Martinsville Ford car notes

Here are some notes on Ford teams and the cars they will be running this weekend:

2 RUSTY WALLACE
Wallace will drive car PC-27, which will make its 2001 debut following a successful 2000 ... In four races last fall (Richmond, New Hampshire, Martinsville and Phoenix), the car made four top-five starts (including the pole at Phoenix) and two top-five finishes (fourth at Phoenix and fifth at New Hampshire) ... The car qualified second at Martinsville last fall ... This race marks the return of crew chief Robin Pemberton, who missed last week's race at Texas following tests for fatigue; Robin was back at work this past Monday ... Wallace has enjoyed great success at Martinsville, winning six times - '86, '93, '94 (twice), '95 and '96 - tops among active drivers, and collecting 15 top-fives and three poles in 34 races ... Wallace heads into this weekend's race in sixth place in the points standings.

6 MARK MARTIN
Martin will drive car JR-55, which he tested at Martinsville early last week ... The car saw 673 laps in two days of that test ... The car has not yet raced in 2001 after one top-five (Las Vegas) and one top 10 (Darlington spring) in four races in 2000 ... The car did NOT run at Martinsville last spring, a race won by Martin ... He also won at Martinsville in the spring of '92 ... Martin won the pole at Bristol two weeks ago ... He started eighth and finished ninth at Texas last week, his second top-10 finish of the year, and moved up five spots to 22nd in the points standings ... Martin has led at least one lap in every race this year.

7 MIKE WALLACE
Wallace drive a new car this weekend ... He remains in 37th place in the points standings, one point behind Todd Bodine and 17 points behind Jeff Burton, following last week's 24th-place finish at Texas.

11 BRETT BODINE
Bodine will drive the same car that he drove last fall at Martinsville, where it started ninth but finished 41st ... The car also raced at Loudon and Homestead in '00 ... Bodine remains in 33rd place in the points standings following last week's 28th-place finish at Texas.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
Mayfield will drive car the same car that he raced at Rockingham earlier this year, where it finished 38th ... Mayfield tested at Martinsville last week ... He has finished in the top five in two of the last three races ... Mayfield is in 21st place in the points standings.

17 MATT KENSETH
Kenseth will drive car No. 1 this weekend ... Kenseth started 37th and finished 34th with the same car at Martinsville last fall ... Last season's Rookie of the Year moved up two spots to 23rd place in the points standings following last week's 20th-place finish at Texas.

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
The car that Sadler will drive this weekend is making its race debut, and, like the car Sadler drove to his first Winston Cup victory two weeks ago at Bristol, was built by Roush Racing ... The next day after that win, Sadler and the Wood Brothers were testing at Martinsville ... Sadler ran 482 laps at the track on Monday and Tuesday ... The Wood Brothers have two victories at Martinsville, both in the spring - with David Pearson in '73 and Cale Yarborough in '68 ... Sadler appeared to be on the way to his second consecutive top-five finish last week at Texas, but cut a tire while running fourth with just 20 laps remaining ... Even though he finished 16th at Texas (he qualified 11th), Sadler moved one spot to eighth in this week's points standings.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
Spencer will drive the same car that he piloted at Las Vegas earlier this year, where he finished 10th ... Spencer fell five spots to 19th place in the points standings following last week's 38th-place finish at Texas.

28 RICKY RUDD
Rudd will drive the car that he drove at Martinsville last fall, starting 11th and finishing fourth ... Rudd's last career victory occurred at Martinsville in the fall of '98 ... He counts three victories and 11 top-fives in 43 career starts at Martinsville ... From 1979 to '86, Rudd collected 13 consecutive top-10 starts and 10 top-10 finishes at Martinsville ... His streak of 21 consecutive races finished was snapped last week at Texas ... He started sixth at Texas last week, his third top-10 start of the season ... He also has four top-10 finishes ... Rudd made his 700th career start a few weeks ago at Darlington, becoming just the fifth driver in Cup history to reach that milestone ... Rudd is 11th in the points standings.

32 RICKY CRAVEN
Craven will drive WC29, a new car ... Craven dropped one spot to 24th place in this week's points standings following last week's 27th-place finish at Texas.

66 TODD BODINE
Bodine will drive a new car this weekend ... He dropped one spot to 36th place in this week's points standings following last week's 35th-place finish at Texas ... Bodine started 15th at Texas.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY
Pressley will drive the same car that he drove last year at Martinsville, starting 16th and finishing 33rd last fall ... Pressley has been as high as eighth in the points standings in 2001 ... Sunday is his 42nd birthday

88 DALE JARRETT
This is a new car this weekend for Jarrett, who made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut at Martinsville in 1984, starting 24th and finishing 14th ... Overall, he has collected 13 top-10s in 29 career races at the track ... The 1999 champion is the points leader for the third consecutive week ... Jarrett has won two (Texas and Darlington) of the last three races and is the only repeat winner in NASCAR Winston Cup Series this year ... Jarrett's 26 career victories tie him with Fred Lorenzen and Rex White for 19th place on the circuit's all-time wins list.

90 HUT STRICKLIN
This is the third race of '01 for this car ... It also ran at Rockingham and Darlington ... Stricklin says he is "really pleased with it," and the car "worked really good at both places" ... Stricklin finished 26th last week at Texas.

96 ANDY HOUSTON
Houston will drive WC32, car that's never raced but was tested at Martinsville early last week ... This is second car PPI Motorsports has built in-house ... Houston qualified 12th at Texas last week.

97 KURT BUSCH
Busch is driving a new car - with a new paint job ... This is the first race for the 97's new sponsor, Sharpie Rubbermaid ... The car was tested at Martinsville last week ... Busch collected his first career top five last week at Texas, finishing fourth ... This is crew chief Ben Leslie's second race with the #97 team since taking over for Matt Chambers.

99 JEFF BURTON
Burton is driving the same car that he drove last fall at Martinsville, starting third and finishing third ... He also race it at Richmond ... Burton won at Martinsville in the fall of '97 ... He also has five top-fives in 13 career races at the track ... Burton is 35th in the points standings following last week's 19th-place finish at Texas.

-Ford Racing