Respect for Mark Martin

I was watching "Trackside" on SPEED earlier tonight, and Mark Martin was a guest. His career has paralleled my time as a NASCAR fan. Mark Martin has 636 career Cup starts, 579 of them with Roush Racing. Mark has 222 top five finishes in those Roush starts. That means he's finished in the top five in 38% of his starts over the last 18 seasons! Incredible!

I've always admired Mark Martin. I'm not a particular fan of his car owner (and multiple team-owner) Jack Roush, but Mark is loyal, smart, dedicated, and a supremely talented race car driver. And he races clean, not bumping folks out of the way to gain positions on the track.

Mark Martin planned to retire at the end of this season. He's hasn't won a Cup championship, nor a Daytona 500, but otherwise has enjoyed a stellar career. He deserves retirement. He's earned that time with his wife Arlene and racer son Matt, away from the limelight and the pace of Nextel Cup racing. But his retirement plans - and the season-long "Salute to Fans" farewell tour - were uprooted. The business side of NASCAR got in the way. Mark can thank his Roush teammate Kurt Busch for that. Busch is bolting to Penske Racing in 2006, leaving Roush in need of an extra driver. Jack already needed a replacement for Mark. Now he needed one for Busch. Mark agreed to stay on, and fill his own seat, for one more season.

Mark was put in a tough spot, but his loyalty is keeping him around for one more grueling season of Cup races. He is a class act. He is a racer.