Top 30: Mark Martin, ninth
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 30 in NASCAR Nextel Cup driver points. Today's driver is Mark Martin, who finished ninth in the final standings.
Mark Martin may not have known it when the season started, but 2006 ended his tenure as a full-time driver in any series for Roush Racing. After 19 years together, the driver and team owner Jack Roush found themselves at an impasse when Martin decided to run a part-time Cup schedule for 2007 and Roush had no car available with that type of opening.
Still, the final months went off with less of an outpouring of emotion than one might expect. As Martin signed to drive a 22-race schedule for Ginn Racing in 2007, his Roush team continued a surge in the Chase. He hovered just 10 points off the leader's pace in the format at one point, but a pair of crashes in the final weeks relegated him to a ninth-place finish in what might have been his final full season of Cup competition.
Crew chief Pat Tryson and Martin continued to work the magic of 2005, but went without a win for the year. Martin had 15 top-10 and seven top-five finishes, though.
As he worked through the final weeks, Martin reiterated his intention to find a way to have fun in the series and with racing. The 47-year-old could also run some Busch and truck series races next season as he tries to find out what a reduced schedule really means to his life.
He'll voyage into that segment of his career after three straight appearances in the Chase. Instead of hunting titles, he'll be focused on helping rookie Regan Smith adjust to the rigors of the Cup schedule and on spending more time with his family for at least one season. Martin hasn't ruled out a future return to full-time racing, so 2007 could be a sort of test to see how he likes the reduced schedule and a sign of whether or not he's done with full-time racing forever.
