Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Martin Says It’s Not Over
Mark Martin is second in points, 118 behind Jimmie Johnson....
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 28, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Mark Martin is second in points, 118 behind Jimmie Johnson heading into this weeks unpredictable race at Talladega. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

All year long, Mark Martin has passionately insisted he’s not concerned about racing for a championship. And now, with just four races left on the 2009 season, he’s not about to give up the fight for it.

At the age of 50, Martin has had a spectacular season, one of the best of his illustrious career. Through the first 32 races of 2009, Martin has posted five race victories, 12 top-five finishes and 19 top 10s. Only once in a Sprint Cup career that dates back to 1981 has Martin won more races in a single season, and his seven poles this year are a career high.

And yet, he finds himself wrestling with the same thorny problem that his teammate Jeff Gordon has struggled with since 2003: He’s not leading the points among the Hendrick Motorsports drivers.

That honor, at the moment at least, belongs to Jimmie Johnson, who leads Martin by 118 points and Gordon by 150, the Hendrick trio clearly the class of the field this year. The closest now-Hendrick pursuer to Johnson is fourth place Tony Stewart, who is 192 points back of the lead.

Johnson, of course, is the three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and a heavy favorite to make it four in a row.

But with Talladega Superspeedway hosting the AMP Energy 500 on Sunday, Martin figures anything can happen. And therefore he is conceding nothing. Not after coming this far in his first season with Hendrick.

“It's not over, and Talladega is the race that everyone has known could change things,” said Martin. “But, the finishes we've had over the past three or four weeks obviously aren't going to cut it. We're putting everything into this race team and each race that we can.”

Martin is a two-time Talladega winner, including a caution-free race in 1997, when he set a record with an average speed of 188.354 miles per hour, the fastest 500-mile race in NASCAR history.

But he’s also seen the dark side of restrictor-plate racing more times than he cares to remember, including a 43rd-place finish here in April, when he has caught in pileup almost before the race began.

“I'm not a huge fan of restrictor plate racetracks,” said Martin. “If you go back and look at my history at Talladega, you'll see why. This year, I really thought we had a shot of winning Daytona, but the rain got us. Then we go to Talladega, and we're out on Lap 6. Daytona in July ended in another wreck. Something's got to change here, right? I've thought for a while now that I'm feeling good about Talladega. I think this may be a good one for us. I hope so.”

With the margin he trails Johnson by, realistically Martin will both need to have four strong finishes and hope Johnson has a couple of bad ones, a daunting task given that Johnson has 32 consecutive top-15 finishes in Chase races.

“Well, we need to beat the 48 (Johnson), but their performance is just incredible,” said Martin. “I think we still have something for them, and I think this 5 team can run with those guys and beat those guys. We've done it before. We've raced to win each and every race we've been in this year, and that's not going to change. We don't need to go out there and reinvent the wheel. We just need to win.”

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



tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.