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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 swept pole-position starts at Charlotte in 1991, but his finishes were forgettable. In the May race, he finished 23rd; in October he finished 35th. Both times he succumbed to engine woes.

Rusty Wallace has never won a pole at Charlotte. His best starting position came in October 1999, with a second-place qualifying effort.

In 41 starts at the 1.5-mile track, Martin has four wins, 15 top-five finishes and 19 top-10s. His average finish is 16.4 with 12 DNFs.

Saturday night will be Wallace's 47th start at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He has two wins, eight top-five finishes and 22 top-10s. His average finish is 16.2 with 12 DNFs.
Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil

Rookie Kyle Busch and Travis Kvapil are hoping for better results in their return to Charlotte for Saturday night's UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Busch led 55 laps in May, but was relegated to a 25th-place finish two laps down. However, it was his best finish in three starts at the track.

Kvapil made his first Cup Series start at Charlotte in May's Coca-Cola 600, led for 23 laps but finished 24 laps behind in 32nd place.

Through 30 races, Busch continues to lead the rookie of the year standings by 78 points over Kvapil. Busch has 11 top-10 finishes, while Kvapil has one (a seventh at Bristol in April).

Also in 1991 ...

  • News
  • March 13 -- The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Exxon agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska on March 24, 1989.
  • Entertainment
  • Jan. 30 -- Silence of the Lambs is released. It would become the third picture to win the five most prestigious Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
  • Sports
  • Feb. 4 -- The Baseball Hall of Fame voted to ban Pete Rose. In August 1989, Rose had agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball amidst accusations that he gambled on baseball games while playing for and managing the Reds.
  • Deaths
  • Entertainer Danny Thomas ... actress Natalie Schafer ... actor Michael Landon ... game show host Bert Convy ... football coach Paul Brown ... author Dr. Seuss … singer Freddie Mercury

Also in 2005 ...

  • News
  • Oct. 12 -- A rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts blasted off, returning the country's manned space program to orbit two years after its history-making first flight.
  • Entertainment
  • Oct. 7 -- Jessica Biel has been proclaimed "the sexiest woman alive" by Esquire magazine. Biel, 23, began as a teenager on the family TV series 7th Heaven, plays a supporting role in the upcoming movie Elizabethtown.
  • Sports
  • Oct. 7 -- Former Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra -- who was traded to the Chicago Cubs on July 31, 2004 -- rescued two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor.
    • Complete story, click here
  • Still to come in 2005 ...
  • Nov. 12 and 16 -- Australia is to compete a two-legged qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup. It would be the first time Australia has entered the World Cup finals since 1974, if they were to win.
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