Mark Martin begins the 2009 racing season with his new team Hendrick Motorsports sitting on the outside pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

MARK MARTIN, DRIVER, NO. 5 KELLOGG’S/CARQUEST CHEVROLET (ON STARTING HIS FIRST NASCAR SPRINT CUP RACE WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS.): “I have been waiting for this day for nearly eight months now. The season could’ve started up the day after Homestead, and that would have been fine with me. I’ve gotten to know these guys through some tests. And I’ve been to the shop and really have gotten to see how they work and what all goes into this race team, and it’s just incredible. These guys are working so hard. I’m just ready to see something come out of it all and so are they. I’m just so excited. Getting into that car at Daytona can’t come soon enough.”

MARTIN (ON WINNING THE DAYTONA 500.): “I came so close in 2007 and had a great car that year. This year, I think I’ll probably have the best car I’ve ever had for Daytona and probably the best opportunity to go out there and win it. I want to have a great race car, and I think that’s important. But there will be about 10 really good cars out there, and only one guy will have all the luck. I’d rather be lucky than good when it comes to the Daytona 500.”

MARTIN (ON CREW CHIEF ALAN GUSTAFSON.): “I can’t say enough about this guy. Alan has just really impressed me from the time we worked in the Nationwide Series together back in 2007. It was awesome at Darlington (S.C.) and awesome at Michigan with him. He’s such a brilliant guy. Technically speaking, he is incredibly smart. I don’t even ask what he’s doing any more, because I trust him and know what he’s doing is right.”

Continue reading “Driver Q&A: Mark Martin Daytona 500 outside pole”

Racing Roulette returns for 2009!
Monday, February 9, 2009

After tremendous response a year ago, Racing Roulette returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway in what could result in the lowest-ever ticket prices for the March 8 Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Fans will have the opportunity to purchase Kobalt Tools 500 tickets for the price of the winning car number of Sunday’s Daytona 500. Regularly priced at $95, the first 1,000 tickets will be sold with a limit of two per customer at the winning car number starting at 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 16.

While the 2008 Roulette promotion featured just 1,000 tickets, the 2009 Racing Roulette contest will be available to all fans wishing to buy tickets through 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 or until all of the Speedway’s $95 tickets are sold.

For those who miss out on the initial 1,000 tickets sold, fans can purchase additional tickets at a discount of buy one regularly-priced ticket, get the second ticket for the price of the winning Daytona 500 car number.

To ensure a great discount with the Racing Roulette promotion, should any car numbered greater than No. 50 win the Daytona 500, the promotional price of tickets will be $50.

Related Links: http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/events/racing_roulette/

Qualifying Primer: Making the Daytona 500 Field

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unique. After all, it involves two days, two races and a previous season’s final points.

Here’s how it works.

Coming into Daytona, one thing is known. The top 35 teams in the final 2008 car owners standings have already earned guaranteed berths in the Daytona 500.

Coming out of “pole day” this past Sunday, the top two qualifiers, Truex and Martin, were guaranteed front-row starts.

Thursday’s Gatorade Duel at Daytona, consisting of two 150-mile races, will advance the top two finishers from each race who are not in the top 35 category.

That brings the field total to 39.

Continue reading “Daytona 500 Qualifying Update”

The race for Rocky Mountain Cold Refreshment is on.

DAVID RAGAN – No.6 UPS Ford Fusion – HOW HAVE YOU ADJUSTED TO THE NEW CAR AND THE WAY IT FEELS? HAS IT GOTTEN LOOSER? “I think from my first experience in one of the COT cars you could get it however you wanted it, it was either uncontrollably loose or uncontrollably tight and I guess more people are comfortable with it tight and that’s what they choose to do. I think the development is still going on to get a better handling car, but I don’t really know how the old cars drove, so I don’t have a good history to base my opinion on, but I feel like we’ve had some races last year that our car was perfect and I couldn’t ask for anymore. It was very comfortable and easy to drive, and then we had some races that it was dramatically loose and tight, but that’s the way any race car is with a hard tire and when you’re going that fast. I think if you’ve got a super late model on soft tires, certainly that’s real easy to drive, but it is what it is. I don’t necessarily think about how the car is in general, I just know what we have to work with and how good of a job we’re doing.”

IS THE BATTLE GETTING GOOD FORWARD BITE OFF THE CORNER? “It depends on what race track you’re at. Yes, at some race tracks that is a problem, but at others it’s not a concern at all. I think anytime you have a 3400-3500 pound race car with 800-plus horsepower that’s gonna be an issue. We’ve made good strides with our Fords to handle better and we don’t really pay attention to one issue, we try to work around everything.”

HOW ARE YOU DEALING WITH INCREASED EXPECTATIONS THIS YEAR? “I’ve thought about that a little bit and certainly in years past no one really mentioned anything or didn’t expect us to do well, so I think the last two years we’ve done what we expected to do, and I think in the upcoming season we expect to do a little bit more. It’s neat to see that we’re getting a little bit of good press and people are talking about us more than in years past, but we’ve got our focus on our goals and that’s the same thing we’ve done the last two years. I don’t think it’s gonna affect us any. We know that we’re capable of winning races, we’re capable of making the chase. We’ve got good race cars and it’s all about me being a smart race car driver and not making mistakes and having a little bit of luck along the way. We know what we can do and it’s just a matter of going out and doing it.”

Continue reading “Driver Q&A: David Ragan”