Busch Race Story

Mark Martin Dominates GOODWRENCH SERVICE 200

Rockingham, NC

Mark Martin's win today in the Goodwrench Service 200 is nothing new for the Batesville, AR native. This is the 5th time in his last seven Busch appearances at "the Rock" that he has earned the victory.

Rarely headed, Martin commented he plenty of engine power that more than compensated for a lack of handling. Martin has finished in in the top-10 on 12 of the 16 visits he has made to NCMS. Martin's only real competition came from fellow Winston Cup drivers Dale Jarrett in the Band-Aid Thunderbird and Ricky Craven in the Dupont Teflon Monte Carlo. Both stayed close but Martin's wasn't going to be denied at NCMS.

"We had an awesome engine today. We missed the chassis set up a little bit, but we had so much engine today that it just pulled us through. I can't wait to go to Atlanta with a motor like that. If those other guys had been on the money today a little better they could have beaten me today. We were loose and could only run a certain speed. Than goodness the rest of these guys went off their tires worse than I did. After awhile I could just cruise."

Jarrett's day ended when he wrecked on lap 126 and from that point Martin cruised to vistory lane.

Starting from the pole, his second Busch pole at NCMS, Martin joins four other drivers to win from the pole, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt, Sam Ard and Rob Moroso previously accomplished the feat.

"We have a chassis setup for this Busch car here that seems to work, and we don't deviate from it very much. Dale was coming. He was shaping up to be the strongest competition that we'd have all day. He was headed in our direction before he had trouble."

Martin earned $21,995 for his 21st career Busch victory, in his 130th start. Combined with his earnings from the Goody's Headace Powders 300 at Daytona last weekend, Martin is the 11th Busch Series driver to top the million dollar mark in earnings. As of today he has earned $1,000,616. David Green topped the million dollar mark last week. Veteran Tommy Houston tops the all-time Busch Series money list with $1,747,991 in career earnings.

Martin drives the Winn-Dixie Ford owned by Jack Roush in a limited schedule - even so - he has been the most successful driver on the Busch Series with 14 wins over the last 3 seasons in only 45 starts. In 1993 Mark won 7 of the 14 races he entered.

Mike McLaughlin finished second in the Royal Oaks Monte Carlo. After a troblesome week in Daytona, McLaughlin was relieved to secure a strong finish and valuable championship points. He has now moved to 9th in the points hunt behind four Winston Cup veterans, but only four Busch regulars.

Others that looked good - but didn't have the staying power were Ricky Craven, Jeff Purvis and Bobby Labonte.

The Goodwrench Service 200 was slowed by 8 cautions for 44 laps.