WRAL Sports Fan

NASCAR

Mark Martin has no complaints after finishing second

By SceneDaily.com

Nov 23, 2009

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – While everyone watched Jimmie Johnson to see if he would falter and possibly give Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin a chance to win the 2009 Sprint Cup Series championship in the season-ending Ford 400 Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martin was struggling enough that even if Johnson faltered (he didn’t), Martin would have had a hard time capitalizing on it.

Martin entered the race 108 points behind Johnson, but once Johnson led the first lap, Martin was going to have to finish ninth or better even if Johnson dropped out early. As drivers retired with mechanical issues or from accidents, it was evident that Martin didn’t have the top-five car that he would need to catch Johnson if given the opening.

Martin never got the opening anyway as Johnson finished fifth to capture his fourth consecutive championship. Martin wound up 12th and finished 141 points behind Johnson. It marked the fifth time in his career he was runner-up in the Cup series.

“I don’t have one of those [championship] trophies, so I don’t know what one of those things would mean to me, but I can’t imagine it meaning any more than the feeling that I felt from so many people, competitors and fans [about this season],” said the 50-year-old Martin, who ran a part-time schedule the last two seasons before joining Hendrick Motorsports for 2009. “There’s no frustration. … There’s none. I’m very proud of what we accomplished, and on top of all that, I had more fun than anybody. So what else can you say? I had a blast. It’s been an honor and a privilege and I never left anything anywhere.

“We got beat.”

Martin never ran higher than 10th in the second half of the race.

“It was a great fight and it was a sure tough night and actually the car was pretty good that last run,” Martin said. “We changed stuff on it, went to the back, and wrestled and actually the last run was decent. If we could have been there the whole race, we could have got a top-10 out of it. We are lacking something here … as a group I think just a little bit and we will work on it for next year. But it was really a privilege to even have a crack at it.”

Martin started the season with two engine failures in the first three events and fell to 34th in points. He rallied with four victories to make the Chase For The Sprint Cup. He entered the Chase leading the points, won the opening race at New Hampshire and led the points until the fourth Chase race at Auto Club Speedway in California. After that, he never could catch teammate Johnson.

“It was awesome,” Martin said of his season. “I am proud of these guys and I am proud of everything that took place this year for Hendrick Motorsports and thankful that they gave me a chance. … My equipment is just as good, but I am not as good as Jimmie Johnson.”

Johnson was too good to falter with the pressure on Sunday.

“We would have had to have something special happen, but I really don’t think [it was impossible] as slick as the track was and … you could have easily gotten in the fence,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “Obviously we’re dealing with a great team and a great driver with Jimmie and the 48 team, but it can still happen. Everybody makes mistakes. But we had to be able to put the pressure on them, and we didn’t do that.”

Martin already is looking forward to 2010 after Hendrick took the top three positions in the 2009 standings with Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon.

“We made history in multiple ways tonight at Hendrick Motorsports,” Martin said. “To me, it’s just incredible to have had a chance at it. We were the only team in the garage that had earned a chance in the last race at it, and that’s quite an accomplishment.”