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CUP: Martin: No Regrets, No Worries
Written by: Tom Jensen   
11/19/2009
Homestead, FL
 
Mark Martin (Left) enters the final race of the season 108 points back from leader Jimmie Johnson (Right). (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos

When the checkered flag falls on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season Sunday night, in all likelihood it will look a lot like 1990, ’94, ’98 and 2002: with Mark Martin second in points.

Martin enters Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway second in points, 108 behind Jimmie Johnson. In the 266 times the two have appeared in the same Sprint Cup race, Martin’s only made up 108 or more points on Johnson nine times, including once at Homestead in 2005.

With that history in mind, Martin’s odds of defeating Johnson and winning his first Sprint Cup championship are roughly one in 30 — not impossible, but hardly likely, either.

No matter.

Martin said that win, lose or draw, it will be business as usual on Sunday.

“Anything can happen, but it really doesn't change anything for me,” said Martin. “I'm going to go to Miami on Sunday and race my guts out trying to win that race. And everything else that happens is out of my control. I'm not worried about the championship. I'm not worried about points. I just want to win the race and end this season with a good night for Rick (Hendrick, team owner), Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and all the guys on this Kellogg's/Carquest team.”

And if Martin does end up second to Johnson in points, it means that in his five runner-up finishes, Martin wound up second to a group of drivers with 17 combined Sprint Cup championships — seven for the late Dale Earnhardt, four each for Johnson and Jeff Gordon and two for Tony Stewart.

And more than most, Martin understands how good Johnson has been this season.

“Jimmie is the man. There's so much that that guy does that people don't even know about,” said Martin. “He's as dedicated as anyone I've ever seen, maybe more so. There's a reason I call him Superman, ya know?”

So Martin is taking a philosophical approach to the championship.

“Whatever happens Sunday is how it was supposed to,” he said. “And I will have no shame should I finish second to that guy. If he wins, it's because he outscored us. And that's what a points deal is about. They would have scored the most points, and we wouldn't have. And I will be one of the first guys to say that he deserves it. He has done what it takes and it shows.”

Team owner Rick Hendrick said that Martin’s downplaying of the whole championship race isn’t posturing. It’s how he feels.

“Mark's happy in his skin. He's comfortable with his life,” Hendrick said. “He's 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.”

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying, Hendrick said. Far from it.

“He wants it. I can guarantee you this, he wants it more for Alan and that team than he does for Mark Martin,” said Hendrick. “It's hard to explain. I don't care what he does, when he sits down and talks to a sponsor, if he's in a debrief, you got 110 percent of everything he's got. But he's just real happy in his life right now with both his family, his team, being in the organization. He's won a lot of races. He's kind of shown everybody how talented he is.”

And with the end of the season at hand, there is but one more goal for the team: Win on Sunday.

“Winning at Homestead on Sunday would be a big deal for a lot of reasons,” said Martin’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson. “Ending your season on a high note is always good and it makes the offseason more bearable. Hendrick Motorsports has never won at Homestead, and anytime this 5 team can help Mr. Hendrick accomplish a goal or set a record, we definitely want to be a part of that. Mark has never won there either. We've checked Chicago and New Hampshire off his non-winning track list earlier this year, so it would be nice to get another one of those for him. And for me, personally, I'm from Florida, and I've never won a Sprint Cup race in that state. I've been trying to for a long time and have been close, but have never quite gotten it done, so that would be really important to me, too.”

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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