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Martin edges Truex Jr. to win IROC series race

By Bruce Martin
SportsTicker Contributing Editor

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
veteran Mark Martin became the International Race of Champions
(IROC) series all-time victory leader he held off a charging
Martin Truex Jr. to win Friday night's race at Daytona
International Speedway.

It was Martin's 12th career victory in IROC, breaking a tie with
the late Dale Earnhardt.

"Man, it was wild," Martin said. "I started feeling some stuff
coming off that corner. I thought Matt Kenseth and (Danny)
Lasoski were against me. I thought about being the victory
leader on that restart there. It's very special. I didn't know
if I would beat Matt Kenseth. It seems that I've had bad luck
all the time but tonight we had good luck."

In a week where "bump drafting" has re-entered the sporting
vocabulary, Friday's race finished with "slam-drafting"
decimating the 12-car field with four laps remaining.

Sports car driver Scott Pruett went low on the backstretch to
protect his spot and that forced World of Outlaws driver Danny
Lasoski to drop to the apron.

The contact between the two cars was minor until World of
Outlaws driver Steve Kinser ran into the back of Pruett's car,
triggering a crash that also involved defending Nextel Cup
champion Kurt Busch and Helio Castroneves of the Indy Racing
League.

There were seven cars left when the green flag waved with four
laps to go. Kenseth was the leader and was hoping to maintain
his advantage before Martin made his move.

As the two came to the tri-oval, Martin was in the middle but
Lasoski moved down from the outside to force Kenseth to the
inside. The cars bounced off each other but kept going without
losing control.

Kenseth, who led 20 of the first 25 laps and a 33-of-40 overall,
dropped to fourth with Martin leading last year's Busch Series
champion Truex for the final three laps.

"That wasn't a move for the lead, that was a move for me to keep
from losing a whole bunch of spots," Martin said. "I got a shot
from behind and was able to move from behind him."

Bobby Hamilton Jr. of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was
third, followed by Kenseth, Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice
and Sports Car driver Max Papis.

"It seemed like if you got out of line, you went to the back,"
Truex said. "It was a lot of fun and those guys got pretty crazy
there. Bobby Hamilton was trying to back me up and we were
doing the same thing for the last three laps.

"The king of IROC won the race and I'll finish second to him any
time."

Truex emerged from deep in the pack to finish second and
explained the difficulty of passing the leader when the driver
in front hugs the low line.

"It's not like a two-lane road, it's like New York City traffic
at 180," Truex said. "You are always getting cut off. If the
leader didn't run the bottom, you could pass all day long.
That's the way it is, it's hard to pass but I was 12th with 15
to go and finished second, so it wasn't too bad."

Martin was emotional when he spoke of the importance of becoming
the career victory leader in IROC.

"Tonight confirms those statements," Martin said. "I had a sad,
sinking feeling before this race tonight that this might be
coming to an end for me. I didn't think that much about making
history tonight. I've been so fortunate and have so many to
thank. This experience means as much to me as anything I've ever
done."

There have been Formula One World champions that have raced in
IROC, along with American racing legends such as A.J. Foyt,
Mario Andretti, the Unsers and the Earnhardts.

None of them have ever won more races in IROC than Martin.

"It's incredible," Martin said before a long pause. "I've had to
think long and hard to take the invitation in 2003 because my
record was so good in IROC and I was afraid to come back and not
be able to continue and Kurt Busch beat me. But I did finish
second. In eight years, I've been first and second. That's a
great way to end it. Then, they invited me again this year and I
had to think about it again.

"Maybe if I do flop this year, people will focus on all the good
things that have happened to me."

Martin refuses, however, to call himself a great race driver. He
is humble to a fault, seemingly obsessed that he is going to
fail.

Is he ever going to admit that he is a great race driver, in
this his final season of Nextel Cup competition?

"That's probably not going to happen," Martin said. "I've been
real successful. If you look at my record, it looks nice. I'm
real proud of it. I am pretty humble and I've taken a beating
many times on the race track. I've lost a lot more races than
I've won for various reasons. I don't if you are going to get me
to stand around with my chest out.

"These guys are pretty awesome and on my good days, I've been
able to beat them."

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