Mark Martin has a blast in finishing fourth at California
Mark Martin pits at California.
// LaDon George, NASCAR Illustrated
FONTANA, Calif. – Mark Martin was all smiles after a fourth-place finish in the Auto Club 500 on Sunday. He didn’t have the fastest car, but he had a good one, and at this point of the season, that’s enough to make him smile.
Martin has avoided the slow start his Hendrick Motorsports team had last year when Martin blew an engine at Auto Club Speedway to start a three-week skid that made him have to scrap and claw the rest of the regular season to get into the Chase For The Sprint Cup.
“Sometimes we were the heat, sometimes we were dropping back,” Martin said about his day. “But it was fun. There was a lot of weather changes. My car was really good when the sun [was] out.
“That last run, we didn’t make a big enough adjustment. What a great run. I love driving this car.”
Martin started 10th and ran in the top 10 all day. He led two laps on his way to the fourth-place finish and is sixth in the Cup standings after two races.
While the field had a tendency to get strung out, Martin was pleased with the way cars were able to pass on the track.
“What a great race track to race on,” Martin said. “To think they were thinking about tearing this place up and doing something different with it? That was perfect. … There was a lot of racing gong on out there and a lot of passing and side-by-side fighting. I had a blast.”
