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NASCAR WCUP: Mark Martin Post-Race Notes, Cracker Barrel 500

15 March 1999

MARK MARTIN -6- Valvoline Taurus -- "We managed to keep on the lead lap and get adjusted around and get our track position back. We knew on long runs our car was decent on a long run, so there at the end we were able to do pretty good, but we couldn't run with those guys. There was a half a dozen that were faster than we were that we just couldn't run with, but on the long haul they would back up, so this is a real good finish considering the way it started out."

YOU WERE LOOSE TO START?

"Yeah, we got the car going real good during the middle of the race and I don't know how to make it better than it was and it obviously wasn't good enough today, but that was as good as we could get it. It was great teamwork today."

"I'm real happy with it. I feel like we beat a lot of cars that were faster than us today. I never dreamed we could run third and at the end the car was the best it was the whole race. You couldn't ask for any more than that."

HOW MUCH DID THE WEATHER AFFECT THE CAR?

"I think that the biggest change was the rubber being washed off the race track. I didn't know it was gonna do that, but it was really bad. For us, we were in bad shape at the start of the race and the first adjustment that we made the car was even worse. Over the long haul it came back."