Veteran Mark Martin was emphatic earlier this year about not leaving Nextel Cup in a part- time and uncompetitive manner. He said he didn’t want to simply run laps on a part-time basis, as former champions Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte are doing this year.
So it came as a shock when Martin announced last weekend he was severing ties with powerhouse Roush Racing at the end of the season and would compete in 22 races with MB2 Motorsports in 2007.
MB2, which has hired rookie Regan Smith to drive the No. 01 Chevrolet in the races Martin doesn’t compete in, is one of the weaker multiple-car teams, with no wins since 2004 and just two since its 1997 inception. Joe Nemechek has started all 30 races in the No. 01 this year, and is 31st in the standings with no top-10 finishes.
Driving that car could be quite a letdown for Martin, who now has his best opportunity to win a championship. The four-time series runner-up is third in the Chase standings, just 10 points behind leader Jeff Burton with six races to go.
Martin, 47, explained himself during Tuesday’s national teleconference.
“There is a lot of strategy in this thing that most people don’t see,” he said. “What I really wanted to do was drive a car that ran full time and had a full-time sponsor and had a full-time crew and team behind it, because that’s your best chance in being competitive.
“You see, Bill’s stuff and Terry Labonte’s stuff have both been part-time teams. Therefore, they weren’t able to be competitive against the guys that do it full time. You’re only as good as the equipment that you’re in.
“I believe that there is great potential, and so do the people at MB2, for improvement over 2006.”
Martin said he had no choice but to part ways with Jack Roush, with whom he won 35 races.
“It’s been 19 years staying the course, working with Jack Roush, to build from scratch one of the strongest organizations in NASCAR racing,” Martin said. “After 19 years, I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and that was not a full schedule, and it was also not standing on the sidelines watching Nextel Cup racing. It was something in between. They couldn’t accommodate that, so here we are.”
He added, “It is a big shock, I think, to everyone.”
Vickers doubles up
It was announced Tuesday that Brian Vickers, the controversial winner at Talladega on Sunday, also spent the least amount of time on pit road (247.11 seconds) during the race to win the weekly Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge.
The winning team nets $10,500, split among the eight over-the-wall crew members. At the end of the 36 point races, the winningest weekly team will collect $100,500.
The pit crews of Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart lead the standings with four wins apiece.
Footnotes
With six races to go, the Chase never has been as close. The 10 championship-eligible drivers are still mathematically eligible, separated by just 185 points. In 2004, the first year of NASCAR’s playoffs, 257 points separated the top 10 drivers after four races. In 2005, the margin at this point was 224. … Michael Waltrip Racing said current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver David Reutimann will drive the No. 00 Toyota Camry next season – Toyota’s first in the series. Reutimann will be teammates with Waltrip and Dale Jarrett.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
