We admit it. We’re biased. It’s always a delight to see Mark Martin win a race, but oh what a ride he’s had this year. How can he have won four races now and be just barely holding on to his spot in the top 12?
When things go wrong, they’ve gone very wrong with the #5 ride this year. His horrible finishes generally match his top ones yielding a rather blah point in the standings.
To think, 2005 was to be Mark Martin’s last year, the great exodus of the remaining drivers from Dale Earnhardt’s generation as Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliot, Ricky Rudd, and Terry Labonte would all be gone or racing very limited schedules. Heck, despite all the races he won, he never won at Martinsville, but in retirement he was sent home with a grandfather’s clock just the same. While Martin never won a championship, neither did Junior Johnson. Who would exclude either driver from discussions of being among the greatest drivers ever? Likewise, Mark Martin never won a Daytona 500, but… more shortly….
Jack Roush asked Martin to hang in there for one more year, and true to form, he finished in the top ten in points, a “Chase” contender, 9th in points with 7 top fives and 15 top tens. So was this respectable conclusion the end of Mark Martin, hardly.
He was asked to join Bobby Ginn’s racing operation mainly to serve as a mentor to young drivers in what was supposed to be a fledgling operation. Martin qualified for the Daytona 500 and came within a whisker of beating Kevin Harvick for the win. Has a second place finish ever seemed so glorious? He’d go one to post remarkable results in his part-time ride, but the dream of Ginn racing becoming a competitive outfit came crashing to a halt being unable to fund the operation they sold out to DEI making him a part-time team mate of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his final season with the family business.
For 2008, he’d take on the #8 ride as part timer kicking some serious butt in a part time capacity with everything looking like this would be it. He’d finish his last ride with the US Army Chevy and get on with his life, then Rick Hendricks had a conversation with him. He could race the #5 full-time with an option for the following 2010 season.
The kid took the wheel of the box of Corn Flakes and at first it looked like one heck of a test of character with one horrible mishap after another. While a 17th finish at Daytona was not a disaster, finishing 40th in Fontana and Las Vegas followed by a 31st finish in Atltanta were. Should he have just gone off into the sunset?
The Food City 500 at Bristol would energize the driver and his fans with a 6th place finish followed by more top tens, 7th at Martinsville and 6th at Texas en route to a trip cross country to Phoenix with a glorious victory.
How would he follow up that success in Talladega the following week? How about finishing dead last. No good deed goes unpunished. Welcome back to reality, right?
Back east in Richmond finishing 5th kept hopes alive, but it was time for the oldest driver to compete in the most historical race, the Southern 500 in Darlington, and adding to the history books, a glorious win, but the see-saw would still be a play of give and take as leading up to this weekend’s glorious 4th triumph, Martin finished 17th at Charlotte, the Coca Cola 600. Dover was okay, 10th. Pocono proved so-so, 19th, then it was time to head to Michigan, a glorious win! Next the punishment, cross country again to Sonoma, a 35th finish, a mild comeback in New Hampshire up to 14th then a crushing blow, a wreck in Daytona’s coke Zero 400 yielding a 38th finish knocking him out of the top 12.
There was only one way to deal with that, how about another victory? Mission accomplished in Joliet Illinois. It was a win that took some smart strategy with the final restart, but it was a dominating victory with Martin leading the most laps.
While it’s hard not to picture Tony Stewart or Jimmy Johnson hoisting the trophy at Homestead in November, Martin’s four wins and hopefully more will help him tremendously position for a run for the elusive championship as long as the bad luck doesn’t keep him out of the top 12 which was the state of his season when the green flag dropped to start the Chicagoland contest.
Who can’t love a story where the good guy wins?
When things go wrong, they’ve gone very wrong with the #5 ride this year. His horrible finishes generally match his top ones yielding a rather blah point in the standings.
To think, 2005 was to be Mark Martin’s last year, the great exodus of the remaining drivers from Dale Earnhardt’s generation as Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliot, Ricky Rudd, and Terry Labonte would all be gone or racing very limited schedules. Heck, despite all the races he won, he never won at Martinsville, but in retirement he was sent home with a grandfather’s clock just the same. While Martin never won a championship, neither did Junior Johnson. Who would exclude either driver from discussions of being among the greatest drivers ever? Likewise, Mark Martin never won a Daytona 500, but… more shortly….
Jack Roush asked Martin to hang in there for one more year, and true to form, he finished in the top ten in points, a “Chase” contender, 9th in points with 7 top fives and 15 top tens. So was this respectable conclusion the end of Mark Martin, hardly.
He was asked to join Bobby Ginn’s racing operation mainly to serve as a mentor to young drivers in what was supposed to be a fledgling operation. Martin qualified for the Daytona 500 and came within a whisker of beating Kevin Harvick for the win. Has a second place finish ever seemed so glorious? He’d go one to post remarkable results in his part-time ride, but the dream of Ginn racing becoming a competitive outfit came crashing to a halt being unable to fund the operation they sold out to DEI making him a part-time team mate of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his final season with the family business.
For 2008, he’d take on the #8 ride as part timer kicking some serious butt in a part time capacity with everything looking like this would be it. He’d finish his last ride with the US Army Chevy and get on with his life, then Rick Hendricks had a conversation with him. He could race the #5 full-time with an option for the following 2010 season.
The kid took the wheel of the box of Corn Flakes and at first it looked like one heck of a test of character with one horrible mishap after another. While a 17th finish at Daytona was not a disaster, finishing 40th in Fontana and Las Vegas followed by a 31st finish in Atltanta were. Should he have just gone off into the sunset?
The Food City 500 at Bristol would energize the driver and his fans with a 6th place finish followed by more top tens, 7th at Martinsville and 6th at Texas en route to a trip cross country to Phoenix with a glorious victory.
How would he follow up that success in Talladega the following week? How about finishing dead last. No good deed goes unpunished. Welcome back to reality, right?
Back east in Richmond finishing 5th kept hopes alive, but it was time for the oldest driver to compete in the most historical race, the Southern 500 in Darlington, and adding to the history books, a glorious win, but the see-saw would still be a play of give and take as leading up to this weekend’s glorious 4th triumph, Martin finished 17th at Charlotte, the Coca Cola 600. Dover was okay, 10th. Pocono proved so-so, 19th, then it was time to head to Michigan, a glorious win! Next the punishment, cross country again to Sonoma, a 35th finish, a mild comeback in New Hampshire up to 14th then a crushing blow, a wreck in Daytona’s coke Zero 400 yielding a 38th finish knocking him out of the top 12.
There was only one way to deal with that, how about another victory? Mission accomplished in Joliet Illinois. It was a win that took some smart strategy with the final restart, but it was a dominating victory with Martin leading the most laps.
While it’s hard not to picture Tony Stewart or Jimmy Johnson hoisting the trophy at Homestead in November, Martin’s four wins and hopefully more will help him tremendously position for a run for the elusive championship as long as the bad luck doesn’t keep him out of the top 12 which was the state of his season when the green flag dropped to start the Chicagoland contest.
Who can’t love a story where the good guy wins?
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