NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II: Mark Martin preview

Martin Ready To Roll at Charlotte The team had a disappointing 20th-place finish at Kansas, where the car was one of the fastest on long runs, but struggled on restarts in a caution filled race. This week Martin and the ViagraÃ’ Team will look to ...

Published: Oct 13, 2004, 4:48 AM

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Martin Ready To Roll at Charlotte

The team had a disappointing 20th-place finish at Kansas, where the car was one of the fastest on long runs, but struggled on restarts in a caution filled race. This week Martin and the ViagraÒ Team will look to rebound with a solid finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a track widely considered Martin's favorite and a place where the veteran driver has won on four occasions.

Chassis Number: (RK-231) - The team will run RK-231 at Lowes. RK-231 is considered the fastest car in the stable. It ran to a second-place finish three weeks ago at Dover and boasts top-five runs at California, Michigan and Las Vegas, as well as strong runs at Pocono, Indy and Chicago.

Worthy Note: Three of Martin's four wins at Lowe's came in the fall.

THE CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP - MARTIN IN FIFTH WITH SIX TO GO

Martin dropped to fifth in the points after Kansas. With six laps to go, he is currently only seven points out of fourth and 150 points behind the points leader.

BREAKING DOWN THE CHASE

Martin has won on seven of the 10 tracks that will decide the winner of the Nextel Cup. In fact Martin has a combined 10 wins at the remaining six tracks, including four wins at Lowe's. Martin has combined for 10 wins, 59 top-fives, 93 top-10's and eight poles in 171 starts at the remaining six tracks. Martin has finished in the top 10 in 54 percent of his starts at those tracks.

MARTIN AT LOWE'S

Martin has four wins at Lowe's with three of the wins coming in the fall. His 15 top-five finishes are the most of any active driver at the 1.5-mile track. The four wins tie Jeff Gordon for the most of any active driver and the for the third most ever. In addition, Martin won the 1998 Winston All-Star race and six races in the Busch Series at Lowe's.

STRONG DOWN THE STRETCH

The Viagra Team has been strong when it counts, having finished in the top-15 in seven of the last eight races. Furthermore, Martin has posted top-five runs in six of the last 11 and five of the last nine races. In fact, Martin has scored nine of his 13 top-10 and all but one of his eight top-five finishes in 2004 after June 6.

QUOTING MARK AND PAT ON LOWE'S

"I can't wait to get out on the track at Lowe's. I think that just about everybody knows it is one of - and just maybe - my favorite track to race. It's a real driver's kind of track, where handling is key and you better find a way to go fast in the corners. Hopefully we'll be able get a grip on it and make a solid run at the win. We've been to victory lane four times there in the past and I'd love to get back in the 'Chase' with a win there this Saturday night."

"We just didn't have the type of day we were looking for at Kansas. The car really struggled on the restarts and we just didn't have the type of gas milage that we needed to stay up front. We also cut both right side tires when I ran over some debris from another car, and all of that just became a little too much to make up for. If we could have gotten one more long green-flag run, we could have gotten back inside the top 10, but things just didn't work out for us. We'll just have to rebound this week with a good finish and get back in this thing."

PAT TRYSON

"I know the team is excited about Saturday. Mark loves racing at Charlotte and everyone knows that if we can give him a good enough car that we can go back to victory lane on Saturday night. We haven't ran great the past two races, so we really need a strong run this weekend. We are taking our favorite car again this weekend and that car has had several great runs. It's been a great race car and hopefully it will get the win it deserves on Saturday."

-rr-

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