Rejuvenated Mark Martin Remains NASCAR's Sentimental Favorite

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Mark Martin winces, then breaks into a grin every time he hears the introduction.

"Ladies and gentlemen ... Mark Martin, who is attempting to become the oldest champion in NASCAR history."

The difference between this week and years ago is that Martin grinned. He's been doing that a lot lately.

Martin trails his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson by 108 points entering Sunday's Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway. Johnson, 34, only needs to finish 25th or better to clinch a historic fourth consecutive title.

Martin, 50, is still looking for his first.

"If I went from not winning in 70-some races to being close to winning a championship and having four or five wins, I would be smiling and very happy too and I think anyone in this garage would be," said Greg Biffle, Martin's former teammate at Roush Fenway Racing.

"Think about his career. He was all but done, right? He announced his retirement, 'I'm done, I'm leaving.' and a couple years later he's on the cusp of winning the title.

"You've got to feel like a new person when that happens in your life."

Martin has conceded as much. He announced his retirement in 2006 only to come back and race part-time the next two years. He signed a deal with the mighty Hendrick Motorsports organization last year to return full-time, humbly insisting he only wanted a shot to win a race.

"I went to the (Hendrick) shop quite a bit after we made this deal," Martin said. "My wife, I'd come in after being there, and she'd say, 'You're always smiling when you come back from that shop.' I said, 'Heck yeah, you would be too.'

"It makes you feel that way. I'd just come back from being there with a permanent smile on my face. It's good people with great attitudes. Everyone there has treated me, you know, like gold. It's been amazing, the respect that I've been shown there.

"It's very humbling."

The combination has also been magical for Martin. He's won five races and collected seven poles in the No. 5 Kelloggs Chevrolet and been ranked first or second in the points standings since September.

His first victory at Phoenix in the eighth race of the year was hugely popular; his contention for the championship, hugely sentimental.

It was his first win since 2005 during a 19-year tenure with Roush. It's the first time he's been a serious threat to the title since 2002, when he finished as championship runner-up for the fourth time in his career. Four other times he finished third in the standings.

Johnson (47 wins) and another Hendrick teammate, Jeff Gordon (82), are the only active drivers with more wins than Martin's 40. Martin has a record 48 in NASCAR's triple-A Nationwide Series and his five IROC (International Race of Champions) titles are unequalled.

But it's the Cup championship that has cruelly eluded Martin. He came up 26 points short of Dale Earnhardt in 1990 and lost the 2002 title to Tony Stewart by 38 points.

The result is that many regard Martin as "the greatest driver not to win a Cup championship." But Martin doesn't see it that way at all.

"My record does not stand up against the greats in this business," Martin said. "I just want to be a winner, just a winner, you know. That doesn't mean a career or at Monopoly or Scrabble. I just want to be a winner."

So why does he feel others hold him in such high regard?

"Because I'm the worker, I'm the guy that rolls up my sleeves, and I never put that mask on or pull the gun out. I work real hard and try to win the game, whatever it is, you know, fair and square."

Depending on who you speak to, what Martin is doing is nearly as impressive a feat as Johnson's dominant year.

"It's incredible, that's why we haven't seen it accomplished," said 1999 Cup champion Dale Jarrett, now an analyst for ESPN and ABC's NASCAR race broadcasts.

"A lot of it is his physical condition but I also believe it was good for him to take a couple years off. Mark's abilities have always been there, not taking away from Roush but he's always been a better driver than the equipment he's been in.

"There were times this sport would just eat at him," Jarrett continued. "Now you just see him having a blast. I think he's appreciating it more now."

And Martin would be the first to admit he is.

"This has been obviously the best year of my life professionally as well as personally," Martin said this week.

"The personal part comes from being happy. I was a very, very happy person in 2008. But that little bit of extra performance that we have been getting on the racetrack in 2009 even made it more awesome.

"The reason I took this deal is because I got close to winning a race or two in 2008, and I could just taste it. I really wanted a chance to try to win again before I wasn't able to ever experience that again. That was the motivation for me, taking this opportunity.

"It definitely has turned out to exceed my expectations. I knew that the race team would be awesome. I knew the car would be fast. I just hoped that I would be able to get the job done."

His boss, Rick Hendrick, certainly thinks he will. The two already brokered a two-year contract extension that will have Martin driving the No. 5 through 2011 -- through Martin's 52nd birthday, which essentially gives him two more chances to make history, two more seasons to enjoy the ride.