50 Year old Mark Martin is still looking to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. (Photo: Getty Images)

“You know, when you’re in a bad mood and something happens, it irritates the heck out of you and when you’re in a good mood, and the same thing happens and it doesn’t bother you. Have you noticed that?” said Martin. “Well, that’s where I’ve been there this year. I haven’t been tired, burned out, frustrated and all those kinds of things. I’m fresh and enthusiastic and all those kinds of things.”

And it was obvious in his demeanor.

“I’ve been fresh and relaxed, so the challenges that I’ve had this year have been easy to deal with,” Martin said. “It has a lot to do with Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the people — not just the No. 5 team — but everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Where I am in my head today, this is what I want to do, this is where I want to be, this is what I want to be doing with my life. I don’t want to be here and somewhere else at the same time. I want to be here.”

Martin said a big help for him was NASCAR’s testing ban. Without that, he said, he would not signed a contract extension to remain with the team.

“It would have been the biggest mistake of my career to have passed on this opportunity,” Martin said. “I feel very good. I feel fresh. And surprised that there’s only four (races) left. The people had Hendrick Motorsports have made this a better year for me than I expected. The sponsors have been wonderful to work with and it’s beyond my wildest dreams.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

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