08-23-2006 | TruckSeries.com Report
Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Ford F-150, returned to the Craftsman Truck Series after a six-race hiatus and grabbed his second pole of the season in qualifying for this evening's O'Reilly 200. Martin, who last competed in the series at Michigan in June, has seven starts this season with three victories. Martin, who now has two career truck series poles and four victories, captured the pole in his 11th career truck series start with a time of 15.320 seconds and an average speed of 125.248 mph. Mark Martin No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150 (Qualified 1st) You have experienced success here at Bristol in both the Cup and Busch Series. Should we expect no less tonight? "It's going to be a real competitive race. You know how they go here, track position is about everything and you've got a lot of good drivers and a lot of good trucks. It will be a wild night and maybe the best race of the weekend. Winning the pole was a good start and it gives the guys a little something extra heading into the race tonight." With the Truck Series only starting 36 trucks, will that make it a little easier to pass on the track during the race? "I think so. Even though the trucks are a little bit larger, I think it will help having a few less, for sure. But, this is Bristol and anything can happen, and when it does, it usually happens pretty fast. This Scotts Ford F-150 is fast and that makes it fun to drive, and I'm looking forward to tonight."
Today's qualifying run marked an impressive return to the series. "Wow, just an incredible truck that these guys have given me with this Scotts F-150. I just love coming to Bristol with these guys. They're just so much fun to work with. They enjoy it when we run good and they really take it hard when we don't, so they're willing to work really hard. This pole is a product of their hard work and it sets us up for what we hope will be a good run tonight."