NASCAR Winston Cup Goody's Headache Powders 500 Preview: #6, Mark Martin
20 August 1997
#6 Mark Martin, Valvoline/Cummins Ford Thunderbird
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Goody's Headache Powders 500 Advance
Bristol Motor Speedway
NOTES & QUOTES: GOODY'S HEADACHE POWDERS 500
BRISTOL, TN - Bristol Motor Speedway is not necessarily a track Mark Martin
looks forward to, but he usually performs well there. This weekend, Martin
has even more motivation to do well since he is coming off a big win at
Michigan Speedway which brought him 10 points closer to the Winston Cup
points lead. In 21 starts at Bristol, Martin has earned two wins in the
August race, 11 top-five's, 14 top-10's and an impressive six poles.
After a rough spring race, Martin is ready to start up front again. A poor
qualifying effort due to a power steering problem resulted in a 23rd-place
starting position and a pit on the backstretch. Martin drove a smart race and
was able to avoid the accidents which caused 20 caution flags for 132 laps.
His Valvoline/Cummins Ford worked well on long runs, but at Bristol those are
hard to come by. Martin hoped for a long green flag period, and he got his
wish for the final 50 laps. He was able to pull out a fifth-place finish
which was his first top-five of the season.
"Pitting on the backstretch at Bristol is not where you want to be," Martin
said. "I had a good car in April and was able to make up a lot of ground on
the race track, but then I lost most of it in the pits. It's tough when your
crew turns out great pit stops, but you still fall back in the field. I
remember finishing fifth in that race felt like a victory, but now that I've
won three races this season it's going to take more than fifth place to make
me happy. We're out to win this championship, so we really need to turn up
the heat."
Martin is currently 99 points behind Jeff Gordon in the Winston Cup point
standings, and has a 181 point lead over third place, Dale Jarrett. With only
11 races remaining in the 1997 season, Martin intends to do what it takes to
win a championship for Jack Roush and the Valvoline/Cummins team.
MARK MARTIN'S CAREER RECORD - BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Date Event S F Laps Reason Money Won
4/13/97 Food City 500 23 5 500 Running 37,520
3/31/96 Food City 500 1 3 342 Running 44,815
8/24/96 Goody's 500 1 3 500 Running 46,490
4/2/95 Food City 500 1 8 500 Running 67,645
8/26/95 Goody's 500 1 5 500 Running 41,775
4/10/94 Food City 500 3 21 425 Accident 20,405
8/27/94 Goody's 500 8 2 500 Running 35,915
4/4/93 Food City 500 8 8 498 Running 19,055
8/28/93 Bud 500 1 1 500 Running 80,125
4/5/92 Food City 500 9 15 488 Running 13,905
8/29/92 Bud 500 4 25 385 Accident 13,605
4/14/91 Valleydale 500 6 4 500 Running 18,950
8/24/91 Busch 500 10 4 500 Running 30,050
4/8/90 Valleydale 500 3 2 500 Running 31,300
8/25/90 Busch 500 2 1 500 Running 22,830
4/9/89 Valleydale 500 1 6 500 Running 13,975
8/26/89 Busch 500 23 20 458 Running 5,500
4/10/88 Valleydale 500 5 2 500 Running 21,250
8/27/88 Busch 500 2 27 207 Accident 3,480
3/14/82 Valleydale 500 17 14 482 Running 1,230
8/28/92 Busch 500 13 11 492 Running 3,470
Races WINS TOP-5 Top-10 Poles Money Won
Food City 500 11 0 5 8 3 $290,050
Goody's 500 10 2 6 6 3 283,290
TOTAL 21 2 11 14 6 $573,290
By Roush Racing Public Relations
