Top 35 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers: No. 2 - Mark Martin
Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin finished second in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final standings. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Scene
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Mark Martin appeared to be rejuvenated during this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
After spending the two previous seasons running a part-time schedule, Martin was lured back to full-time Cup competition with Hendrick Motorsports for 2009, and he enjoyed stellar results.
The 50-year-old driver proved to be tougher than ever, wining five races for his first multiwin season since his 199 season with Jack Roush, matching the second-highest season total of his career. He won seven races with what is now Roush Fenway Racing in 1998 and five in 1993.
In 2009, Martin and his Alan Gustafson-led team were one of the best in the sport and, in the end, the only ones in position to challenge Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson for the title in the final race of the season.
Martin ended up finishing second in the standings, the fifth runnerup finish of his career, but he said that he had no regrets about the season or his return to full-time racing.
The native of Batesville, Ark., earned $5,279,003 in purses.
By the numbers: Martin enjoyed one of the top seasons of his lengthy career. The driver who spent 19 years with Jack Roush returned from a pair of part-time seasons with Ginn Racing, which merged into Dale Earnhardt Inc., and earned five wins. He had 21 top-10 finishes, 14 of them top-fives, and seven pole positions. He also endured four DNFs.
Season highlights: Martin's season highlights started early when he won the eighth race of the year, at Phoenix International Raceway. He won again at Darlington, Michigan International Speedway and then in July at Chicagoland before hitting his true hot streak. After Chicago, he earned nine finishes of seventh or better in the next 11 races, including the win at New Hampshire in the opening race of NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup. He was never lower than second in the standings during the Chase and led four of the 10 weeks of the championship-determining segment of the season.
Key setbacks: Talladega proved to be rough on Martin this season. The driver finished 43rd after a crash in the first race at the track, completing just six laps. In the second race there, which came during the Chase, Martin appeared to be in good shape until getting caught up in a crash just before race's end and flipping on the track. He finished 28th, one lap down, and gave up significant points to series leader Johnson in the event.
Newsworthy moments: Martin's return to full-time racing gained headlines in its own right, but he later announced plans to remain with the team through the 2011 season as part of a sponsorship agreement with GoDaddy.com. Martin's run to second place in the standings could also fall into this category as he headed into Homestead-Miami Speedway as the only driver still mathematically in the running against Johnson for the title.
In his words: "There's no frustration, man. … I know y'all would love it, but there's no frustration," he said of coming close to the title and finishing second. "There's none. I'm very proud of what we accomplished. I'm very proud of what we accomplished, and on top of all that, I had more fun than anybody. So how could you - what else can you say, man? I had a blast. It has been an honor and a privilege, and I didn't leave nothing. I never left anything anywhere. We got beat, and we got beat under any scenario that might have happened. I didn't leave anything out there. My race team dug as hard as they could dig, and we accomplished more than anybody else in the garage this year except for the 48 [of Johnson]. That ought to be enough to make you proud."
