Martin’s N. Carolina Efforts Poles Apart From Recent Weeks

Mark Martin took out two weeks of stress Friday on North Carolina Motor Speedway’s 1.017-mile oval.

“An awful lot of bottled up frustration was unleashed today for me,” Martin said after sweeping the pole for both today’s Goodwrench 200 Busch Grand National race and Sunday’s featured Goodwrench 400 Winston Cup event at Rockingham, N.C.

“I took a lot of whuppin’s in the races leading up to the (Daytona) 500,” he explained. “Our Winston Cup car had a speed deficit until the big race, when we found the right combination in the draft.”

Martin’s frustration disappeared as he grabbed the Busch pole with a lap of 151.264 mph and, less than 2 hours later, took the Winston Cup pole with a record-smashing lap of 157.885.

The lap broke the track record of 157.620, set in 1995 by Jeff Gordon on what was then a newly repaved oval.

Davy Jones, injured Jan. 23 in a crash during practice for the Indy 200 at Disney World Speedway, said he is well on the road to a full recovery.

Jones, 32, said by phone from his Indianapolis hospital room, “They’re going to release me (today) and we’re going to go to Houston to continue my rehabilitation therapy as an outpatient at Baylor Medical Center.”