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
JENSEN: Two For The Old Guys
The winningest driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season is none other than 50 year-old Mark Martin...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted August 03, 2009   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)
Old guys rule.

At least for the moment they do in NASCAR, and that’s good enough for me.

The winningest driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season is none other than Mark Martin, a 50-year-old racer from Batesville, Ark., who has found the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to be a veritable fountain of youth.

Headed into Pocono’s rain-delayed Monday race, Martin has won four Cup races this season. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s more victories in 2009 than Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya combined. Not too shabby for a guy who planned his retirement season to take place in 2005.

But as stout as Martin has been, it’s nothing compared to the amazing run that 51-year-old Ron Hornaday Jr. has been on in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Hornaday has won five consecutive Truck Series races in his Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet Silverado and has opened a 216-point lead over Matt Crafton with 14 of 25 races in the books. Barring a complete collapse, Hornaday will become the first four-time series champion in history.

Not bad for a couple of guys who are supposed to be over the hill, eh?

Hornaday’s five straight victories are a Truck Series record and tie the all-time NASCAR second-place record set by Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, who each posted five-race winning streaks in 1971. Petty holds the absolute record, with 10 straight victories in 1967, when he won 27 races overall.

The truth is both Martin and Hornaday would be the first to tell you that age does dim physical skills, just as it does in athletes in other sports. But the will to win burns brighter than ever in both men, as does the willingness to pay the price to do whatever it takes to succeed. When you don’t know how long you’re going to be around, it’s not hard to get motivated to get it done right now.

“I’m exploiting every strength, all my strengths to the max,” said Martin. “Obviously I can’t do a whole lot more with my shortcomings. So rather than focusing on my shortcomings right now I’m really focusing on my strengths. My training has been huge and nutrition, health and fitness has played a huge part in it but that’s not all of it. Somehow or another I have managed to stay hungry and have the fire and desire that I had from the very start if not more fueled by the knowing. I can see somewhere out there the end of this and I want to make the most of it while I can. I’m having a blast.”

“Honestly, this is just unbelievable,” Hornaday said after winning his fifth in a row Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway. “I know I have been saying that a lot lately, but it is. Five in a row. Wow! This is pretty cool. … I have to thank the fans for sticking around through the rain and all of these guys behind this truck. I could not have achieved any of this without them, they are a hard working bunch of guys and they have earned every one of these wins.”

So while youth and newcomers will always be the lifeblood of NASCAR and there’s much to look forward to as the Brad Keselowski’s and Colin Braun’s and Tayler Malsam’s grow and develop into the next generation of stars, for right now, I tip my cap to Martin and Hornaday, two of NASCAR’s oldest drivers. And two of NASCAR’s very best.

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



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.