DOVER, Del.--It's not that Mark Martin wants to be known as NASCAR's stuffy old man.
He knows the fans love a good show. And he's seen plenty of good shows in his 23 years of Cup racing.
But after he won the Nextel Cup MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, Martin bypassed the traditional post-race victory donuts in his No. 6 Ford. Instead, he simply hummed the ride toward Victory Lane to greet his team and celebrate the end of a 73-race winless drought.
"I'm going to leave the burnouts to the young ones," the 45-year-old said with a smile. "I was excited enough to do one, but I would either hit the wall, wreck my car or kill the engine. You know, something stupid like that."
Martin rolled through that list of on-track discomforts quite easily. Over the last season and a half he's had plenty of good runs spoiled by such bad racing luck.
Seven of last year's 36 events ended with the No. 6 Ford either suffering from mechanical trouble or getting bottled up in a wreck. After a quick start, Martin failed to place in the top five in any of the final 21 races.
At this year's season-opening Daytona 500, Martin's maladies returned, as he bowed out with engine trouble after just seven laps.
"I had so many things go wrong and so many opportunities go by that it was starting to feel like it wouldn't work out for us," Martin said.
Dover was a logical place for Martin to rejuvenate himself. In 35 career Cup starts at the track he'd placed in the top five 15 times and taken three checkered flags. It wasn't always easy, though. Martin first attacked the "Monster Mile" as an unknowing newbie, and it took him time to tame the one-mile concrete oval.
"In the early years Mark had such great passion and enthusiasm for this track that he probably didn't have the experience to keep the tire on and keep the car underneath him," said team owner Jack Roush, "so he self-destructed a few times."
Before long, Martin had mastered the layout. It became one of his favorite stops on the circuit.
On Sunday, Martin's driving was gritty as ever. But it was his ability to avoid troublesome situations that gave him a chance to win.
Actually, it all started during a shortened practice run on Saturday.
During the final lap of Martin's session he looked through his windshield and saw that Morgan Shepherd's No. 89 Dodge had blown an engine coming through Turn 1. Martin was driving his favorite Dover car, and said if he'd had to switch to his backup ride he would've struggled.
The track was sprinkled with oil and Martin never had a chance to react. His No. 6 Ford slid toward the outside wall and toward Shepherd's car, but Martin managed to settle the car and move on without a scratch.
Then on race day Martin stayed one step ahead of trouble.
On Lap 346 he managed to slam the brakes just before running into the 19-car wreck that played out in front of him. At the time, he was one lap behind the leaders, but since he was the first car behind those on the lead lap, he got the "Lucky Dog" pass and was able to make up that gap.
On Lap 382, Casey Mears' No. 41 Dodge blew an engine, and the resulting oil slick sent race leader Kasey Kahne splintering into the outside wall. Martin was just a few feet away from the incident, yet came through unharmed.
"Everything worked out in our favor," Martin said. "And believe me, we were due, because things have worked against us so much for so long."
Now Martin finds himself within striking distance of the top 10 in the Nextel Cup standings. He's in 13th place with 1,521 points, which puts him 75 behind 10th-place Ryan Newman.
The drivers have 13 races left to solidify a spot in the top 10 so they can qualify for the season-ending 10-race "Chase for the Championship."
Martin, a four-time Cup runner-up, realizes he may not get many more chances at a series crown.
"If we can run like we're running now and have good fortune from now until [the season's 26th race in] Richmond," Martin said, "we might be able to make that top 10 cut."
Martin, No.6 Viagra Race Team Tame the Monster with Wild Win at Dover
DOVER, DEL. – “It was either get it done or lose, and I didn’t want to lose,” said Mark Martin moments after ‘getting it done’ at Dover International Speedway, running to his 34th career Nextel Cup victory. With 10 laps to go, Martin turned some of his fastest laps of the race to pull away from second place Tony Stewart and move on to his fourth career win at Dover.
“All I could do was stand up in the seat and do it,” added Martin. “I can’t say enough about this race team, starting with crew chief Pat Tryson. This win means a lot to me. I’ve dedicated my whole life to racing and winning is why I race. We’ve also had our share of heartbreak this year and this feels really good.
“We had a car last week (the same car) that was just as good and we had our hearts broken with both ignition boxes going out. The guys just said, ‘hey, we’ll just have to go win Dover’, and they did it and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to all of them, Pat, Wally (Brown, team engineer), Todd (Zeigler, car chief) and the whole Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) team. That’s like a fairly tail and it just doesn’t usually happen that way.
“This is a real team effort and a real team win,” added Martin. “Everybody at Roush Racing has put an awful lot into all these race teams and it feels good to see the No. 6 car get back to where we can run up front. It's the team. It's these guys. They're doing the work.”
The No. 6 Viagra Team put the heartbreak of last week behind them and turned its focus to Dover, where Martin was strong all weekend. The No. 6 Ford posted some of the fastest times both practice sessions and qualified seventh on Friday.
The race would turn out to be one of the wildest in recent memory, featuring seven cautions, including the ‘big one’ late that claimed 19 cars in its carnage. In the end, the day would see nearly three hours of yellow and red flag action, but one of the only constants of the day was Martin and the No. 6 Viagra Ford. Martin ran consistently inside the top 10, and the crew made no major changes to the car the entire day. Martin and Tryson masterfully worked to place themselves in position for the late run at the victory.
The car was slightly tight early on and Martin fell back to as far as 17th (lap 55) at one point in the race, before rallying to work his way back up the field. By lap 121 Martin had broken back inside the top 10, where he would run for the remaining 279 laps of the race. Martin had moved up to ninth place by lap 192, with the Viagra? Taurus running the fastest times on the track. By lap 278, Martin was running in sixth position.
The team came into the pits for a green flag stop on lap 314 to take on four fresh tires and fuel. Soon after that, things would get really interesting. First, race leader Tony Stewart missed pit road, making the No. 12 of Ryan Newman – the only car who hadn’t pitted – the race leader. Two laps later as Newman attempted to enter the pits, he lost control of the car, turning sideways while taking out the commitment cones that show the entrance to pit road. The spin caused a caution that would catch Martin and all but two other cars a lap down.
The chain of events caused confusion in scoring, and the field ran 26 laps under caution as Nascar sorted out the cars. In the end Martin was awarded the ‘lucky dog’ free pass, as he was the first car one lap down when the caution was issued. The team came into the pits to take on four tires and Martin was in fourth place when the field went green. Since was the lucky dog, Martin was forced to restart at the tail end of the longest line, which in the end would be a saving grace for Martin and the team.
The minutes leading up to the restarts would prove to be a critical time in the race, as Martin and Tryson sorted out what to do on the restart. Due to the way the caution had come out, several lapped cars were in between Martin and the next car for position.
“We are going to have to be careful here, as there is a good chance for a wreck,” warned Martin to Tryson over the radio.
Martin’s intuition proved true and his experience paid off, as the field had yet to go a full lap when the No. 15 and No. 23 cars connected, started a continuation of events that would see no less than 17 cars caught up in the mayhem before all was said and done. Because he had started at the end of the line, Martin was able to come to a complete stop, before making his way around the wrecked cars and into second position.
“When you had a restart with all those cars a lap down, some of which were in front of the leader, anybody who's been in racing very long knows that they're probably going to wreck,” said Martin.
“Our communication was good, and we strategized throughout the race. One of the key times was right before the big wreck,” added Martin. “We had to start at the tail end of the longest line and the other three guys on the lead lap were up front, so I said ‘we'll never get to them, so there's no use in getting in a hurry here. Let's just miss the wreck, because if there's a caution we can get up there and race them for it. And if there's not, we'll probably never reach them because we got all these lapped cars in between us, so it's important to miss the wreck’, and sure enough, there it was. We almost got in it anyway, and we were watching for it. The track was completely blocked and we had to come to a complete stop to miss it.
“I don't even know what happened,” said Martin. “I was so far behind it, I couldn't tell you. But I know they were sure wadded up down there when I got there. There was nowhere to go. I mean the track was totally blocked, and I stopped completely, dead still, and waited until some of the track cleared. And that was the only way I would've been able to get through it.”
The field was red-flagged on lap 347 to make time to clean up all the damage caused in the accident. When action resumed, Martin was running in second place, behind the No. 9 car of rookie Kasey Kahne. The team opted to come into the pits for four tires, while the No. 9 stayed out on old tires. The Viagra Race Team won the battle off pit road and Martin held his second-place position once the field went green on lap 353.
Caution was issued again 20 laps later when the No. 2 car brushed the wall. After debating the pro and cons of stopping, Tryson and Martin decided to stay out and not pit and Martin was still running in second place when the field went green with 20 laps remaining in the race on lap 380.
Two laps later Kahne lost control of his No. 9 car, spinning and hitting the wall after getting loose in what some speculated was oil dropped on the track by the No. 41 car. Martin was able to steer by Kahne’s out of control car, taking the lead for the first time of the day, while becoming the ninth and final leader of the race.
Again Martin and Tryson would have an important decision to make as caution was called for the seventh and final time as Kahne’s spinout triggered yet another multi-car accident just behind Martin.
“Pat just made a gutsy call to try and go for it,” said Martin. “If we pitted and put tires on, I'll bet you I'd have hit the oil, too. Our car was right, and I told Pat that I liked those tires. He knew the next set I might not like as good. I told him that was the best the car's been all day, when I was running second the Kasey there, and he made the call. It was a gutsy call and it paid off for us.”
The cars behind Martin opted to pit, including the No 20 car of Stewart that had clearly been the fastest car all day. As the race went green, Martin’s task would be to fend off Stewart – who was on fresh tires – for the nine remaining laps of the event.
Martin would be more than ready for the task, as his No. 6 Viagra Ford would pull away from Stewart. Martin turned some of the fastest lap times of the race, while cruising on to the 34th victory of his storied Cup career, and his first in just over two years.
"It was classic Mark Martin at Dover,” said owner Jack Roush. “He loves this place. He can't wait to get to Dover from one time we're here to the next.”
“It feels really good to go to victory lane,” said Tryson. “It’s really been a long day. We were a little bit off in the beginning, but the Viagra Ford was awesome all day. The team did a great job for us today and Mark really got up on the wheel when he needed to. It’s just an awesome feeling.”
“This team has done it,” said Martin. “I can't tell you exactly what it feels like to race for 25th each week like we did last year, but I can tell you it’s not any fun. These guys have us running in the top-10 again each week, and we're going to keep fighting. We've had a lot of problems this year, but we still want to make that top-10 at the cut. I know we've got a lot of work cut out for us, but these guys are going to do it."
“Our point standings don't reflect anything like what our team has performed like this year, but we still can make the top-10 at the cut if we can keep the bad luck behind us now. We have had the worst luck of any racer that I know of this year. So, today it was our day for it all to go our way instead of it going against us.
“This team has really rallied and come together and I wouldn’t be too surprised if we were to win another one within the next three or four races,” added Martin. “We've had some good cars this year that we didn't get to finish the job off with because of malfunctions. Maybe there's a silver lining to this points thing. If we can continue to run like we're running now and we can have good fortune from now until Richmond, hopefully we’ll be able to make that top-10 cut. And if we do that then we'll be tied for first."
The victory moved Martin up two places to 13th in the Nextel Cup point standings, 442 points behind the leader, but only 75 points outside of the top 10. Martin is currently only 11 points behind 11th place.
The team returns to action next week in Pocono where Martin has scored 14 top-10 finishes in his last 17 races. Martin finished second there last spring.
Long time coming
MARTIN ENDS WINNING DROUGHT AT A FAVORITE TRACK
BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT
Dover, Del. — It’s difficult to know whether to call Mark Martin the winner of the American Heroes 400 NASCAR Cup event or the winner of a last man standing contest. No matter, Martin put smiles on the faces of his sponsor, team, car owner and fans when he returned to victory lane after a 72 race hiatus.
There’s no doubt that this event will be long remembered for more closely resembling a superspeedway event than an unrestricted event on a one-mile oval. The race, which ended with just five cars left on the lead lap, was a body man’s dream as there were but a few cars — 18 of those got hammered in a single lap incident — that left Dover International Speedway that didn’t need an extensive stop in the body shop before returning to action.
The cautions, 11 of them total, started early and came often. The first came on lap 12 when Casey Mears squirted out of the pack and into the front straight wall. Mears was okay and was able to return to the track later in the event.
The third of the cautions was shown when Kurt Busch hustled Elliott Sadler into Turn 1 a little too hard. Sadler’s car spun up the track and was collected by Penske pilot Brendan Gaughan. Sadler got back to the garage, where Todd Parrott was able to repair the car in just five caution laps.
After the repairs Sadler’s car was close to right and he was able to start working his way through the field again. Sadler’s fortunes would improve later in the race.
Several single car incidents during the race’s doldrums were enough to keep the drivers hopping. These weren’t just any drivers as serious point runner Jeff Gordon slammed the wall hard enough, after cutting a tire on lap 321, to sideline the DuPont Chevy. Gordon’s 36th place finish comes just a week after a 30th place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Hendrick Racing driver.
Confusion joined the event on lap 319 when Ryan Newman tried to bring his Dodge onto pit road, way too full a head of steam. Newman’s car kicked sideways and caught the tire barrier that protects the end of pit road wall. While that in and of itself is not terribly confusing Newman was the only car on the lead lap at the time. The issued clouded further when Newman’s ride ran out of fuel on the backstraight. Newman, dead in the water, got pushed to pit road by the Motorcraft Ford and was later pushed to his pit by his teammate, Gaughan.
Newman’s crew thrashed on the car, working to repair it, but in the haste of frantic pit work NASCAR charged that Newman blew through the stop sign at the end of pit road. This, combined with coming into the pits when they were closed, netted Newman a one-lap penalty.
Logic would have dictated that if Newman was the only car on the lead lap at the time of the caution that he’d have been scored as the last car on the lead lap after the one lap penalty. That’s not quite how NASCAR scored it as they put the No. 12 car down to one lap behind the leaders. The team actively negotiated their position with the tower, burning about 15 laps doing so, but came up on the losing side of the argument.
It was when the field took the green, on lap 345, and things got wild.
YELLOW SEASON
The uncharacteristic “big one” broke loose when the field charged down into Turn 3 and Dave Blaney got the call from his spotter that his car was clear to take the inside groove. Unfortunately Blaney’s line wasn’t clear and he pivoted off the nose of Michael Waltrip’s car. The field, still in a very tight formation from the restart, piled on. In total 18 cars were involved in the incident.
Remarkably three of Roush Racing’s cars made it through the incident, largely unscathed, including Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin — all of whom stayed on the lead lap, a position that was held by just five cars at the time.
Describing what he saw as he charged into the accident scene Greg Biffle said, “It was terrible. It was one of the worst wrecks that I've been in, in NEXTEL Cup racing, so far. It wasn't bad, like anybody got hurt I don't believe or anything, but it just involved a lot of cars, and nobody could do anything."
NASCAR had to red flag the race for close to 20 minutes to clear the debris that the wrecked 18 cars had scattered all over the track.
Martin, who was far behind the field during the lap 345 incident, did stop on pit road for tires after he indicated that he might have picked up some spare metal in a tire.
What was left of the field staggered to the line to resume racing, but that only lasted 20 laps before Rusty Wallace hit the wall with his Dodge. The incident, while minor, gave those on the lead lap something to consider, which was whether to give up track position for a stop on pit road or just go for the checkers on remaining tires. Then race leaders, Kasey Kahne and Martin decided to stay out, while Burton and Tony Stewart elected to take on new tires.
The race restarted, again, this time on lap 380.
Kahne got a solid jump on second place runner, Martin, but trouble erupted again – on lap 382. This time it consumed Kahne’s car, as well as Martin’s teammate, Kenseth.
The incident came when Mears’ car oiled down the track, which remained green as the car billowed smoke. Kahne got in trouble when he charged into Turn 3 and was left a hapless passenger as his car met the Turn 4 wall. The hit was hard, bending both ends of his car. Kenseth’s car was wrecked when he tried to avoid the incident.
Out of the norm, Kenseth let the officials have it with both barrels after he walked back to pit road — that’s right, walked, after not seeing an ambulance.
“If I was a fan, first of all, I’d be mad at NASCAR who spent 40 laps under caution screwing around for who knows what reason, whether it’s a point issue or what. We wasted 40 laps of the race for that stuff.
“This time a car blew a half before we got there and they never threw the caution,” Kenseth said. “They just let it go green until we all go down in there and wrecked.
Kenseth was unhurt in the accident.
After another red flag period, which lasted another 20 or so minutes, Martin’s opportunity to close the deal was at hand.
VICTORY AT HAND
Martin led the cars to the line that remained on the lead lap on lap 391 and startled second place runner Stewart with an aggressive take off at the green. Martin not only got the jump but also was able to drive away as Stewart’s car wasn’t able to keep up with the Viagra Ford. Stewart got bogged down fighting with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for position, opening the door further for the Roush pilot to take the checkers.
"I can't describe [my feelings],” Martin said after victory lane ceremonies. “I couldn't believe it. I had so many things go wrong with opportunities go by that I couldn't believe that it was going to work out for us. I couldn't believe I was going to beat Tony.
“Listen, Tony outran me the first half the race, then at the end he had new tires and I didn't,” Martin said of the race’s close. “I knew I had my work cut out for me and I knew that I was probably going to get my heart broke. We got our heart broke last week at Charlotte running this well. All I could do was stand up in the seat, and I guess turned the fastest lap of the race for me right there at the end. I said yeah. It was either lose or get it done, and I didn't want to lose.”
Offering a glimpse of Martin’s deservedly black cloud thinking Martin said, “It means an enormous amount. I dedicated my whole life to racing and winning and is why I race. So, when you don't win, it's pretty difficult.”
He then added, “I want to tell you guys one thing, though. You know, I was really, really excited, but I don't know how to do a burnout, and I ain't gonna do one. So, I just hurried up and got to Victory Lane so I could see my guys who made it all happen. I'm going to leave [the burnouts] for the young ones. I was excited enough to do one, but I would either hit the wall, or wrecked my car, or do something, or kill it, kill the engine and not even get the tires spinning. You know, something stupid like that would happen or I'd do something stupid like that. So I had to forego the burnout thing.”
Car owner Jack Roush noted of his race-winning driver, "It was classic Mark Martin at Dover. He loves this place.
“He can't wait to get to Dover from one time we're here to the next. In the early years, he had such great passion and such great enthusiasm for it, he probably didn't have the experience to know how to keep the tire on it and keep the car underneath him, so he self-destructed a few times. I think those would be his words.
“But today he obviously used his years and used his experience and all of his skill when it came time for him to stand on the gas with tires that were older and for that reason should not have been as good as the tires behind, he reached down and got some speed out of the car that I don't think anybody could've gotten but Mark.
“At the same time, he was wary,” Roush added, knowing how his friend looks at these situations. “He had a feeling of foreboding whenever he was caught in the back there and he held back. When he was Kasey's age or Kurt Busch's age he wouldn't have done that, I'm sure he would've been right up in the middle of it. I can remember some times when we were in the middle of some of the things that happened before.
“This was the best of the best with Mark at Dover.”
Martin Wins First In Two Years
Dover, Del. — Smart, heads-up driving and the ability to avoid several multiple-car wrecks earned Mark Martin his first victory in two years and one week today at Dover International Speedway.
Although he was scored as being involved by NASCAR officials as being a part of a 19-car wreck on lap 347 of 400, Martin was actually able to avoid the race-altering crash that involved some of the race’s top-runners, including teammate Greg Biffle. But the race’s final red-flag caution, called for race-leader Kasey Kahne after wrecking due to a oil spill left on the track from the car of Casey Mears, allowed Martin the position for the win.
Kahne wrecked on lap 382 and Martin was then scored as the race-leader. He defended the lead from hard-charging, but ultimately hapless, Tony Stewart until the checkered flag waived giving him his first NEXTEL Cup win since the Coca Cola 600 in 2002.
MARK MARTIN - NO. 6 VIAGRA TAURUS - VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW
"Our Taurus was great. This Viagra team's just been making better and better race cars. I told you guys at Charlotte we had something, and then the doggone ignition went out twice and messed that all up. They said we'd come up here and win, but that's a fairy tale story, man. It doesn't usually work out that way. Kasey [Kahne] was incredibly fast And, Pat [Tryson, crew chief] just made a gutsy call to try and go for it. I'll bet you if we pitted and put tires on, I'll bet you I'd have hit the oil, too. I mean, it was meant to be today for us."
HOW ABOUT THE RE-STARTS?
"Our car was right, and I told Pat, he knew I liked those tires, and he knew the next set I might not like as good. I told him that was the best the car's been all day, when I was running second the Kasey there. It's just a great, great day. Those Goodyears, they just ran forever, they keep backing up the times. We had a long-range setup on the thing. This team has done it, man. I can't tell you what it's like to race for 25th, but it's not any fun. These guys have moved me up into the Top 10, and we're gonna keep fighting. We've had a lot of problems this year, but we still want to make that Top-10 at the cut. I know we've got a lot of work cut out for us, but these guys are going to do it."
PAT TRYSON, CREW CHIEF - NO. 6 VIAGRA TAURUS
"It's been a long day. The Viagra Ford Taurus was awesome all day. We were a little bit off in the beginning. Mark did an awesome job, and just feels good to go to Victory Lane.”
MARTIN PRESS CONFERENCE
Well, I do love this race track, and Jack [Roush, owner] and I love this race track. We came here a lot of times and ran really fast a lot of times and seemed to blow a lot of tires out and test the walls out, tried to moved them a few times. In the late '90s we really finally started to get the final results here that we felt that we deserved. We'd always had fast race cars here. There was a lot of pressure on me to win this race today, from a lot of different directions. First of all, my son, Matt, won his race last night in his Ford F-150 truck down in Florida. So, he likes to have a friendly competition with me. He figures if he could do it, I should be able to do it. That's a pretty good weekend for the Martin family. It's a pretty big deal for him and certainly this is an incredible team effort by everybody on the Viagra team and everybody at Roush Racing. Man, it's an honor to drive for people who love you. I love working with Pat Tryson and my whole team, Wally Brown and Todd Ziegler and all these guys that work on that 6 car. Our point standings don't reflect anything like what our team has performed like this year. This is good, this is good. We still can make the Top 10 at the cut if we can keep the bad luck behind us now. We have had the worst luck of any racer that I know of this year. So, today, it was our day for it all to go our way, instead of it going against us."
YOU SEEMED TO WORK YOUR AWAY AROUND ALL THE TROUBLE.
"There was a lot of strategy played here and it all worked, which it doesn't seem to usually do that. My deal started yesterday, the final lap of practice yesterday, Morgan blew up going into [Turn] 1 and I was right behind him in the oil and slid right to the wall, with my favorite race car, and almost hit the wall, and then almost hit Morgan. And so just avoiding that was a huge thing, because then we still had our favorite car in one piece for today. And then the race started and the car was OK. We didn't make hardly any adjustments to the car all day, and as the race track took rubber and started biting, our car just got better and better. And that's partly the experience I have here and partly Pat Tryson and the team putting the right stuff in there. Our communication was good, and we strategized throughout the race and one of them was right before the big wreck, we had to start at the tail end of the longest line and the other three guys on the lead lap were up front, so I said we'll never get to 'em. Here's no use in getting in a hurry here, let's just miss the wreck, because if there's a caution we can get up there and race them for it. And if there's not, we'll probably never reach 'em because we got all these lapped cars in between us, so it's important to miss the wreck, and sure enough, there it was. We almost got in it anyway, and we were watching for it. And then as far as the oil, whatever happened to Kasey, I never saw anything on the race track. I was running about two feet lower on the race track than he was. My left-side tires were touching the apron when I went in the corner, and I never saw anything or felt anything. That's just a stroke of luck. I bet you if Pat had've pitted me and put new tires on me right there, I'd have hit the oil and crashed. Everything worked out in our favor, and believe me, we were due, because things have worked against us so much for so long."
YOU WON THE FASTEST RACE AT DOVER AND NOW THE SLOWEST [BECAUSE OF ALL THE CAUTIONS].
"I don't remember 1999 (laughter). But I do have the trophy and that's really a good thing, and to have another one means so much to me. Arlene, my wife, and Matt weren't able to be here, but they did go racing last night and they had their family there. This is a real team effort and a real team win. Everybody at Roush Racing has put an awful lot into all these race teams and it feels good to see the 6 car get back to where we can run up front. It's the team. It's these guys. They're doing the work."
HOW GOOD DOES THIS FEEL?
"I can't describe it. That feeling has already kind of started to wore off. I couldn't believe it. I had so many things go wrong with opportunities go by that I couldn't believe that it was going to work out for us. I couldn't believe I was going to beat Tony. Listen: Tony outran me the first half the race, then at the end he had new tires and I didn't. I knew I had my work cut out for me and I knew that I was probably going to get my heart broke. We got our heart broke last week at Charlotte, running this well. All I could do was stand up in the seat, and I guess turned the fastest lap of the race for me right there at the end. I said yeah. It was either lose or get it done, and I didn't want to lose. It means an enormous amount. I dedicated my whole life to racing and winning is why I race. So, when you don't win, it's pretty difficult. I want to tell you guys one thing, though. You know, I was really, really excited, but I don't know how to do a burnout, and I ain't gonna do one. So, I just hurried up and got to Victory Lane so I could see my guys who made it all happen. I'm going to leave that for the young ones. I was excited enough to do one, but I would either hit the wall, or wreck my car, or do something, or kill it, kill the engine and not even get the tires spinning. You know, something stupid like that would happen or I'd do something stupid like that, so I had to forego the burnout thing. I was really excited to get in there and see their face. That's what it's all about. They make so many sacrifices for this, and it really means a lot to me to see that energy and excitement in their face, reward."
ON THE WRECK.
"I got stopped. I did have time. There was nowhere to go. I mean the track was totally blocked, and I stopped completely, dead still, and waited until some of the track cleared. And that was the only way I would've been able to get through it. Obviously, because [Ryan] Newman, we had already pitted when Newman did his deal, that caught us a lap down, but we were running the first car a lap down, so we got the Lucky Dog, and then had to start at the tail end of the longest line. To me, it just didn't make any sense to go for it because there was something like 60 laps to go and I felt like with all those lapped cars in between us and those good cars going to be up front, I'd probably never have a chance to gain a spot here, I just need to hope I miss the wreck, but I expect it's gonna happen, and then go racing, when I can get up there with them. That's what we did. It was a lucky break. You know, I'm not smart. You could say that I was smart, but that wasn't rains, that was luck, you know, to make that call."
ON WORKING WITH PAT TRYSON
"I just like working with him. What I like about Pat is I have not had to tell him twice. When I drive that car and I tell him to fix something on it, it gets done. When I do that, it's the last time we discuss it until we go to the track again and it does it again. And then we have to have another discussion. When that car does whatever it is and I say, 'You got to fix that,' next time we go to the race track it's something else we need to work on, it's not that. I really like that. He's very aggressive, and he is a gutsy-call guy. If you'll look at his history of the races he's won, they've all been through gutsy calls. It's good. And my whole team has turned the corner. There are some guys there who were there last year and suffered through a lot of things, and we have some new people, but the chemistry was just awesome from January testing on, and I knew that we had a shot to get things back going. The chemistry is really good within the team. Each and every one of them will do whatever it takes to get it done, and they're getting it done."
THE WRECK REPORT SAID YOU WERE INVOLVED IN THE WRECK. BUT, OTHER THAN STOPPING, NOTHING ELSE?
"That was it. I just was parked behind it all."
DALE EARNHARDT JR., SAID YOU WERE A PURE RACER, OUT THERE TO WIN, AND NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY.
"I appreciate Junior saying that. He knew me when I was young and he was knee high. I went to Dale Sr.'s house in January of 1982, and you can do the math, he was little. I've known him, not closely, but I've known him since. I saw him there, so I think Junior knows, he's kind of watched me, watched me race against his dad, and then got a chance to race against me, and I think he knows me and kind of knows who I am what I'm made of and he probably knows that as far as that goes, his dad and I shared something in common, and it's all about the racing, for me."
ON A "BIG WRECK" AT DOVER.
"That's the first time I've seen one here. That was a big one. I don't know what happened. I was so far behind it, I couldn't tell you. But I know they were sure wadded up down there when I got there. It seemed like the race track, it's not even black now. It never really seemed to take rubber today. I don't know if it was because it was overcast or what, but the race track was more difficult to get, it was really fast, but when the grip would break loose it would break away really like ice. And the high groove never really came in. I don't think that people got to running up at the top part of the race track like they have the last few times. When you had a re-start with all those cars a lap down, some of which were in front of the leader, anybody who's been in racing very long knows that they're probably gonna wreck."
YOU WERE EXCITED ABOUT THE SEASON BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. IS THIS HOW YOU FIGURED THE TEAM WOULD COME TOGETHER?
"I really had hoped so. And this could still have a Cinderella story to it because of the point system being changed. Otherwise, it would already be a bust because of bad luck. No poor performances. I was so excited about the Daytona 500, one of the most excited I've ever been. We had a great car at Martinsville, we had an incredible car last week at Charlotte. We've had some good cars this year that we didn't get to finish the job off with because of malfunctions. And so maybe there's a silver lining to this points thing. If we can continue to run like we're running now and we can have good fortune from now until Richmond, we might be able to make that Top-10 cut. And if we do that then we'll be tied for first."
DO YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THE WAY NASCAR DELAYED THE RE-STARTS, THUS SLOWING DOWN THE RACE?
"I think they did the best they could under the circumstances. They were really caught in a bad situation there, with Ryan being the last of the top leaders to pit and doing what he did. It was a very confusing thing and I think that they did the best that they could. Every once in a while you get caught in a circumstance that is real awkward and real hard to sort out and I think that they were trying to make sure that they did the right thing there."
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO KASEY KAHNE OR ANOTHER YOUNG DRIVER WHO IS COMING INTO THE SERIES?
"Kasey's going to win tons of races. I'm sure he's incredibly disappointed. He sure had a car today to get it done, but his time will come, and many times. He's got to do what we did last week. He's got to say we'll go win at Pocono. That's what we did at Charlotte. My guys just said, hey, we'll just go win Dover, and they did."
IT SEEMS LIKE IT TAKES NASCAR A LONG TIME TO RESOLVES SCORING ISSUES AFTER CAUTIONS. IS IT WORTH REMEMBERING THAT THIS ALL GOES BACK TO NOT RACING BACK TO THE YELLOW? IS THE SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS WORTH THE SCORING HASSLES?
"The safety is worth the scoring hassles. And the scoring hassles are not regular. They happen from time to time. They were caught in a really tough situation with Ryan spinning into the pit wall there today. Being one of the last leaders to pit was just a whole can of worms. They did the best they could today, and it's all in the name of safety, and it could make a huge difference in someone's well-being at some point in time. I support it."
ON HIS SON, MARK'S, VICTORY
"It was Columbia Motorsports Park in Lake City, Fla. The fast truck series. And he races in the fast kids division, which is 12- to 16-year-old kids in that division. That was his third win, but that was a big one because his uncle and family and grandparents and everybody were there to see him do it, and he did it in fine fashion, too. He had to work for it, had to race real hard for it. They had a lot of fun. It was an exciting phone call to get last night."
JACK ROUSH, OWNER
"It was classic Mark Martin at Dover. He loves this place. He can't wait to get to Dover from one time we're here to the next. In the early years, he had such great passion and such great enthusiasm for it, he probably didn't have the experience to know how to keep the tire on it and keep the car underneath him, so he self-destructed a few times. I think those would be his words. But today he obviously used his years and used his experience and all of his skill when it came time for him to stand on the gas with tires that were older and for that reason should not have been as good as the tires behind, he reached down and got some speed out of the car that I don't think anybody could've gotten but Mark. At the same time, he was wary. He had a feeling of foreboding whenever he was caught in the back there and he held back. When he was Kasey's age or Kurt Busch's age he wouldn't have done that, I'm sure he would've been right up in the middle of it. I can remember some times when we were in the middle of some of the things that happened before. This was the best of the best with Mark at Dover. I look forward to coming back here with him several more times, or many more times. As many times as he'll come, as he'll stay with me, and I'm sure that he can do this some more, but Dover's one of his favorite places.
"This is the first victory that Mark's had since I hurt myself in 2002. I was absent without leave at Charlotte when he won and I don't know if he ever totally forgave me for that, but I gave them all a big scare and I'm glad to be back."
ON HIS OTHER TEAMS
"As always, when I go to bed tonight I'll have a corner of my mouth smiling about the win, but I'll have a huge frown on my face and I'll have trouble getting to sleep because of the missed opportunities we had. Matt Kenseth was caught up in the same problem, apparently, that Kasey had where there was oil on the track and the area of the track where was running, and he was racing the 23 at the time and the spotter didn't tell him that there was a reason to believe there was oil. For that matter, I don't think, the crises' were not simultaneous and I think that the spotter probably didn't tell him that Kasey had wrecked in front of him. So, Matt was caught with his guard down and just raced right into the crash, and that was unfortunate. Kurt Busch was caught up in it with a pretty good car, although not as good of a car that Mark or Matt had. And what about Jeff Burton? Man, he had a great day. Jeff just raised up to it. He's under a lot of pressure, too. We're looking for a sponsor, and there's been some questions about what we're doing together and what his team's doing. I'm glad for Bob Osborne and for all the guys on that team that have stayed with Jeff and stayed with me, and look forward to going to some of the places that Jeff likes. I can't wait to get to Loudon with him. Greg Biffle had a frustrating day. The car was not perfect for him. Of course, he crashed in qualifying and didn't get much practice time, and he struggled all day. And the cautions when they came were just at the wrong time for him. So, he'll have to wait and race another day. There's not much I can do to fix that. The best thing about my race here today with Mark is, of course, we won. But the next best thing is we didn't break a darn part. Breaking parts are the things I take responsibility for, and I won't have to worry about broken parts tonight, just missed opportunities on the race track."
ARE YOUR WINS WITH MARK MORE SPECIAL NOW?
"Every day with Mark Martin is special for me. We've been through so much together. I started racing with Mark when I was 44 and he was 28, and I didn't know near enough about what I was trying to do, and he knew more than I did to start with, but he had some things to learn, too. But we've grown up together and I learned a lot from Mark, and every day I get a chance to go to the race track with Mark, that's a special day. I will not look forward to his retirement day."
BETWEEN THE CARL EDWARDS SITUATION LAST WEEK AND MATT KENSETH GETTING CAUGHT UP IN OIL THAT NASCAR DIDN'T APPARENTLY SEE IN TIME, ARE OFFICIALS FACING CREDIBILITY ISSUES RIGHT NOW?
"When they said there was no yellow light and there was, that certainly got my attention. I didn't know for a fact that there had been a yellow light, but Carl told me that there had, and then later I heard from several other drivers who didn't say there might've been, they said that there was, and I knew it was just a matter of none of the film picked it up or somebody hadn't looked hard enough to find it. It turned out that Carl was the guy that unearthed it. He went back into all the film at the studio and found it, and, of course, told me about it, and I told Mike Helton about it, and, of course, they went back and agreed that it was there, too. It's just a bad time. I don't know if there's anybody but me that's had a traffic ticket. I haven't had one in about three years, but when I get one, I generally get three pretty quick. And, NASCAR's had a set of circumstances here that they couldn't have planned for that had just not worked out the best.
"It's unfortunate for Kasey and unfortunate for Dodge and for Evernham that they missed the chance to get that yellow out sooner, and of course for Matt, but Matt wasn't going to be able to do what Kasey was doing. That was unfortunate and I'm sure they'll try to learn from that and do better next time."
CAN YOU GIVE AN UPDATE ON WHAT THE SPONSOR UPDATE IS WITH THE 99 CAR?
"The fact is that we have a sponsor that's ready to sign today, and as soon as NASCAR decides that they've got room for the category, in the sponsor arena, for NEXTEL Cup, then we'll be good, and I'm waiting for that ruling, and I expect to hear in the next week or two."
WHAT KIND OF PROGRESS, BASED ON WHAT YOU SAW TODAY, DO YOU SEE FOR JEFF BURTON AND NEW CREW CHIEF BOB OSBORNE?
"They're doing great. Every race, they take apart and analyze the things gone right and gone wrong, and of course commit themselves not to let the things go wrong happen again. Either they had something wrong with the car that broke right when they changed tires last time or they didn't get enough air in the tires. I can't wait to get back and take that apart and see what really happened. But, they've been making reasonable calls together, they've had better cars than what we've had before in recent history for Jeff, and the sky's the limit. Bob Osborne is bright. He's got an engineering background. He's very much the same kind of background as Matt Borland, and over time I expect the same kind of success for them."
Martin ends losing streak with win at Dover
DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Mark Martin was excited, but not about to embarrass himself after ending a 72-race losing streak.
So, he skipped what has become the rite of a NASCAR winner.
"I didn't do a burnout because I don't know how," Martin said Sunday after winning the MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway. "I would either hit the wall or do something stupid."
He saw no reason to damage one of the few cars that finished a crash-filled race without a dent.
Martin managed to avoid one massive pileup, got a break when runaway leader Kasey Kahne crashed, and rode to his 34th career victory.
"Everything went our way today," Martin said.
Perhaps his luck is changing. Actually, that began on the final lap of practice Saturday, when Morgan Shepherd hit the wall.
"Morgan blew up going into one and I was right behind him in the oil," Martin said. "I slid right to wall -- with my favorite race car. I almost hit the wall and I almost hit Morgan."
But he escaped unscathed, and a day later had reason to celebrate -- twice. His 12-year-old son, Matt, won a race in Florida.
"That's a pretty good weekend for the Martin family," he said.
Still, after so many missed opportunities, Martin couldn't help but think Sunday would end badly and that he would be outrun over the final laps by Tony Stewart.
"He had new tires and I didn't," Martin said. "I thought we were going to get our heart broke again."
Stewart, in contention only because he made a blunder that left him so far behind he missed the 19-car pileup, finished second.
Kahne, who somehow got through the melee and seemed well on his way to victory, skidded in oil left on the track by Casey Mears and crashed with 18 laps to go on The Monster Mile.
"It was a gift," Martin said. "I was running right on the bottom when Kasey got into the oil and we didn't.
Four cars were involved in that crash, which resulted in a red flag that lasted 20 minutes -- the second stoppage of a race that lasted 4 hours, 47 minutes.
Kahne just passed teammate Jeremy Mayfield for the lead on the backstretch with 54 laps remaining when the cars of Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney made contact entering the third turn on the high-banked concrete oval.
With the track virtually blocked, Kahne squeezed through. The rest of the contenders crashed. That caused the first red flag, also 20 minutes in duration.
"The track was totally blocked," Martin said. "I just stopped. You can say I was smart. But I wasn't smart. I was just lucky."
Mayfield, the polesitter, and Jimmie Johnson, running third, were among those who ran into the pileup. Mayfield slipped off the track and spun his wheels in the mud.
Johnson jumped out of his car as flames shot out of the rear.
"They're racing three wide three or four laps down like a bunch of idiots," said Johnson, who was in position to take the points lead.
Instead, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third and retained the top spot.
"It's just amazing to me that people who drive race cars for a living can do stupid things like that," said Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief. "Then they get a check at the end of the day."
His driver was among the fortunate. Stewart was far behind because he earlier missed the entrance to pit road.
"I just locked up the front wheels," he said, adding he wasn't sure it cost him a race he was dominating. "Who knows with the accident that happened where we might have been."
But Martin was the steadiest of all and wound up with an easy win -- his fourth at Dover -- while Stewart and Earnhardt raced for second in their Chevrolets.
Defending champion Ryan Newman also missed the entrance to pit road and slid into the tire barrier to bring out the caution that preceded the pileup on lap 346. Newman, trying for a record-tying third straight Dover victory, also was taken out in the big crash.
When the green flag came out with 46 laps to go, Kahne looked like a certain winner.
"The car was perfect," he said. "We were pulling away."
Martin's Ford led only the last 19 of 400 laps and beat Stewart -- who paced the field for 234 laps -- by 1.702 seconds. Earnhardt leads Johnson by 98 points after 13 of 36 races.
Martin wins MBNA 400 at Dover
DOVER, Delaware (Ticker) - Mark Martin snapped a 73-race winless streak Sunday with a victory in the MBNA 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Dover International Speedway.
It was Martin's fourth victory on the Monster Mile.
"Everything went our way today," Martin said. "The car got stronger and stronger as the race went on."
Tony Stewart finished second, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton and Scott Riggs.
Michael Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Scott Wimmer and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.
On the restart with nine laps remaining, Martin was the race leader, followed by Stewart, Burton, Earnhardt and Riggs -- the only cars on the lead lap.
Rookie Kasey Kahne slammed into the turn 4 wall with 18 laps remaining while running for his first Nextel Cup victory. Kahne was driving the low line when he hit an oil spill and the rear of his car spun around, slid across the track and pounded into the outside wall. The race was red-flagged for a second time to clean the track after Kahne's crash.
With 25 laps left, Rusty Wallace cut a right front tire and tagged the wall, bringing out a caution that allowed the field to regroup on Kahne's bumper. For a restart on lap 345, race leader Jeremy Mayfield was buried 11 cars deep in the pack when Dave Blaney's Dodge got loose, touching off a chain reaction pileup of 19 cars.
Newman and Jimmie Johnson both were collected in the melee, 54 laps shy of the finish.
The race was red-flagged on lap 347 for 19 minutes, 23 seconds. Kahne was the leader when the race resumed with 46 laps remaining.
Stewart, who led three times for 219 laps, had a seven-second lead 100 laps into the 400-mile chase.
Jeff Gordon, a four-time winner here, cut a tire in the No. 24 Chevy and crashed into the wall on lap 223.
"We're taking a big hit in the points right now," said Gordon, who entered the race in fourth place in the Nextel Cup standings. "I was just so tight and trying to get the car to turn. It didn't surprise me that it blew. I'm kind of surprised it held on that long."
Terry Labonte and Joe Nemechek collided coming off turn 4 for the fifth caution. "It's just one of those deals," Nemechek said of wrecking his Chevrolet. "We're trying to go as fast as we can go. The car was a little bit tight and I was trying to keep the bottom. I knew Terry was coming on the outside. It pushed up off turn 4 really bad and I had to come up out of the gas. He just got in the back of me; it's just unfortunate."
On lap 37, Kurt Busch tapped Elliott Sadler's rear bumper, spinning Sadler in the middle of the track, and Brendan Gaughan slammed into the side of Sadler's car.
Martin wins crash-filled MBNA 400
Dover, DE (Sports Network) - Mark Martin captured the MBNA 400 "A Salute to Heroes Nextel Cup race at the Dover International Speedway. The No.6 Roush Racing Ford crossed the finish line 1.702 seconds ahead of runner-up Tony Stewart.
The victory was Martin's first of the season, fourth at Dover and 34th of his "Cup" career.
"Man, I forgot what it feels like," said Martin. "These guys have been putting me in great race cars, I've been saying that all year, but everything went our way."
Pole winner Jeremy Mayfield led the first 18 laps before being passed by Hendrick Motorsports rookie Brian Vickers, who started a strong third. Other strong cars in the first 100 of 400 scheduled laps were Tony Stewart (led 58 laps), Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman as the fast pace left just 17 cars on the lead lap.
Meanwhile, a couple of drivers were already looking at a long afternoon. Bobby Labonte was back in the garage getting a rear end change, Elliott Sadler was down five laps and points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was down a lap in 22nd place.
At the halfway mark, it was the No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet leading the way. Stewart had led 119 of the first 200 laps and held a 2.932-second lead over Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.
Stewart's fast pace continued and by lap 220 there were just 12 cars on the lead. On the very next lap, Gordon's Dupont Chevrolet slammed into the turn two wall, ending his chance to rebound from last week's poor 30th-place finish. Gordon's crew could not get the No.24 Chevy back on the track and he finished 36th.
"I was so tight and I was running hard," said Gordon. "I'm disappointed, we needed a good finish and we had a top-five race car."
By the time the drivers reached the 300-lap mark, it was apparent that if you wanted to win the MBNA 400, you were going to have to figure out a way to get past Stewart or the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was going to have to make a mistake. He had led 219 of 300 laps and could pass anywhere on the track. His primary competition was from the Evernham Motorsports duo of Kahne and Mayfield.
Then Stewart made the error that opened up a chance for everyone. He missed pit road on lap 316 and had to resume speed to go all the way around the track to the pit entrance a second time. The mistake left him in eighth place.
Lap 320 saw Newman have a similar problem, sliding through the pit road commit cones and hitting the inside pit wall. After it was all sorted out by NASCAR officials, Mayfield and Kahne were one-two with Johnson in third and Stewart in fifth.
Following the repairs and cleanup to pit lane the race restarted with 55 laps to go.
As the green flag dropped, a multi-car pileup took out most of the leaders. Kahne passed Mayfield and when lapped cars Dave Blaney and Michael Waltrip got together the accident spread across the track and enveloped 17 cars including Mayfield and Johnson.
"It just looked like some stupidity from the people in front of us," said an obviously frustrated Johnson. "Everybody gets stuck down a lap and they throw their heads out the window and race like a bunch of idiots. It's just terrible...running along having a good day and have them run three-wide into each other battling while three, four and five-laps down. I can't believe I'm talking to you right now. It is just stupid people not using their heads."
The race was red flagged at that point with just five cars on the lead lap - Kahne, Mark Martin, Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton.
The race restarted uneventfully this time as Kahne opened up a 1.120-second lead with 40 laps to go. The margin over Martin was 2.475 after 10 more laps.
When Rusty Wallace hit the wall on lap 371, Earnhardt Jr., who had struggled all day, finally got back on the lead lap. That left six to battle it out in a 20-lap shootout.
After pulling away on the next restart, Kahne spun in turn three (due to some Casey Mears oil) with just 18 laps to go and another solid lead. Kenseth also wrecked in the same spot, but Martin and Stewart avoided the problem and now sat one-two with Burton third and "Junior" a surprising fourth.
"We went from just about winning our first race to nothing, I am real disappointed," said Kahne.
The race was halted once again with 17 laps to go to the finish.
On the single file restart, Martin got off well, but Stewart spun his tires. Earnhardt Jr. jumped past Burton for third and that's how it finished.
Scott Riggs completed the top-five.
"It was just a gift," said Martin. "When the oil was in the corner I was running right on the bottom and didn't get in it when Kasey did. His misfortune was our fortune."
"Junior's" third-place finish helped him open up a 98-point margin over Johnson (1,963-1,865). Kenseth (1,784) is third followed by Stewart (1,767) and Gordon (1,709).
The next race in the series, the Pocono 500 at the Pocono Raceway, is scheduled for Sunday, June 16th. The event begins the second half of the 26- race qualifying test in the "Chase for the Championship."
Martin's dose of good fortune long overdue
Veteran Cup driver had been dogged by mechanical problems and wrecks during his 73-race winless streak.
By Adam Himmelsbach
The Free Lance-Star
June 8, 2004
Race winner Mark Martin (left) receives congratulations from Tony Stewart, who took second in the MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Pat Crowe II / Associated Press
Mark Martin and the #6 Viagra® Racing Team
Dover International Speedway/June 6, 2004
Roush Racing
June 7, 2004
fordracing.com
June 6, 2004
fordracing.com
June 6, 2004
Mark Martin takes the checkered flag to win the MBNA 400 Nextel Cup NASCAR race at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del., Sunday, June 6, 2004.
(AP Photo/Nick Wass)
By Dick Brinster
AP Sports Writer
June 6, 2004
Darrell Ingham/Getty Images
By Tim Hipps
SportsTicker Contributing Writer
June 6, 2004
Mark Martin celebrates after winning the MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. Sunday, June. 6, 2004.
(AP Photo/Pat Crowe II)
June 6, 2004
