Mark Martin broke his winless streak of 97 races by overtaking Ryan Newman, who stayed out after a late race caution for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s wreck. Newman took a chance on older tires but was no match for Martin, who overtook the #39 Newman, and passed him for the final time claiming his 36th career win. He started on the pole.
Mark has had a good start of the season, and now has a win with Hendrick Motorsports and three poles in the #5 Chevrolet. “No burnouts for me,” he radioed his crew. “Just a backward Polish victory lap for my man Alan Kulwicki.” Many drivers and crew members were anxious to congratulate Martin on his win on pit road and in the winners circle.
“We made a couple of early adjustments, but after that we never made adjustments. There were cars better than us in the middle of the race, but it came to us. At the end, nobody could run with us.” Martin’s victory pushed him five spots in the standings from 18th to 13th, and he’s now just nine points out of the final qualifying spot for the Chase.
Next week’s race at Talladega is Martin’s kind of track. He has done well on the high speed tracks and now with the added momentum of his win, watch for Mark and his team to run with it.
Well done Mark.
