Catchfence

DEFENDING RACE WINNER: Martin earned his first career New Hampshire Motor Speedway victory last September driving the No. 5 Chevrolet. He entered the race as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader, started 14th and led 68 laps en route to the win. The victory left Martin with only four active tracks on the Cup schedule where he has yet to win. Martin is still looking for Victory Lane at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NEW HAMSPHIRE TOTALS: In 27 Cup starts at New Hampshire, Martin has earned one win, nine top-five finishes and 14 top-10s. His average finish of 11.1 is tied with Pocono Raceway as his second-best average finish at an oval track. Martin has been running at the end of every race he’s entered at New Hampshire.

LOOP STATISTICS: Martin’s average finish of 10.4 in the last 11 New Hampshire races ranks fifth-best among all competitors. He also has the sixth-best average running position — 11.443 — and the sixth-best driver rating with a score of 95.5.

POLE MAN: Martin’s next Sprint Cup pole will be the 50th of his career and will place him eighth on the all-time pole winner’s list. Martin earned the pole position for his first race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 11, 1993, when he went on to finish second. He earned his second pole at the Loudon, N.H., racetrack two years later on July 9, 1995, when he finished third.

THE NO. 5 TEAM: Crew chief Alan Gustafson led the No. 5 team to New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s Victory Lane on July 16, 2006, and again last September. In 11 total Cup starts at the track, the team has earned two victories, four top-five finishes and five top-10s with Gustafson at the helm. New Hampshire joins Phoenix International Raceway as the only track where the No. 5 team has earned multiple wins since 2005.

CHASSIS CHOICE: Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-588 in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire. Martin finished 21st in this chassis at this track in June. He posted a fourth-place finish in No. 5-588 at Phoenix International Raceway in April.

HENDRICK AT LOUDON: In 31 races (110 Sprint Cup starts) at the New England racetrack, Hendrick Motorsports has tallied eight wins, 31 top-five finishes, 49 top-10s, five pole positions and led 2,169 laps.  The organization owns the last two wins at the track, with Martin going to Victory Lane in September 2009 and Jimmie Johnson winning there in June.

GO DADDY GETAWAY: GoDaddy.com is giving away a two-day fantasy trip to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. The trip for two includes a personal introduction with Martin and GoDaddy.com NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Danica Patrick. Fans can register online at www.GoDaddy.com/pircontest. The contest ends Sept. 24.

COMMERCIAL CONTEST: GoDaddy.com recently launched its second commercial contest this year. The prizes are bigger this time around with $250,000 going to the winning commercial. Thirty-second original commercials featuring the Go Daddy end tag can be submitted online at www.GoDaddy.com. The contest ends Sept. 30.

SIGN UP AND WIN: Delphi, a primary sponsor of the No. 5 team for two races this season, launched its 2010 “Destination: Victory Lane” promotion this season. Destination: Victory Lane is for professional automotive technicians only and will award grand prizes, weekly and instant prizes to those who are registered at www.delphi.com/victorylane. Information from the Hendrick Motorsports drivers and Gustafson also is featured on the site.

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MARK MARTIN, DRIVER, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON THE REMAINING 10 WEEKS.): “We, as a team, have got to figure out how to make our GoDaddy.com Chevrolet faster. That’s what we’re focused on. Being 13th in points doesn’t matter. Winning would be great. Contending for wins is what we’re fighting for. We made some big changes during the Richmond (Va.) race that had us headed in the right direction. It’s going to take risks like that and experimenting to get there. We all have to give 100 percent, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

MARTIN (ON HIS WIN LAST YEAR AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY.): “I had never won at New Hampshire before, and I just kept thinking that this was going to be one of those tracks for me. We would get so close and just not seal the deal. But Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made great pit calls that race and put us in a position to win. We had a lot of cautions there at the end, and I thought ‘Oh no. Just don’t mess up. Don’t lose this one.’ It was an emotional win for us because of it being the first race of the Chase, too. We were contenders, and that win proved it.”

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET (ON LAST YEAR’S WIN AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY.): “Mark did a phenomenal job at the end of that race. We can only do so much from the pit box with engineering, pit stops, setups. When he’s out on the track in those final 10 or 20 laps, that’s all him. He had an awesome restart and pulled away for the win. Mark got everything he possibly could out of that race car. It was an incredible day for all of us because everything just fit together perfectly. Those are the kind of race days you hope for all the time.”

GUSTAFSON (ON TURNING THE SEASON AROUND FOR THE GODADDY.COM TEAM.): “We have a lot of work to do. These next 10 weeks, whether we had made the Chase or not, were going to be all-out, try-everything weeks. That’s what you’re going to see out of this race team now. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We’re going to find what it is that’s holding us back and we’re going to fix it. I’m confident in every member of this race team. Every one is giving everything they have to this team right now. Probably more so than they were at this point last year. There’s no way or reason to sugar coat it. We have a problem, and we’re going to keep working until it’s fixed.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release