Team owner Rick Hendrick (Left) and Mark Martin (Right) have put together a strong season of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“I’ve listened to everybody in the garage area for 20 years, and I’ve never seen a driver that can call a race from the car if he had to,” Hendrick says. “Early on … he could basically call the race and set up the car from the seat. That’s how good he is at running a race in his head in the car. It’s unbelievable. And I think his explanation of what the car is doing has helped our other guys, too. He has been a huge asset to us.”

Gustafson calls Martin, “a great complement to our organization.

“He helps all the drivers, helps all the teams, helps management, everybody,” Gustafson says. “He has just got a great perspective on racing and how to go about things, and we’re really fortunate to have him here at the company.”

Chad Knaus, crew chief for points leader Jimmie Johnson, says Martin’s knowledge and experience have been incredibly beneficial to the No. 48 team, the group Martin is hoping to catch, and pass, in the year’s final event.

With two teams that have seven championships between them (Johnson has three and teammate Jeff Gordon four), that’s been something of an unexpected bonus from a new driver/team combination.

“He really pulls good information out of the other drivers,” Knaus says. … “I think when we get together with Mark as a group, a lot of the drivers will come in discouraged. What ends up happening is they start to discuss it, and they’re like, ‘Wow, that’s what my car is doing, too.’ And they start to feed off of that, and Mark starts to influence those guys.

“He has got such a good spin on things. It’s never done. You’re never done working on [the car]. It could always be better. And I think he brings a lot of that mentality to where we’re like, ‘Look, we’re going to work on it until the last lap of the race and try to make it better.’ He’s got that desire that not a lot of people have.”

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