Martin makes most of repeat performance
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
February 24, 2006
11:39 PM EST (04:39 GMT)
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- The rest of NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series is probably already dreading Mark Martin joining the series full-time with his own team in 2007.
The longtime Nextel Cup star, who plans to retire from NASCAR's top stock car series at the end of this season, won his second truck race in eight days, adding Friday night's Racetickets.com 200 to a victory last week at Daytona.
Martin, who will run only a limited truck schedule this year, easily fought off a challenge from Todd Bodine in a two-lap overtime finish after a crash by Mike Wallace on lap 99. That brought out the eighth caution flag of the night and extended the race, scheduled to go 100 laps on California Speedway's 2-mile oval.
Defending truck series champion Ted Musgrave, Bodine's teammate, was third.
The Daytona race also went to overtime with Bodine and Musgrave trailing Martin. But another caution flag during the green-white-checker finish that night gave Martin the victory and left Bodine and Musgrave lamenting that they didn't get the opportunity to run him down.
This time, there were no more yellow flags after the race restarted for the final two-lap sprint on lap 105. Their Toyotas were lined up right behind Martin when the overtime began, and that's just the way it stayed.
"It felt like that movie, 'Groundhog Day.' I was thinking to myself, 'Didn't we just do this a couple of days ago?"' Musgrave said.
"But this is a whole different racetrack. You don't draft the same way here as you do at Daytona and there was nothing I could really do but watch the two of them race for the win."
Martin, who will also race in Sunday's Auto Club 500, said, "We had our hands full on that last restarts. But this Ford has got a lot of horsepower. We just stepped on it and got to the line first."
Bodine was penalized for passing on the left during a restart on lap 48 and fell all the way to 34th. But he quickly charged back into contention, passing Martin for the lead on lap 81.
Martin was too strong, though, driving his F-150 past Bodine's Tundra two laps later and staying ahead the rest of the way to grab his third truck win in just five career starts.
"We had to serve that penalty, which I disagreed with," Bodine said. "The guy ahead of me missed a shift and I either had to go by him or run into him. But we can't be too disappointed. That's second two weeks in a row and third for our teammate.
"I figured out how to get by (Martin), then the yellow came out (on lap 99). After that, I knew it was probably over. I didn't give up, but Mark just was a little too strong."
Pole-winner David Reutimann wound up fourth, followed by Jack Sprague and Johnny Benson, all driving Toyotas.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Just wait 'til 2007 when he runs CTS full time!
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
February 24, 2006
11:39 PM EST (04:39 GMT)
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- The rest of NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series is probably already dreading Mark Martin joining the series full-time with his own team in 2007.
The longtime Nextel Cup star, who plans to retire from NASCAR's top stock car series at the end of this season, won his second truck race in eight days, adding Friday night's Racetickets.com 200 to a victory last week at Daytona.
Martin, who will run only a limited truck schedule this year, easily fought off a challenge from Todd Bodine in a two-lap overtime finish after a crash by Mike Wallace on lap 99. That brought out the eighth caution flag of the night and extended the race, scheduled to go 100 laps on California Speedway's 2-mile oval.
Defending truck series champion Ted Musgrave, Bodine's teammate, was third.
The Daytona race also went to overtime with Bodine and Musgrave trailing Martin. But another caution flag during the green-white-checker finish that night gave Martin the victory and left Bodine and Musgrave lamenting that they didn't get the opportunity to run him down.
This time, there were no more yellow flags after the race restarted for the final two-lap sprint on lap 105. Their Toyotas were lined up right behind Martin when the overtime began, and that's just the way it stayed.
"It felt like that movie, 'Groundhog Day.' I was thinking to myself, 'Didn't we just do this a couple of days ago?"' Musgrave said.
"But this is a whole different racetrack. You don't draft the same way here as you do at Daytona and there was nothing I could really do but watch the two of them race for the win."
Martin, who will also race in Sunday's Auto Club 500, said, "We had our hands full on that last restarts. But this Ford has got a lot of horsepower. We just stepped on it and got to the line first."
Bodine was penalized for passing on the left during a restart on lap 48 and fell all the way to 34th. But he quickly charged back into contention, passing Martin for the lead on lap 81.
Martin was too strong, though, driving his F-150 past Bodine's Tundra two laps later and staying ahead the rest of the way to grab his third truck win in just five career starts.
"We had to serve that penalty, which I disagreed with," Bodine said. "The guy ahead of me missed a shift and I either had to go by him or run into him. But we can't be too disappointed. That's second two weeks in a row and third for our teammate.
"I figured out how to get by (Martin), then the yellow came out (on lap 99). After that, I knew it was probably over. I didn't give up, but Mark just was a little too strong."
Pole-winner David Reutimann wound up fourth, followed by Jack Sprague and Johnny Benson, all driving Toyotas.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Just wait 'til 2007 when he runs CTS full time!