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Features

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 will make their final Cup starts at Michigan on Sunday. Martin's debut at MIS was in the Gabriel 400 on June 20, 1982, while Wallace's first MIS start was in the Miller High Life 400 on June 17, 1984.

Both have enjoyed success on the 2-mile track. Martin has four victories in 39 races at Michigan, while Wallace has five in 43 starts.

In fact, Wallace won the first race in which he and Martin competed in together at MIS, the Miller High Life 400 on June 26, 1988.

Martin has 15 top-five finishes and 26 top-10s with an average finish of 11.6 and five DNFs.

Wallace has 15 top-fives and 21 top-10s with an average finish of 14.2 and six DNFs.

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil

Kyle Busch and Travis Kvapil return to Michigan for Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 separated by 52 points in the rookie of the year standings.

Busch started 17th and finished ninth in the Batman Begins 400 on June 19.

Kvapil started 27th and finished 26th -- one lap down -- in that race, which was won by Greg Biffle.

That race also marked the start of points leader Tony Stewart's current streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes, including five wins.

Through 22 races, Busch has five top-five finishes and eight top-10s. Kvapil has only one top-10 -- a seventh-place finish at Bristol, site of next week's race.

Also in 1984 ...

  • News
  • March 16 -- William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists. He is subject to torture and interrogation for 444 days and dies in captivity.
  • Entertainment
  • Jan. 9 -- Clara Peller is featured in Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for the first time. (The catchphrase also led to a single, recorded by Coyote McCloud and Peller.)
  • Sports
  • July 4 -- Richard Petty wins the 200th (and final) race of his NASCAR career, getting the victory under caution in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona.
  • Deaths
  • Swimmer/actor Johnny "Tarzan" Weissmuller ... Singer Ethel Merman ... Singer Marvin Gaye ... Musician Count Basie ... Comedian Andy Kaufman ... Actor Richard Burton

Also in 2005 ...

  • News
  • Aug. 17 -- Microsoft announces the Xbox 360 -- to go on sale this holiday season -- will feature a no-frills version for $299.99 or a bells-and-whistles version for $399.99.
  • Entertainment
  • Aug. 16 -- Notorious B.I.G.'s family is asking L.A. for more than $2M in fees and costs stemming from police misconduct during the rap star's federal wrongful death trial last month.
  • Sports
  • Aug. 16 -- Bobby Bragan, 87, became the oldest manager of a pro baseball game -- and was tossed out in the third inning for arguing. Story
  • Still to come in 2005 ...
  • Still to come in 2005 ... Nov. 1: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the highest-grossing movie of 2005 (earning more than $378,461,703), is scheduled to be released on DVD.
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