Martin Scores Third Career Pole at Phoenix, Now 7th on All-Time List

Mark Martin captured his third career pole at the Phoenix International Raceway and this is his 20th career top-10 start dating back to his debut here in 1988. At 54 years old, Martin still shocks guys like the young Kasey Kahne, who will start on the front row for the first time at Phoenix.

Phoenix used to be a tough track for Kahne and when I asked him, “What has changed for you at this race track?”, Kahne said, “This track had always been a struggle for me even in open wheel cars and quarter midgets. The banking was just so tough.”

Since the 2011 season, Kahne has had three top-10 finishes out of the last four races ran and it was in the spring event in 2011 when Kahne got loose and hit the wall early in the race while running in second. If he didn’t hit the wall, I bet Kahne would have been a threat at the end. Look for the 5 car to be the biggest threat out of the Hendrick stable. Out of the top-5, all five at some point have had a history with Hendrick Motorsports.

Kyle Busch will start from third, Jimmie Johnson will start in fourth, and Jeff Gordon will start in fifth.

Matt Kenseth fell off from his quick practice run and he will start the race from the ninth position. Denny Hamlin was one of the favorites to win the pole, but he had a very early qualifying lap and wound up in the eighth position. Danica Patrick had a rough start to the weekend and she will start in 40th.

I asked Mark Martin, “You started on the pole last year and led the first lap of the race and wound up in ninth, how do you ensure you are there at the end of the race and not just the beginning?” Mark said that he and the team, “Just need to make this car the best out of the entire field and it starts with the two hours of practice we have tomorrow.”

Martin is a two-time winner here at Phoenix with his first victory coming in 1993 and his most recent coming in 2009.