NASCAR SPRINT CUP Martin gets Sprint Cup pole
He edges former teammate Johnson in bid for 1st win since ’09.
Mark Martin has DOVER, DEL. — more poles than candles on the birthday cake.
Not bad for a driver pushing limits in a stock car long after so many elite athletes have settled into retirement.
Martin took the last qualifying ride of the day and turned a lap of 158.297 mph on Saturday to win the pole at Dover International Speedway.
The 53-year-old Martin now has 54 career Sprint Cup poles and won it in the No. 55 Toyota.
That 53-54-55 trifecta paid off big for Martin on the Monster Mile. Even with all those 50s, Martin is no golden oldie.
He has three poles this season in 10 races while racing a limited schedule for Michael Waltrip Racing. He’s looking for his first Cup win today since 2009. “I feel like a lucky guy to be strapping in that 55,” Martin said.
Waltrip was among the first to greet Martin after the winning lap.
“I’m so proud of you. That’s amazing,” Waltrip told him.
Martin spent the past three seasons with Hendrick Motorsports, but changed teams in the offseason, joining Waltrip for a partial season.
Martin is slated to run 24 of 36 races this season while sharing seat time with Waltrip. He has four top-10 finishes over his first nine races and was third at Texas.
Jimmie Johnson, who was six career wins at Dover, was poised to earn the top spot with a lap of 158.263 mph until Martin knocked him off.
Johnson heard some goodnatured razzing from driver Matt Kenseth in the garage as they waited for the rest of the field to qualify.
“It was the purple balloons! It was the purple balloons!” Kenseth shouted.
Johnson was briefly confused about the good-luck charm until he realized he had balloons on his firesuit as part of his onerace deal to promote the talking-animal movie, “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.”
Johnson has yet to win a pole this season. Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Kenseth rounded out the top five. Points leader Greg Biffle will start seventh.
Johnson, who won the AllStar race in Charlotte, wants to keep Hendrick Motorsports’ recent of run of strong finishes going at Dover.
Johnson and teammate Kasey Kahne won the last two Cup races. Teammates Jeff Gordon starts 14th and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 17th.
“We don’t want to let the boss down,” Johnson said of Rick Hendrick. “We want to get all four in the Chase.”
Martin is as physically fit and dedicated to healthy eating and clean living as any other driver in the garage. His lifestyle has played as much a critical part of extending a Cup career that dates to 1981.
“I’m going to have to look into his dietary intake and start eating what he does before qualifying, because it’s been working,” Newman said. “He’s always been an awesome qualifier.”
Joey Logano DOVER, DEL. — passed Ryan Truex with a few laps left on Saturday to win the Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway.
Truex was second and Brian Scott third for a 1-2-3 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex had the top car toward the end of the race until he got loose with less than 10 laps left. Logano capitalized and made the late charge through lapped traffic to zip past Truex for his fourth Nationwide win of the season.