Mark Martin is tied with Kyle Busch for most Sprint Car victories this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Talk about all or nothing.
Mark Martin will leave Richmond International Raceway Saturday night in one of four positions:
• Leading the Sprint Cup points as the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.
• Tied for the points lead.
• Second in points.
• Eliminated from the Chase entirely.
It’s been that kind of season for Martin in his first year behind the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS. The highs have been stratospheric, the lows disastrous.
The good includes four victories, which is tied with Kyle Busch for most in the series, as well as eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. It’s worth noting, too, that the four victories in 2009 matches Martin’s total from 2000-2008, a span of 298 races.
But along with the good has come the bad and the ugly. Martin has seven finishes of 30th or worse this year, including consecutive 40th-place runs at Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas, and a 43rd at Talladega.
Add it all up and Martin heads into NASCAR’s regular-season finale 10th in points, 69 points ahead of 13th. If Martin finishes 12th or better at RIR, he will make the Chase. And on the basis of those four victories, he can start the Chase no worse than second.
But if he has a bad run, it’s entirely possible that Martin could miss the Chase altogether. That’s making for an unusually tense week.
“This is definitely a long week for me, personally,” said Martin, a four-time runner-up in Sprint Cup points. “I wish that we had secured our position weeks ago and Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the guys could all go into this weekend with a little less stress. But that's not the way it happened. It's going to be a long night for sure. There are a lot of good cars battling for those last few spots, and we're one of them. It's a tough situation. But this is a strong team. I think we are worthy of being in the Chase. And barring any unforeseen circumstances, I think we will be there. We should be there. But that's not always how it works.”
Fortunately for Martin, RIR is a track where he performs well. He has scored three consecutive top fives at the 0.75-mile oval, and in his last 18 starts here, he’s amassed eight top-five and 10 top-five finishes. His worst finish during that stretch was 21st, and only three times in those 18 races did he finish outside the top 15.
Like he said, Martin should be OK. But in racing, you never know until the checkered flag falls.
So the pressure will be on Saturday night at RIR.
“I want this team to make it. Not so much for me, but for Alan and Rick (Hendrick, team owner) and all the guys at Hendrick Motorsports,” said Martin. “Look, they have given me a season that was beyond my wildest dreams. I hoped I would win a race. One race. And I have gotten four of them.”
And all year long, Martin has eschewed championship discussions, focusing only on how he was running on any given weekend.
