NASCAR WCUP: Post race quotes, Goody's Body Pain 500, Mark Martin
11 April 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
MARK MARTIN --6-- Valvoline/Cummins Taurus -- VICTORY LANE
INTERVIEW --- WHAT ABOUT THE DECISION TO STAY OUT? "There was no
question we were staying out because we had actually pitted when other
guys hadn't hoping to have fresh tires or something because we didn't run
that good. But once we got to the lead, man, I just ran like a dog...just
ran like a dog. That's all I could do and I was hoping to get a top 10
finish and nobody came and nobody came and nobody came. Jimmy kept saying,
'Those are some good lap times.' So I guess we had the right setup at the
end." IT LOOKED LIKE YOU GOT HOOKED UP AT THE END. "Well, there wasn't anybody in the way then. It was a special day for us. Right now this feels like the biggest win of my career."
WHAT ABOUT THE FIRST PART OF THE RACE? "I was doing all I could do. I was trying to conserve the car, the brakes and stuff, but I wasn't riding around with a bunch of extra left. That was all I could do all day long and Jimmy and the Valvoline team got me to the lead with 60-80 to go, something like that, and I just ran like a dog. That's all I could do is try to give them something back. My plans were to try to get a top-10 finish out of it and nobody came."
YOU'RE SECOND IN THE POINTS, DO YOU HAVE MOMENTUM? "Oh, I don't know. Momentum can be broke by a dollar part, but right now it feels real good. It feels good to win. We needed to win. This team has worked real hard and we haven't had a chance to do any testing this year and I've felt sort of set back because of that. I want to thank them. I want to thank all my fans. They don't care. They support me whether I win or not and that's real special."
Text provided by Ford Motorsports
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