Mark Martin: At peace with NASCAR life once again

  Mark Martin (L) and crew chief Alan Gustafson: back together again in 2011....and maybe finally back in form this summer (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BROOKLYN, Mich.
   Mark Martin says he's finally more at ease with his life on the stock car tour, now that soon-to-be teammate Kasey Kahne has announced his plans for 2011.
   Since team owner Rick Hendrick revealed signing Kahne to a contract for 2011 with plans to put him in the car on the Alan Gustafson team that Martin is now driving for, controversy has surrounded Martin's own future.
   Now 51, Martin last year came within a hair of that first championship, in a career that began in 1981. And Martin insists he's got no interest in retiring any time soon, though he says he won't even start looking at his 2012 options till this time next season.
   But with Kahne and Hendrick going five months without coming to any decision about what car Hendrick would put Kahne in next season, the possibility that Kahne might actually wind up in Martin's car in 2011 was frequently raised as speculation. And Martin, rather naturally, became extremely irate over those repeated questions.
   Martin finally blew up two weeks at Indianapolis when Ray Evernham, the championship crew during his Hendrick years, and now a TV analyst, after five years running his own Cup team, said he felt Martin would indeed step aside from the Gustafson ride at the end of this season to make room for Kahne.
   Just three days ago Hendrick finally put an end to all the speculation with the surprise decision that he would be 'farming' Kahne out to Jay Frye's Toyota team for 2011....rather surprising for a Chevy team owner like Hendrick.
   With that lingering controversy finally over, "it does a feel a little lighter... now that it's behind us," Martin said.
   "I would say we did the best that we could under the circumstances at managing all of that.
    "And the air does feel a little lighter.
    "We all really enjoy working together...and we've been doing a lot of that together, not just at the NASCAR event – we're putting a lot of effort away from the events as well.
    "It feels fun again.
     "We hope to keep this positive momentum going forward."
   And then, in typically humble Martin style, he apologized to the media here for his outburst at Indianapolis: "I reflect back on how I reacted in Indy and regret what I said there.
    "That came from the heart and not from the head.
    "It was grinding on me...and I apologize for what I said, and wish I hadn't said what I said.
    "Anyway, we're moving forward now."

    Martin calls Gustafson's team "a real special team....always a real special place in my heart.
    "Believe it or not, Kasey Kahne going there has a lot to do with how I feel about them. I wanted to make sure that they were in the best hands possible: (So) I started talking to Kasey in September of '09. I don't think Rick Hendrick started talking to Kasey until February or March this year; he didn't even know I was talking to Kasey about coming over here.
   "Of course Kasey just laughed a little bit about it and said 'You'll never get out of that car.'
    "I really, really, really have friends for life here...and I want to make sure that they were in great, great hands. And I feel very confident about that now."

   Martin concedes this has been a troubling season, relative to last year, in part because of the turmoil, and in part because of the continued technical evolution of these stock cars.
   Martin just sneaked back into the top-12 last Sunday at Watkins Glen, when Clint Bowyer had some bad luck. With four races till the playoff cut, however, it's not clear who will get those last few chase spots.
   "It's real different than last year," Martin says. "Last year it was so intense because we knew that if we got in the chase, we could win it. And nearly did.
   "It would have been a major crime to have missed the chase last year.
    "This year we have got to continue to build momentum quickly -- if we make the chase -- to be relevant once we get in. And that's what’s important to us.
    "It's more important for us to get on track than anything else. Making the chase and just floundering around is not what we want to do.
    "We would like to make the chase and peak at the right time and be a contender. That's a stretch, but that's what we're striving for."

   And 2012?
   "I've got in my mind what I want to do....and what I want to do is get almost this deep into the season next year," Martins says, before making any decision.
   "The cool thing is I don't have to worry about it."
   And Martin, who for years moped through life on the NASCAR trail, wants to do his best to enjoy what he's got now, and not worry about tomorrow.
    "It is a very exciting time in my life....the best time in my life," Martin says. "From January '09 to now has just been the best ever.
    "And it's exciting.
     "I love this sport. And I've had the opportunity to work with so many great people...and the support of so many fans and so many people in the sport.
    "I'm going to let it ride pretty deep into next year before I make any decision. Because I want to take the one that is most fulfilling to me, whatever that might be, whatever it entails.
   "So I'm going to ride along and enjoy working with the brightest in the business right now: Mike Baumgartner, our car chief, to our engineers, and Alan Gustafson...and having a friend in Rick Hendrick and all the people there.
    "It is the time of my life, and I'm going to enjoy that."
   And to make the point as clearly as he can, Martin said "You have to understand it's by choice -- my choice -- that I won't be back in the number 5 car in '12.
    "That was my choice, and I made that choice final back in March.
   "And it's still looking too far forward to think about what might happen in '12. That was just too far out for me to make that type of commitment.
    "So life's good right now."

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 One of the top teams in 2009, Mark Martin and Alan Gustafson have struggled in 2010, but now they're showing signs of renewed life (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)