2010 Driver Countdown
No. 3: Mark Martin

No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
Hendrick Motorsports

Owner: Rick Hendrick
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Years with current team: 2
Under contract through: 2011
Best points finish: 2nd (1990, ’94, ’98, 2002, ’09)
Hometown: Batesville, Ark.
Born: January 9, 1959

2010 Preview
“Crazy old man.” That was once Carl Edwards’ famous commercial catchphrase for Mark Martin. But last year, joke turned to reality for the rest of the drivers as Martin barreled through his competition in his first full Cup season since 2006, and his best since 1998. Dubbed “The Kid” by the media, Martin ran like one, and the now five-time championship runner-up is ready and raring to block Jimmie Johnson’s bid for five straight titles in 2010. 

History says that drivers Martin’s age (he turned 51 in January) don’t win championships. But then again, most of them haven’t run in the caliber of equipment he has at his disposal. Hendrick Motorsports built chassis and engines for five of the top 10 in drivers in 2009, and Martin reaped the benefits of stepping up with the right team at the right time. Now armed with a contract extension to reward that performance, what was a one-year commitment to full-time competition has suddenly turned into a three-year odyssey through 2011.

Martin’s comfort level with his crew had him signing on the dotted line, his confidence high in cars prepared under the watchful eye of crew chief Alan Gustafson. Gustafson is 34 years old, young enough to embrace the flexibility and new ideas in a way that some older crew chiefs don’t. He learns from the “old man’s” experience and then uses what he learns to innovate.

That leaves sponsorship the biggest question mark surrounding Martin’s No. 5 team. After losing Kellogg’s, the team signed GoDaddy.com for 20 races. CARQUEST returns for eight, while Delphi has signed on for two more — leaving six races without a primary sponsor. The pockets are deep at Hendrick, so money isn’t the same concern it would be elsewhere, but funding could remain a pesky distraction nonetheless.

However, that doesn’t matter much to Martin, who’s approaching both racing and life with a carefree attitude not seen before. During four agonizing second-place finishes in the standings, the public witnessed as Martin dealt with the grief of a dream unfulfilled. But in 2009, the fifth came with no frustration – only smiles from a man who’s already milked this second chance for all it’s worth.

“I know y’all would love it, but there’s no frustration,” he told a crowd of assembled media at Homestead. “There’s none. I’m very proud of what we accomplished. I had more fun than anybody. What else can you say, man? I had a blast.”

It’s nice to see NASCAR’s Charlie Brown all warm and fuzzy, although it’ll take more than good feelings to push the No. 5 past the No. 48 on the Hendrick depth chart. But perseverance has been a staple of Martin’s throughout a career that began in 1981, when reigning champ Johnson was only five years old. That toughness is his biggest strength, both mentally and physically. He works harder than almost any man in the garage on fitness, including many half his age, and that is an advantage he carries into battle each week.

So can the man with an AARP card take home a title? It would make him the oldest driver to accomplish that feat; heck, 35 of this year’s full-time drivers weren’t even born the first time Martin drove competitively. But for the first time in his life, this man believes both his luck and his life couldn’t be better, so if attitude counts for anything, you better believe he’ll drive his competition “crazy” all over again this fall.

Opposing Crew Chiefs’ Take
One observer jokes that Martin has become “a favorite of the Geritol set,” adding: “He’s got the body of a 25-year-old and the face of a 70-year-old, which endears him to a lot of people. He’s a midget Clint Eastwood and a heck of a race driver.”

A crew chief marvels at Martin’s precision: “He hits his marks all the time. Never misses them.”

Another says: “Mark is one of the great gentlemen on the track in the sport’s history.” The respect carries over on the track. “Even the most scurrilous of drivers is going to give him a lot of room,” a crew chief says.

Martin is at a peak of popularity. “What makes him so popular right now is that he retired when a lot of people lost their jobs in their 50s and had to go back to work simply because of the economic climate. A lot of those people relate to him,” says a team owner.

2009 Stats
Starts: 36
Wins: 5
Top 5s: 14
Top 10s: 21
Poles: 7
Laps Led: 805
Lead Lap Finishes: 30
Bonus Points: 130
Races Led: 23
Average Start: 9.8
Average Finish: 13.7
After First 26 Races: 1st
Final Points Standing: 2nd
Driver Rating: 100.3 (5th)

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