Martin Finishes 11th at Texas

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Mark Martin turned in an impressive performance in the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, rebounding from a 33rd-place qualifying effort to finish 11th in the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).

“A great, great effort today by this Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 team,” said Martin, winner of the 1998 race at Texas. “The car was really good all day. It’s a pretty good piece, and hopefully we’ll get it turned around for Homestead. I’m so proud of the effort these guys put in and am very thankful for all of their hard work all weekend long.”

A loose-handling condition plagued the No. 14 Chevrolet from the start of practice Friday. The issue continued through qualifying and the majority of the practice sessions Saturday. It wasn’t until the last 15 minutes of final practice Saturday that the team found a setup that suited Martin’s driving style.

The effort paid dividends from the drop of the green flag for the 334-lap race Sunday afternoon. Martin wasted no time moving to the front of the field, climbing into the top-25 by the time the first caution was displayed on lap 15. He made steady progress during the next several laps around the track and noted the handling on the Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet was “pretty good.”

While tire wear was a problem for many in the race, it was no issue for Martin. So crew chief Steve Addington decided to change only right-side tires under caution on lap 74. The call placed Martin in fourth place when green-flag racing resumed. Although he lost a handful of positions, Martin never dropped further than 14th in the running order, as Martin’s well-handling racecar required few adjustments throughout the race.

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet SS, led the way for SHR at Texas by finishing ninth. It was his fifth top-10 at Texas and his 17th of the 2013 season.

TSC PR

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