Mark Martin Race Summary: No.55 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver Mark Martin finished 34th in Sunday night’s 600-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Engine problems at the lap-338 mark ended Martin’s night early. He raced in 11th – the last car on the lead lap – at the time of the problems. Throughout the 400-lap event the Aaron’s team worked to improve the No. 55’s turning. Martin started the race sixth and raced in the top-five for the first 100 laps. The handling issued kept him from climbing any higher but he rarely fell outside the top 10. Martin and the Aaron’s Dream Machine return to action Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
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- Started sixth and finished.
- Raced in the top five for the first 100 laps.
- Battled a tight handling race car.
- Lost a lap at lap 300 but earned the Aaron’s Lucky Dog free pass on lap 320.
- Raced in 11th when engine issues ended his race on lap 338.
MARTIN QUOTE: “That’s so disappointing. I thought we were going to have a top 10 finish tonight. We worked like heck on the Aaron’s Dream Machine throughout the race trying to get it to turn like we wanted but we just never could get there. We still weren’t very bad, but if we could have got it to turn a little better I think we could have gone up there and raced with them. My crew did great and we’ll go get them at Dover.”
RACE NOTES:
- Kasey Kahne won the Coke 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway by 4.295 seconds over Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.
- The race was run in three hours, 51 minutes – -
- The race featured 31 lead changes among 11 drivers
- The race was slowed by five cautions for 23 laps
- NASCAR estimated the attendance at 140,000
