Friday, November 29, 2013
NASCAR 54 Career Poles for 53 Year Old Mark Martin at Dover
Mark Martin grabs the pole for the 54th time in his career.
Mark Martin proves every time he comes to the track, that you are never too old to go out and play with the boys. At 53 years old Martin is the oldest full time driver in the NASCAR garage but you would never know it to talk to him. His workout schedule is one that many of the younger drivers have a hard time keeping up with, and no matter what hes always got a smile on his face. The biggest kid on the block will lead the field to the green flag, in his 840th start, for todays FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.
With conditions being very slick and getting worse as each driver ran their qualifying runs, Mark Martin knew it would be a challenge to remain the fastest car on the track as he was during the first round of practice. After watching Jimmie Johnson get a little loose on his provisional run that had Johnson sitting on the pole as Martin began his run, he knew it wasnt going to be easy.
Ill never do that again, quipped Martin after his run. I anticipated the car being loose, but I didnt ask [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] if he tightened it up. I knew the conditions were looser than they were in our mock qualifying run [Friday], and I didnt want to ask him because I didnt want to be concerned.
I knew that I only had to make it one mile without wrecking, and I was going to drive to the limit and slightly beyond, and I felt like I did that. I wouldnt want to do that again. But I couldnt sit on these poles without the fastest race car, and MWR [Michael Waltrip Racing] and Rodney Childers in particular and the guys on our team are doing that.
Jonson knew he had set an excellent time, but he also felt that he had left a little bit of speed out there when he wiggled loose out of turns 2 and 4 and felt he just did not get all the power to thee ground.
The lap was pretty strong, Johnson said of his second-place run. I knew off the corner, off [Turns] 2 and 4, I just couldnt get the power down, being loose, and I left a little on the table. I felt it was more like a 10th [of a second], 10th and a half that I left out there, and Mark found five thousandths
Qualifyings never been my strong suit, but Ive been second a lot. But it is what it is. On the track, Ill just have to take care of it and do a little better job there.
The Hendrick cars in general made vast improvements over their speeds from the first practice session into the second. At the end of the second round of practice the Hendrick cars of Gordon, Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson sat 2,3,4 on the time sheets respectively. Johnson will start on the outside of row 1 while Gordon and Jr will start 14th and 17th respectively. Watch for these cars to make moves early and make their way to the front of the pack with the speeds they have shown they are capable of.
Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth round out the rest of the top 5 for the start of todays race.
Notable names not near the front of the pack are Tony Stewart who struggled in practice and will start the race back from the 29th position. A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose who have been running and qualifying well of late will start back in the 23rd and 21st positions respectively.
Related posts:
- NASCAR Mark Martin Takes The Pole For Phoenix Hendricks Teams Look For Big Rebound
- NASCAR Mark Martin Takes the Pole for Talladega Proving You Are Never Too Old to Go Fast
- NASCAR Mark Martin Edges Out Trevor Bayne for the Pole at Daytona
- NASCAR Mark Martin Leads the Field, Drivers Playing it Safe, Dale Jr Fastest in Practice
- NASCAR Truex Jr Brings Home the Pole for the Third Chase Race of 2011 at Dover
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