Mark Martin
- Height: 5-6
- Weight: 135
- Born: Jan 9, 1959, Batesville, AR
News and Notes
Nov 18
This week: Martin, who probably will finish second in the Cup standings for the fifth time in his career, has no wins, four top-five finishes and five top-10s in nine Homestead starts. But he has finished in the top 10 twice in his last three Homestead races, including ninth last year. "I'm going to look at 2009 and say I've had the best year of my life personally as well as professionally," Martin said. "This has been the best year of my life. You know, I found so much peace and happiness and good-quality time with people, relationships, family, coworkers, fans, competitors, as well as success on the racetrack. Every time I strap in that race car, I'm going after it. Every time I strap in that race car, I'm going to the extreme limits. I've raced that way, I've drove that 5 car, every time I strap in the 5 car, it's the same. It's everything I got, points or no points. If it's just practice, I like being on the top of the scoreboard even in practice. We've been digging as hard as we can go."
Last week: Martin's fourth-place finish at Phoenix left the driver upbeat even though Jimmie Johnson pulled away in the battle for the points title. "It was a good run," Martin said. "It was a great run, a great team effort with a really great race car. That last run is what we needed, but the car got a little tight. I really thought I could get to him, that it was going to be a four-car race there. With 35 laps to go I thought it would be a race, but it kind of fizzled out. I'm very satisfied, though. We tried to win but we didn't run good enough to win. Things are quite different right now, but no one from my experience -- from 1981 until now -- no one has been able to sustain the kind of performance Jimmie has because it is very, very difficult to do. It might come unraveled at any time, but I don't see that. I see it continuing for some time. I have to find a way to work harder. I have to dig deeper. I have to find some more."
Etc.: Team owner Rick Hendrick, assured of winning the Sprint Cup title because Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon are the only drivers with a mathematical chance of winning the title, has tremendous admiration for Martin's effort this season. "Mark is happy in his skin," Hendrick said. "He is comfortable with his life. He is comfortable with his family. I think what drives him is not the desire to win the championship. As much as anything he wants to do, he wants to do it with perfection, whether it's the way he eats, whether it's the way he works out, the way he dedicates time away with his family. He's got his stuff together. I'm 10 years older than Mark. But there comes a time when you've been through enough things in life, you want to do the best you can, but you're happy to be where you are. And Mark is really happy. He's won a lot of races. He's shown everybody how talented he is. Boy, we're just very fortunate to have him in the organization. I was concerned when we had two DNFs he was 35th in the points, and I had talked him into coming back. I was eating myself up on the inside. I said, 'Mark, I promise you we'll do everything we can. You won't be sorry.' And I've used his phrase a lot: I'm living the dream. I think it's being comfortable in your skin, and he is. But he is a perfectionist. I think that's what you see in everything he does."
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