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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: Mark Of Respect
In a garage that has nothing but natural rivalries, Mark Martin is held in near-universal admiration...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 20, 2009   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)
Even in this PC-era of sanitized appearances and seldom allowing discouraging words, there are still plenty of NASCAR drivers who can’t stand each other. Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip, probably won’t be exchanging Christmas cards this year, and neither will, say, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick or Junior and Kyle Busch.

Nothing wrong with that, mind you, because rage and rivalries are what fuel passion in the sport, and in NASCAR, the testosterone in the Sprint Cup garage is as ubiquitous as Sunoco racing gas or Goodyear radials: It’s everywhere. Racers are a combative and fiercely competitive bunch by nature, guys who want to win every time out and delight in beating their fellow drivers.

All of which makes Mark Martin, driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet Impala SS, even more remarkable.

In a garage that has nothing but natural rivalries — and a few downright unnatural ones as well — Martin is held in near-universal admiration by his competitors. And that’s why when Martin broke a three-and-a-half year winless streak with a dominating victory in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night, his victory received virtually unanimous praise from his fellow drivers.

In addition to the expected congratulations from his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Martin received visitations from his ex-boss Jack Roush and several current and former Roush Fenway drivers. In their post-race interviews, runner-up Tony Stewart and third-place finisher Kurt Busch seemed to talk more about Martin than they did their own races, which is unusual for drivers to do.

“Mark has taught us all a lot about what it takes to be not only a good driver in this series but a good competitor and somebody that everybody respects,” said Stewart.

“It's cool to see him out there running strong,” Busch said of Martin. “The guy turned his life around after he ran ASA, jumped in with Jack (Roush) and spent his whole life running through the center of the corner racing hard, and now he's got the whole package and running the straightaway well. He's a tremendous individual and (a) legend of our sport. He's definitely going to put a championship run together.”

As little as a month ago, the thought of Martin putting a championship run together would have seemed unlikely, if not outright impossible. Four races into the season, Martin had suffered through two engine failures and one catastrophic tire explosion that had conspired to bury him way back in 34th place in points — hardly the start Martin had envisioned when he agreed to go back to racing full time for Rick Hendrick this year.

But Martin and his youthful crew chief Alan Gustafson quickly got the No. 5 Hendrick Chevy going in the right direction. It started with a pole and a sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway last month, followed by a seventh at Martinsville Speedway and another sixth at Texas Motor Speedway.


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