NASCAR Nationwide Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
NNS: Martin To Drive For Another Elite Team In Joe Gibbs Racing
Mark Martin will make his Joe Gibbs Racing debut in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway...
Jeff Owens  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted March 08, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Mark Martin has 49 career Nationwide Series wins. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Mark Martin has had the luxury of driving for two of the top teams in NASCAR during his 25-year career – Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports.

This weekend, Martin will get to complete a trifecta of sorts as he steps into a Joe Gibbs Racing car for the Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving him the chance to drive for another one of NASCAR’s most successful organizations.

JGR has 94 Cup wins and 68 in the Nationwide Series.

Martin, 53, has 40 career Sprint Cup wins – 35 for Roush and five for Hendrick. Of his 49 career Nationwide wins, the majority came with Roush, though his last two came with Turner Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports.

Martin is driving a partial Cup schedule this season for Michael Waltrip Racing, which fields Toyotas. As part of his new relationship with Toyota, Martin is able to move over to Gibbs this weekend and drive a Gibbs-fielded Toyota in the Nationwide race at Las Vegas, where he has four career wins.

Martin’s Nationwide record at Las Vegas can be described with one word – dominant. In six Nationwide starts at the 1.5-mile track, he has won four races, finished second once and sixth once for an average finish of 2.0.

He won at Las Vegas for Roush in 1999 and 2005 while his win with JR Motorsports came in ’08. His victory with Turner Motorsport last season was the organization’s first in the Nationwide Series.

He also has a Sprint Cup win at Las Vegas for Roush.

Now he gets to race there for Gibbs, which has one of the sport’s top Nationwide programs, winning races with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and others.

“Their Nationwide Series program is one that has had everyone’s attention for years,” said Martin, who will drive the team’s No. 18 Toyota. “They’ve won a lot of races and had great cars and they’ve been the premier Nationwide Series program for a few years. So, I couldn’t be more excited to get a chance to work with them.”

Martin has won on a variety of tracks throughout his career, but has excelled on 1.5-mile ovals like Las Vegas.

“Some tracks you get around pretty well and others you just don’t,” Martin said. “For some reason, Vegas has been a track that has been really good to us and things just work out.”

Adam Stevens, the crew chief for Gibbs’ No. 18 Nationwide teams, has worked with some of the sport’s top drives, including three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, who won two Cup titles for Gibbs. Working with Martin will be another highlight on Stevens’ resume.

“I have been fortunate to work with some great drivers, so it’s fun for me to get to work with Mark, a guy who has that much experience and is still excited about doing what he does,” Stevens said. “He came by the shop and he could talk race cars 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Having him get behind the wheel and get a read on where our intermediate program is will be huge for us. So, I’m excited about that.”

SceneDaily.com • Carl Edwards hopes to recapture winning ways with return to Las Vegas
jeff_owens's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Owens

SceneDaily.com

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.