Bass Pro Shops 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Oct. 29, 2006

Started 7th – Finished 36th                  

MARTIN GETS CAUGHT UP IN CRASH AT ATLATNA, FINISHES 36TH

Martin and the AAA Team were poised for a top-10 finish, before late-race accident

“Pat Tryson and the AAA Team did a great job with the car and the setup, but unfortunately we found ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, once again.”
- Mark Martin after Sunday’s race at Atlanta

HAMPTON, GA. – For the third consecutive week Mark Martin and the AAA Race Team found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and they could do little more than watch as yet another top-10 finish went up in smoke around them. Running inside the top 10 with only 16 laps to go, Martin had nowhere to go when a group of lapped cars got together in front of him. In an effort to dodge the happenings in front of them, the No. 14 car of Sterling Marlin came up the track, forcing Martin into the outside wall. The wreck caused severe damage to the No. 6 Ford Fusion and Martin was unable to continue in the race, forcing the team to retire to the garage with a 36th- place finish.

"I don't know what happened,” said Martin outside the infield care center. “I haven't seen it yet, but the 14 car just veered up in front of me, so I don't know.  I'm just happy that we're running good.  I'm proud of the AAA team and I want to thank all the fans for cheering so loud.  We're fighting and scrapping for it.  We've got three more races and we'll keep doing what we're doing."

Martin battled for much of the day with the car’s handling, but he was able to run in and around the top 10 for the entire race, until getting caught up in the accident. The car’s handling was ‘loose’ early and for most of the race, before getting ‘too tight’ as the sun dropped over the speedway around lap 250. Martin struggled on restarts, but exhibited one of, if not the, fastest cars on the track over the long run.

The veteran had restarted in ninth position and stood to gain position, when the field went green after the day’s eighth caution on lap 304. However, seconds later Martin would see his race come to a premature ending, as he was knocked into the outside wall just after the restart on lap 309.

The finish marked the third time in as many weeks that Martin saw a solid run halted by damage from an accident. Three weeks ago at Charlotte, Martin saw a top-five run come to an end after he crashed into the wall after getting hit by the No. 18 car. Last weekend, Martin’s No. 6 Ford sustained damage to the radiator after cars checked up in front of him on a restart. With three races remaining in the ‘Chase’ Martin is now in eighth position, 201 points out of first.

The team returns to action this weekend at Texas, where Martin finished ninth in the spring. He has one win, four top fives and six top-10 finishes in 11 starts at the TMS. He finished second there last year in the inaugural Fall Cup race there.