Mark Martin is quietly doing his thing -- again. Credit: Autostock

Weekend shaping up well for consistent Martin

HAMPTON, Ga. -- For a guy that was supposed to be retired, Mark Martin sure is making a lot of noise on the racetrack.

Martin, who's riding a string of three consecutive top-five finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway heading into Sunday's Golden Corral 500 (rescheduled for 11 a.m. ET, FX), was sixth in Saturday's early practice and second behind teammate Carl Edwards in the late session.

Carl Edwards is going for three in a row at Atlanta. Credit: Autostock

Golden Corral 500 Saturday Practice Speeds Pos. Driver Speed Time 1. G. Biffle 189.344 29.280 2. J.J. Yeley 189.318 29.284 3. C. Edwards 189.183 29.305 4. Ky. Busch 187.824 29.517 5. K. Kahne 187.544 29.561 6. M. Martin 187.418 29.581 7. Ku. Busch 187.070 29.636 8. K. Harvick 187.013 29.645 9. J. Burton 186.893 29.664 10. M. Kenseth 186.874 29.667 • Complete speeds, click here Happy Hour Speeds Pos. Driver Speed Time 1. C. Edwards 189.209 29.301 2. M. Martin 188.957 29.340 3. K. Kahne 188.571 29.400 4. Ku. Busch 188.405 29.426 5. R. Gordon 187.348 29.592 6. J.J. Yeley 187.335 29.594 7. Nemechek 187.329 29.595 8. J. Burton 187.310 29.598 9. R. Newman 187.171 29.620 10. B. Labonte 187.019 29.644 • Complete speeds, click here

"Atlanta is definitely one of my favorite tracks," said Martin, who comes into the race fifth in the Nextel Cup point standings. "From top to bottom it's one of my favorite places that we race.

"It's a fast track and over time the pavement has settled and you have a lot of grooves for racing, which really makes for good racing and a good show for the fans."

There may be multiple grooves, but Martin said there's only one place you need to look for his car Sunday.

"It's multiple grooves for those guys, but it's only one groove for me -- the bottom. Win, lose or indifferent that's where I'll be."

Ditto for Edwards, who was the only driver to crack 189 mph in final practice.

"I might have run one lap on the top just to see what it was like, but we were pretty good down there," he said. "You never know. When the race starts the fast groove might be right around the white line for the whole day and not up on the top like it was last time."

Edwards, who got both his first Busch Series victory and his first Cup Series win in this race weekend last season and also won here last fall, says he's not thinking about a three-peat.

Much.

"I don't know how probability works," he said. "Every time you go to the racetrack, you have the same chance of winning no matter how you performed in the past, so I'm trying not to think about what happened before -- just go out and do the same thing we did the first time and the second time and if we get the same result, man, that would be unbelievable."

On pointKevin Harvick liked the way his car handled during AMS practice Pole sitterKasey Kahne secures pole position for Golden Corral 500 On the moveBill Lester makes history during his AMS qualifying run Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836 GOLDEN CORRAL 500 •   Race Lineup

Just as he's trying not to think too much about his success of last year, Edwards is also not trying to think to much about the less-than-stellar start (two finishes outside the top 25 in three starts) that he's off to in 2006.

"Hopefully, we won't have anymore bad luck this year," he said. "We're not changing our strategy. I'm not panicking. We're not doing anything, but if we go to Martinsville and Bristol and Talladega and wreck, that's gonna make for a miserable season, but we go to every race the same."

The Dodges of Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch and the Chevrolet of Robby Gordon rounded out the top five in the final practice.

Greg Biffle led the first practice, (189.344) followed by J.J. Yeley, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne.

Both sessions ran incident-free.