NASCAR Cup

Atlanta: Mark Martin preview

MARTIN LOOKS TO BUILD ON ATLANTA LEGACY Fresh off a strong run and sixth-place finish at Las Vegas, Martin and the No. 6 AAA Team head back south to Atlanta, where Martin will look to expand on his rich tradition at the 1.54-mile speedway, where ...

Published: Mar 21, 2006, 5:21 AM

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MARTIN LOOKS TO BUILD ON ATLANTA LEGACY

Fresh off a strong run and sixth-place finish at Las Vegas, Martin and the No. 6 AAA Team head back south to Atlanta, where Martin will look to expand on his rich tradition at the 1.54-mile speedway, where he boasts two wins and top-five finishes in his last three races.

Chassis Number: (No. 314) - The team will run RK-314 at Atlanta this weekend. It will be the first run of the season for RK-314. The car finished second at Texas in the fall of last year and fifth at Charlotte in its last two outings.

Worthy Note: Martin has finished inside the top five in his last three races at Atlanta.

IN THE POINTS

Martin's sixth-place finish at Vegas moved him into fifth in the Nextel Cup point standings. He is currently 110 points outside of first and only 25 points behind third.

MARTIN AT ATLANTA

This will be Martin's 41st-career Cup start at Atlanta, where the veteran has posted 20 top-10 finishes, 12 top fives and two wins. Martin ran his first career Cup race at Atlanta 23 years ago on March 21, 1982, finishing 19th. He returned there that fall and drove to a top 10. He has posted three straight top five finishes at AMS, finishing third there last fall, fourth in the spring and second in the fall of 2004.

IN THE LEAD

Martin has led a lap in each of the first three races of 2006, marking the first time he has done so since 2001, when he led at least one lap in each of the first 13 races. Currently Martin has led 77 laps in 2006, including 57 last week at Las Vegas.

AAA AND MARK MARTIN

Martin is sporting a different look and sponsor this season. As North America's largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA boasts more than 48 million members.

ENCORE SALUTE IN '06

Martin had planned 2005 as his final in NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series, but when called into action by Jack Roush opted to return for one more go around. Martin's fourth-place finish in the points in '05 proved he is still one of the fastest stars in NASCAR and he plans on using 2006 as an encore performance of his highly popular "Salute To You" Tour, where he will continue to take the time to thank each and everyone that he feels played a role in his success, including the team members, the fans, NASCAR and the media.

QUOTING MARK AND PAT --ON ATLANTA

"Atlanta is a really cool race track. It's a big, fast race track. The pavement has gotten a little older and it has finally given up and made it a really fun place to race. From top-to-bottom, it's one of the best places that we go to race. It usually makes for a great show and a great race. We've been really strong there over the years and we've had some good runs the last few times that we've went there. Maybe this week we'll finally break through and get ourselves back into victory lane there.

"Our car at Las Vegas was really awesome and it was probably the best car that I've had in a long time. I'm very pleased with the way that we have run in all of the races this year and if we can keep up that level of performance we are going to be in really good shape this season. I think that we've had top-five cars in all three of the races this year, it's just our job now to make sure that we do what we need to get the finishes that we are capable of."

PAT TRYSON

"As always, we are excited about Atlanta. Mark always runs well there and there is no reason that we shouldn't be in the hunt for the win. We've had really good cars this year and Mark's done a great job, now we just have to start finishing strong and hopefully we'll put that AAA Fusion in victory lane soon."

* Martin has tallied 20 top 10's and 12 top fives at Atlanta, with top-five runs in the last three there.

* Martin has won twice at Atlanta. Both wins came in the fall in ('91 & '94).

* Martin has started in the top 10 in 24 of his 40 races at Atlanta. He has started inside the top five 17 times. He has earned one pole (3/92) and has started on the front row six times.

* Martin scored his first top 10 at Atlanta in only this second start there, on November 7, 1982.

* Martin has led 924 laps at Atlanta, with 272 of them coming in the last three races. ???Martin has three wins and two poles in the Busch car at Atlanta.

-rr

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