Martin's first failure in nine seasons

NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division, Mark Martin failed to make thestarting lineup for the Touchstone Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway this
weekend.

Martin, a four-time ASA champion, the defending champion of the IROC Series -
with three of his four titles won consecutively - is the official winningest
driver since the Series' inception in 1982. Martin's last failed qualifying
effort was at Daytona International Speedway in February, 1993.

"We ran 3/10ths (of a second) faster in practice this morning than we
qualified," said Martin on Friday. "I felt pretty confident we would be okay
to make the race, but just before our run, the sun came out and it got really
humid."

Martin, who is secure in his Busch Series all-time wins category with a total
of 36, two of them already this 1999 season, will now concentrate on the IROC
race at Talladega on Saturday where he will start 10th in the 12-car field
along with the DieHard 500 on Sunday for which he qualified sixth with a lap
around the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 48.712 seconds, at an average speed of
196.584 mph, just 3/10ths of a second short of the polewinning effort of Ken
Schrader.

Martin will now compete in the inaugural Phoenix 200 Busch Series event at
Phoenix International Raceway scheduled for November 6 in the #60 Roush Racing
Winn Dixie Ford.