April 27, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Mark Martin stands an excellent chance of winning his first championship this season. And it’s about time because he certainly is getting no younger. Martin has finished second in the championship standings four times but has never managed to win a title.
No one over 50 years old has ever won a NASCAR Championship and last week at Phoenix, Martin became the third oldest driver to win a race. Harry Gant, Morgan Shepherd and Bobby Allison all won races in their fifties, the last one being Shepherd in 1993 at Atlanta.
His crew chief, Alan Gustafson, doesn’t believe that Martin is too old to win a Championship.
“Age is irrelevant with Mark,” Gustafson was quoted as saying in an AP article on espn.com. “I don't even think about it. It doesn't even come into the equation. Mark's enthusiasm, his energy, his drive ... he's incredible. He's as good as any of them.”
Last week at Phoenix, Martin won his first race since 2005, and jumped five spots in the standings from 18th to 13th as a result. Without his run of bad luck to start the season, which dropped him to 34th in the points, he would be in the top five of the standings. As it is now, he is just outside the cutoff for the Chase, but if he continues to run with the same consistency that he has so far, he will make the Chase.
It seems that Martin is racing with a renewed urgency this season, probably because he knows that the clock is ticking. It’s now or never. Father Time eventually catches up with everyone. His advantage is that sitting behind the wheel of a car levels the playing field. Age is not as big a factor in NASCAR as it is in boxing, for instance. And driving Hendrick equipment gives him the best chance he’s had to win a title so far in his career.
Moreover, none of the drivers in the garage feel that Martin is too old to win the Cup title that has eluded him so far in his career.
“Mark has no disadvantage because of his age. Some people would disagree. But physically, he's probably in better shape than he was 10 years ago when he was having back problems,” Jeff Burton said in the AP article.
And if anything, the change in the points format to the Chase has made it easier, because instead of competing at a high level the entire season, all he has to do is be 12th or better and then he has a ten race shootout for the Championship.
Perhaps his biggest disadvantage is that Martin has always been Mr. Nice Guy on the race track and has always raced the other drivers cleanly. While most drivers on the other hand, have no problem moving a car out of the way if that’s what it takes to win. Maybe that’s what Martin needs to do. Take a little inspiration from the Intimidator.
But at this point in the season, being concerned about the championship is something that Martin is not focused on, at least not yet.
“I am not going to ruin a good time by worrying about it. Let me enjoy this,” Martin said.
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