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Then & Now

NASCAR.COM pays tribute to two outgoing vets
and welcomes two rookies to the Cup fold.

Each week will preview one year in the career of the retiring drivers,
as well as a pop-culture look at what's going on in the world today.
Mark Martin

Mark Martin

Rusty Wallace

Rusty Wallace

Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace both have celebrated in Victory Lane after the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

Martin's win in the annual Memorial Day Weekend event came in 2002. He beat Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth to the line by 0.468 seconds.

Wallace's victory in the May race came in 1990, when he dominated for 306 laps en route to besting Bill Elliott by 0.17 seconds.

Sunday will be Martin's 41st start at Charlotte. He has four victories, 15 top-five finishes and 19 top-10s. His average finish is 16.2, with 11 DNFs.

The Coca-Cola 600 will be Wallace's 47th start at the track. He has two wins, eight top-fives and 21 top-10s. His average finish is 16.3, with 12 DNFs.

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil

Kyle Busch ran both Cup series races at Charlotte last year. He finished 32nd in the May event and 34th in October.

However, Busch does have a victory at the track. He won the Busch series race a year ago, and has never finished worse than fifth in three BGN starts at Charlotte.

Busch, who won the Truck series race May 20 at Charlotte, now leads the rookie point standings by 21 points over Kvapil.

Kvapil has never competed in a stock car points race at Charlotte.

He finished third in the Nextel Open on Saturday, one spot ahead of Busch.

Kvapil has run two NCTS races at Charlotte, finishing fourth in 2003 and eighth last year. He did not lead a lap in either race.

Also in 1990 ...

  • News
  • Feb. 2 -- South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free. Mandela is released from Victor Verster prison, near Cape Town, on Feb. 11.
  • Entertainment
  • Aug. 19 -- Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Bernstein died Oct. 14.
  • Sports
  • Feb. 11 -- James "Buster" Douglas defeated Mike Tyson by a knockout in Round 10 to win the world's unified Heavyweight title, in what many consider boxing's biggest upset.
  • Deaths
  • Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy ... football coach George Allen ... former baseball player Tony Conigliaro ... entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. ... Heisman winner Tom Harmon ... Muppets creator Jim Henson ... Pro Football Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski ... musician Stevie Ray Vaughan

Also in 2005 ...

  • News
  • May 25 -- Jennifer Wilbanks, a Georgia woman who fled the state and faked her own kidnapping and sexual assault before her wedding, was indicted by a Gwinnett County grand jury. Wilbanks, 32, is charged with one count of making false statements and one count of making a false report of a crime.
  • Entertainment
  • May 20 -- Wild On! is back, and Tara Reid has signed on as host. The travel series will debut its new season in August, E! said. Reid, star of the American Pie movies, will take viewers along "as she skips to the front of the line and straight past the bouncer at the wildest parties in the world."
  • Sports
  • May 25 -- NFL owners unanimously approved the $600 million sale of the Minnesota Vikings to a group led by New Jersey shopping mall magnate Zygmunt Wilf.
  • Still to come in 2005 ...
  • Sept. 18 -- The 57th annual Emmy Awards will be handed out in Los Angeles.
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