Busch North Series Graduate Martin Truex Jr. On Schedule For NASCAR Busch Series Stardom : Raceway Media

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 25, 2004)– With three second place finishes and one Busch Pole in his last four NASCAR Busch Series starts, Martin Truex Jr. is setting a pace which ranks him near the head of the class among NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch North Series graduates who have gone on to become Busch Series winners. Scoring three top-five finishes in just a dozen races since he began seriously contesting the Busch Series in 2003, Truex has already drawn comparisons to Steve Park, the fastest-rising star ever to emerge from the Busch North Series, and has moved ahead of the likes of Chuck Bown, Ricky Craven, Mike McLaughlin and Andy Santerre in achieving success at the national level in the shortest time.

Truex, a race winner during his rookie Busch North Series season in 2000, started his first Busch Series race with a car from his family's shop at Dover, Del., in September 2001. He ran four more in 2002 while still a full-time Busch North Series competitor. The New Jersey native's 2003 effort was split three ways: the Busch North Series, where he won twice and took four Bud Poles in only six races; four Busch Series races with the family's equipment; and a six-race tryout with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chance II Motorsports. In his ninth race of the season, the fifth for Chance II, he finished second in the Target House 200 at Rockingham, N.C., and backed that up with another second in the season-ending Ford 300 at Homestead, Fla.

Earning a full-season ride with Chance II for 2004, Truex came out of the gate with his first Busch Pole at Daytona International Speedway. Then he chased Jamie McMurray home in the Goody's Headache Powder 200 at Rockingham, duplicating their close finish of last fall. All three of Truex's second place finishes in the Busch Series, two behind McMurray and one behind Kasey Kahne, have seen him beaten only by one of NASCAR's young stars.

Already a star of the Featherlite Modified Series, Park blew through the Busch North Series in 1996, winning twice in just 11 starts before taking the prized Dale Earnhardt Inc. Busch Series ride in 1997. His ascent there would be just as swift, as he finished in the top ten in his first race at Daytona, broke into the top five in his third start, at Richmond, Va., and won his tenth career Busch Series race at the 5/8 mile Nashville, Tenn., Fairgrounds. He finished that season as a runaway Raybestos rookie-of-the-year with three wins, third place in the Busch Series point standings, and a ticket for a DEI ride in the Winston Cup Series for 1998.

The first Busch North graduate to make the move south, Bown, actually owned a Busch Series victory, at Oxford, Me., in 1986, before the Busch North Series was formed the following year. After missing the first Busch North title by just three points and finishing fourth in 1988, he joined Hensley Racing, one of the pioneer Busch Series teams, for 1989. He scored his first top five in his 14th race as a Busch Series regular and his first win in his 39th start for Hubert and Jeff Hensley on the way to the 1990 Busch Series title.

Craven entered his Busch Series rookie campaign in 1992 as the reigning Busch North champion after a dominant ten-win season which saw him defeat the Busch Series teams in two combination races, at Oxford and at Loudon, N.H. Taking the tough road as an owner-driver, Craven did not record his first top-five as a Busch Series regular until his 39th start, well into his second season, while his first win came in his 66th start in April 1994.

McLaughlin left the Busch North Series after the 1993 season with seven victories and two straight most popular driver awards to follow fellow New Yorker Todd Bodine to the Busch Series. He racked up his first top-five in his 11th race of 1994 and his first win at Dover in 1995, his 38th start for Cicci-Welliver Racing.

Santerre, currently the two-time defending Busch North Series champion, followed his Busch Series dream in 1998, cracking the top five in his 26th start, at Madison, Ill., and succeeding Park as Raybestos rookie-of-the-year. He won his only Busch Series race at Fountain, Colo., in his 33rd start the following year.

"I'm not surprised to see him running up front," Santerre commented about Truex's early success, adding "For the last two years I got to race with him quite a bit and he's definitely got the talent to take it all the way to the top. He was fortunate to get a top ride. They go to the track prepared, and with Martin's ability, he can make it a winning team."

Truex is following a path marked by excellence: the previous Busch North Series graduates to become Busch Series winners have accounted for one championship, two rookie awards, over 20 Busch Series wins, and four Winston Cup (now NEXTEL Cup) wins among them. When Truex is finished, those records may be dramatically rewritten

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