Daytona 500: 27 Days and Counting

By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.

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Mark Martin

• 2007 Stats

  • Organization: Ginn/DEI
  • Car Number: 01
  • Crew Chief: Ryan Pemberton
  • Sponsor: US Army
  • Points: 27th :: 2960 :: -3763
  • Starts: 24
  • Poles: 0
  • Wins: 0
  • Top 5’s: 5
  • Top 10’s: 11
  • Winnings: $4,097,200

• 2008 Preview

  • Organization: DEI
  • Car Number: 8
  • Crew Chief: Tony Gibson
  • Sponsor: US Army

Mark Martin’s first part-time season was one littered with buzz and talk.

After coming out of the gates at Daytona, and subsequent races, the buzz was how could Mark walk away from his best start in years, and an obvious chance to competitively compete for the Cup. Yet, as he said all along, he watched Bristol from Florida, and kept true to his schedule.

Last summer, along with Regan Smith, he was the beneficiary of Ginn selling his operation to DEI. While other teammates were left in a lurch, Mark was (for obvious reasons) transferred to DEI ownership and the #01 kept right on rolling along.

Finally, last fall, the long anticipated answer to the question of “Who will replace Dale Jr?” was announced. Mark Martin, along with Aric Almirola for 12 events, would be behind the wheel of the #8 US Army Chevrolet.

Being honest here, it was one of the best things DEI could do. There are few names that could pilot that ride after Dale Jr’s exit, and Mark Martin is definitely towards the top of that short list. Mark has long been a fan favorite, with very few fans showing a dislike for him. This can only help to move the whole organization, as well as the #8 team, into the Junior-less era.

Note: information is accurate as of date published. Check Thunder Lounge for additional updates and information.

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Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Inc #01, Dale Earnhardt Inc #8, Drivers, Ginn Racing #01, Mark Martin, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Sprint Cup, Teams





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By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Sunday February 25, 2007
8:53am CST
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Is anyone surprised by this? Jeff Gordon being on top at California? You shouldn’t be surprised that he’ll pace the field to the green today, not being the only driver with multiple wins (3) at the track, and a record there that speaks for itself. Then again, overall, it’s tough to find a track where this guy hasn’t had success. What the team has to face now is that no California winner has ever come from the pole. If the Truck or Busch race are any indication, don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.

Mark Martin looked to have the truck race wrapped up Friday night, yet some “inconvenient” contact from Hornaday on the second to last restart put Mark through the grass and opened the door for Skinner to sneak into Victory Lane to give Toyota their second piece of hardware in a row.

Then we have Mr. Roboto here. Patience and keeping up with the track conditions made for yet another Kenseth Busch win. His 22nd win, in 200 starts, in the series came without too much fanfare. Jeff Burton had a pretty fast car, as did Kyle Bush as well. In the end though, clean air and good calls kept Matt in the hunt as he walked off with the win. The only challenge coming from Casey Mears, in the 24’s first appearance in Busch Series competition since 2002, and while Mears made the charge, he needed another 5 to 10 laps. But he was coming though, and it at least provided a little hope of a battle to the checkers. In the end though, Katie was sending text messages on her way to greet Matt in Victory Lane. The interesting battle was actually behind Kenseth as Burton, Edwards, Mears and Bush battled for the spots behind Kenseth. Allowing Kenseth to pull out to a little over 2 seconds, Mears finally broke through and cut Kenseth’s lead in about half in 10 laps. Give or take.

Then we have Mr. Waltrip waiting at the gate. With only one car left to qualify, he was sitting on the bubble Friday afternoon. The remaining car? David Reutimann in Michael’s own #00 entry. One has to wonder what the call is there. Team orders? Do your best and let the chips fall as they may? Both cars having to make it in on speed, one was going home. Reutimann put it in the show, sending his boss to the house for the first time this season and putting the team orders rumor to bed. Unless the team orders are to do your best and let the chips fall where they may.

Toyota again put half its cars in the show. Blaney was guaranteed with owners points from last season, Jarrett used his 2nd provisional, Brian Vickers put his Camry in 15th, and then Reutimann. Essentially the same lineup from Toyota as last week, just swap Waltrip for Vickers.

I don’t see Vickers missing too many shows this season. He’s always been rather good in qualifying, and was at Daytona as well. However, as we all know, Daytona 500 qualifying is its own beast.

So as we head into the afternoon, we’ll have some initial stories to follow. One that deserves mentioning is Roush. Watch that team, and the whole team. McMurray’s always been good here, as have the other Roushketeers. Biffle was taking everyone to school a year ago, until he blew a motor in the closing laps.

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Filed Under: Brian Vickers, Busch Series, California, Craftsman Truck Series, David Reutimann, Drivers, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports #24, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing #00, Michael Waltrip Racing #55, Nascar, Nextel Cup, Roush Racing #16, Roush Racing #17, Roush Racing #26, Team RedBull #83, Teams, Tracks





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By Tim Spencer, Thunder Lounge
Tuesday February 20, 2007
1:27am CST
Published on Thunder Lounge.

Who is disappointed the most as the Daytona 500 winds down could very well be a slue of people, car owners and drivers as well. From bad finishes to just being taking out or being nipped at the finish line it what was the closest finish in NASCAR history at Daytona since the introduction of electronic scoring. Daytona had it all.

Probably the two most noted was the deal with Mike’s Toyota and Harvick pushing a fender in front of Martin for the win. We all know those two events have been put all over the press.

Toyota found out that Daytona was for the big boys. The highest finishing
Toyota was that of Dale Jarrett who finished 22^nd. His team owner managed to take a car that had not seen the track until the Duel and finish in the 30^th spot.

Dave Blaney finished the day in 34^th after flying down pit road to miss the being of one accident and cause another as he exited pit road and slammed into Schrader who was another innocent by stander taking out do to someone else’s carelessness. The final Toyota of Reutimann ended the day in 40^th. Add to that Waltrip is starting the season in the hole in points! Not to good of a day for the first race with the Toy’s.

How about Tony Stewart?? Think he had what he would call a disappointing day? He finished dead last after being taken out by Kurt Busch. Busch managed to return with his way ward Dodge run enough laps to move in front of Stewart and Kyle Petty. The sad part is that Busch and Stewart had by far the top cars of the day. Busch still led the most laps while Stewart led the second most laps.

How about all the cars that were trashed while trying to race back to the finish because NASCAR didn’t put out the caution on the final lap?? I’m sure there is a bunch of upset drivers and owners with that. Take for example, David Gilliland who spent part of the day a lap down and then got the luck dog to work his way back to the top five. Only to be knocked out in the last lap to finish eight. While eight is nothing to complain about for a rookie who was running in the top five to be caught up in someone else crash makes it a little disappointing. Matt Kennseth would also be another who was running well into the top ten when it broke loss and finished 27^th.

How about the fans?? I bet there are several fans that are disappointed and that would even be without the big wreck at the end. A true fan of racing would agree that the race was disappointing just from the standpoint that the race was only about 40 laps long rather than 200. It was definitely one of the most boring races that I’ve ever seen at Daytona. Let’s hope that July brings a better race, for the fans and for the drivers.

And That’s The Way I See It!!!

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Filed Under: Damn Good Points, Daytona, Guest Authors, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing #55, Nascar, Richard Childress Racing #29, The Way I See It, Tim Spencer, Tony Stewart





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