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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 are two of eight drivers who have started all 16 races at Sonoma since NASCAR held its first Cup race at Sears Point on June 11, 1989.

Martin has one victory at the 1.99-mile, 10-turn track. He won the Save Mart Supermarkets 300 on May 5, 1997, taking the checkers after starting from the pole and leading a race-high 69 laps.

Wallace has two victories at Sonoma, winning in 1990 and '96. Martin finished as the runner-up in both races.

Sunday will be Martin's 17th start at Sonoma. He has seven top-five finishes and 13 top-10s. His average finish is 9.8, with one DNF.

The Dodge/Save Mart 350 will be Wallace's 17th start at the track. He has eight top-fives and 10 top-10s. His average finish is 13.8, with three DNF.
Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil

Kyle Busch and Travis Kvapil will make their first Cup starts at Infineon Raceway on Sunday. Neither driver has competed on a road course in their NASCAR careers at any level.

Busch leads the rookie of the year standings by 43 points over Kvapil. Through 15 races, Busch has six top-10s.

In fact, Busch has had a notable run in his past 11 races (all series) -- three wins and eight top-10s. Kvapil has one top-10, a seventh-place finish at Bristol.

Busch's average finish this year is 18.6, while Kvapil's is 25.5.

Busch's Hendrick Motorsports stable has 131 starts on serpentine tracks with 13 wins, 41 top-fives and 58 top-10s. Kvapil's Penske Racing has 46 road-course starts with three wins, 19 top-five finishes and 25 top-10s.

Also in 1989 ...

  • News
  • Feb. 14 -- Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini encourages Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses. Khomeini would die on June 3.
  • Entertainment
  • Dec. 17 -- The Simpsons premieres on FOX with a special Christmas episode. The characters had first appeared two years earlier as a segment on The Tracey Ullman Show. The regular run begins Jan. 14, 1990.
  • Sports
  • April 8 -- One-handed pitcher Jim Abbott makes his major-league debut with the California Angels, without spending a single day in the minor leagues. He went 12-12 for the season.
  • Deaths
  • Hirohito, Emperor of Japan ... comedian and actress Gilda Radner ... Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini ... actor Laurence Olivier ... Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (executed)

Also in 2005 ...

  • News
  • June 21 -- Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter in the 1964 deaths of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman.
  • Entertainment
  • June 21 -- The American Film Institute's list of the 100 best quotes from U.S. movies is topped by Rhett Butler's parting shot to Scarlett O'Hara: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," from 1939's Gone with the Wind.
  • Sports
  • June 19 -- The U.S. Grand Prix featured only six drivers because 14 other teams, all armed with Michelin tires, would not run on what they considered unsafe conditions at Indianapolis.
  • Still to come in 2005 ...
  • Broadway adaptation of Pink Floyd's The Wall is expected to begin playing in mid-summer. Roger Waters, who helped form the band, will be involved in the production.
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