Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin looks to continue his climb in Cup standings at Texas
Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin is 27th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings after six races this season.
// Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
Mark Martin has been tearing through the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings lately.
In his opening season with Hendrick Motorsports, Martin endured some setbacks in the year's opening races, but he has finished sixth and seventh in the past two races. That has vaulted him eight positions in the standings, to 27th, and cut his points deficit on the top 12 from 189 points to 117.
If he can keep that up, Martin just might be a contender for the Chase For The Sprint Cup this season after all.
Martin’s next shot at gaining ground comes at Texas Motor Speedway, site of this weekend's Samsung 500. In 16 starts at the 1.5-mile track, he has one victory, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes. He has led a total of 169 laps in Cup races there.
Martin says that he has confidence in the car the team is bringing - especially since it's the one he was running fourth in when he had a tire failure earlier this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"Every time I sit down in that race car, I've been one of the fastest cars at the race track," Martin said. "I got some laps in it [during testing] at Charlotte in October. I did the Goodyear tire test in it in Indy, and in both of those tests we were real, real, real fast. Obviously it was really good in [Las] Vegas and in Atlanta, and the exciting thing about Texas is not only are we running the same car, but we will use the same setup principles that we learned and developed during those two races.
"Hopefully, it will be an evolution of slight improvement. I feel like Atlanta was a slight improvement maybe over Vegas. I think we're still making progress, and the more we're working together -- I can't wait to get back in that thing and get it out there. Texas is certainly one of my more favorite race tracks."
Martin says that not only does he have confidence in his team at the intermediate tracks, but those are also his favorite facilities.
Now that the team has turned the corner in terms of performances in recent races, crew chief Alan Gustafson says they are ready to take things to the next level - contending for a race win.
"I believe that we are a good top-10 car every weekend," he said. "The point now is, however, to break into that elite crowd. We need top-fives and wins. The jump from top 10 to winning is the hardest one to make. We are working really hard to make that jump. We can't be comfortable with the finishes we've had. We have to look at those top-10s just the same as if we were struggling. That's where the intensity is, and that's what we have to hold onto to turn good into great."
In addition to focusing on racing at Texas this weekend, Martin will be busy interacting with his fans in the coming days. He plans to sign autographs at the Wal-Mart in Highland Village, Texas, at 5 p.m. Friday and is hosting the Fan Appreciation Day at his car dealership in Batesville, Ark., April 9 and 10. In addition, both his Batesville home and the Mark Martin museum will be featured on CMT "Cribs" Saturday at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
