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MARK MASTERS MARTINSVILLE MEELE On his final pit stop on lap 412, Mark got the setup he needed to lead the final 64 laps of the race. He held off teammate Jeff Burton to win by 1.5 seconds |
For Mark Martin on Sunday,
track position was everything, especially at a
Martinsville famous for beating, banging and some wild
finishes.
Mark led the final 64 laps of the Goody's Body Pain 500
at Martinsville Speedway by using some late pit strategy.
He became the record eighth different winner in NASCAR
Winston Cup Series competition in the first eight races of
2000. It was Mark's 32nd career win, and second at the
series' shortest track.No one was more surprised to see the No. 6 car in Victory Lane than Mark himself. He struggled to qualify 21st and didn't figure his team had much hope for the victory. "Absolutely no way," Mark said in surprise when asked if he expected to win. "We were so bad in practice. Special thanks to Frankie Stoddard (crew chief for teammate Jeff Burton). We were shooting for a top-10 finish. We were having a real tough day yesterday. We confided in him for help. We didn't have a spec car but we could win if we had the lead. Heck, we stole it, but we'll take it. We were making some good laps at the end. I held on like a mean dog. I wanted to win this race. 
"It feels great to win here. My race team is fantastic and I like to
give them a win every once in a while. We're sure proud of our
race team."For my race team to win at Martinsville with me is something. I'm horrible at Martinsville. I'm the worst driver there is to win at Martinsville. That's why this is special for the team." The key to Mark's win came with the decision to pit on lap 411. 
"I called it and I questioned when the leaders didn't come (down
pit road)," Mark said. "Jimmy (Fennig) said to come so I came
down pit road. I was worried no other leaders were coming but we
made the right choice."I said, 'Should I come? "Jimmy said 'Come on,' so I came down pit road without anyone else. Mark then stayed on the race track on lap 436 when many of the leaders pitted for tires and fuel after Jerry Nadeau spun his Michael Holigan Chevrolet in Turn 3. Mark saw no need to come back for more. "When you're not running that great it's easier to take changes and gamble," Mark said. "When you are a contender you have to do the right thing. We weren't going forward with 17 cars on the lead lap. We got our stop done. It was brilliance on Jimmy Fennig's part. We were looking for a 15th, but not really a 10th. But we went to our teammates and got some help." 
The dominant driver of the day was Rusty Wallace in the Miller
Lite Ford. He started from the Bud Pole position and was simply in
a different time zone for the majority of the event. However,
Wallace took four tires under yellow when Mark stayed out,
hitting pit road in the lead and coming out in 10th.It was especially frustrating for the St. Louis native after he bounced back from earlier troubles. On lap 257, the heat of the brake rotor caused his right front tire to break its bead, leaving him with a quickly deflated tire. Wallace lost two laps. However, the rest of the field had to pit not long after. Then on lap 309, Tony Stewart tapped the rear of Jimmy Spencer, causing the 10th of a Martinsville record-tying 17 cautions. The drivers who had just pitted under green were caught a lap down, thus leaving only Wallace, Ken Schrader and Michael Waltrip on the lead lap. On lap 364, Bobby Labonte was spun by Jeff Gordon. That allowed several drivers to get back on the lead lap. 
It also put Wallace back into contention, but a spin with Bobby
Hamilton in Turn 1 of lap 488 dropped him to 14th.Wallace finished 10th, a day that looked so promising turning ugly in a hurry. "I really thought with 70 laps to go we needed to put tires on to get position to go," Wallace said. "I didn't think a bunch of them would just stay out like they did. I got behind, my car pushed, and I just couldn't get back around them. Then a bunch of lapped cars got in the way. I got spun by one of them and banged another one, so after that we got in the back. Track position is everything in the world nowadays and we should have just stayed out. "It was just real upsetting to have that dominant of a car (and not win)," Wallace said. "I couldn't believe it when I'm sitting there running 15th and 13th going, 'Man, how the hell did this happen? But it was all track position. When I saw those guys stay out I went, 'Oh, man.' And then a bunch of them two-tired. With 50 or 60 laps to go, I should have never pitted. I just shouldn't. I'll learn next time because track position is so important and it just got me." 
Finishing second to Mark was teammate Burton, who felt his
finish was a almost as good as a win."I think me finishing second today is borderline a felony," Burton joked. "We might need to spend a few hours in jail before we go home, but we didn't deserve to finish second. I was really, really, really happy to be in that position. I knew I couldn't catch Mark. I knew there was no way. The harder I tried the slower I'd go. I called Mark (on the radio) and said, 'Hey, just be cool. You don't have to worry about me. I can't beat you. If I had had a car that could beat him I would have done that." Finishing third was Waltrip, followed by Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Stewart, Jeremy Mayfield, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Wallace. Mark took home $104,650 and the grandfather clock the Speedway awards the winner. "My wife," he said "has bugged me about one of those grandfather clocks for 10 years." |
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