NASCAR Cup

Martinsville: Bill Davis Racing preview

Martinsville Speedway News and Notes * Martinsville's Machine...The No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota Dave Blaney is scheduled to drive this weekend in the Goody's Cool Orange 500 is COT 08. This is the first time this particular will be utilized. * ...

Edited: Mar 29, 2007, 3:23 AM

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Martinsville Speedway News and Notes

* Martinsville's Machine...The No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota Dave Blaney is scheduled to drive this weekend in the Goody's Cool Orange 500 is COT 08. This is the first time this particular will be utilized.

* Blaney's Career Stats...Blaney will make his 241st career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start when the green flag waves Sunday afternoon. He made his first career Cup Series start in October 1992 at [Rockingham] North Carolina Speedway and finished 41st after qualifying 20th for his first Cup Series start in Martinsville in 2000. Like this weekend, Blaney was aboard a Bill Davis Racing-owned machine.

* Blaney at Martinsville...Blaney has made 12 starts on the .526-mile oval during his Cup Series career, starting as high as sixth (2006) and finishing as high as 16th (2005). He has scored four top-20 finishes in Cup Series competition at Martinsville Speedway and has qualified in the top 10 twice.

* BDR at Martinsville...Competitors driving Bill Davis Racing-owned cars have been racing at Martinsville Speedway since 1993 and have made 33 starts. Those drivers have posted two top-five finishes and three top-10 finishes and have completed 15,581 of 16,500 possible laps (94.4 percent).

* Points Position...Blaney and his No. 22 team finished 23rd in last week's event at Bristol Motor Speedway, moving them up two places in the owners' point standings to 37th. The team now stands 40 points outside the top 35.

* Taking a Break...Blaney will take a break from his full-time NASCAR Busch Series ride, as the Series takes its first off weekend of the season. Blaney will return to action in his No. 10 Braun Racing Toyota next weekend at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

* Practice Makes Perfect...The Caterpillar Racing team is scheduled to spend two days testing at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway following the event in Martinsville. Blaney tested his Braun Racing Busch Series entry there earlier this week.

Dave Blaney on Martinsville Speedway..."Overall, we were pretty happy with the way our Car of Tomorrow ran last weekend in Bristol. We made a lot of progress between the way the car drove during the test there and when we went back for the race. The Cat car was fast right off the truck, and we had a good qualifying run, which gave us a chance to play around with it during the final practice sessions instead of having to start from square one. That's a big difference between this year and last year. There's a lot less playing catch up when we get to the track because we're so much further ahead, and it shows during the race. With the exception of maybe Atlanta when we just couldn't really get a handle on it on raceday, we've run really well and been happy with the way things have gone. Obviously, we haven't had the finishes we were looking for, but things seem to be turning around for us there too. We'll head into Martinsville outside the top 35, which is not a great feeling, but we just need to do the things we've been doing all season on Friday, and hopefully we'll be fine. There are some good teams down there in the points with us. Nevertheless, I'm sure it'll be a little tough to sleep Thursday night."

***

* Martinsville's Machine...The No. 36 360 OTC Toyota Camry Jeremy Mayfield is scheduled to drive this weekend in the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway is COT 09. This is the first time this car has been utilized.

* Mayfield's Career Stats...Mayfield will make his 405th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start when he takes the green flag Sunday afternoon. He made his first career Cup Series start in October 1993 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and finished 16th (qualified 19th) in his first Cup Series start in Martinsville in 1995.

* Mayfield at Martinsville...Mayfield has made 21 starts on the .526-mile oval during his Cup Series career and has started as high as third (2002). He has earned one top-five finish and five top-10 finishes at Martinsville and has qualified inside the top 10 four times.

* BDR's Numbers...Competitors driving Bill Davis Racing-owned cars have been racing at Martinsville Speedway since 1993 and have made 33 starts. Those drivers have posted two top-five finishes and three top-10 finishes and have completed 15,581 of 16,500 possible laps (94.4 percent).

Jeremy Mayfield on Martinsville Speedway..."We feel like a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders last weekend, and it felt great to really get our season started. Our COT was not great at the test, but these guys never gave up, went back to the shop and worked hard on it. We were really good right off the truck when we got to Bristol. We certainly didn't get the finish we were hoping for, but we've got that first race together under our belt, so we've got something to build on. I can't say enough about this Bill Davis Racing team. It's been a really tough four weeks for everyone, but they never gave up and they never got down on themselves or me. I learned a lot about myself and about this team in a short time, and I'm proud to be a part of it. Hopefully last weekend was the start of something really good, and we can get to Martinsville with our Car of Tomorrow and have the same type of weekend. We've got the ball rolling now, and we're not looking back."

-credit: bdr

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