"That was awesome guys...we can win, we can win the Daytona 500," said an energized Mark Martin as he pulled his No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet into the garage after finishing sixth in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. "It's just a pleasure to drive this car for the U.S. Army team and to work with these guys -- and to run good is just a bonus," added Martin. "The car was really fast, did well on the long runs and handled well in the corners. That wasn't a win, but I believe that if we can make our car handle that good on Sunday, I think we can have a shot to win the Daytona 500."
Martin started the race 10th and drafted his way all the way to fourth in just the first two laps. He eventually was shuffled out of the draft and moved back to 11th by Lap 13 of 70. He was running 10th when the mandatory caution was issued on Lap 20.
After the break Martin moved in and out of the top 10 for the next several laps. He radioed the team on Lap 39 that his U.S. Army Chevy was good enough to win with the right mix of help. However, Martin would struggle finding the drafting help he needed to move back through the field as he settled in at eight place for the next several laps. "We didn't have a ton of help -- we almost got wrecked there early and several of the fast cars that could have helped got around us," explained Martin. "The car was fast enough to get up there and make some noise, but we just couldn't find the right partners to help us make that happen."
STERLING MARLIN, NO. 14 WASTE MANAGEMENT MONTE CARLO SS:
Q. How did you feel about the introduction of the restrictor plates?
Marlin: Well, it wasn't bad before. The racing wasn't bad. at least you could get away from guys. Now everybody's on top of each other and the car kind of gets up. To me it was better racing back then.
Q. The Budweiser Shootout has five or six or seven guys in their 20s. Is that a big deal for you?
Marlin: No. I've been in it three times and (Dale) Earnhardt (Sr.) was in it. It gets you an idea of where everyone will be for the (Daytona) 500.
Q. Does it surprise you that there are that many young guys in the 500?
Marlin: Not really. I mean, Ricky Rudd was in his 20s when he first started. I guess it's just a sign of the times.
Veteran driver set to make debut in No. 01 U.S. Army Chevy
Mark Martin's appearance in Saturday night's (Feb. 10) Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway will be his record-extending 19th consecutive start and 20th overall. The all-star event will also mark his debut for Ginn Racing in the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet.
"It's going to definitely be a big day for us," said Martin. "We've raced in a lot of Shootouts and we won the deal in '99, but this year we'll be making our debut with Ginn Racing and our debut with the U.S. Army in the No. 01 Chevrolet. We'll be able to see what we have right off the bat. I'm excited about getting back on the track and kicking off Speedweeks and the season in the Shootout.
"The Budweiser Shootout is one of those events where points don't matter and second place means nothing, so you have everyone out there really going for it all and trying to get the win. We had a pretty strong run last season. This year it will be my first race with Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) and the guys on the 01 team. I'm really excited about getting the season started with the Shootout, as we head into the Daytona 500."
Andretti Green Racings IndyCar Series program wrapped up its first test of the 2007 season Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. All four of AGR s driver participated in the two-day road course test and offered the following thoughts on their first outing of the year:
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone The Canadian Club guys had a decent test plan and we made some good progress yesterday. Today, I think we took a little bit of a step backwards, but that is part of what you deal with when you're testing.
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone I think we did some positive things during the test to the Team 7-Eleven car. We seemed to go back a step in the last session today but I think we learned some things and that's what we were here to do. It felt good to finish at the top yesterday and to post the overall top speed during the test. I m really happy for the guys on the Team 7-Eleven crew and the rest of the team. We've made up some ground and have to keep working to get better.
Road Course Open Test An Important Starting Point For 17-race Season
From a team standpoint, Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull will be looking for execution, communication and at the competition. His team's drivers, 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon and 2003 series title holder Scott Dixon, each won two races last season. But Wheldon came up one point short in the season-long championship race to Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr.
"Basically in testing, what we do is you've got to understand the tuning changes and the parameters that affect the car the greatest, and we can learn all of those things at Daytona," he said. "So testing is very important for us. Everybody works hard during the winter to try to improve their individual product. It's the first opportunity that you really have to come out and test with everybody that's represented in the IndyCar field.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DARIO FRANCHITTI AND DARREN MANNING
THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined by Dario Franchitti. Tell us a little about the testing, so far?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: The track conditions have changed a little bit for yesterday, so the entire team is stuggling to adjust to that. Other than that it’s been a good test.
Q. Is there any difference from methanol to ethanol and the new 3.5-liter engine?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Well it smells a little different when you are following a car. Actually, in the past when you race with methanol when you would sit in the car the fumes would sting your eyes. It doesn’t do that with the ethanol. The engine has a lot of torque and you can feel that.
Q. About a possible race at Daytona
DARIO FRANCHITTI: “If we’re going to go racing here, I would like us to see us use the full 24-hour course. It’s my opinion. I think that would be good fun. There are a couple of things that maybe we would have to change because of the higher speeds of these cars but I would definitely be interested in doing that.
Can we learn anything? Yeah, we can. In a perfect world, we would go run down the streets of St. Pete or up at Mid-Ohio just now. I think that’s under snow so that could be a problem. But we sort of look at a corner and say yeah, this is similar to this type of corner. We try to get a general amount of information first of all and then try to get a specific corner to corner.
Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan Had The Fastest SpeedAt Daytona
The IndyCar Series wrapped up a two-day preseason test session at historic Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. Seventeen IndyCar Series teams have been navigating the twists and turns of the 2.72-mile road course at the “The World Center of Racing” for the last two days as they prepare for the five road/street course events on the 2007 IndyCar Series schedule. Even though the IndyCar Series doesn’t hold a race at Daytona International Speedway, drivers say they can pull information from the course and utilize it in their future setups. Overall, Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan had the fastest speed of the entire two-day session with a speed of 135.549. The stock portion of Speedweeks 2007 will kick off with the Budweiser Shootout and ARCA 200 on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Overall Speeds
1. Tony Kanaan, 135.549 2. Helio Castroneves, 135.335 3. Dan Wheldon, 135.226 4. Dario Franchitti, 135.134 5. Sam Hornish Jr., 135.056 6. Scott Dixon, 134.438 7. Vitor Meira, 134.149 8. Marco Andretti, 133.887 9. Scott Sharp, 133.456 10. Jeff Simmons, 133.260 11. Kosuke Matsuura, 133.006 12. AJ Foyt IV, 132.821 13. Tomas Scheckter, 132.663 14. Darren Manning, 132.124 15. Buddy Rice, 131.766 16. Danica Patrick, 131.645 17. Ed Carpenter, 130.843
The preseason test is the second visit for the IndyCar Series to Daytona International Speedway. Last September, the IndyCar Series held a compatibility test at Daytona International Speedway with four teams – Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske Racing, Panther Racing and Andretti Green Racing. “The name says everything,” said Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan, who was the fastest driver of the day with a speed of 135.549 mph in the four-hour afternoon session. “I walked into this place in September, it was my first time ever here, and I was pretty impressed. Again, last night when I walked in again, it always gives you that.”
Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Sharp, Buddy Rice, Darren Manning, Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter are participating in the two-day testing session just after competing in last weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“No question that it’s a challenging place – especially when you are coming from a 24 hour,” Helio Castroneves said.
“To make the change from the DP (Daytona Prototype) car to the Indy car – it’s a big change. You can ask anyone that did the 24. It’s kind of a relearning. “The only time I ran here is with the DP cars, so for me to find the braking points and the turning and everything in an Indy car, and all of the sudden becoming three times faster than I am used to. Again, after two laps I got used to it and back to the same rhythm.”
Ginn Racing announced today the first 14 races of Mark Martin’s limited 2007 schedule, with highlights including a record extending 19th consecutive start in the Budweiser Shootout, his 23rd running of the famed Daytona 500 and his 18th consecutive start in the Nextel All-Star Challenge, an event he won in 1998 and 2005. When Martin is not in the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, rookie Regan Smith will pilot the Ginn Racing entry. The remainder of Martin’s Nextel Cup schedule will be announced later in the season. “I can’t tell you how excited I am about what we have going on in 2007,” said Martin. “It’s just a dream come true to be able to pick the races that we want to run in and to be able to do it with a full-time Cup team like the No. 01 Army team, it’s just more than I could have asked for.
“Basically we were able to sit down and work on a schedule that worked for everyone,” added Martin. “I just wasn’t ready to step completely back from Nextel Cup racing and I felt I had a little more to give out there. At the same time, I was ready to be done with the grind of the 38-race Cup schedule, and fortunately I was able to move over to Ginn Racing and have the opportunity to do what I wanted to do. “We open the schedule in the Budweiser Shootout and then the Daytona 500 and I’m really excited to take that Army Chevy out on the track at Daytona. Then we’ll run the next three races, before taking off Bristol and Martinsville. I am really looking forward to represent our brave soldiers both here and abroad.”
Martin will pilot the No. 01 Army Chevrolet for Ginn Racing in the season’s first four point events and in the All-Star Shootout in February. After starts in the Daytona 500 and at California, Las Vegas and Atlanta, Martin will take off the following races at Bristol and Martinsville. The break will put an end to Martin’s string of 617 consecutive starts dating back to Feb. 14, 1988. “Streaks and numbers like that really say more about the fact that you were fortunate enough to stay healthy and keep your ride for a lot of years,” said Martin. “It is something that I’ve been proud of, but it’s also something that it’s time to step away from. It’s been a great run with that, but we’ll be back in a few weeks and that’s perfect for me.”
Mark Martin’s First Half 2007 NEXTEL Cup Schedule
Feb. 10 - Budweiser Shootout @ Daytona International Speedway Feb. 18 - Daytona 500 Feb. 25 - California Speedway March 11 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway March 18 - Atlanta Motor Speedway April 15 - Texas Motor Speedway April 21 - Phoenix International Raceway May 5 - Richmond International Raceway May 12 - Darlington Raceway May 19 - Nextel All-Star Challenge May 27 - Cola-Cola 600 June 3 - Dover International Speedway June 10 - Pocono Raceway June 17 - Michigan International Speedway
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