Mark Martin made his 871st career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night. It wasn’t something he expected to do when the week started.
Martin in a part time role at Michael Waltrip Racing was called on to fill in for the injured Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart is out for the rest of the season with a broken leg caused in a crash while racing sprint cars in Iowa last month. The team needed an experienced driver to fill in for Stewart and the attention turned to veteran Martin. It wasn’t an easy task, however. Martin had obligations with sponsors at MWR and was racing Toyota’s. After some no doubt extensive negotiations behind the scenes, Martin headed to Bristol and his first start for Stewart-Haas.
The night didn’t go as well as hoped. After starting 11th, Martin began to fade falling back as far as 32nd at one point. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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