After battling back to a 22nd-place finish in a disappointing run at Atlanta last week, Mark Martin and the No. 8 U.S. Army Team return to Texas looking to rebound with a strong performance. The team finished eighth at the 1.5-mile track in the spring and will look to follow that up with yet another strong effort.

At Texas Starts: 15 (3) Wins: 1 (-) Top 5s: 5 (1) Top 10s: 8 (1) Poles: - Highest finish: 1 ('98) First time: 4/6/97 (38th) Last year: 11/4/07 (34th) Last start: 4/6/08 (8th)

Worthy Note: Martin was inducted into the Texas Motor Sports Hall of Fame in the spring.

MARTIN AT TEXAS

Martin will make his 16th start at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, where he won in 1998. He has five top fives and eight top-10 finishes in the Cup Series at Texas. Martin finished eighth at Texas in the spring. The veteran has completed 93.4 percent of the Cup laps at Texas and has led in seven of 15 races.

MARTIN INDUCTED INTO THE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY HALL OF FAME

For his accomplishments at Texas Motor Speedway, Martin was inducted into the Texas Motor Speedway Hall of Fame this spring. Martin has a total of five wins, nine top-fives and 12 top-10 finishes in NASCAR racing at Texas Motor Speedway.

DOUBLE DUTY

Martin will run his fifth and final Nationwide race this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, where he has won three times during his distinguished career (including the inaugural event in 1997). So far this season it has been feast or famine for Martin in the Nationwide Series, where he has two top-five runs (including a win at Las Vegas) and two finishes outside the top 20 (wrecks at Darlington and Kansas).

GETTING STARTED

Martin has earned six outside poles during the 2008 season. His average starting position of 11th is currently his best since the 2000 season by move than five positions.

FINISHING OUT 2008 STRONG

Martin will make two more starts in the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy this season, this weekend at Texas and next weekend at Phoenix. Martin will then hand the wheel over to co-driver Aric Almirola for the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

ON POINT

Martin and co-driver Almirola currently have the No. 8 U.S. Army Team sitting at 14th in the Sprint Cup owner points; the second position not in the Chase. Martin is 28th in Sprint Cup driver points, despite missing 11 races thus far in the season. He leads 11 drivers who have started more events in 2008 and seven racers who have started at least eight more events.

QUOTING MARK MARTIN:

"I always have a lot of fun racing in Texas. The track is big and fast and it's the type of place that really suits my style of driving. We've had a lot of success over the years in both the Cup and Nationwide Series and I'm looking forward to racing there with the No. 8 team this weekend. We'll be running the Nationwide car as well, so maybe the extra track time will translate into a strong run on Sunday.

"This No. 8 U.S. Army team at DEI has been so strong this season. These guys deserve more than anything to take their car to victory lane. I have two more shots to help them do that this season and we are going to pull out all the stops to see if we can't get Tony Gibson and these guys into victory lane."

MARK MARTIN FAST FACTS

Martin posted a Cup win at Texas in the second race there in 1998.

Martin has five top fives and eight top 10's in 15 Cup starts at Texas.

Martin has led in seven of his 15 starts at Texas, where he has completed 92.9 percent of his laps.

Martin is a 2008 inductee into the Texas Motor Sports Hall of Fame.

Martin has won three times in the Nationwide Series at Texas in four races, including the inaugural Busch race there in 1997.

Martin has finished top 10 in five of his last seven starts this season.