MARK MARTIN -6- Valvoline Thunderbird - Qualified 1st
FIRST FORD POLE OF THE YEAR OF THE SEASON: IMMEDIATELY AFTER HE QUALIFIED, MARTIN SAID: "I don't think that's going to be quite enough. There are several capable of going that fast. The 24 car is real good and the 5 car -- the same guys as usual. Those Hendrick guys are awesome and we're going to have to step it up a little to another level to get back on top of those guys. This will be a front stretch pit spot -- maybe a pole, maybe not." AFTER IT WAS OFFICIAL: "We really need this. This team has been feeling a little bit down. We've had a couple of DNFs and we haven't really been running as good as we'd like to. We missed the pole at Atlanta with a little bit of an exciting lap there. Bristol is a good place to do it. We've got our pole now, and we've got our spot in the Busch Clash. We need a win and we couldn't pick a better place to win than this one, because we run good here, and maybe we can win it, too." DO YOU REALLY LIKE THIS PLACE THAT MUCH? "I hate this race track, but I really run good here, so I'm glad we run here. It's like Russian roulette. You never know if you're the one in the barrel or not. But we run really good here. We've run second a lot and we've won here. It's a good track for us. Sooner or later these streaks have to be broken, but this one sure looks good. I can't wait to get back here in August and see if we can't do it again. We could use some extra life shot in our veins. We could use a win, too. You get torn up a lot when it's not your doing here, though, and that's unfortunate about this race track, but's that just the way it is."
