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[/media-credit]MARK MARTIN
No. 55 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE
PHOENIX PREVIEW
CORNELIUS, N.C. — Follow @55markmartin on Twitter and you’ll quickly learn about one of his passions in life beyond racing – music. The 53-year-old uses music to energize the physical training that’s allowed him to win 40 races during a 30-year NASCAR Sprint Cup career.
The Batesville, Ark. native’s musical tastes span a variety of genres – some might even surprise you.
MARK MARTIN ON MUSIC – “Music has always been important to me. I don’t know if that makes me any different than anyone else or not. I’ve always had all my vehicles with extra oomph to them. They have all had loud speakers and stereo in them. Growing up I listened to bands like Aerosmith, AC/DC and music like that. But, there was always another side of me that likes Neil Young and singers that weren’t quite as hard rock. There was always two sides to my musical tastes even when I was a kid coming up.”
RAP – “I kind of got away from keeping up with different kinds of music when my family started growing. Then we went testing in 2002 and my crew chief Ben Leslie was playing rap music really loud in our truck. I was like ‘Man, this is really good.’ It just triggered something in me. That’s how I stumbled over rap music.”
WORKING OUT – “Rap music is like a cup of coffee for me. It wakes me up and gets me going. I listen to it when I work out now. I love the energy. I still listen to Taylor Swift and Johnny Cash and country as well but that’s about 1 to 10 compared to the number of rap songs I listen to.”
FAVORITES – “The real motivation in music for me is Dr. Dre. He’s the king who laid down all these songs for guys like Eminem, Snoop and 50 Cent. He’s a really talented and fascinating guy. He just makes magic. I’d love to meet him some day.”
MUSICAL TALENT OF HIS OWN? – “Ha ha….forget about it. No singing or dancing for me.”
Notes
· CAREER: Sunday’s Phoenix race will be Martin’s 832nd career start. He finished 10th in Monday’s Daytona 500.
· 2012: Mark Martin will race the No. 55 in 24 races plus the All Star race in 2012. Michael Waltrip will drive the No. 55 in six races. MWR will fill the remaining races with a driver to be named later.
· WINNING: Martin is the only driver to win at Phoenix in two different manufacturers: Ford (1993) and Chevrolet (2009).
· TWITTER: @55markmartin, @mw55, @rchilders55, @mwrteam, @aaronssports, @toyotaracing
· CHASSIS NOTES: Primary- 714 Backup- 715 – Both are new cars
No. 55 CREW
Crew Chief – Rodney Childers
Car Chief – Steve Channing
Front Changer – Ryan Langley
Rear Changer – Shannon Myers
Front Carrier – Chris Hall
Rear Carrier – Mark Kennerly
Jackman – Tony Cardamone
Gas man – Brian Dheel
Spotter – Jeremy Brickhouse
Engineer – Billy Scott
2nd Engineer – Scott McDougall
Tires – Kevin White
Eng.Tuner- Denny Chandler (TRD)
Shocks – Mike (Nook) McCarville
Truck Driver – Glenn Shano
2nd Truck Driver – John Murphy
Pit Coach – Greg Miller
TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Date Friday March 2
Practice 2:30 p.m. SPEED
Practice 4:00 p.m. SPEED
Date Saturday March 3
Qualifying 2:35 p.m. SPEED
Date Sunday March 4
Race 3:00 p.m. Fox
