March 30, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
|
Despite a rocky start to the season, Mark Martin remains the sentimental favorite to win the title this season, and it’s no wonder. Martin, at age 50 and in the twilight of his 28 year NASCAR career, will likely not have that many more opportunities to win.
Although Martin has accomplished much in his legendary career, he has failed to win NASCAR’s ultimate prize, having finished second in the points four times, most recently in 2002 when he finished second to Tony Stewart.
Martin has always been a consistent driver, finishing in the top five of the final point standings 12 times and in the top ten 16 times, something that no other driver has ever done. Still, this year could be the final chance that Martin has for running a full schedule.
Originally, as per the contract he signed at Hendrick, Martin was scheduled to run full time this season only and part time next year. However, in light of his recent comments at Bristol, is it possible he is seeking to run full time next year?
Although he has qualified well this year, with two poles already, Lady Luck has not been kind to him. He has run well so far this season, he just hasn’t been able to close the deal and finish races. A tire issue ruined his day at Atlanta, he was running fourth at the time, and he was in the top ten at both California and Las Vegas, when his engines let go, something that usually doesn’t happen with Hendrick equipment. Could it be that engineers at Hendrick are pushing the envelope with Martin’s equipment to supply him with extra power?
Before the Martinsville race, Martin was 31st in points, 189 points out of the Chase cutoff, certainly not an impossible distance to make up for a driver of Martin’s caliber. Still, he needs just a little luck on his side because without those DNF’s, he would probably be fourth or fifth in the points.
“It's a horrible run of luck,” Martin was quoted as saying in a David Newton article for espn.com. “But we can't punch the reset button. Some things about punching the reset button would scare me. I don't know if we would run as good again.”
But instead of dwelling on the past, Martin chooses to look to the future.
"We should be considered a legitimate contender for the championship at Richmond [26th race] if we make the Chase," said Martin in the Newton article. "Yeah, it can be done. There's a lot of races to go and a lot of people will have three bad races.”
Martin certainly has a point. Take Kyle Busch for example, who ran phenomenally well at the beginning of last season and went into the Chase leading the points, but quickly fell out of contention after a few bad races. Hopefully, Martin has gotten his bad luck out of the way early with enough time to recover and make a run for the title.
At the Bristol race, the question arose as to whether or not Martin would compete full time next year. Martin denied that he was planning to run the full season next year.
However, there must be some truth to the rumor because Rick Hendrick has stated that he hopes to know Martin’s decision by July. If it were to occur, Hendrick would need to line up sponsorship for next season. Kellogg’s, the current sponsor on the 5 car, is up for renewal after this year.
It wouldn’t really make sense for Martin to run part time for Hendrick next year anyway. Why would he take up seat time in what is considered the best equipment in NASCAR and not compete for the title?
If Martin doesn’t win the title this year, look for him to run full time next season. If he does, chances are he will retire and ride away into the sunset. Hopefully, he will finally get the Championship that has eluded him for so many years because if anyone in NASCAR deserves a title, it would be Mark Martin.
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
You can contact Matthew Pizzolato at ..