POINTS LEADER: With his Sept. 20 victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and his second-place finish Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Mark Martin remains atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with a 10-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

LAW OF AVERAGES: Since the inception of the Chase, the highest average finish in the final 10 races was fifth, set by Johnson in 2007. The lowest average finish by a champion—10.8 in 2006—also was set by Johnson. So far, Martin’s average finish in the 2009 Chase season is 1.5.

CHASE VICTOR: Prior to this season, Martin had recorded one victory during the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Martin won at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 9, 2005. That win also was his most recent before joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2009.

MARTIN AT KANSAS: Martin has earned one victory, two top-five finishes and three top-10s in eight Cup starts at Kansas Speedway. Martin’s 13.1 average finish and 141 laps led at the track rank fourth among the 2009 Chase drivers.

MARTIN IN THE CHASE: In four previous Chase races at Kansas Speedway, Martin has earned two top-five finishes. Besides his win in 2005, he also earned a third-place finish at Kansas during the 2006 Chase.

LOOP STATISTICS: Of the 12 drivers in the Chase, Martin ranks fourth in both average running position (11.87) and driver rating (99.4). Martin has the third-highest average finish (8.5) in the last four Kansas races and has led the second-most laps (139) of any Chase driver there.

THE NO. 5 TEAM: Under the direction of crew chief Alan Gustafson, the No. 5 team has earned one top-10 finish in five Cup starts at Kansas Speedway. The No. 5 Chevy has led 93 laps at the intermediate track.

DOUBLE WINNING CHASSIS: Gustafson has chosen Chassis No. 5-527 for this Sunday’s race at Kansas. This is the same chassis Martin drove to Victory Lane at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May and Chicagoland Speedway in July. Martin most recently raced the car to a fifth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

HENDRICK AT KANSAS: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has scored three wins, nine top-five finishes, 15 top-10s and led 535 laps in eight Cup events (34 starts) at Kansas Speedway. A Hendrick driver has led at least one lap in all eight Cup events that have been held at the track.

QUOTES

MARK MARTIN, DRIVER, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET (ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP OUTLOOK.): “Since this Chase started, I have said that there is absolutely no way anyone can know what’s going to happen until about four races to go. That’s it. Each race accounts for only 10 percent of this whole deal. Can you win a race and think that’s it? That you could win the championship? No. And the same thing goes for having a bad finish. One bad finish isn’t going to take away a championship either. So, I think anything anyone is saying or hearing right now is pretty premature.”

MARTIN (ON SHARING INFORMATION WITH HIS TEAMMATES WHO ARE ALSO IN THE CHASE.): “Hendrick Motorsports operates on the idea of sharing information. On being four teams that work as one team. We are all in it to help each other. If I can do something that helps make Jimmie (Johnson) or Jeff (Gordon) win races and win a championship, then I will be very proud of that. I’m sure there have been times this year when their information has helped me and this team win. We all help each other. But it doesn’t mean that anyone of us isn’t working hard to win the championship for ourselves either. We are racers. Competitors. But this concept of working together is incredible, and it is really what makes Hendrick Motorsports so special.”

MARTIN (ON THE POSSIBILITY OF WINNING HIS FIRST SPRINT CUP CHAMPIONSHIP.): “I don’t lay in bed at night and dream about championships. I don’t worry myself sick with what happens each week. When we get down to four races, and if we are still in this, then, yes, I will probably think about it a little more. But I got to thinking about it last weekend and a reporter asked me about winning and I had to tell him, ‘I wanted to win this thing when I should have won it.’ Back in that day I wanted to win the championship. That’s what I thought should have been happening in my career at that point. But that’s not what I’m racing for right now. I’m racing for wins. I’m racing to be successful. And with a championship trophy or without one, that’s not what I will judge my success on.”

MARTIN (ON KANSAS SPEEDWAY.): “I’m real excited to get back to Kansas. I like intermediate racetracks, and we’ve run really well on them this year. Kansas is a lot like Chicagoland. They’re almost mirrors of each other, actually. And we had a great weekend at Chicago, so I can see where we could think that will happen again. But I don’t think that way. I’ve never run well at Loudon, and we went and won that race. So you just can’t expect things. What I do know is that this race team is working very hard right now. They keep bringing me fantastic cars to the track each weekend. I’m sure that won’t change (at Chicago).”

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET (ON HOW KANSAS COMPARES TO CHICAGOLAND.): “Those are the closest to each other of the tracks that we race. Chicago’s a little more banked, has a little more loading, but as far as the shape and the way the racetrack races they’re very similar, so we’re looking forward to getting to Kansas. It’s always a fun track to race and as good as we ran at Chicago, it always gives us a little more pep in our step. We’ll start really close to where we were at Chicago. That will give us a good baseline to work off of and give us a solid foundation to try and make our car a little better.”

GUSTAFSON (ON HIS CHASE OUTLOOK.): ”It’s good so far. I’m really pleased with our finishes. We knew Loudon was going to be a struggle, and we did as good as we could possibly do there. Dover was a track we felt we could run good at, and we did even though the weekend was a struggle with trying to catch up to the tire and how the car was responding to the tire. To dig out of it and get a second-place finish was good. Anytime you give up points to your closest competition isn’t good. That’s something that concerns you, but you’ve got to look at the big picture. If we finish first and second in all 10 races we know we’ll be in good shape. So far so good. We’ve got to continue to do it, and it’s shaping up to be a really good battle. We’re looking forward to it.”

GUSTAFSON (ON THE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS PHILOSOPHY OF SHARING INFORMATION.): “The biggest thing it says is the success of the company is first; that it’s not an individual effort. It’s not specific to a driver, it’s not specific to a team or a number or a sponsor. Any way you want to break it down, it’s specific to Hendrick Motorsports. That’s what the end goal is. That’s what everybody pulls for. That’s the focus for our company—to succeed, and the reason we do succeed is that philosophy that Mr. Hendrick passed down. We put the company first and everybody does that. You have to do it unselfishly, and sometimes it’s not the easiest thing in the world. I mean, there are times it goes a little bit against human nature. You want to be selfish, but you can’t. You can’t do it. I think we all have too much respect for Mr. Hendrick and too much respect for each other to be selfish. We just look at the success of the company first and go from there.

“If we didn’t have such an open policy and such a close relationship with our teammates, I think it would make winning not as good and make losing worse. If you beat them, you feel really good because you know that they had the same opportunities, the same tools, the same resources—everything you did. It makes you feel really good. When you lose to them you feel like you contributed to their success, which makes it a little bit easier to accept. And at the end of the day, you know if one of our cars is winning, Mr. Hendrick is happy so that always makes you happy, too.”

Mark Martin Post Race Notes and Quotes - AAA 400
GM Racing
September 27, 2009

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST IMPALA SS -- Finished 2nd

DESCRIBE YOUR RUN HERE TODAY AT DOVER.

"I feel like we were off just a little bit with the car all day. Actually I think we did good to finish second. What a great team effort by this bunch. I think we were the best we were all race there at the end, the last run. The guys did a good job. We were just off a little bit."

YOUR RESTARTS WEREN'T YOUR STRONG SUIT TODAY, HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?

"We had a good handling car on the long runs but it was a handful on the restarts. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the Kellogg's/CARQUEST team just did a great job. We did really well by finishing second. We were just off a little bit and it really showed itself on the restarts. But we were off just a little bit, even on the long run even though we would get to where we could beat most of the crowd. We just didn't hit it perfect, but as competitive as it is, I am very proud of how well we hit it and what a race Alan and the team gave me."

IT'S NOT OFTEN AT DOVER THAT DRIVERS SAY TO THEIR CREW CHIEF WE DON'T NEED ANY ADJUSTMENTS TO THE CAR, HOW WAS IT OUT THERE?

“It wasn't going to get better. It wasn't because the car was perfect. The balance was good and I thought it would work well for the restarts and stuff."

Mark Martin Post Race Interview - AAA 400
NASCAR.com
September 27, 2009

AAA 400 Post-Race Transcript

An interview with:

MATT KENSETH - 3rd finisher
MARK MARTIN - 2nd finisher

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined in the infield media center by our third place finisher, driver of the No. 17, DEWALT Ford, Matt Kenseth. Matt, tell us about your run.

MATT KENSETH: Ended up being really good. We didn't qualify very good. But we were really happy with our car. When the race started I didn't think we were quite as good as we were yesterday. But we were able to have really good pit stops.

The tire blackened the track up, but for whatever reason it made it really, really difficult to pass. We got most of our drag draft position through pit stops and restarts. I kept getting in the proper lane on restarts and my car would run for two laps, and I'd get two or three spots. And you had to do it right there because there weren't many people that could pass very good.

So we had a nice solid day on pit road. And the car was okay, also, and was able to get a decent finish out of it.

THE MODERATOR: We're also joined by today's second place finisher, driver of the No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST by Chevrolet, Mark Martin. Mark, tell us about your run.

MARK MARTIN: I'm really happy with the result. You know, we missed it just a little bit. Our car was just not right on and it showed itself quite a bit on the restarts. It would hang in there really well on the long run. But it wasn't a car that could contend to win.

So I thought it was a great result for a hard fought race by my team. I'm really proud of my race team.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions from the media.

Q: Did the impending weather change the conditions at the start of the race? Kind of have to wash the rubber off? Kind of heard at the competition yellow that the rubber got put down pretty good. What was your opinion?

MARK MARTIN: For me, it took 150 laps before the track started kind of we washed all the rubber off. For me it was a real struggle until lap 150.

Q: Jimmie's won this thing three times in a row and a win today. What do you see as far as the Championship Chase coming down to? Is it going to have to go through the No. 48 team?

MARK MARTIN: I don't know. He's only been two races. All depends on what happens in the next four or five six.

Q: Given the success you've had here, are you gracious at all that one of the Chase races is here in Dover?

MARK MARTIN: Say that one more time.

Q: Just given your success here, the fact that Dover is a part of the Chase?

MARK MARTIN: That's a good thing. It's not a good thing to have Loudon in the Chase. But you we've stumbled around and gotten first place there. So this team's, you know, just really on a roll right now. So, you know, it's really, really proud of them.

Q: I think the only person who was happy with your finish other than you is Carl Edwards, because he's kind of rambling right now, want to pick your brain on the whole thing. Can a guy come back from where he is now sitting 11th in the Chase with two down? What can he do? What can you say to him?

MATT KENSETH: I think no matter where you're at in the points, whether you're in the Chase or out of the Chase or where we are, I think you always want to get your best effort and best finish every day.

My approach never changes. Everybody asks me. But it really never changes. I don't come to the racetrack and say, Man, I don't want to win today. I want to run fifth. So we always go to win.

He's going to continue to do that. It shouldn't be a big surprise. It wasn't a big surprise to me we missed the Chase. I saw it coming for three months. We haven't been performing. The whole company hasn't been performing the way it needs to to win a championship. And that's not being negative or anything. It's just obvious. Everybody can see that.

So it shouldn't really be a surprise, really. You know, where they're at. Considering the results we've had all year. You don't just turn it around overnight. So everybody at Roush Fenway is working really hard to get the cars better, be competitive. We got behind a little, and we're working hard to get that back.

So I'd like to say it's a step in the right direction. We had really good pit stops. Our car was reasonable, it wasn't blazing fast, and we were able to get a good finish.

Q: (Asking can you win the Chase on speed alone)?

MATT KENSETH: Just on speed, without any luck or anything changing, you never know. Like Mark said, there are eight races left. That's a ton of races. That's a lot of points to beat, 1400 points or something to be made. So anything can happen.

But just on speed do I think one of our company cars can win? No, I don't. But anything can happen. They might be able to get that fixed and get that turned around.

Q: Given the fact that the Chase is so close. You are racing your teammates. Are the teams still open in the final eight races or will there still be the amount of sharing that's occurred throughout the season?

MARK MARTIN: It's my first time to be a part of Motorsports. If you're asking if we continue to share, I expect to. Yesterday's debrief was just as open as any other race all year. And we race each other hard on the racetrack, but off the racetrack, we all work for the same goal together.

Q: Johnson was so dominant today, and he can't get much more dominant. Do you feel almost like he's taken his best shot?

MARK MARTIN: You'll have to holler. I can't hear.

Q: Sorry about that. Johnson was so dominant today. Do you feel you've taken his best shot? I mean, this is you're still ahead in points and he had an unbelievable race today.

MARK MARTIN: It's just two races. And I think a first and the second is a pretty good way to come out of the gate. But we've got eight more to go, and all kinds of things can happen.

You know, I still say that there's 12 in it, and 12 can win. You know, it might be a challenge for a couple of the teams that are toward the back right now. But you just don't have any concept, I guess, of how much racing eight races is. It's a lot of racing. A lot of things can happen.

Q: It was very, very difficult to pass out there today. It seemed like guys would get up on another car, and they'd be .3 or .4 faster and wouldn't be able to make the pass. How frustrating was it from a driver's standpoint to have a bit of a one groove racetrack? Could good year have done anything differently or things played out any differently to get a better race where the drivers could have run side by side more?

MARK MARTIN: Well, I didn't see any tire failures all weekend, so let's don't forget that and let's commend them for that. This was an additional challenge. This was a harder race than we usually have is, more difficult, I think, for the teams and the drivers. The teams to get the cars set up, and the drivers to drive them.

It was a real challenge. But on the other side of that, I didn't see one failure all weekend. Congratulations Goodyear.

Q: I was just curious talking with one of the crew Chiefs this morning during the debrief, they said you had some valuable information about the fact that they were fighting loose all weekend, and you had some suggestions if are them. Do you think that maybe some of your suggestions helped the 48 beat you today?

MARK MARTIN: I don't know. We were really, really, really fast at the end of practice yesterday. It seemed like everybody was paying attention when I was talking about our practice and our car and how it went. I don't think we were in his league today.

We missed it just a little, little bit. But I certainly it would make me very proud if something I said helped them. Don't forget, you know, that was one of my major goals when they brought me in. To be able to make a contribution to Hendrick Motorsports. I hoped I might get a win, but I definitely wanted to at least be useful.

So we're going to race them. We're going to race our guts out no matter where he we wind up. And no matter how they are. That dude still is Superman in my book, you know. Looked like it today.

Q: You pretty much said it all about Jimmie. But what can you say about a guy who just got his 44th win. He ties Bill Elliot for 14th on the all time win list. And he's done this in eight years. What more can you say about Jimmie?

MARK MARTIN: Yeah. I think I just said it. I'm pretty sure that are dude's Superman. And, you know, I have had the opportunity to see up close. I'm telling you, I see why he is so successful. I see why. He works harder at it than anybody else, I think, on the circuit.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations and thank you for your time.

MARK MARTIN: Thank you, guys.

Mark Martin Media Visit - AAA 400
GM Racing
September 25, 2009

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed the difference between concrete and asphalt, his expectations coming into this season, differences in the Chase from the last time he was a contender and more.

LEADING THE POINTS, COMING OFF A WIN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, WEEK TWO

"Yeah, we're excited about being here. This is one of my favorite race tracks. I can't wait to get started here today."

IN GENERAL TERMS WHAT IS THE DIFFERENT BETWEEN CONCRETE AND ASPHALT?

"In my opinion asphalt is a better surface to race on in a lot of ways. There are some negatives to it. At times it gets rougher, it gets worn out. It's not consistent year to year because of the wearing out and getting older, the asphalt isn't. Concrete is consistent. It's more consistent with the weather. The way the car slips on concrete is more like being cut loose from a string or a rope. When the car starts to slip on concrete it loses 50 percent grip where on asphalt it loses 20 percent grip. So it makes it a little harder to man-handle a race car some times on concrete. That being said this is such an awesome race track that even the concrete hasn't taken away from it being great to race on and really, really fun. So there are pluses and minuses."

WHEN YOU DID YOUR SALUTE TO YOU TOUR A COUPLE OF YEARS BACK DID YOU EVER THINK YOU WOULD BE IN THIS POSITION AT THIS POINT AND TIME?

"Well of course not. Wouldn't have done it if I could have seen the future that's for sure. It's been a real magical year. It's really been incredibly special. It's been lots of fun and we're having a blast."

DO YOU HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR THE GUY WHO SPENT 26 RACES BUILDING A BIG POINTS LEAD AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE OUGHT TO BE A LITTLE MORE REWARDED FOR THAT GUY GOING INTO THE CHASE?

"Not feeling any real sympathy right now. Not really. They did the Chase to make it more exciting just like they did the double restarts. There's going to be winners and losers. The only way you can make more excitement and more drama is stand a chance of mixing it up or changing the outcome if you want to really simplify it or at least put the element of change more likely. Even on a double-file restart if the leader gets the preferred lane the chance of it not working out for him is more likely that way than if the leader lined up behind him with lap cars on the inside. I didn't make those rules. I'm racing."

CONSIDERING THE LAST TWO YEARS YOU WERE PART TIME, WHAT WERE YOUR REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS COMING INTO THIS YEAR AND HAS IT BEEN MORE ENJOYABLE BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE IN LIGHT OF THE EXPECTATIONS?

“How I've done in light of the expectations, yeah that's added to it."

WHAT WERE THE EXPECTATIONS?

"To drive a fast race car and hopefully win a race."

ONE, HUH?

"No not one. Win a race then it all stops. On the other side of that then we'll worry about two. I'm not sure that people understand that I don't sit around and dream about what I could do. I don't sit around and dream of playing the NBA. I'm 5'6" you know what I mean? I just go off of realistic things. I don't set things out there I just do the best that I can. So what I thought I would do is drive a fast race car and hopefully have a chance to win a race. And I said after that we'll work on two and after two we'll work on three. Now we're going to work on six. But to set out and say we were going to win six before the season started and only win five, to be disappointed because we only won five to me would be idiotic. I just don't do it that way."

CLEARLY THIS HAS EXCEEDED THOSE EXPECTATIONS.

"Absolutely. This certainly rivals my best year ever and at this stage of my career I certainly wouldn't expect to rival 1998."

AMERICA SEEMS TO EMBRACE GUYS IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS OVER THE AGE OF 50 THAT DO WELL, DO YOU LIKE EMBRACING THAT ROLE YOURSELF TO BE THE GUY THAT MAYBE YOU'RE GOING TO PICK UP MORE FANS BECAUSE YOU'RE OVER 50 AND KICKING BUTT HERE?

"Well my view on that is the guys and girls that are over 50 that are enjoying this and are excited about it, I think that's great. I really do. Good for them and it's good for me. That's really how I look at it. I don't look at it from any other thing other than I see a lot of people, gosh I talked to Bill Elliott the other day and he was like keep getting it. Keep beating those young guys. He's excited too. I think that brings a different element to what we're doing then it would be if it was all one age group. You've got Joey Logano who won right around his 19th birthday or somewhere close and you've got us on the other end of it so I think that diversity brings kids, it excites kids that follow the sport and we're working on the other end of it."

ON YOUR DECISION TO SIGN A CONTRACT EXTENSION COULD YOU JUST TALK A BIT ABOUT WHETHER THERE WAS MUCH SOUL SEARCHING INVOLVED?

"Really things are going really, really well. I'm having the time of my life. It's a little long-range for my liking but for Hendrick Motorsports planning purposes, sponsorship deals and all those things it made sense to go ahead and make the commitment so they could plan longer term than just a year. I'm definitely having a blast. I'm having the time of my life and I think that's obvious. So I was comfortable with it."

LAST WEEK IN VICTORY LANE I WAS SORT OF STRUCK BY THE FACT THAT YOU MENTIONED TALLADEGA AT THAT POINT, FOR A GUY WHO DOESN'T GENERALLY LIKE TO GET TOO FAR AHEAD OF HIMSELF, DOES THAT MEAN THAT IS SORT OF THE FOCAL POINT OF THE CHASE FOR YOU?

"No, not at all. I didn't mention it in anticipation or anything else. I was just trying to describe to everyone that Loudon is 10 percent of the Chase. It's the same 10 percent as any other race in the Chase. I said before we got up there don't get so excited and calling it's going to be this and its going to be that after one race, there's a lot stuff left to happen and a lot of racing left to happen. I was still trying to do the same thing. Don't get carried away with you know what the complexion of the Chase is going to be when it comes down to it based on one race. Everybody in the Chase right now are performing on a level that could pull it off depending on how things work out for them. I just brought that up because that is a place where you don't really have as much control over your destiny as you do at some of the other places."

WAS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THE CHASE THIS TIME AROUND FROM THREE YEARS AGO?

"I haven't noticed a huge difference. I can see that the sport has grown a little bit in coverage and everything. I haven't been a part of the Chase for the last two years and have noticed there seems to be a stronger buzz about it than there was last time I was in it in 2006. Maybe so, maybe not. It may have been because we hadn't won four races going into the Chase or something. I don't know."

Mark Martin leads NASCAR chase, video shows winning cars in his museum
By Tom LaPointe
Examiner.com
September 21, 2009

Mark Martin started out the weekend atop the ‘Chase’ for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and finished the weekend with a win and clear message to the field that he’s ‘in it to win it’. As part of his auto dealership in Batesville, Arkansas, he included a killer museum of his favorite racecars. By ‘his’ I mean ones he competed with and often won. A couple of years ago, the 50-year-old racer was semi-retired, but excelled racing part-time for Hendrick Motorsports last year as a teammate of past champs, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, and returned full time this year with a vengeance. He won four times this season and started the chase in first place.

The steely-eyed racer began his career more than 30 years ago and has been a fixture in NASCAR competition for more than two decades. Always a bridesmaid and never a bride, he has finished the season in second place four different times, but is yet to win a championship.

Even so, he has been named one of ‘NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers’. For more than a decade he has been a leader in the garage, and in years past was vocal in his disdain for the restrictor plate limitations NASCAR placed on the vehicles for superspeedways like Daytona and Talledega.

Not only is he a dominant racer, but a car lover as well. His favorite cars are displayed adjacent to the ones he has for sale at Mark Martin Ford - Mercury, and all happen to be ones that he has been rubbin' and racin' with. A Ford driver for years, he recently switched to Chevrolet and also has a Chevrolet dealership.

Some of the cars on display in the Mark Martin Museum:

55 Chevrolet that he raced on Arkansas dirt tracks with rub rails. Raced at 16-years-old in second year of racing.

2005 IROC – International Race of Champions winning Pontiac Trans Am.

2009 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy Impala with Tony the Tiger from Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes

1990 Folgers Thunderbird

1989 Stroh’s Thunderbird

From the Mark Martin Museum:

“It’s just an awesome thing to be able to bring back all of these cars and trophies to the place where it all started and the place that I consider ‘home,’ said Martin. “We have a lot of stuff on display at the museum and I hope that all of the fans will get a chance to come out and share in all of the memories with us.

“Growing up I couldn’t wait to get out of Batesville and go out and see what I could do,” added Martin. “I went off seeking my fame and fortune and I was fortunate to work with a lot of great people and have a lot of success. Now it’s time to bring all of that back home where it belongs to Batesville.”

The state-of-the art museum features several of Martin’s past cars, including the No. 6 Viagra Coca-Cola 600 win car, the ’90 Folgers Thunderbird, the No. 60 Win Dixie Busch car, Martin’s 2005 IROC car that he used to win his record fifth championship, and the ’89 Stroh's Thunderbird. Each car is a part of a display that includes hi-tech mantrons that tell the story of each piece of history.

The museum also has on display a variety of other memorabilia, including several of Martin’s past race helmets and historic fire suits. There are also several personal photo books on display that chronicle Martin’s early success, as well as thousands of pictures and newspaper articles that show Martins climb from local dirt track sensation to NASCAR legend.

“We really wanted to do something that we could share with the fans and the people of Batesville,” said Martin. “It’s been a long road and it’s been a lot of fun and we really wanted to put all of that on display.

“We could have put the dealership anywhere,” added Martin. “But I wanted to bring all of it home. It means a lot to me and I’m excited to share what I’ve been lucky enough to experience with everyone.”

Mark Martin Post Race Notes and Quotes – Sylvania 300
GM Racing
September 20, 2009

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S IMPALA SS, WINNER

DOES THIS YEAR KEEP GETTING BETTER AND BETTER FOR YOU?

"Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) won that race -- that's all I got to say. He took a driver that can't drive Loudon and put a set-up in it that we could run along reasonable. Just like I said before the race, if they can stumble around and get me in the front then I might be able to stay there with it. That's what we did, but it was sure tough."

WHAT WAS RUNNING THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THAT FINAL RESTART?

"I'm going to lose it. I'm going to mess it up. That's what was going through my mind."

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO STILL BE THE POINTS LEADER?

"Gosh, it's one race. We won though. How about that?”

Mark Martin celebrates his first win at New Hampshire - NASCAR.com

Mark Martin Post Race Press Conference – Sylvania 300
GM Racing
September 20, 2009

MARK MARTIN and ALAN GUSTAFSON, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S IMPALA SS PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined in the infield media center by today’s winner of the Sylvania 300, driver of the No. 5 CARQUEST Kellogg’s Chevrolet, Mark Martin. This is Mark’s 40th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win and his first at New Hampshire. Mark, tell us about your run today.

MARK MARTIN: Alan has really pulled off something big to figure out how to win a race with me here at Loudon. That’s a big deal. I don’t get around this place that well. The guys, we came up here with a great attitude with the pressure off of us that we’ve been carrying around pretty much since the fourth race of the season.

They had a great plan for the car, and they got the car in race trim, strong lap times, strong enough that I thought, gosh, if we could stumble around and get in the front here, I think I might be able to stay. And he figured out how to do that, too. So it was an incredible accomplishment, I think.

It’s also pretty cool, when we left Michigan, I don’t know how many races was the total race. This is 40. Anyway, Arlene looked over at me, but she happened to be at that one, and she said, “Only three more,” or something like that. Something like that, “to 40.” And I was like — you’d have to know her. She’s not much of a race fan. It was really odd. For her to know that number and I not know it, and for her to say so many to go to 40 was pretty strange. So it was a cool time, and it is a cool number to hit because of that little time that we shared, that moment we shared.

THE MODERATOR: We’re also joined by today’s winning crew chief, Alan Gustafson. Alan, your thoughts from on top of the box today.

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Everything kind of fell into place for us today. Like Mark said, we worked really hard on Saturday, the guys at the shop. The engineering staff did a great job helping getting us prepared for the race. We weren’t the greatest here last year, so we worked really hard. We knew this was a race we needed to focus on to run well, to kick the Chase off, and kind of defend here.

We didn’t want to give up too many points because we knew Denny would run well, and Kurt is really, really good here, and it turned out Juan was awesome, and Jimmie is always awesome everywhere.

The race started, and we had a pretty good car, and it’s tough. It’s tough back there in traffic, and Mark was doing a good job, and we could get to the 6th, to 8th, 9th place range and we could hang out around there.

And then we got an opportunity to kind of flip the track position on them, and we did, and took advantage of that. Mark made that plan work by passing Kurt and getting gone the way he did and running some phenomenal lap times out front and getting a big enough lead over the guys who had stopped. I think the 11 in particular was the car who came to be third there behind Kurt.

So we had a big enough lead on the 11 where we could pit, and we weren’t really too far down, a lap down to him. We were only a little ways back, a car or two or half a straightaway. Mark was able to get past the 11 in pretty quick order, so I knew we were in good shape there once we got back on the lead lap.

And then the restarts came, so that’s really nerve-wracking. Mark was incredible on the restarts. He did an awesome job. We got him on the top, which was a good thing. He’s not a huge top guy, so restarting on the top worked out awesome.

Held off some tough, tough competitors. Like I said, I think Kurt is really, really good here, and Jimmie behind us, and Juan was probably the fastest car all day long. That was all Mark. I don’t think our car was better than those guys, I think our driver was. So it’s really, really fortunate to win this race. It’s a great momentum builder for the Chase and gives us a lot of pep in our step going to Dover.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up to questions from the media.

Q. Mark, on behalf of all of us who have waited for decades to ask you about somebody questioning a move you made to win a race, Juan Pablo was talking about, he said that after he tucked in behind you, you went down into 1, he said Mark went down there in there and stopped. He said you’ve got to have somebody you trust not to hit you to do that. A, was that a calculated move on your part; and B, does this signal that those of us who would ever suggest that you don’t have enough dog-eat-dog in you were wrong?

MARK MARTIN: You can read into that what you want, but my first instinct to answer that question would be, yeah, I stopped compared to how fast his car was going. I don’t think I stopped-stopped, I just — maybe it looked to him like I stopped based on how fast he had been.

This is a very frustrating racetrack. Track position is so incredibly critical and lane choices so unbelievable, as well. And he had the fastest car today.

I fought for that race, but I wouldn’t do anything — I still won’t. No, I probably still won’t do what some of you wish I would.

Q. He said it was the thing to do. He said to have it done to you is frustrating, but if you do it to them it feels really good.

MARK MARTIN: (Laughing) To be real honest, stopping is a strong word. I made sure that I didn’t go in there and lose it once I got in front of him. But his car was probably really strong there.

My car was not fast into the corner, so it probably felt, especially to him — we made all our time through the center and off the corner and kind of had to get into the corners easy, and once you got the lead, you need to make sure you don’t drive it in there and turn it sideways, slide up to the top of the racetrack. I mean, how stupid would I look then?

Q. If you had driven the velocity he had been going.

MARK MARTIN: — then I would have slid to the top, lost the race, and I would have had to admit to the world that I blew it. That’s what happened there.

Q. In the 25 previous visits you’ve had here, 24 arguably; you’ve been here with many different crew chiefs. I don’t know if you can remember those guys, but what makes Alan Gustafson stand out amongst all the guys you’ve worked with? And you gave him the credit for this win. What did he do specifically that really put you in victory lane?

MARK MARTIN: I pretty much said that by coming up here with a great plan at a racetrack that’s not my strong suit, great plan for setup and setup changes, and he sorted through those things, and we sorted through those and got the car where it was competitively fast.

And then he made the right call today to position us in the front. You know, we weren’t good enough to drive from 6th or 8th to 1st, especially against the competition that we had. But as it turned out, we were good enough to stay in the front through three restarts inside of 20 to go. And I think we had quite a bit more on our tires, too.

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, we did.

MARK MARTIN: You’ve got to remember that, as well. I don’t know how many more laps we had on our tires, but we had some more. And so that was — it was great to be able to pull it off.

Q. Could you speak to the strength of the relationship you have now?

MARK MARTIN: I have a lot of trust in Alan. I let him do his thing, and he’s brought so much support, you know, in so many areas, and unloaded so much off of my shoulders. He’s the smartest — the best combination of really smart engineering, understanding of that, and the guy that pulls the wrenches and gets his hands dirty, practical racer. He’s the best combination of all of that.

I’ve worked with great engineers and really smart people and great guys that work on race cars and are practical and all of that, but he’s the combination, the strongest combination of all of that.

Q. Mark, prior to the race obviously you talked about your struggles here at New Hampshire, and you said you simply wanted to leave here with a decent points finish, and I know that you’ve sort of become notorious for this, but is that playing into some of your success, sort of having this. I can’t think of the word I want to say.

MARK MARTIN: You’re not calling me Gomer Pyle, are you?

Q. On your humble attitude, is that playing into your success?

MARK MARTIN: I don’t know. Part of my being humble is that i took a beating once and got ran out of town. I got beat to a pulp and run out of town. I wouldn’t be as humble if I hadn’t have gone through that experience.

And the other thing is I’ve had my — I’ve taken some pretty hard — swallowed some pretty big pills in my racing career, so I’m cautious about expecting things. Like I didn’t expect to win this race once the cautions started falling. I didn’t expect it. I knew I’d fight for it, but to expect it and then it doesn’t happen will break you in half. Expect to fight for it, and then you accept the results for what they are.

It’s just how I manage my emotions and everything else. It doesn’t mean I don’t try hard. I give my guts, man, but I’m not going to plan on something and then have it not work out.

Q. Mark, there haven’t been a lot of racetracks that are not named Talladega that you’ve had trouble mastering. What is it about this place that’s taken you so long? Was it the car was so good today that you finally got over that hump, or what’s been the problem?

MARK MARTIN: We’ve run pretty good here. We sat on the pole up here one year and Rusty beat me and I finished second or something, and another year we thought we were looking really good, and I don’t remember what happened. The 24 did two tires or something or other, whatever it was, and we lost that one. So we’ve been in position.

But I like rounder racetracks where you can get you a handful of steering wheel and slide that baby and manipulate it and make it do something that it doesn’t want to do. You can’t do that at Martinsville, and you really can’t do that here, even more I think than Martinsville.

So it is what it is. It doesn’t lend itself; Phoenix does. Its round. The corners are big and round.

Q. I wonder if you could just take us through what in your view transpired on the last lap, and as far as the spinning incident and when you saw the caution come out, and what did you see when you came off of Turn 4, because it looked like A.J.’s car was just kind of sitting there in the middle of the track.

MARK MARTIN: Well, my spotter stayed on me. He told me the spin and all that, but he stayed on me, still green, still green, still green, and I was backing into a little bit more of a conservative mode when he had called the caution. I hadn’t quit, but I knew that I had two more corners to make. So Denny wasn’t going to catch me, or whoever. I don’t even know who ran second. Whoever it was that was behind me, I was checking in the mirror quite often and they weren’t coming.

So I was kind of making sure that I managed all those things well, and my spotter told me where he was on the racetrack, down toward the inside or whatever, and then finally he called a caution.

And so then I did slow down. And I don’t know who came flying up through there, a red one or something, Jimmie or somebody. Somebody came up there and ran into the back of me, and of course I went back to accelerating. I knew the race was supposed to be over, but I’ve done lots of stupid stuff, and I didn’t want to lose this race. I knew it was supposed to be over.

So A.J. was getting going, and I felt pretty confident and comfortable about where he was going to stay, and so I picked up the speed, which is not really the thing we’re supposed to do. Of course those guys flew up there on me, and there was chatter on the radio, the race is over, and busting back and forth, and by the time we crossed the start/finish line, somebody said, well, it was before we got to the line. So there were some things going on there, a little bit of confusion.

You tend to kind of — if you don’t know for sure, you kind of race when the caution comes out on the last lap a little bit, and I had — I was under the impression that when a caution called, the race was over. I don’t think the guys gave up the race behind me quite. So it caused a little bit of chaos.

Q. If you could go back a little bit further to your pit stop and what were your expectations coming out of that, and you talked about having the tires and everything. What was going through your mind then?

MARK MARTIN: The last pit stop we made, you know, I had run that whole run out there in front. I fought hard to get by Kurt and get five points, and then just kept the hammer down to try to get as far ahead, because I expect worst-case scenarios, or try to set up for worst-case scenario, which would mean that we would run until we had to pit under the green, and all those guys that had pitted would stay out and then a caution would come out.

So the farthest I could get ahead, then after we had come out after our pit stop we’d be in the best-case scenario. I certainly didn’t want to be two laps down, because that’s really hard to recover from. So I stretched the lead as far as I could, came out of the pit stop, and I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to ask, but I just tried to forget that; just focus on driving and focus on running. But I wanted to ask, I know that’s the leader up there, but is it one lap down or two laps down, because I’m fixing to get one of these back.

I just focused and focused, and once we got by Denny, Kurt pitted, and once we got by Denny, then I said, are we in the lead lap. And just like Alan said, we were in the catbird seat then because then if the caution came out we were going to be leading because we could stay out and everybody else had to pit.

So at that point, once we passed the 11, I mean, our race was set up strong suit.

Q. Alan, Friday Mark was kind of downplaying a driver’s role in the age of engineering, and then today Denny and Juan both came up here and said Mark made the veteran move he had to make to win the race. Can you just talk about how experience played into that and kind of the driver taking charge there in the last couple laps?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Well, everything we do, you mentioned engineering and winning races and strategy and pitting and staying out and beating guys on the restarts. None of that is possible without a really, really good race car driver. You’ve got to have everything 100 percent in this sport to win and to contend to win and to run well. So the driver is obviously a very, very, very key component to that.

In my opinion Mark is the best driver out there, and he proves that time and time again, no matter what situation it is. Not only does he restart well and race well, but he’s obviously very smart and he knows what to do and when to go.

It makes our job easier, and if it’s Saturday adjusting on the car or if it’s Sunday restarting, if it’s me having to make pit strategy decisions, you know that you’ve got a driver who can get the maximum amount of whatever those decisions we make are. And that’s really, really special, and we feel real fortunate to have Mark and have guy who takes everything that we work really, really hard on and spend countless hours on, he puts that same amount of effort in when he gets behind that wheel and takes complete advantage of it, and that’s all you really can ask for.

Q. Mark, two questions. First of all, what’s going on with the feet; and second of all, talk about Talladega. You mentioned it out there. You said that’s the lotto race.

MARK MARTIN: Nothing is with the feet.

And Talladega, I like to call it the lotto. I used to think that if the guys could figure out how to get me a fast race car, it would put me in a position to kind of be ahead of the trouble. That certainly isn’t the case anymore. So from that standpoint it is kind of like a lotto. It’s wild and crazy, and we’re going to be there with bells on.

Q. On Friday you announced the extension with Hendrick through 2011, and I was just curious, I mean, to what extent did the fact that you knew you were going to have Alan as your crew chief factor into the equation for your decision to go forward, and how important is it for a driver in the Chase to have a championship caliber crew chief like Alan?

MARK MARTIN: It was all of it. I mean, definitely because Alan is instrumental in the performance of that car, and the performance is basically largely what I used as a determining factor on whether or not I could still do this stuff.

Alan makes it easier on me. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. I don’t have to — he takes a lot off of my shoulders and carries it on his. And so then it’s more fun for me. So that’s what it’s all about.

Q. One for each. Alan, can you explain why you didn’t pit with a little over 100 laps to go; that put you out of sequence? And when most of the other field came in, did you feel in or did you feel a little nervous? And then also for Mark, from an outsider’s perspective it seemed like the racing was quite aggressive and quite challenging out there. Is that the way you saw what it was like, especially toward the end of the race?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: The reason we decided not to pit in that sequence is probably a combination of experience and a little bit of error on the pit stop before. We pitted — I don’t know the laps, you’d have to look at it. We pitted the stop before. The 48 stayed out, the 14 stayed out. The 26, I can’t remember, 39, kind of going down the list there, those guys stayed out and came in and pitted and got back a little bit further than I like to see our car; we got back in the 12th, 13th place range. To me you get to a certain point, you get far enough back where it’s pretty dangerous; it’s really hard to overcome that position, no matter how good your car is, especially here where it’s so hard to pass, and then you also put yourself in a lot higher risk area for incident.

So when we got back there and we restarted a few times and the racing was pretty rough and that caution came out, I said, man, I’m not going to come; we need to be out front, and we weren’t in our fuel window. Really that opportunity to pit there was not going to do us any good. We were just going to be in the same place we were with the same tires the guys around us had.

So we had to try to flip the track position on them, and when we took that opportunity to do it, we knew everybody had to stop again. Regardless if we stopped there or not, we had to come again and so did they. So that factored into the decision, and when we got out front, like I said, we started second, the 2 had the same strategy, and Mark got around Kurt in pretty good fashion and pulled away and made all that work.

Once we pitted under green, the key to that, and Mark said it nicely, we came close enough to the 11 where he got back on the lead lap in really quick order, probably three or four laps, and when we got back by the 11, at worst-case scenario I knew we were going to have a decent finish unless we got wrecked or had some unfortunate circumstances. I knew we were going to be close to the leader or pretty near the front, and we have a good car and obviously have a good enough driver. That’s how it all played out.

Q. Mark, it looked like the racing was pretty tough and aggressive out there. Is that how it was from your point of view?

MARK MARTIN: Yeah, it’s really tough, because on restarts these things really slip around. I will say, I really gotta brag on the drivers today. They did an awesome job and did a better job than usual not running over each other because it’s very, very hard. And when you have as much at stake as we have, you know, it pushes you to slip over the edge. You know, it’s not like a lot of racetracks, this thing. When it starts to slip, you can’t fix it. You know, you kind of slide into the other guy. It’s not like another place where you start feeling it slip and you can back off a little bit.

Everybody did a great job of racing really hard but not running each other over a lot.

Q. Mark, you told us what you don’t like about this racetrack and you told us what you prefer in a racetrack. What do you have to work on at this racetrack? What do you have to focus on to get the best out of a race car?

MARK MARTIN: Well, you know, we just have to get speed. I told them Saturday in practice, is the speed good, because I don’t know how to get around here anyway. So don’t worry about where it’s slipping here or doing that there. Anything we work there, there will be compromises. If you make that over there better it’ll make that worse or whatever. The thing we had was speed. I tried to live with the rest of it.

Q. Juan was asked when we were in New York by a Formula 1 writer to explain double file restarts, and he said in Formula 1 whenever he would be around someone the driver would get very nervous and say, oh, no, what’s this crazy Colombian going to do next. When you lined up next to him with that three to go, did you know he was going to race you clean? He said he doesn’t have enough experience racing for wins; that’s how you were able to sort of snooker him. Did you know what to expect from him and know he could handle that?

MARK MARTIN: I have a lot of respect for Juan Montoya, and I had respect for him and he had for me before a lot of others on the racetrack, before they had that, before Juan and some of the other competitors. I still didn’t know for sure that he wouldn’t slip. I didn’t know that for sure, because I know that he’s racing for his first oval track win.

But I knew he wouldn’t slip on purpose, and we’re all fighting hard. So I tried to give him enough room but do my race, too. And that’s still — with the way this racetrack is, that still isn’t enough, because even when you give the guy enough room, he’s on this part down here, which really makes the car loose on the restart, and it all comes down to how hard he was going to push it and whether or not — just to explain to you, I gave him the respect from day one on the racetrack, and I got respect a long time ago, not just today. That’s all you can do. I thought that he would do the right thing, and if it didn’t turn out to be the right thing, I think it would have been a mistake, not something that he was going to do to try to knock me out of the way or something to get the win. And he could count on the same from me.

That’s just my code. I’m criticized for that code, and sometimes it’s overlooked, the fact that you get what you give. That fact is overlooked sometimes.

Q. The decision not to race back to the caution was born right here several years ago. NASCAR waited a while on that last caution to throw it. In your opinion should it have been thrown earlier?

MARK MARTIN: Well, that’s a good question. I couldn’t see it, so I don’t know. They probably — for the fans’ sake and for the show’s sake should have waited until they did to throw it because they were waiting to see if he was going to get going, and if he would have got going, it could have been a green flag finish, and that’s about the fans; that’s not about the competitors. The competitors being safe is important, too, but we weren’t in a dangerous situation like we were at Daytona in what year, 2007. That was different.

Here I think they should have waited until they did to throw the yellow because it could have cleared itself and then they wouldn’t have spoiled the finish. Daytona with cars flipping, I think, and wrecking and everything else, I’m not so sure about that.

But it is what it is, and they do the best they can, and they’re really strong and pro-fan. And that’s good for you and me. It’s good for all of us that they’re pro-fan. Sometimes it doesn’t work the way you want it to, from a competitor’s standpoint.

Q. A couple of years ago we’d watch you on television in rocking chairs. How does it really feel to be a contender?

MARK MARTIN: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. If you’ve never experienced what we experience as drivers, and Dale Jarrett and I had this conversation Thursday, you probably can’t understand, because you haven’t experienced it. You know, DJ said, there’ll never be anything else that’s quite like that. He said he likes what he does now, but it’s not the same.

And I have to face that, too, someday, but not today. It’s pretty incredible the way the fans have rallied behind our effort and our success this year. It makes it even more special.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much. Congratulations on your victory.

LOUDON, NH - SEPTEMBER 20: Mark Martin, driver of the #5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 20, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

LOUDON, NH - SEPTEMBER 20: Mark Martin, driver of the #5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet, celebrates with the trophy in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 20, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

LOUDON, NH - SEPTEMBER 20: Mark Martin, driver of the #5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 20, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Mark Martin Post Qualifying Notes and Quotes
GM Racing
September 18, 2009

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 14TH:

“It was a good run. I am pleased, it certainly could have been worse. I slipped off of two and wasn’t able to go like we needed to go there. When he told me it was a 99 and we were 13th (at that point), I was actually very pleased. We’ll work on race setup tomorrow and see if we can get it more comfortable, a little bit better. This race track is not my strong suit. We have seven that are out of the 10 and one lotto. This one and Martinsville we ran sixth at last time, but it is still not my strong suit. All those others are though, so we’ll come here, race hard, fight hard, collect everything we can and then go somewhere that we can put a whippin’ on ‘em.”

GoDaddy.com to be Primary Sponsor of No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Team
GM Racing
September 18, 2009

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S IMPALA SS met with media and discussed 2010 primary sponsorship with Go.Daddy.com and HMS contract renewal, the Chase, his age, diet and exercise, and more. Full Transcript:

YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US ABOUT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT EARLIER

“I’m good with secrets (laughter).”

ON THE GO.DADDY.COM SPONSOR ANNOUNCEMENT:

“We’re hooking up with Go.Daddy.com. They’ve been a part of Hendrick Motorsports since 2007 and have grown in their participation each year. They’re an industry leader in their field. It’s absolutely unimaginable to think that they register a domain every second, every day. That’s something that I just recently learned because I guess I didn’t completely understand how big their business was. But that’s pretty incredible.

“It’s neat to be associated with a fast, edgy company that’s aggressive and out there doing what they do like we do on the race track with our race teams. It’s a cool thing to be looking forward to year and having different colors and there is more to come. But it’s a neat day and it’s a great company to be associated with.”

ON EXTENDING HIS CONTRACT WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TO KEEP RACING FULLTIME THROUGH THE 2011 SEASON

“Yeah, we’re signed through 2011. That shouldn’t come as any big surprise. Who would want to quit?”

WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT YOUR AGE? GODADDY.COM DOESN’T SEEM TO DISCRIMINATE ABOUT AGE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT COMPANY WITH RELATIONSHIP TO AGE?

“When you’re registering a domain every second, every day, you must be reaching a broad spectrum of people. Yeah, it is nice that they didn’t pass on the opportunity to sponsor the No. 5 car because I’m going to be 51 next year. That’s pretty cool. It’s great to be in a race car with a race team that can perform like we’ve performed this year. It’s not the best of times for sponsorship acquisition and so it’s another success I think.

“It’s funny and you’re exactly right on the age thing. As a matter of fact, it was kind of a big deal for a 22 year old to be getting a pole in 1981. Now it’s not such a big deal at all. Times are changing. We’re talking about almost 30 years ago and things have changed a lot. The fact that a big deal has been made out of my age now really doesn’t surprise me because I would expect that no matter who was getting it done if they were getting it done right now. The times have changed. It has lended itself more toward younger drivers where before engineers, before technology had infiltrated NASCAR, the driver was the data acquisition and he was very important and he could not do that when he was 22. He had to have many years under his belt.

“There’s no reason why more guys my age can’t be doing what I’m doing, other than it takes a lot of elements to line up you know. Personally, you have to really be willing to give the health and fitness side of it more than most, and everything else.”

HAS THAT ROLE OF A MATURE DRIVER IN A MECHANICAL SENSE PRETTY MUCH VANISHED NOW?

“That’s true. I still work with (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) and I still make suggestions. I still feel things and say yeah, I felt that last time. It’s this, you know. But 15 years ago, I probably would have said put this spring, this spring, this spring in to go to New Hampshire. I don’t find out until I get to the trailer what’s in the car for here. And if I don’t happen to find out, that’s not a big issue either. I’ll drive the car and I’ll feel the car and I’ll tell him what it’s doing. If I feel something specific, I’ll say it feels like the right rear is too big. It feels like we’re on the bump stop too much on the right front. You know, whatever.

“But nothing like the kind of stuff that Alan Kulwicki and Rusty Wallace and myself and a number of other guys did for years, which was really to make most of the calls on what was under the car.”

COMPARE WHAT IT TAKES TO DO THESE RACES NOW VERSUS WHEN YOU WERE 30 YEARS OLD

“After a good race, I feel exactly like I felt when I was 30. I heard something funny many years ago. Someone said I’m in energy conservation mode. I do manage energy a little bit to make darn sure I’ve got just as much as anyone else when duty calls. So I do that, but I don’t feel 25. I don’t know what you’re supposed to feel like at 50, but I feel pretty good. I manage my energy and everything a little differently than I did when I was 25.”

YOU HAVE NO BODY FAT. TALK ABOUT DIET AND EXERCISE

“For 21 years I’ve strength-trained. I’m better and more knowledgeable today than I’ve ever been or than I was even a year ago, about nutrition and strength training and cardio fitness as well. I’m doing all that and I’m smarter now than I was a year ago.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGH?

“125 (pounds).”

A COUPLE OF YEARS YOU WERE RETIRING AND DID A FAREWELL TOUR. WHAT HAPPENED?

“The simple version is I changed my mind.”

TALK ABOUT THE MENTAL ABILITY TO ACCEPT THE CHANGES THAT HAVE GONE ON IN THIS SPORT

“One of the more difficult ones was when we quit running normal front springs about eight or nine years ago or somewhere in there, and started running the real soft front springs. It was not as simple as that and it required a different aero package. To learn all that stuff was slow and difficult and we weren’t at the cutting edge of it. It was disappointing to me. We finally got there. But it took quite a while and it was discouraging. The CoT scared me. But after about a half-season of messing around and the opportunity of working with Ryan Pemberton we started to get on some things and then it really came along and I learned more working with the No. 8 team last year. Yeah, you have to be able to adapt and conform to the changing environment and over 30 years I’ve seen a lot of that.”

TO DO WHAT HE’S DONE FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS, WHAT ALLOWS JIMMIE JOHNSON TO SEPARATE HIMSELF FROM OTHER DRIVERS?

“I think it’s a very overlooked fact about Jimmie Johnson that he works harder at it than anybody in the garage. And I don’t think people see that. I sure didn’t until I got over there.”

WAS THERE ANY HESITATION TO COMMIT TO HMS THROUGH 2011? OR WERE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE THEM TO GO THROUGH 2012, ‘13, OR ‘14?

“No it was still Rick’s (Hendrick) initiative. And I didn’t have any reservations really when we talked about 2010. 2011 is a long way out. It’s a long term commitment. But I understood Rick. He had to make some decisions about some long range things and he really wanted it. This was his first choice. With the success that we were having, I don’t see me falling off a cliff anytime soon. I hope that I’ll be able to do the job and I’m having a blast. I understand that it works better for sponsor commitments and those kinds of things. And so I’m pretty comfortable. There’s no place I’d rather be today than at the race track. I didn’t always feel that way. And so I did something about it. And now I feel that way. So now I’m doing something about that.”

WHEN NASCAR SWITCHED TO THE CHASE FORMAT, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO ADAPT? JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID IT TOOK HIM A COUPLE OF SEASONS TO EMBRACE IT.

“I don’t know. It’s easy for him to say, he’s got it right. He’s won three in a row. I couldn’t be such an authority on where I stand on it. We were in the first three and a lot of how you do in that is how well your equipment performs and what kind of luck or whatever, that you have, also plays a part in it. And so I hope to think that I know how to do it, you know? If we don’t have any bad luck and if we don’t have any poor performances and we continue the kinds of performances that we have, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be a contender for it for sure.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID MAYBE THEY AREN’T QUITE ON THE STRIDE THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO BE. HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO DETECT THAT THEY COME INTO THE CHASE LESS IN THEIR GROOVE OR AT THEIR STRIDE THAN NORMAL? KNOWING THE PEOPLE, CAN YOU SENSE THAT?

“Well, just like you I sit here and watch them step it up when the Chase started before. And so that might be the case. Obviously they’re the ones that are the most concerned based on their past history. Sure, they’ve not been quite as ferocious on the race track the last few races maybe, but all they have to do is just hit it. Nobody is going to beat a five or 5.5-place finish. Anybody that does that for 10 races is going to hold that trophy. I’ll be surprised if anyone can do that this year with the way it looks like the contenders are. It’s going to be a great race between all 12, I think. It’ll take five races. You’re not going to know anything after this race, I’m telling you. You could have a terrible finish and run here and then come back and rebound from it. It’s going to take five races to see. And then when it’s four to go, the picture is going to get much clearer. I wouldn’t get too carried away about how everything lands in this race.”

SO MANY GUYS IN DIFFERENT SPORTS SAY THEY WANT TO RETIRE ON TOP. IS THE CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVING YOU OR IS IT JUST THE LOVE OF RACING?

“It’s the love of racing. It really doesn’t have anything to do with the championship. I didn’t take this job with hopes and dreams of winning the championship. I took it because I knew it was going to be a fast race car and I wanted to drive a fast race car and have a chance to win another race and we’ve exceeded my expectations and we certainly will race with every ounce that we have for the championship that’s 10 races away, and who knows what happens between now and then. But it’s because I love what I do and because I’m still competitive.

Points Leader Mark Martin Racing Full Time Through 2011 Sprint Cup Season
Hendrick Motorsports Press Release

CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 18, 2009) – GoDaddy.com has signed an agreement to be the primary sponsor of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The world’s leading registrar of Internet domain names will adorn the hood for 20 races annually, including the season-opening Daytona 500, beginning in 2010. Terms will remain private.

Driving the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolets will be current Sprint Cup Series championship points leader Mark Martin, who has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him with Hendrick Motorsports fulltime through the 2011 NASCAR season.

“Mark Martin is the consummate professional and a very exciting driver, to say the least,” said GoDaddy.com CEO and founder Bob Parsons. “He’s the sentimental favorite for this year’s Sprint Cup championship, and we’re stoked to have him driving for Go Daddy next year.”

The 2010 No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet can be viewed at www.GoDaddy.com/MarkMartin

GoDaddy.com’s affiliation with Hendrick Motorsports began in 2008 with a two-race primary sponsorship of the No. 25 Chevrolets, a program that this season expanded to seven Cup events. In 2009, the company also became an associate-level sponsor of the No. 5 team with Martin and crew chief Alan Gustafson.

“GoDaddy.com is an exciting, aggressive partner with immense marketing savvy,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “The fact that they’re again expanding their relationship with us says a lot about the success of their business and the results they’ve seen from these programs. It’s extremely rewarding to have a partner grow with our organization, and we’re looking forward to repaying them with performance.”

In his first Sprint Cup campaign with Hendrick Motorsports, Martin has won four races and equaled a career best with six pole positions. The team announced May 6 that the veteran driver had agreed to forego a part-time schedule and return fulltime for the 2010 season. He now will race the entire Cup campaign through 2011.

“Mark has been an unbelievable asset to our organization,” Hendrick said. “I can’t overstate the contribution he’s made or the kind of teammate he’s been, and we’re excited that he’ll race with us for the next two years. With his focus and dedication, he will continue to make all of us better.”

This season, Martin is tied for the most Cup wins (with Kyle Busch) and pole positions (with Brian Vickers). At age 50, he is the oldest driver ever to qualify for NASCAR’s championship-deciding Chase for the Sprint Cup, which begins this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Martin enters Sunday’s race with a 10-point advantage over Tony Stewart and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

“It’s a real privilege to have this opportunity with GoDaddy.com and to work with Rick, Alan and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” said Martin who has qualified for the Chase in all four of his fulltime seasons since the format was implemented in 2004. “I’m looking forward to building on what we’ve started and driving some great GoDaddy.com race cars.

“As long as I can have fun, compete at a high level and have the opportunity to win, I’m going to continue to do this. I’m having a blast, and that’s always been most important to me and my family.”

Additional sponsorship for the No. 5 Chevrolets will be announced at a later date.

ABOUT THE GO DADDDY GROUP INC

Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group Inc. has more than 36 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second. GoDaddy.com is the world’s No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world’s largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2008, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all new domain names created in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.

ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

Since 1984 Hendrick Motorsports has earned 12 championships in NASCAR’s top three divisions and 183 victories in the sanctioning body’s premier series, the Sprint Cup. The organization, which currently is celebrating its 25th anniversary season, fields four full-time Chevrolet teams on the Sprint Cup Series circuit with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Headquartered in Concord, N.C., Hendrick Motorsports employs more than 500 people.

For more information about Hendrick Motorsports, please visit www.HendrickMotorsports.com, www.facebook.com/HendrickMotorsports and www.twitter.com/HendrickInfo