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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Martin, Hendrick A Dynamic Duo
Mark Martin has won more races than any other NASCAR Sprint Cup driver this season.
Tom Jensen  |  Posted July 13, 2009   Charlotte NC
They make quite a pair, Mark Martin (Right) and Rick Hendrick (Left), two old-school racers. (Photo: Getty Images)
They make quite a pair, Mark Martin (Right) and Rick Hendrick (Left), two old-school racers. (Photo: Getty Images). (Photo: Getty Images)
They make quite a pair, Mark Martin and Rick Hendrick, two old-school racers who couldn’t be more different personality-wise and couldn’t be more alike in terms of their hunger and passion for winning.

Martin grew up in Batesville, Ark., a scrawny kid who over 50 years went from being a cocky star at local dirt tracks, to the most humble and self-deprecating personality you will ever meet in professional sports.

Hendrick, on the other hand, came out of the tobacco country of Southern Virginia to become the most successful NASCAR Sprint Cup team owners of his generation, one of the nation’s largest automobile dealers and a seriously wired-in political powerbroker.

Individually, both Martin and Hendrick have enjoyed great success throughout their careers.

Together for the first time in 2009, they not only are winning races with stunning regularity, they’re having the time of their lives, too.

Martin, worn out by the grind of 38 races a year, raced only part-time in 2007 and ’08, and during those two years swore he was happier than ever and would never race full time again. But when his former general manager at Ginn Racing, Jay Frye, brokered a deal to have Martin run a couple of NASCAR Nationwide Series races for Hendrick, the team owner was instantly hooked.

After hearing Martin’s command of the race over the team radio during a Nationwide race, Hendrick put the full-court press on Martin to return to the Cup series full-time. And Rick Hendrick didn’t get to be Rick Hendrick because he’s an easy guy to say no to.

Although Martin has had his share of bad times this season, with engine failures and accidents not of his own making, he has come alive behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet, already recommitting to drive for Hendrick next season.

“I can't believe what an idiot I would have been had I not (signed with Hendrick),” Martin said Saturday night, after capturing the LifeLock.com 400. “I had no idea it could be like that. Had no idea it could be this much fun.”

With the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season now just one race past the midway point, Martin now has a series-high four race victories. In a Sprint Cup career that began in 1981, Martin has only surpassed four victories in a single season twice, once in 1993, when he won five races, and again in ’98, when he won seven. Both of those seasons came while he was driving for Jack Roush.

But this year has been something else, even if Martin won’t take any of the credit himself. “I couldn't believe we won,” Martin said Saturday night after leading 195 of 267 laps at Chicagoland. “I mean, it's incredible. It's hard to win these things. And I don't know how we won one, much less four. I don't know how we've done it. I know how these guys have done it, but I don't know how they did it with me.”

Martin should know about how hard it is to win races. In 19 starts this year, he has four victories. That’s the same number of races he won from 2000 to 2008, a span of 298 starts over nine seasons.

For his part, Hendrick knew how good Martin would be, especially paired with Alan Gustafson, yet another one of Hendrick’s seemingly limitless supply of brilliant young crew chiefs.

“Mark's dedication and determination, the way he takes care of himself, you look at him after he got out of the car when he won Michigan, he was probably dryer than our other drivers, and he had no air conditioning two thirds of the race,” said Hendrick. “When you saw raw talent, you know if you put him in the right equipment, they can get the job done. I'm not surprised.”

And if Martin can hold onto a spot in the top 12 in points for seven more races — he’s 11th right now — Hendrick thinks the sky could be the limit once the Chase for the Sprint Cup rolls around.

“Mark doesn't want to hear this, but I'm going to say it anyway: Alan and I said we can win a championship with Mark Martin this year,” Hendrick said. “We said that before we started. We were confident we could win races. He's so smart and takes care of his stuff. The Darlington car didn't have a scratch on it. The only car in that race that came out of that race without the right side tore off of it. So he's a little bit more modest than we are about him. I think we felt that way early on.”

Martin isn’t ready to talk championship race yet, but it’s clear just how much it means to him to win races.

“Adrenaline is something, there's nothing like it,” said Martin. “When I'm pumped up driving fast racecars, I certainly don't feel 50. … That adrenaline is something really, really special. These guys have made me feel really, really good and really special, even on the days when I stub my toe, they're the first ones to pat me on the back.”

“It's all about the human capital,” said Hendrick. “It's not about money. It's not about anything else. It's about the folks that are working together, getting smarter together, getting a little bit better each week, and believing.”

And so far in 2009, Mark Martin, Alan Gustafson and the rest of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team has made believers out of everyone.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to



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