Subway Fresh Fit 500 preview
By Micah Roberts
After a week off, the NASCAR Cup series heads West again for the fourth time in eight races thus far into the 2009 campaign. The series went to California, Las Vegas, Texas, and now this week, Phoenix. This definitely is the new era of NASCAR, however, unlike the three newer facilities out West, Phoenix holds it’s own as far as racing history goes with any track currently on schedule.
The track was built next to the beautiful Estrella Mountains outside of Phoenix in 1964 and used primarily for open-wheel racing. In 1988 NASCAR made its debut on the odd shaped flat one mile track, won by Alan Kulwicki who made his famous Polish victory lap in his debut. Since then, it’s been all NASCAR and the Indy cars don’t even run there anymore while NASCAR has two annual dates.
This week’s race should be a full house of over 100,000 with excess fans watching on monument hill right next to the track. The race starts at 5:40 PM (PST) this Saturday, so expect not only to see a gorgeous desert sunset, but as always when the lights come on in prime time, drivers get a little late night road rage.
The last two seasons of Phoenix races have been all Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon won this race in 2007 and then Jimmie took over. Jimmie Johnson has won the last three consecutive Phoenix races, a feat unmatched by anyone else in track history. In fact, the Phoenix 3-peat makes him the track’s all-time leader in wins.
The Jeff Gordon win in 2007 was one of the tracks on Gordon’s “tracks to win at list”. After that race, the only one’s that remained were Texas and Homestead. Now after winning at Texas two weeks ago, he’s only got one left. Should he win in the season finale, he would join Richard Petty, David Pearson, and Cale Yarbrough as the only drivers to win at every track on a given schedule.
Gordon’s large 162-point lead in the standings may be decreased some because of Johnson is 2nd in points and his recent dominance there, but Gordon is no slouch either just because it took him so long to win at Phoenix. In 20 career starts, Gordon has fifteen top 10 finishes. Last season Gordon had perhaps his worst consecutive Phoenix runs ever with a 13th and 41st. We all know Gordon’s team has drastically changed from last year. He wasn’t even in the top 12 in points at this juncture in 2008. He is the top candidate this week to topple Jimmie, the Phoenix Sun King.
Four of the top 5 current leaders in points are past winners at Phoenix which should shape this week’s race as kind of a battle of heavyweights. We have Johnson and Gordon of course, but then sitting in 3rd is Kurt Busch and surprisingly in 5th is Tony Stewart. The driver sitting in 4th is Clint Bowyer who finished 2nd in the race last year.
Kurt Busch presents a nice opportunity because of how well they did last season with their new engine program. As a work in progress with the new program, Busch finished 2nd in the fall race. That quality finish along with all their successes so far in 2009 should translate into a great run.
Tony Stewart has perhaps run more laps at Phoenix than any other driver which includes USAC’s three major series, the IRL where he finished 2nd one year, and NASCAR. His team has it together right now and they are in store for another great finish. In a way, I kind of miss the old Stewart as just driver, and not the new Stewart as driver and owner. He really has mellowed.
If we want to go a few steps further, we can look at the drivers sitting in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Denny Hamlin, sitting 6th, finished 3rd and 4th last year and may be the best candidate to beat both Johnson and Gordon this week. In the No. 7 hole is Kyle Busch, who had two top 10 finishes last year and won Phoenix in the fall of 2005 while driving for Hendrick. Remember, that was the year his brother Kurt won in the spring there and then announced he was moving to Penske Racing. Kurt got in some trouble with the law the weekend of the Phoenix race and Jack Roush suspended him, more a tribute to Kurt leaving than his actual law trouble.
Anyways, back to the countdown. The driver sitting in 8th is Carl Edwards who finished 4th in both races there last season. Matt Kenseth, nestled in 9th, won in 2002 and has four other top 5 finishes.
Going a little further down the standings to 12th and 14th, we have the Childress teammates of Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick. Each have two wins at Phoenix, with Harvick’s coming the most recent in 2006 when he swept the season. All 3 of the Childress drivers, including Bowyer, present the best long shot chances of winning. Bowyer and Harvick are in the 20/1 range while Burton can be had in the neighborhood of 30/1.
The biggest mover in points the last few weeks has been Dale Earnhardt Jr. much to the delight of the Junior NASCAR nation. Junior is a two-time winner at Phoenix, but more importantly, he’s from Hendrick Motorsports where owner Rick Hendrick has obviously stepped in and given them more to work with. He’s still looking for his first top 5 finish of the season and this could be it. He is a long shot at 22/1, but could be a good play in matchups getting plus money.
It should definitely be a battle of the best this weekend with not many surprises finishing in the top 10. The two exceptions could be Jamie McMurray from Fenway-Roush who finished 3rd in the fall and Mark Martin who continues his upward movement in the standings. Both should be good plays in matchups.
Enjoy the race and the sunset, but beware of the coyotes, gila monsters, and rattle snakes which are just beginning to come out from under their rocks after a long winter.
Top 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #11 Denny Hamlin (9/1)
2) #24 Jeff Gordon (6/1)
3) #2 Kurt Busch (15/1)
4) #48 Jimmie Johnson (4/1)
5) #33 Clint Bowyer (20/1)
Odds To Win Subway Fresh Fit 500
Jimmie Johnson +350
Jeff Gordon +575
Kyle Busch +600
Denny Hamlin +800
Carl Edwards +800
Kurt Busch +1200
Mark Martin +1300
Matt Kenseth +1400
Greg Biffle +1500
Tony Stewart +1500
Clint Bowyer +1800
Kevin Harvick +1800
Dale Earnhardt Jr +2000
Jeff Burton +2500
Kasey Kahne +3000
Jamie McMurray +3000
Brian Vickers +3000
David Ragan +3500
David Reutimann +4500
Ryan Newman +4500
Martin Truex Jr +5000
Field (All Others) +2500
Subway Fresh Fit 500 PreQ
In the last three races Jimmie Johnson has been one of the best drivers in the series. Not that he isn’t already considered to be one of the best in the business, it was just that he started the season off a bit slowly. Johnson has just two top 10 finishes in the first four races each being a 9th place finish. In the last three races he has averaged a 2nd place while recording his first win of the season (Martinsville). Johnson now ranks as the No. 1 driver on the PreQ forecast and for good reason besides his recent hot streak. He ranks as the No. 1 driver in NASCAR’s Driver Rating category while also winning the last three races at Phoenix International Raceway. Johnson is on the move up the point standings and it is time to ride his good fortunes.
It has been quite a while since Jeff Burton was ranked among the top 5 on the PreQ forecast. Burton has not had the greatest of runs at Phoenix in the last few seasons but he has not done that poorly either. He is averaging a 9th place finish over the last four races at the track but has picked up his season finishes as well. After a rough start to the season at Daytona and Atlanta in which he finished outside the top 20 in each Burton has posted five straight finishes in the top 15 with three top 10s. Burton could use a solid top 5 run and he could easily do so in the Subway Fresh Fit 500.
One driver that many had pegged as a solid Chase for the Championship contender was Mark Martin. Martin joined the crew at Hendrick Motorsports assuming the wheel of the #5 CarQuest Chevrolet in the offseason looking forward to a big season. He started off extremely slow failing to record a top 15 with two 40th place finishes in the first four races. He has turned it around dramatically in the last three races posting three top 10s while being in position for the win in each event. Martin loves racing at Phoenix with an average finish of 8th place over the last 19 races at the track. He could post his first win sine the 2005 season this weekend in Phoenix.
Like the couple of drivers in this column before him Ryan Newman struggled at the beginning of the season in his new ride in the #39 U.S. Army Chevrolet for Stewart-Hass Racing. He has looked better in the last three races posting three straight finishes in the top 15 with a pair of top 10s. That may all come to a crashing end this weekend at Phoenix where he has struggled in his career. Newman has just three top 10 starts in 13 career starts at the track with an average finish of 23rd place. Last season he failed to finish in the top 30 in two starts. He may be a driver you want to avoid for this race.
The #98 Quaker State/Menards Ford driven by Paul Menard is battling to remain in the top 25 in the point standings. He moved up quite a bit with his best finish of the season when he finished in 13th place at Texas. Menard, however, has not had the best of luck at Phoenix in his career. In four career starts he has never finished in the top 20 with an average finish of 24th place. Menard has struggled on the speedways in his career and would be one driver to avoid this weekend.
profantasysports.com
Subway Fresh Fit 500 Driver Rating
Last November, Jimmie Johnson made track history by becoming the first driver to win three consecutive races at Phoenix International Raceway. On Saturday, the three-time and defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will attempt to extend that history with a fourth consecutive Phoenix victory — this time in the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500.
“There’s not really anything I can put my finger on,” Johnson said. “I know that’s a popular question, wanting to know why a driver does well at a certain track. I think something just clicks with certain drivers at certain places. We’ve just been able to get the car comfortable for me and I’ve just been able to get around the track. During a race there’s a lot that can go on at a short track like Phoenix and having a good pit stall and good pit stops is important too.” He has three wins, six top fives, nine top 10s and one pole in 11 series starts at Phoenix. No shock, then, that Johnson leads five pre-race NASCAR Loop Data categories for Phoenix — Driver Rating (122.0), Average Running Position (4.992), Fastest Laps Run (266), Average Green Flag Speed (123.719 mph) and Laps in the Top 15 (2,383 or 95.4%). He also boasts an average finish of 5.5. If Johnson requires more motivation, he need only look inward. The last driver to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup races was … Jimmie Johnson. He did from 2004-’05 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Chasing history and another Phoenix victory is a must for Johnson, who trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the series standings. The top-ranked Gordon leads the second-place Johnson by 162 points and is the series’ most recent winner, two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson finished second in that event, and knows he must keep pace to slice Gordon’s lead. “I don’t really go into a race thinking about stats,” Johnson said. “It is pretty cool that we’ve had some good runs lately at Phoenix. The last win gave us some good momentum going into (the 2008 season-finale) at Homestead. Don’t get me wrong, a win is always a big deal and never easy and winning four in a row somewhere like Phoenix would certainly be special, but it’s not something that I’m really thinking about a lot.”
Last November, Jimmie Johnson made track history by becoming the first driver to win three consecutive races at Phoenix International Raceway. On Saturday, the three-time and defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will attempt to extend that history with a fourth consecutive Phoenix victory — this time in the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500. “There’s not really anything I can put my finger on,” Johnson said. “I know that’s a popular question, wanting to know why a driver does well at a certain track. I think something just clicks with certain drivers at certain places. We’ve just been able to get the car comfortable for me and I’ve just been able to get around the track. During a race there’s a lot that can go on at a short track like Phoenix and having a good pit stall and good pit stops is important too.” He has three wins, six top fives, nine top 10s and one pole in 11 series starts at Phoenix. No shock, then, that Johnson leads five pre-race NASCAR Loop Data categories for Phoenix — Driver Rating (122.0), Average Running Position (4.992), Fastest Laps Run (266), Average Green Flag Speed (123.719 mph) and Laps in the Top 15 (2,383 or 95.4%). He also boasts an average finish of 5.5. If Johnson requires more motivation, he need only look inward. The last driver to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup races was … Jimmie Johnson. He did from 2004-’05 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Chasing history and another Phoenix victory is a must for Johnson, who trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the series standings. The top-ranked Gordon leads the second-place Johnson by 162 points and is the series’ most recent winner, two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson finished second in that event, and knows he must keep pace to slice Gordon’s lead. “I don’t really go into a race thinking about stats,” Johnson said. “It is pretty cool that we’ve had some good runs lately at Phoenix. The last win gave us some good momentum going into (the 2008 season-finale) at Homestead. Don’t get me wrong, a win is always a big deal and never easy and winning four in a row somewhere like Phoenix would certainly be special, but it’s not something that I’m really thinking about a lot.
profantasysports.com
Subway Fresh Fit 500 HOT! Sheet
A couple of new teammates claim the top two spots this week on our chart. Leading the way is Mark Martin. He didn’t start off the season too hot with back-to-back finishes of 40th. But then came back-to-back pole positions in Atlanta and Bristol. At Martinsville he was a big mover going from 31st to 7th. He nearly equaled that at Texas, starting 23rd and ending up 6th. He’s a former winner here, so we consider him a safe bet.
Speaking of safe, it seems you can never go wrong with having Jimmie Johnson on your roster. As you can see on our list, in the last three events he has an average finish of 2nd place. At Bristol he started and finished 3rd. The #48 team made their first trip to victory lane at Martinsville after a bump and run incident. They came close to doing the same at Texas but settled for runner-up. They’ve won the last three races in the desert, so you better have him on your team.
Although he hasn’t exactly lived up to his nickname of ‘The Rocket’, Ryan Newman is still having a decent season so far. He’s been running pretty consistent, and has the new #39 team comfortably inside the top 35 at 17th. He was best on the short tracks where he was scored in 7th and 6th at the checkered flag. He’s coming off a top 15 showing in Texas. He really likes Phoenix, so look for his success to continue.
It may surprise some people to find the name Kevin Harvick down so low. But lately, he’s disappointed a lot of fantasy rosters. In fact, as you see on our chart, since his runner-up finish at Daytona, he has an average finish of about 20th in the last six events. Included in there is a 38th place finish at California, and 30th at Bristol. He’s coming off of a 27th place showing in Texas. Until things start to turn back around, you may want to shy away from the #29.
At the very bottom of our sheet this week is Regan Smith. He’s only been in three of the seven races so far, and it hasn’t gone well for him. At Daytona, he was able to make his way through the field to finish 21st. In Vegas it was pretty much the same thing as he went home 19th. Then at Texas, he fell back four laps and ended the race in 31st position. He should not be considered this weekend.
profantasysports.com
Im in a NASCAR pool every week with 200 people. You have to pick in exact order 1st & 2nd. I have two sets of picks per week. I know one of my picks is gonna be the 48. I was thinking of a 11/33 pick.
Blade do you have any thoughts for a solid pick this weekend for Phoenix?
I really like the #11 car this week,Hamlin has always done well on this type of track and has looked solid this year even on tracks he normally doesn't do well on.
Im in a NASCAR pool every week with 200 people. You have to pick in exact order 1st & 2nd. I have two sets of picks per week. I know one of my picks is gonna be the 48. I was thinking of a 11/33 pick.
Blade do you have any thoughts for a solid pick this weekend for Phoenix?
I have my plays for this week up
Subway Fresh Fit 500 Predictions
by Christopher G. Shepard
After a week off for Easter, Sprint Cup action resumes under the lights at 8 p.m. this Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are No. 1 and No.2 respectively in the standings, but Johnson will try for his fourth consecutive win at PIR.
The Subway Fresh Fit 500 is one of three races on the circuit in which the 500 refers to kilometers rather than miles. This equates to 312 laps around the 1-mile tri-oval. PIR is a technical track that features very sharp Turns 1 and 2 banked at 11 degrees and Turns 3 and 4 banked at nine degrees. This puts a premium on the driver’s ability rather than having the perfect car and set-up. Each corner is different and the driver that figure out how the track will change as the temperatures cool will be the driver in the best position to win.
There is something about PIR that breeds season sweeps. In 2000-01 Jeff Burton won both races, in 2003-04 it was Dale Earnhardt, Jr, in 2005 it was Kurt Busch, in 2006 it was Kevin Harvick and in 2008 it was Johnson. Last year the No. 48 Chevrolet was unbeatable at Phoenix as he used the spring race to launch his assault on Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards apparent stranglehold on the Sprint Cup lead and then used the win in the fall race to obliterate any hopes of Carl Edwards winning his first Sprint Cup title.
Johnson has been amazing at PIR and will likely contend for his fourth consecutive win at PIR. Including both races last year he has six top-fives and nine top-ten finishes and will likely earn a lot more before his career is done. After his second place at Texas last week Johnson moved into second place on the Sprint Cup leader board behind teammate Jeff Gordon. Johnson is the odds-on favorite to win and will most likely garner the most win market action due to his obvious strengths at this venue.
In my 2009 Sprint Cup preview I said Jeff Gordon was back and that he’d be a likely contender to prevent JJ from winning his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title. So far it looks like I was correct. One big difference for Jeff Gordon this year from last year is that he has banished his wife and toddler from the RV. As anyone with a newborn can attest to, you don’t get much sleep the during the first year and both his wife and kid were in the trailer with him all last year making for one very tired No. 24 driver. This year he sent them packing to the nearest luxury hotel and look at the improvement! In fact, Jeff Gordon might want to consider having his family stay at home for his races as they did for the Texas race, which he won.
Jeff Gordon’s only victory at PIR came in 2007, but he has eight top-five and 15 top-ten finishes in 20 starts. Last year he finished the spring race 13th and the fall race 41st. But I am throwing last year’s results out of the window. This was Jeff’s first taste of victory in 47 races. Keep in mind that Gordon has won consecutive victories 22 times in his career. Make that 23.
Pick: Jeff Gordon, No. 24, (6/1)
2009 Subway Fresh Fit 500– Lucky Dog Long Odds Special
When Smoke signed the deal to co-own his own NASCAR team nobody expected Stewart to do as well as he has this quickly. Thanks to another top-five finish at Texas (he finished fourth) Stewart is fifth in the points standings, 191 points behind Jeff Gordon, and has Stewart-Haas Racing in the hunt in his first year as an owner. Granted, Stewart-Haas gets their cars and motors from Hendrick Motorsports, but last year Haas CNC racing also got their cars and motors from HMS and were unable to come close to winning a race. In fact the very first time Stewart raced at PIR in 1999 he won. In fourteen starts at PIR Stewart has one win, six top-fives and eight top-ten finishes. Stewart finished 14th last spring and 22nd in the fall race. But that was last year. If the first seven races of the year are any indication it looks like Stewart has outrun his streak of bad luck that dogged him all last year. If Johnson or Gordon don’t win on Saturday night I would not be surprised to see Smoke break his 13 race winless streak.
Pick: Tony Stewart, No. 14, (15/1)
2009 Subway Fresh Fit 500 – Odds for Top 3 Finish
Another driver who seems to have turned the corner from a dismal 2008 is Penske Championship Racing’s Kurt Busch, who will also be celebrating his 300th Sprint Cup race of his career. The driver of the “Blue Deuce” has seen his fortunes dramatically turn for the better this season with a newly energized team. He has already picked up one win at the Kobalt Tools 500 in March and has notched 2 top-fives and four top-tens in seven races. Last fall Busch contended against Johnson for the win but ultimately had to settle for second as No. 48 proved unstoppable. Kurt Busch swept both races in 2005. He has three top-fives and six top-ten finishes in twelve races at PIR. Last week at Texas Kurt Busch managed to finish eighth good enough to put him in third place in the Sprint Cup standings. Kurt Busch might not win on Saturday night, but expect him to do well on the 1-mile track under the lights.
Pick: Kurt Busch, No. 2, (7/2)
Docsports.com
Martin claims pole for Phoenix
(Sports Network) - Mark Martin picked up his third pole in the last five Sprint Cup Series races Friday when he grabbed the top starting position for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Martin, in his No.5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, turned in a lap around the one-mile oval at 133.814 m.p.h. for his 44th career pole. He won back-to-back poles at Atlanta and Bristol in March.
"I'm excited about the race, and I didn't expect to get the pole," Martin said. "That wasn't a spectacular lap. We didn't leave a lot laying out there. I really got a lot at Atlanta and Bristol that surprised us."
Prior to Atlanta, Martin had not won a pole in the series since May 2001 at Richmond.
Martin will start on the pole at Phoenix for the first time in 25 starts here. His only victory at Phoenix came in 1993.
Kyle Busch will start on the outside pole after posting the second best lap at 133.725 m.p.h.
"We put together a solid lap," Busch said. "These are our struggle points right here - Phoenix, Loudon (NH) and Martinsville - and we felt like we gained a little bit today, and hopefully that will show for something that we can gain for tomorrow."
Busch has performed well at Phoenix with six top-10 finishes, including four in a row dating back to the spring 2007 race. His second career victory in the series came in his first start at Phoenix in November 2005.
Kurt Busch qualified third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers.
Gordon, who won two weeks ago at Texas to end a 47-race winless streak, enters Phoenix with a 162-point lead.
Tony Stewart, Paul Menard, David Reutimann, Regan Smith and Jimmie Johnson completed the top-10.
Johnson will attempt to win his fourth consecutive race at Phoenix.
Thirteen times in series history has a driver won four or more consecutive races at a track, with Johnson that last to do it, taking four in a row at Lowe's Motor Speedway from 2004-05.
Todd Bodine, Jeremy Mayfield, Dexter Bean, Brandon Ash and Trevor Boys failed to qualify.
Saturday's race is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. (et).
Martin savors long-awaited return to Victory Lane
April 19, 2009
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -One by one the visitors filed into Victory Lane, eager to pay their respects to Mark Martin.
Jimmie Johnson pushed past a throng of fans to get there, while NASCAR president Mike Helton weaved through the grandstands and across the track. Tony Stewart set aside his disappointment from finishing second to make his visit, and Jack Roush stopped by with heartfelt happiness.
Race fans annually vote Dale Earnhardt Jr. as NASCAR's most popular driver, but after Martin's win Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway, it was obvious the honor truly belongs to the beloved veteran.
``There's nobody that dislikes Mark,'' said second-place finisher Stewart. ``Mark has taught us all a lot about what it takes to be not only a good driver in this series, but a good competitor and somebody that everybody respects.''
In 27 years of NASCAR racing, Martin has touched too many competitors to count.
He never viewed a raw young driver as potential competition, and instead offered his counsel about on-track etiquette, finishing races, handling a race car and balancing the job demands. Time and time again, drivers admit that when in a precarious position, they often attack it with a ``what would Mark Martin do?''
``He taught you a lot while you were running those races,'' Stewart said. ``And when you had a good day against Mark, and when you did things right and you watched him and learned from him, that just accelerated the learning curve.''
Martin's reach stretches well beyond the race track. A fitness fanatic who obsessively monitors his diet, he's managed to coax almost everyone around him to take better care of their bodies.
When he joined Hendrick Motorsports this season, he talked team owner Rick Hendrick into a fitness routine that helped him shed 20 pounds. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. has traded in Tostitos for tuna salad on crackers, and has added a workout routine to his weekly schedule.
``My dad bought me a book called ``Strength Training'' by Mark Martin when I was a kid, and I was like `Man, this guy is built like a brick,''' said third-place finisher Kurt Busch, a former teammate of Martin's when they both drove for Roush.
``The guy has been at the top of his game for 30 years in this sport, it's unbelievable to watch. If I'm halfway as competitive as he is when I'm in my 50s, that would be an accomplishment.''
At 50 years, three months and nine days, Martin became the third-oldest winner in NASCAR history with Saturday night's victory. He broke a 97-race winless streak dating back to Kansas in 2005, and solidified what everyone inside NASCAR already knew: The guy is still at the top of his game.
It's what has made walking away from the sport so hard for Martin, who has tried, and failed, to ease his way into retirement.
He wanted 2005 to be his last season, but replacing him turned into a complicated mess and Roush coaxed him into another year. He still longed for a break the next year, but didn't want to completely walk away.
Roush didn't have a partial ride to offer, but he found a limited schedule that would work for him with new team owner Bobby Ginn.
How good was the new arrangement? Martin nearly won the season-opening Daytona 500, then stepped out of the car a month later as planned for a two-race break.
While leading the points.
His sabbatical was mind-boggling to the many people who wondered why the man considered the greatest driver to never win a Cup championship would walk away from an apparent shot at that elusive title.
Martin said Saturday night he's never regretted that decision.
``I have a reputation going of being a flip-flop, and I have flip-flopped on some things. But I didn't flip flop on that, and I'm glad that I did what I did,'' he said. ``It was my commitment to myself and to my family, and it's what I needed to do. And I wouldn't have been a happy person had I gone forward. I needed that.
``That's changed me, and I believe that everyone that knows me has seen a difference in me. I needed to do what I did.''
He skipped 24 races the past two seasons, and those weekends off re-energized Martin and renewed his commitment to racing. Then Hendrick came along, dangling in front of him a full season in the No. 5 car. Everyone knows the opportunity included another shot at a title - he's finished second in the championship race four times - but Martin insists he never looked at the job offer with dreams of hoisting the Sprint Cup title.
To him, Hendrick offered nothing more than a chance to make his way back to Victory Lane.
``I'll give it hell, but that's not why I took this ride,'' he said. ``I took this ride to drive a fast race car, and maybe get a chance to win a race.''
After a rough start to the season - two mechanical failures and a blown tire dropped him to 34th in the points - Martin has moved within striking distance of the Chase for the championship. He gained five positions Saturday night and is now 13th in the standings, just nine points out of the final Chase qualifying spot.
Martin didn't want to hear about it.
``I'm not going to wreck a good time by worrying about a championship or points,'' he said. ``I'm having a ball. Just let me have fun. Let me enjoy this. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, you know, and that's where I am on that.''