Mark Martin, driving in place of the injured Tony Stewart, turned in a solid performance by finishing 15th in the AdvoCare 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Behind the wheel of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), Martin started 16th in the 43-car field and ran as high as eighth as various pit strategies constantly jumbled the running order.
A scheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 234 dropped Martin to 30th as team’s differing pit strategies played out. Martin rallied to 15th before the race’s eighth and final caution period on lap 283. He took advantage of the break in action and came to pit road for right-side tires and fuel.
Martin restarted in 15th on lap 288 and crossed the finish line in that same spot when the checkered flag dropped 24 laps later.
“The Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevy was good on the long run,” Martin said. “We had to work more on the short runs. And then I didn’t get that last restart quite right and I pushed up into the marbles there in turn one. It’s a little disappointing because we were better than what the result showed, but it was still a solid run for this Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops team.”
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