CUP: Senior Citizens Still Performing

Sprint Cup

CUP: Senior Citizens Still Performing

Mark Martin celebrated his 52nd birthday on Sunday...

Tom Jensen | Posted January 10, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Mark Martin, driver of the #5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, climbs in his car. (Photo: Getty Images)

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, old guys may not rule, but at the very least, they do alright for themselves.

By the time the checkered flag falls at Homestead-Miami Speedway to end the 2011 Sprint Cup Series, there will be eight full-time drivers who are 40 years old or older in NASCAR’s top division.

And their collective accomplishments are mighty impressive: Among the eight, they’ve won seven Cup championships and a whopping 225 races, the equivalent of more than six full seasons. Four of them qualified for NASCAR’s playoff round in 2010, and more could make it in this season.

Here’s how NASCAR’s senior brigade stacks up:

1. MARK MARTIN, age 52; 40 victories — NASCAR’s elder statesman celebrated his 52nd birthday Jan. 9, but those around him say the passion still burns within him. In 2011, Martin will spend his third and final season driving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. With five runner-up finishes in the points, Martin clearly has earned a spot as one of NASCAR’s best of any generation.

2. JOE NEMECHEK, age 47; 4 victories — “Front Row” Joe has a well-deserved reputation as one of the sport’s better qualifiers. For the past several seasons, Nemechek has soldiered on as the owner/driver of his own independent team in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series.

3. BOBBY LABONTE, age 46; 21 victories — The only man to win championships in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, Labonte’s fortunes have waned in recent years. But a move to JTG-Daugherty Racing this year might see his results improve, perhaps even dramatically.

4. JEFF BURTON, age 43; 21 victories — Known in the garage as “The Mayor” for his articulate and well-reasoned discussions of current events, Burton is still a solid racer on one of the sport’s top teams. There’s no reason to think he’ll slow down in 2011.

5. GREG BIFFLE, age 41, 16 victories — With NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series championships already to his credit, Biffle would like nothing more than to become the first driver in history to win championships in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions.

6. DAVID REUTIMANN, age 40, 2 victories — After winning his first Cup race and the first for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2009, the wry and self-deprecating former dirt-track racer jokingly nicknamed himself “The Franchise.” In reality, he’s been one of MWR’s best assets.

7. TONY STEWART, age 39; 39 victories — Hard to believe, but the two-time Cup champion will turn 40 years old in May. Once one of the most volatile personalities on the circuit, he has matured into a successful entrepreneur, owning or co-owning three race teams and a couple of dirt tracks, not to mention promoting the huge International Motorsports Industry Show. Oh, yeah — he can still drive the wheels off most any type of race car.

Jeff Gordon has four championships but none since 2001. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

8. JEFF GORDON, age 39; 82 victories — One of the most intriguing storylines of 2011 is Gordon’s move out of the garage he’d shared with Jimmie Johnson since 2002 and into the other Hendrick shop with Mark Martin. And with the addition of brilliant young crew chief Alan Gustafson, this might be the year Gordon finally wins his fifth championship. Time will tell.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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