Mark Martin: Already a Champion

It's been 28 years since a young 22-year-old made his first attempt at NASCAR. In his first season, Mark Martin raced five races and recorded two poles, along with one top-five and two top-10 finishes.

In '82 Martin raced a self-owned car in all 30 Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series), recording two top-fives and eight top-10s.

Martin only attempted 16 races in the '83 campaign, and after only recording one top-five and three top-10s, he quickly returned to a series where he got his racing boots wet—the American Speed Association (ASA).

In the ASA, Martin has already won three consecutive championships, and went on to win his fourth ASA title in '86 before joining the Busch Series (now known as the Nationwide Series) in '87.

In his first Busch campaign Martin collected three wins and quickly caught the attention of an up and coming owner—Jack Roush.

In 1988, Martin was brought to the Cup Series. He didn't collect a checkered flag in his first campaign with Roush, but he did get three top-fives and 10 top-10 finishes. During the '88 season, he also recorded his first pole and things began to turn better for the young-gun.

Not having to worry about the owner's side of racing, Martin could finally focus on driving, and winning.

Martin's first breakout came during the '89 season. It was the AC Delco 500 at the famed Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina. The track gave Martin his first Cup win.

While it was his only win of the season, Martin had 15 top-fives and 18 top-10 finishes, with six poles. Martin quickly became nicknamed the most consistent racer ever.

Moving forward to the 1990s, Martin became part of the fifth closest points battle with the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. He finished the season second, by only 26 points. However, the championship would have been his if it weren't for a 46-point penalty for an illegal carburetor part. The runner-up finish was one of four he collected during his great career.

In the years to follow, Martin would go on to win several Cup, Busch, Truck and International Race of Champions (IROC).

In '94, Martin collected his first IROC Championship, he wasted no time winning more, currently sitting at four ('94, '97, '98 and '05) in the defunct series. During the 12 season span, Martin collected 13 wins. (The series only raced four times a year.)

In '97, Martin had his most wins overall, recording four in Cup, six in the Busch Series and two IROC—for a total of 12 in one season.

The next season upped Martin's win total even more, as he finished '98 with an unprecedented seven wins in Cup competition. He also recorded 22 top-fives, 26 top-10 finishes and three poles. Some would say ’98 was Martin’s best of his career, yet he again, finished second in the points to future legend and four-time champ Jeff Gordon.

Another accomplishment Martin received in ’98 was being voted as one of the 50 greatest drivers ever.

From ’89 until ’00, Martin finished in the top-10 in points an astounding 12 consecutive times. In ’02, he was again the bridesmaid with a runner-up finish in the points to Tony Stewart and Joe Gibbs Racing.

Although Martin managed a second place finish, it was not one of his better years. He recorded just one win, with 12 top-fives, 22 top-10s and zero poles.

In the three following seasons (’03, ’04 and ’05), Martin recorded only two wins, 26 top-fives, 38 top-10s and zero poles.

In ’05, Martin announced that he would be entering his final season in NASCAR. The season was dubbed the “Salute to You Tour,” thanking his fans for being behind him all those years.

Martin was supposed to make the down-shift to the Truck Series in 2006, but instead he returned for another full-time season (at the discretion of team owner Roush), and ran only 10 races in the Truck Series. He was wildly successful, winning six of them and helping long-time friend Roush by completing another full-time season in the No. 6 Ford, after former champion Kurt Busch bolted for Penske Racing.

The 2006 season quickly became the “Salute to You Encore” and Martin collected zero wins, nine top-fives and 15 top-10s.

The season was again supposed to be his last, yet his passion for the sport wouldn’t let him leave.

Without a spot to run part-time in the Roush stable (Roush had promoted David Ragan to Cup), Martin made the jump to Chevrolet and Ginn Racing.

The ’07 season featured Martin in the No. 01 Army sponsored Chevy for 24 races. He shared the ride that year with development driver Regan Smith and produced five top-fives (all of which came in the first five races of the season) and 11 top-10s.

Martin began the season with a runner-up finish at the Daytona 500 (a track where Martin has zero victories).  It was one of the closest finishes since NASCAR scoring, with Richard Childress wheelman Kevin Harvick winning by .020 seconds.

During the ’07 season, an announcement was made that Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. had merged, thus putting Martin in the No. 8 Army car for the ’08 season, after Dale Earnhardt Jr. bolted for Hendrick Motorsports.

Martin again shared driving duties, this time with Aric Almirola. The season produced far less than expected. In 24 starts, Martin visited Victory Lane, zero times (three seasons in a row without a win), and collected four top-fives and 11 top-10 finishes.

The season, did however, give him his first win since ’05 in the Nationwide Series, a Series in which Martin holds the record for the most victories, at 48.

Later in ’08, Martin announced that at 50-years-old, he would become teammates to four-time champion Jeff Gordon, NASCAR’s most popular driver Earnhardt Jr. and reigning three-time Series champ, Jimmie Johnson.

The deal put him behind the wheel of the No. 5 Kelloggs/Carquest Chevy for HMS, and teamed him up with crew chief Alan Gustafson.

Gustafson has been highly successful, putting both Kyle Bush and Casey Mears in Victory Lane.

Could 2009 be Martin’s year?

Certainly, joining superpower HMS could prove so.

Martin still has room in the trophy case for the one trophy that has eluded him all these years—the Spring Cup.

The ’09 season will also be his best chance to do so.

Martin is thought of as the best (and most deserving) racer without a championship.

Although he doesn’t have the trophy in his living room, Martin has already proven he is a champion.

He is an old-school racer who races everyone clean and doesn’t bump people out of the way to win a race. Instead he lurks there behind a driver until he can pass them cleanly.

Martin has also been instrumental in developing racers such as Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Smith and most recently, Almirola.

Martin’s never been one to block a competitor from taking the lead and after a victory you won’t see him do a back-flip or a snow-angel or even climb a fence.

In fact, he doesn’t even do burnouts; instead he just reports to Victory Lane and celebrates like a true winner.

Martin knows that he isn’t the only one who contributes to the team’s victory. He knows it’s a team effort and makes sure he celebrates with his crew.

Martin was born in Batesville, Ark., where he owns both Mark Martin Chevy and Mark Martin Ford.

He now resides in Daytona Beach, Fl., with his wife and five children.

His most known child is his son Matt, who has raced in the Whelen Modified Series and shouldn’t have trouble getting a ride in NASCAR when he turns 18.

This year, Martin has a fair chance to bring home a trophy from Daytona, and even the Cup championship.

So here’s to Marin and the No. 5 crew…Go get it boys!

I would like to wish you luck at Daytona next month and to bringing home the Cup championship.

Martin may not have the trophy, but he’s a champion already.