Martinsville, VA (03-30-2008) – Martinsville Speedway is well known for being one of the trickiest short-tracks in the country. With long straightaways leading into tight, flat corners, the track can haunt even veteran race drivers with long lists of victories and championships. Rookie racer Justin Marks, driver of the no. 9 Construct Corps Tundra for Germain Racing, knew his first race at Martinsville would be tough. Despite being new to short-track racing, Marks drove hard and recovered from losing laps early during a green-flag pit stop. He finished 20th, on the lead lap, in Saturday’s Kroger 250.

“The Kroger 250 was a very tough race. We struggled a little bit with the handling of the Construct Corps Tundra but we got it better in the race than we had it in practice. It’s a very different type of racing for me. Obviously, you have to have a good truck but there’s a lot of strategy, anticipating what your competitors are going to do, and racing with respect. There are a lot of elements that play into racing at Martinsville,” said Marks, of Rocklin, CA. “We fell behind early in the race but we rallied and took advantage of the cautions there and salvaged a decent finish for the Construct Corps Tundra.”

Marks qualified 23rd for the 250-lap slugfest. He ran into trouble early when he had to pit due to concern that he’d lost air pressure in one of his tires. The visit to pit road, under the green flag, cost the rookie racer three laps.

“One of the things I was able to learn in this experience was that there’s a fine line between racing hard for what you need for your race and not running the leaders so hard that they don’t want you around. You have to race hard for your spot, but show the leaders respect,” said Marks of the many restarts he experienced, lined up next to the race leaders while he fought to earn back the laps lost during the green flag stop.

In racing action, Marks was surprised to hear his spotter tell him that another driver had nosed into his racing action and that Marks was three-wide at Martinsville.

“I don’t think you should be three-wide at any point at Martinsville, unless maybe it’s with five laps to go, fighting for a spot in the top-five or the lead. But when you aren’t even half-way into the race, making it three-wide? I was surprised to hear my spotter tell me that we were three-wide, it wasn’t an intelligent move and it probably cost us several positions in the finishing order,” said Marks, whose Construct Corps Tundra received some damage from being taken three-wide early in the race.

Marks recovered from the race’s challenges, earning back each of the three laps he had fallen behind to finish 20th, on the lead lap in the first short track race of his rookie season. Short track veteran Dennis Setzer took the victory. With 430 points, Marks currently holds a respectable 17th position in the Craftsman Truck Series Standings. For more information on Justin Marks and Germain Racing, visit www.germainracing.com