Can’t worry about wrecking

Editor’s note: Each week of the 10-race Chase, Mark Martin will share his thoughts exclusively with Yahoo! Sports. Martin, 50, goes into Race No. 7 of the Chase second in the points standings.

Mark Martin got caught in a wreck just six laps into the April race at Talladega.
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I’ve had some highs and some lows at Talladega.

I think we led the most laps one year when they never even had a caution, so that’s gotta be a high. When we can have a whole 500-mile race and not have a caution at Talladega, that’s definitely a high.

I’m sure I’ve had tremendous lows. We were in the Chase hunt one of the years and wrecked there. That kinda took us out of the hunt. Wrecking on Lap 5 this year, was about as low as I want to be. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon started that one, which is very, very rare to see that happen. You know, started by two champions. So that was a crazy wreck to begin with.

I don’t normally have a different mindset for restrictor plate races, but this time is different. Usually I’m concerned about getting in a wreck, but I’m not concerned at all this time because it doesn’t matter. If we wreck, then we don’t have a chance at the championship. I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to race like there’s no way a wreck could ever happen, you know?

We’re coming from Martinsville to Talladega, which are two different races and two different things. Restrictor plate racing is pretty tough on drivers. I’m going to go with the mindset that lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice. It did last time, and I just don’t think it will this time. I’m due a great run and a great finish at that place. And we’ll see if our competition has the same.

After 32 races, and I’m ready for the points to be over, but I’m not burned out. I love racing. I’m ready to stop counting points. I look forward to that. We have four more races and we’re going to race every race with the intention of trying to win the championship. But I will enjoy being loose from those points.

They were hard on us until the Chase started because we were struggling to make the cut. Since then it’s not been much pressure. When you have a season where you win as many races as we have, anything short of the ultimate seems like a disappointment. I’m going to do my best to keep my team in the frame of mind to remember what we have accomplished this year and what a tremendous year this has been.

This weekend, I just have to finish as high as I can to stay in this thing. That’s all. I pretty much just stay focused on our performance. It’s not time to look over our shoulder or worry about anything.