Mark Martin will only fill in for Denny Hamlin at Martinsville

That whole thing about Mark Martin filling in while Denny Hamlin is injured -- yeah, you can go ahead and forget about it.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that Martin would only drive for Hamlin April 7 at Martinsville and then return to drive the MWR No. 55 car the following week at Texas.

This is contrary to what Joe Gibbs Racing made known Thursday when the team said Martin would fill Hamlin’s seat in the five races he’s expected to miss after fracturing a vertebrae in his lower back.

Martin is running a part-time schedule for MWR and was originally schedule to sit out Martinsville. Brian Vickers, who drives for JGR in the Nationwide Series, is to take the wheel of the No. 55 car in Martin’s absence.

Vickers will now pick up the remainder of the races that Hamlin misses. Hamlin is is expected to return May 11 at Darlington.

JGR acknowledged in a separate release late Friday that there was miscommunication between Toyota’s top two organizations.

“Obviously having to find someone to fill in for Denny is not an ideal situation to have to be in, and when you start a process like this, you obviously begin to look at the drivers that are not only available but also able to drive for your race team and manufacturer,” JGR president J.D. Gibbs said in a statement.

“We were a bit premature in determining Mark’s status past Martinsville, however. We’re real happy to have the opportunity to get Brian in our Cup cars and with him driving Nationwide for us we think we have some continuity there that is beneficial.”

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