to go fast through the corners. If you do that you'll be in good shape on the straightaways. It's a fast track and sometime you might find yourself holding your breath, but it makes for some good racing."

    “It’s the shape, the size, the banking and the transitions from straightaway to corner that make it so fast. It makes better speed. If you made sharper corners, it wouldn’t be as fast. If you had flat straightaways and then corners that were banked up, you’d have to slow down more approaching the corner. It’s just the shape and the banking, coupled with the transitions and size.”

    "The team did a great job last week at Vegas. We fought all day and got ourselves a top five in the end. We had some great stops in the pits, where the guys really stepped up to the plate when they had to and Pat (Tryson) and the guys just did a great job with the car as well. I'm excited about this season and I can't wait to go racing again with these guys."

    Pat Tryson On Atlanta:

    "Atlanta is one of the fastest tracks on the circuit and we are really looking forward to going there. We are taking a new car to Atlanta, so we'll have to be on our game early. We hope to improve our qualifying effort and get a little bit better starting position this week. We had a solid performance and a strong finish last week in Vegas and hopefully we can keep that going this week in Atlanta."

    Martin: Darlington too narrow for new walls
    The Associated Press
    March 10, 2004

    Mark Martin approves of "soft walls" being installed at many tracks to absorb some of the impact from a crash - just not at Darlington.

    It's already hard enough to pass at NASCAR's oldest superspeedway, Martin said.

    "There's not enough room on that race track for that," Martin said. "But everywhere else, it's like yeah, yeah. It's awesome. But Darlington ... it's just the narrowest race track we race on by far."

    The Steel and Foam Energy Reduction system barriers are expected to be installed at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval in time for the March 21 Nextel Cup race. The track is known for leaving its "Darlington Stripes" - the dents left on the right side of the cars that bounce off the walls.

    "We're gonna be crippled if we lose two or three feet. You can see that after the race," Martin said. "Every other car has the side slid off of it now, so we needed two more feet going out, not two feet coming in."

    On the other hand, with his 12-year-old son, Matt, already racing, Martin welcomes such safety measures.

    "I hope that when my son races NASCAR he never drives on a track that doesn't have them," he said.

    Earlier this year, NASCAR said all tracks hosting Nextel Cup series events would be fitted with the SAFER barriers by next January.

    Martin, Viagra® Racing Team Fight to 5th Place Finish
    Fast pit work helps Martin to a top-five run at Vegas
    Roush Racing

    Las Vegas, Nevada – Mark Martin and the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team used a quick car and fast pit work to earn a fifth-place finish in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 6 team posted back-to-back stops of under 14 seconds late in the race and Martin picked up two spots in the race’s final 12 laps for the strong finish.

    "Pat Tryson and the Viagra team were awesome with the changes on the car,” said Martin just moments after the race. “They made it better and better as the day went on. The pit stops were just fabulous and we got it racing at the end. We had great pit stops all day by this team and I really love these guys.”

    "A long green at the end was just what the doctor ordered,” added Martin. “We had a good, long run setup in it. We struggled to get going on the restarts with all that traffic and those lapped cars racing so hard. It was really strong at the end of the run. It was easy to pass guys at the end, but we didn't get enough long runs. On that last run we did and that's what we needed.

    Martin was running in ninth place on lap 184 when the day’s fifth caution was issued. The team came in for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment in hopes of freeing up the car’s handling. A 13.5-second stop gained Martin four positions up to fifth place when the field went green.

    Martin was running in sixth place when caution came out again on lap 200. The team pitted again for four tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment. Once again the team was stellar, posting a 13.8-second stop. Several cars took fuel only, but Martin was still running in 8th place when the field went green on lap 206 with only 61 laps to go.

    The fuel window for the day had been 60 laps, but the team decided to go for the green, with crew chief Pat Tryson instructing Martin to save every bit of fuel possible. Knowing it would be close in the end, Martin quickly dropped back to 10th place, but patiently hit his marks, conserving every ounce of fuel, while still steadily gaining on the cars in front. Martin moved into eighth place by lap 240, before passing teammate Kurt Busch for seventh place on lap 255.

    Martin would go on to pass the No. 38 car of Elliot Sadler and the No. 29 car of Kevin Harvick (who ran out of gas with five laps to go) to move into the field’s top five. The finish was Martin’s fourth top-five finish in seven races at Vegas.

    Martin started the race 25th based on Friday’s qualifying effort. Despite struggling with the car’s inability to turn in the corner early, he was able to break into the top 20 by lap 20. The day’s first caution occurred on lap 38 with the No. 6 Taurus running in 19th position. That’s when the team went to work with the first of several key stops on the day. Taking four tires, fuel and making a wedge adjustment, the team gained Martin four positions up to 15th with a 14.65-second stop.

    The car began to handle ‘tight in the middle’ and ‘loose on the outside’ over the course of the next run, making it difficult for Martin to pass other cars. Running 13th, the team used a caution on lap 86 to come into the pits and put a spring rubber in the car’s rear end, in addition to taking on four tires and fuel. The team did an excellent job in the pits, making the necessary adjustment in 17.45 seconds, while only losing one position on the track.

    Martin battled lapped traffic over the course of the next two runs, and was running 11th when caution number 4 was called on lap 168. A 14.94-second stop by the Viagra? Racing Team moved Martin up four places and into the top 10 for the first time of day at seventh place. Martin would remain in the top 10 for the remainder of the race, before going on to claim the top-five finish. The finish marked Martin’s sixth top-10 finish in seven races at Las Vegas; the most of any driver.

    “I'm so thankful to have this team,” said Martin. “These guys are just fantastic. I knew we were on the verge of doing something today. They really started to step it up and get things done.”

    “We just needed a little wind in our sail and now we can go to Atlanta and try to qualify a little better. We've still got work to do. We weren't good enough, but we were sure better than we had been and this was definitely a solid effort by these guys.”

    Matt Kenseth won the race, recording his second consecutive victory and joining Martin and teammate Kurt Busch in the field’s top 10 on Sunday. The top-five finish moved Martin up eight spaces to 20th in the Nextel Cup point standings.

    The team returns to action next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Martin Ready To Roll In Las Vegas
    fordracing.com
    March 7, 2004

    Las Vegas —Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Viagra Taurus, won the inaugural NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and will start 27th in tomorrow’s event. He held a Q&A session in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway infield media center prior to Saturday’s practice session.

    WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS COMING INTO THIS WEEKEND?

    “I’m ready to go racing. Our team has spent the winter doing all the things they can do to get ready for the season. You spend so much time at Daytona [Beach, Fla.] and then go to Rockingham [N.C.], and then to have a break was a little bit too soon for us. We need to go to the race track week in and week out and work together with Pat [Tryson, crew chief] and all the guys on the Viagra team. They have built some really nice race cars and the more we get familiarized with each other and with our cars, I think the better we’ll get. We didn’t feel like we got everything that was there for us at Rockingham and certainly didn’t get everything that was there for us yesterday, but we did come out and spend some time testing in January here, so we think when we get into race trim that we should be better here. Obviously, we haven’t gotten off to a very good start this year, but we’ve had fast race cars at Daytona and Rockingham and that’s exciting because your luck can change pretty easy, but it’s hard to take poor performing equipment and make it stellar. So I think that we’ve got the team and the stuff to do what we need to do, we just need to turn our luck around a little bit.”

    WHAT ABOUT STARTING 27TH [SUNDAY]?

    “The competition is really stout right now. There are some really good teams that are really on their game right now, so that makes it quite a challenge no matter where you start. We’re used to starting back there and we’re used to racing better than we qualify and that’s what we expect to do. Like I said before, we’ve got a great race team. This is an awesome race track. It’s fantastic to be here and it’s a good place to race and a good place to pass. There’s no anxiety about getting around folks that are in front of us. We just have to be on our game.”

    WHY HAVE YOU HAD SO MUCH SUCCESS HERE?

    “This is a race track where there is a real premium on handling and that’s what I’ve always put a lot of emphasis on. That’s sort of been my specialty through the years and I’ve had the opportunity to work with great people like Jim Fennig out here and other great people and crew chiefs and engineers. You’ve got to make them go through the corners.”

    HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET A GOOD READ ON WHAT TEAMS HAVE ADJUSTED TO THE NEW TIRE AND RULES PACKAGE?

    “I’ve been around a long time and I think a lot of times I get a pretty good read on things and my read is that the people that were on their game last fall are still on their game. There is an opportunity for someone that wasn’t on their game to emerge based on the changes - just accidentally happening right on top of it and say, ‘Man, these guys have got it going on.’ But, for the most part, the Evernham cars and the Ganassi cars are on it and the Hendrick guys are where they were last year. The Childress guys seem to be where they were last year and the Roush guys seem to be, as a group, a little bit better than they were last year. There will be a little movement in that, but my read on it is the guys that had it going last year are just making the adjustments that they need to and still have the same kind of advantages that they had last year.”

    CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE CHANGING DYNAMIC OF THE SPORT AND SOME OF THE TEAMS SHOWING UP NOW THAT MAYBE WOULDN’T HAVE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO?

    “The growth of the sport was enormous, as you know, in the late nineties and 2000, 2001 range. Nothing ever stays consistent. There are ups and downs. The last few years, the reason there wasn’t room for someone to come into Cup and get some experience is because they couldn’t get in the race. There were too many great teams - too many great funded teams and great people. Right now, it’s a little leaner times and that’s sort of a delay. The economy took its hit a couple of years ago or whenever it was and it’s really taken some time for contracts to expire and this, that and the other for it to really feel the pinch here.

    “There are a few less great funded teams out there and that opens an opportunity for someone to come and do it - to come and make the race and be able to race. There are positives and negatives about that. The negatives are there may be more crashes or more oiled down race tracks from broken parts, but the positive thing is it gives some people a better opportunity to showcase their talent. They might not have gotten that opportunity if it wasn’t for the way things are right now. It’s always gonna change.”

    ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW WELL THE YOUNG DRIVERS HAVE ADJUSTED?

    “No, I’m not. These guys are incredibly talented and they wouldn’t run worth a flip if they drove slow cars. That’s the way it used to be. The incredibly talented drivers would come in and they wouldn’t get to drive a good car. They wouldn’t show everybody what they could do. Kasey Kahne has obviously stepped into a great race car and it allows him to show everyone right now what he can do and Jamie McMurray is the same thing. Kyle Busch is another example. You put those guys in slow cars and you guys wouldn’t be talking about them as much, but the bottom line is they are incredibly talented and I think it’s very exciting.”

    WHEN YOU CAME ALONG AND DIDN’T HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY, WAS IT FRUSTRATING?

    “That’s the way it was. It didn’t seem frustrating because that’s what you did. That’s the way it was. I don’t think it was frustrating at all because that’s what you did. That’s how it was and it was that way for everyone that came in - for the Rusty Wallaces and the Alan Kulwickis and everyone that I knew. They all came in and drove lesser stuff and did their best to get noticed and did their best to get better opportunities.”

    WHEN MATT [MARTIN, SON]IS READY, DO YOU THINK HE COULD COME IN AT THIS LEVEL?

    “There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Matt has the talent, but he is 12 (laughter). He is 12 and that means there’s a lot of time between now and then that can direct that. He may not want to do it bad enough to do it. You have to want it really bad. He has the talent, but he will have to decide if that’s what he wants to do. Then the only other thing about that is it’s gonna take a lot of discipline to hold him back long enough - to try to introduce him too fast. That’s my biggest concern over the last couple of months is that I’m ready to go. He’s driving a truck now and he’s running really good and he’s doing really good and I’m ready to move. I’m ready to move to the next step. The hardest thing for me is gonna be to not continue to face those great challenges and get him challenged too young. We’re having fun. We’re having a ball with it and I’m gonna try to just continue to have fun with it rather than really push it. As he gets 16, 17 we’ll see how much fire he really has for it. If he has a fire for it, he will do it.”

    WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST SOURCE OF OPTIMISM THIS SEASON?

    “I think it originates with Pat Tryson. I think that’s where the core of it all comes because I think Pat is gonna do a fabulous job to fight to get me great stuff. Then I’ll expand. The engines are very exciting right now for us. The aero department is doing a fantastic job and I’m excited at where we’re at with that versus where we were before, and the team itself. The pit stops are gonna be better than they have been in the past and some of that originates back to Pat, but it all comes back to Pat. I believe Pat is gonna do a great job. If we’re weak in some area, I think he’s gonna do a great job. I like him because he won’t let anything get in the way of strengthening our weaknesses. I’ve got a great race team there and they’re real excited. If you remember, 1998 was one of the best seasons I’ve had in my career and 2002 was another one. In both of those year I had a lot of new people or an almost new race team. Both of those years I had that real, fresh, young feeling of excitement when we went to the race track and we have that again. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna have a great year, but that means we have that spark and if we can get beyond poor luck. I told Pat yesterday, ‘Man, we’ve just got to keep these guys pumped up until we can have some good luck, so that things just don’t keep going wrong for us.’ When the wind comes out of a race team’s sail, I have never seen it come back. I’ve had it come out of my sail before, but I can get it back. I don’t want to let this thing die. If we can just keep this thing going and keep these guys charged up and doing the kind of job their doing until we can have some good luck on the race track, we’re off and running and 2004 can be a great year for us.”

    DID THE WIND GO OUT OF YOUR SAIL LAST YEAR?

    “We started off the season running well. We had cars that were as good as they were in 2002 and sometimes even better, but we broke here and the very next weekend we broke at Atlanta. Then we went to Darlington and, I’ll be honest with you, I really thought we were gonna win that race and we had a bad stop on the last stop and didn’t. Things deteriorated from there and pretty soon we just couldn’t do it. We just could not make it happen. I have not seen a race team get back up if they ever get deflated like we wound up getting down last year. I’m so proud of the people that I’m working with and 2004 is the opportunity of the year for me. This is it. Let’s go. I want to go and make a great year out of this thing. I have all the tools in front of me to do it. I have the people. We had horrendous luck at Daytona with a car that I thought we could contend with and we went to Rockingham and ran pretty well. We got caught two laps down pitting under the green, but a lot of other people did too. We had a real decent car and right now is an opportunity. If we go out here the next couple of weeks and have some solid runs, I think that we’ve got a good shot to make a championship run at it.”

    CAN BUSCH SERIES SUCCESS HELP ON THE CUP LEVEL AND DO YOU WISH YOU COULD RUN MORE BUSCH RACES?

    “That’s a good question and it’s gonna take me just a little bit to answer it because it’s pretty complex. Earlier in your NASCAR career, the track time is very important to the driver. To answer your question, the track time they’re getting doing both is important and is beneficial. For me, I don’t need any practice. I’ve been doing this stuff a long time, so that part of it there’s very little gain. When I ran Busch all the time the cars were so different that it was very rare to cross over, but once in a while we would. It was rare, so it wasn’t helping the Cup program that much. The thing that it did do for me was, at times when I was really down in Cup racing, I would still win in Busch racing and that would keep everybody remembering that it was a car-team related problem and not a driver problem. That and IROC benefited my career enormously. Nowadays, the rules have changed so much more like Cup that I think it’s very possible that more things can cross over, but I can’t say for sure because I haven’t driven a downforce car yet in Busch. I think you can cross more things over and I think the opportunity - because there’s so much more experimenting and engineering going on with these cars nowadays with the setups changing so much - that I think the opportunity to learn more about your Cup car is there. Do I think that if I could run 15 Busch races it would enhance my Cup cars performance? The answer is yes. I tried to get that done and I got three for this year, one of which we didn’t get to run at Daytona so I’m down to two. Two is better than none.”

    WHAT CHARACTERISTICS MAKE ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY SO FAST?

    “It’s the shape, the size, the banking and the transitions from straightaway to corner. It makes better speed. If you made sharper corners, it wouldn’t be as fast. If you had flat straightaways and then corners that were banked up, you’d have to slow down more approaching the corner. It’s just the shape and the banking, coupled with the transitions and size.”

    THIS WILL BE THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME THAT BILL ELLIOTT WON’T RACE AT ATLANTA. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

    “Well, he’s a jillion time most popular driver so that should sum it up. If you want to keep it short, that should pretty much sum it up, but as a competitor and as a friend he’s been terrific as well. Just as fantastic as he’s been for the fans, he has been as a competitor and a friend in the garage to many.”

    HOW DO YOU THINK THE SAFER BARRIER WILL AFFECT RACING AT DARLINGTON?

    “I’ve got my head buried in the competition side of the 6 car and I haven’t heard, but I sure hope they’re not putting those barriers in at Darlington because there’s not room there. In my opinion, there’s not room on that race track for that. My vote, if I had a vote, would don’t put ‘em here because, to me, there’s not room for the groove. But everywhere else, it’s like yeah, yeah. It’s awesome, but Darlington for the speed and the shape - it’s just the narrowest race track we race on by far, so it’s gonna be interesting now that I find out they’re gonna do it. It’s less needed there than most places.

    “It’s less needed there for a safety standpoint, but for a race we’re gonna be crippled if we lose two or three feet. If we lose two or three feet around that place, we need every bit of that two or three feet. You can see that after the race. Every other car has the side slid off of it now, so we needed two more feet going out not two feet coming in. Anyway, I applaud NASCAR and the SAFER barriers are wonderful. I hope that when my son races NASCAR that he never drives on a track that doesn’t have them. They have to have them. It’s a good thing.”

    ANY CONCERN THAT SOME OF THE FASTER TRACKS DON’T HAVE THE SAFER BARRIER?

    “I think we have to be patient and understanding that it’s a major operation and undertaking to do. There was a lot of impatience before they got started implementing them into the race track. They had to make sure they didn’t create a problem trying to solve one problem and creating another safety problem. I think that we have to be patient and hope that we don’t get caught out and have an incident on one where it’s a devastating incident where you could be in line for criticizing for not already doing it. It is a major undertaking and my first response to that is I feel that we need to be as patient as we can, but work as hard as we can to get ‘em implemented into every race track.”

    WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A SECOND DATE AT VEGAS OR OTHER SPECIFIC TRACKS?

    “My answer to that is controversial. I answer this purely from a competitor’s side. I’m not in the business side. If I were in the business side I would only answer that in how it would be the best to make money or whatever. I’m a competitor. From a competitor’s standpoint, we go to some race tracks that are hard to race on, especially with 43 cars and don’t lend themselves to the greatest racing. In that respect, there are a number of race tracks that I’d like to see switch dates around. From the commercial side of it, I believe Vegas is one and Texas is another that are huge. Those are just the ones that come to mind. There are many others, but a lot of the newer race tracks only have one date but are better equipped to either race on from a competitive side or much better equipped to fill the grandstands. But that’s not my deal. My deal is driving the race car and racing the cars."

    Las Vegas SUN: Martin set for another good run in Las Vegas
    By Nick Christensen
    SUN Correspondent
    March 5, 2004

    Last weekend, NASCAR took advantage of the leap year by giving its drivers a rare weekend off.

    But a weekend off is subjective. Most drivers found themselves near a track, studying, working, trying to improve their cars or get the thrill of racing.

    Not a true weekend off.

    There's never any true time away from the track for a successful driver, says NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Mark Martin.

    "If you're successful in this business, it's every day," Martin said earlier this week. "No matter if you're a driver, owner, crewman, it doesn't matter. If you're successful in this thing, it sucks you in every single day."

    But it's that sacrifice that helped Martin win the inaugural Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, back in 1998, at a time when not only Las Vegas, but the cookie-cutter track in general, was a fairly new concept in NASCAR racing.

    And instead of taking his offseason, well, off, Martin came out to the Las Vegas track, tested, and found what was right for him and his team to come out and win at LVMS.

    One of Martin's most successful seasons was in 1998, when he finished second in the Winston Cup standings, 364 points behind Jeff Gordon.

    In addition to the inaugural Las Vegas win, Martin's team also won the second- year races at Texas and California.

    And, in this year of change when, in a sense, every race is an inaugural one, Martin said the attitude in his garage strikes him as similar to that from six years ago.

    "When I go to the racetrack and work with my team, it feels a lot like it did in 1998," Martin said. "Working with these guys, they're young, energized, and excited, and I'm hoping that this year will bring those same kinds of results."

    Martin's toughest competition will likely come from his Roush Racing teammates, who have had all but a stranglehold on success at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Four of the six LVMS races have been won by Roush drivers, including Matt Kenseth's one win last year in his championship season. Martin also won a Busch series race at Las Vegas in 1999.

    Martin said that any success that the Roush drivers had at Las Vegas was coincidental.

    "We went there, ran well, and beat everybody based on hitting the right setup. That's really how we run those races," Martin said. "It wasn't something that Roush Racing handed to us, 'Here, this is what you need to go win,' the teams, the drivers, the crew chiefs went to work... We don't have any special knowledge about the Vegas racetrack versus any other racetrack."

    But he also said he expects his teammates to perform well in Sunday's race, citing Jeff Burton's two wins at LVMS and local Kurt Busch's consistent runs at his home track.

    This season, though, could throw the Roush drivers a curveball with new tires and spoilers on the Cup series cars. In a sense, he said, it's a whole new LVMS from the one that he and other Roush drivers have been successful at in the past.

    Adjusting to the new setup, and doing so better than anyone else, is the key to success.

    "The biggest challenge I see is the same challenge that we had when we went there for the inaugural race, that is to beat everybody through the corners," Martin said.

    "If we can do that, we'll be able to contend to win that thing. That's a tall order. You've got a lot of smart people trying to all do the same thing. That's really what it all boils down to, can we figure out a way to make our car go through the corners faster than everybody else."

    Martin, Roush Racing have excelled in Vegas
    By Kevin Woods, Roush Racing

    CONCORD, N.C. -- Mark Martin and Roush Racing started off their Las Vegas racing with a bang 1998, seeing Martin win the inaugural event, while Roush put all five of its Nextel Cup cars inside the top-10. For Martin the victory was one of the most memorable of his 33 Nextel Cup wins.

    "The win there in '98 is one of the most memorable I have," said Martin. "It was a lot like the win in the Coca-Cola 600 a couple of years ago, in the fact that we had a new team. It was a brand new track and a brand new team, and we were looking to see what we could do.

    "I'll never forget leaving that night, after all the media stuff was done. We were flying out in the helicopter and I looked down over the track and realized what we had accomplished," added Martin. "It was kind of overwhelming. I've had a lot of success in NASCAR, but I've always been so busy looking to next week that I seldom stop to look at what we are doing. You could look down and see that track and realize that it wasn't some quarter-mile dirt track that we had just won on."

    Martin has went on to finish inside the top-10 in five of six Nextel Cup races held at Las Vegas; he and teammate Jeff Burton are the only drivers who can claim five top five finishes at the track. In fact, Martin and Burton both have three finishes of third or better in six races at Vegas.

    Martin was the only driver to post a top-five finish in each of the first five races at Vegas and he completed every NASCAR Nextel Cup lap races there through 2002 (1,216). In addition, Martin also won two poles and recorded one victory in three Busch series races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he finished second and sixth in the other two Busch races at Vegas.

    Roush Racing's incredible success at Las Vegas might have started with Martin, but it does not end there. In fact Roush Racing has won four of the six races at Vegas, including the first three, with Jeff Burton winning in both 1999 and 2000 and Matt Kenseth taking the checkered flag in 2003. In Martin's inaugural win at the track, he edged Burton by just 1.065 seconds. Burton is the only multiple race winner at Vegas and he has led a total of 204 laps on the track, the most of any Nextel Cup driver, edging Martin who has led 186 laps at the 1.5-mile track. All in all, Martin and Burton have led 390 laps at Vegas, 26 percent of every lap ran there in a Nextel Cup race.

    In addition Burton has scored four top-five finishes at Vegas. He has also posted a pair of victories in the Busch Grand National series at Vegas as well, including one in 2002. Roush Racing's Greg Biffle won the Craftsman Truck series race in Vegas in 1999 and former Roush driver Joe Ruttman won the truck race there in 1997. Giving Roush a total of nine victories at the 1.5-mile oval.

    Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Livonia, Mich., based Roush Industries that operates nine motorsports teams; five in NASCAR Nextel Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle, two in the Busch Series with Martin, Burton, Kenseth and Biffle and two in the Craftsman Truck Series with drivers Jon Wood and Carl Edwards.

    Inaugural Vegas Victory a Special Memory for Martin
    Roush Racing

    CONCORD, N.C. (March 1, 2004) Mark Martin has amassed 33 Nextel Cup victories during his distinguished racing career. In fact the 33 victories are the fourth most among active drivers on the circuit, the 10th most all-time in the modern era of racing.

    Martin has a tough time distinguishing victories, but he will admit a few stand out a little more than others and perhaps none are any bigger than win number 22. A victory in the Las Vegas 400, the inaugural Nextel Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1998.

    Martin headed into Vegas in 1998 with a brand new team and outlook. The win would be the first of a career-high eight for Martin in 1998 and the first for a driver in the manufactured Ford Taurus.

    "The win there in '98 is probably the most memorable win I have," said Martin. "We went there, it was a brand new track and we had a brand new team looking to see what we could do.

    "Once the race was all over with and we took care of all the Victory Lane stuff and all the media, we were leaving in the helicopter and I looked down at the track and it dawned on me what we had accomplished."

    Martin admits that despite years of success on the track, it was in the moments after that race that he first realized just what he had accomplished.

    "It was pretty overwhelming. I've had a lot of success in racing, but I never really paid much attention," said Martin. "I was always so busy looking ahead to the next one, but when I flew out of there and saw that track, it dawned on me that it wasn't just some quarter-mile dirt track in Arkansas and it dawned on me just what we had done."

    Martin and the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team will once again take to the track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In a town where nothing is a sure bet, Martin's consistency in Vegas may be as close as it gets.

    In addition to capturing the checkered flag in 1998, Martin has finished in the top 10 in five of his six Nextel Cup races at the track. He has brought home three top-five finishes; the victory in 1998 a third place finish in 2000 and a third-place run in 2002.

    In fact, Martin completed all 1,216 laps of the first five Nextel Cup races at Las Vegas, before engine problems ended his run in 2003. In addition, Martin has led 186 laps in his six races at Vegas.

    "It's been a race track where we have run well," said Martin. "We had engine problems there last year, but that's about all that's slowed us down. We won there and we've consistently competed there.

    "It suits my driving style," added Martin. "It's a race that is orientated towards handling and in the past we have excelled in that area."

    2004 Mark Martin Las Vegas Track Notes
    Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Roush Racing #6 Ford Taurus
    UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400/Las Vegas Motor Speedway - March 7, 2004
    Roush Racing
    March 2, 2004

    DRIVER: Mark Martin
    TEAM: No. (6) Viagra® Ford Taurus
    OWNER: Jack Roush
    CREW CHIEF: Pat Tryson

    CHASSIS NUMBER: RK-231

    The Viagra Racing Team will take RK-231 to Las Vegas. RK-231 is a brand new car that the team tested at Vegas in January.

    LAST RACE: Defending-champion Matt Kenseth nipped rookie Kasey Kahne at the finish line to win the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway. Although he led the point standings for a record 33 straight weeks last season, he had just one victory and only led 354 laps.

    LAST YEAR: Kenseth won the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 for his seventh career victory and Roush Racing's fourth win in six Winston Cup races at the track.

    FAST FACTS: Rusty Wallace has a winless streak of 100 races, the seventh longest among active drivers who have previously won an event. ... Jeff Burton outraced brother Ward to the finish line in 1999. It was the first 1-2 finish by brothers since Terry Labonte beat Bobby in 1997 in Talladega, Ala. ... Only the inaugural race in 1998 was won from a top-10 starting position. No pole-sitters have won the race.

    MARK MARTIN 2003 EVENT: Started: 29th Finished: 43rd

    MARTIN, NO. 6 TEAM LOOK TO HIT JACKPOT IN VEGAS

    This week the team rolls into Vegas where the odds have clearly been in Martin's favor over the years. In six races at Las Vegas Motorspeedway, Martin has posted five top 10 finishes and three finishes of third or better, including a victory in the inaugural event in '98.

    MARTIN ON THE INAGURUAL WIN AT VEGAS IN '98

    "It was a special thing," said Martin of the win. "I can remember flying out that night on the helicopter and looking down and thinking 'wow, we really did something.' It wasn't just a win at some dirt track in Arkansas, but a big thing. It'll always be one of my fondest memories in racing. We went there and it was a brand new track and we had a brand new team and it just all came together for us that day and when that happens it's special."

    VEGAS RICH IN HISTORY FOR MARTIN, NO. 6 TEAM

    No driver has been more consistent at Las Vegas than Martin. In addition to winning the inaugural race in 1998, Martin posted top 10 finishes in all of his first five races at the track. In fact, despite a 43rd-place finish at Vegas last year, Martin still averages an 11th place finish at Vegas, the second best among the 21 drivers who have ran in all six Vegas races. Martin also won two poles and one race in only three starts in the Busch car at Vegas.

    MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS

    • Martin's five top-10 finishes in six races ties for the most with teammate Jeff Burton.

    • Martin won the inaugural race at Vegas on March 1, 1998. It would be his first of a career-high eight wins that season.

    • Martin also won two poles and one victory in three Busch series races at the LVMS. He finished second and sixth in the other two.

    • Martin has finished every lap in five of his six races at Vegas.

    • Martin has finished third or better in three of six races at Vegas, and he an Burton are the only drivers with three top-five finishes at Vegas.

    • Martin has an 8.83 starting average in his 35 races at Rockingham, the best of active drivers with more than 10 starts there.

    QUOTING MARK MARTIN AND CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON

    Mark Martin On Las Vegas:

    "It's been a great track for this team over the years. We won the first race at Vegas in 1998 and it really stands out as a great win. We've been consistent there and that's the key. We lost an engine early in the race last year and finished last, but we've been in the top 10 in all of the other race and we've ran up front a lot at Vegas. It's one of the 1.5-mile tracks on the circuit that suits my driving style really well. It's a race that is orientated towards how the car handles and that is what I like. You can pass on the track and a great deal of the result is in the hands of the guys driving the car and that's the way it should be."

    "We had a tough time last week, but we had a great car. Everything kept going wrong for us, but Pat (Tryson) and the guys kept fighting and although we didn't get the finish we wanted, we still hung in there for a descent (12th) finish. If we keep fighting like that all year, we'll be just fine."

    Crew Chief Pat Tryson On Las Vegas:

    "Vegas is a fun place to race. We tested there in January and we are taking back the car that we used then. It's a new car and we can't wait to get it out on the track for the real thing. We've got a great car, a great team and a great driver and we will look to make some things happen in Vegas. We had out share of bad breaks at Rockingham, but we still came out standing in the end. Hopefully we'll keep moving forward with a strong run and finish at Vegas."

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