Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 Qualifying served by picapp.com

Mark Martin is regarded by nearly every driver, fan, and anyone associated with NASCAR as being one of the greatest drivers in the history of our sport, despite not having a Cup Series championship on his resume. He’s won 35 Cup Series points races, has the Nationwide Series record for wins with 48, and has finished 2nd in the Cup Series points standings on four occasions … so, yes, like him or not, I would be inclined to agree that he does indeed rank amongst NASCAR’s all-time elite.

Mark Martin’s status in this sport’s history, however, is not what is in question. Rather, I question his status in racing as it stands today. Following the 2006 season in which Martin finished the year 9th in points, he made a concious decision to part ways with long time car owner and friend, Jack Roush, and simultaneously retire from racing … or, so it seemed. After a long farewell tour that seemed to hit every track on the NASCAR season, in the offseason between ‘06 and ‘07, Mark announced that he would return to the track on a part-time schedule to help the no. 01 team in the DEI camp. This “part-time” schedule, however, included a 24 race tour out of the Cup Series’ 36 races – that’s 2/3rd’s of the complete schedule, and it has since carried over into 2008, despite the fact that he’s abondoned the 01 car and now races Dale Earnhardt Jr’s former car, the no. 8.

At first glance, the typical fan would probably say, “so what, what’s the big deal?”, and rightfully so. But, about the side-effects that Martin’s lingering presence is having on the sport? After NASCAR hit an all-time boom in production of young talents in the late 90’s and earlier in this decade, the manufacturing of standout prospects has been relegated to a minimum these past couple of years, and for a guy that’s presented himself as an ambassador for doing what’s good for the sport, Martin hasn’t been much of a help in that department.

The rise of young David Ragan into the Cup Series ranks was delayed for a year or two with Martin’s uncertainty as to whether or not he would return year after year, but he finally earned that opportunity last year after Martin had finally departed from the no. 6 car, and now it appears to be happening all over again with Aric Almirola.

Almirola fell into a spot with DEI after the purchase of Ginn Racing at the end of the season, and was immediately slotted to share driving duties in the no. 8 Army Chevrolet with Mark. Prior to this season, the 23 year-old Almirola’s professional driving experience had been minimal. He competed in a few truck races in 2005 and 2007, and full-time in 2006, though with very little success. He also raced in 21 Nationwide Series events from ‘06 to ‘07, and was credited with a win in Milwuakee for Joe Gibbs Racing, though Denny Hamlin actually finished that race. The bulk of his racing this scheduled is slated to come in the Sprint Cup Series, racing in only 12 races, while Martin handles the other 24.

Almirola impressed the masses by finishing 8th at Bristol in the Food City 500 in his first Cup Series start of the season, and seventh overall (he raced in 6 events in 2007). Since then, he’s finished 42nd at Martinsville due to engine failures after starting 3rd and running near the top-ten all day, and most recently settled for a 33rd place finish at Talladega.

Meanwhile, Martin has finished in the top-ten in four of his seven races this year, and is currently riding on a streak of three consecutive finishes of 8th or better, including a 3rd place run last weekend at Richmond. This now totals 15 top-ten’s for Martin in only 31 races for Martin since joining DEI, and he has been in contention for a win on several occasions.

So, it’s not that I question whether or not Mark’s still got it. It’s not that I question whether or not turning 50 next January will slow Martin down at all. Heck, I’m not even questioning whether or not Aric Almirola is more suited for a full-time Cup ride these days than Mark Martin. What I do question, though, is should we view this as Mark Martin getting to race 2/3rd’s of the schedule, or as Aric Almirola being forced to miss 2/3rd’s of the schedule?

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Is it still beneficial at this stage for DEI to have Mark Martin run a 24-race schedule, and, thus, eliminate one of their cars from competing for a spot in the Chase?
2. If Mark Martin were to run a full schedule, could he still compete for his first Sprint Cup championship?
3. What rate of success should we expect from Aric Almirola once he does have the opportunity to compete full-time in the Cup Series?
4. Should Mark Martin go into full-time retirement?

For a glimpse of Mark Martin’s entire 2008 Sprint Cup schedule, please visit Bruce Simmons’ post, Mark Martin’s Race Schedule for 2008 – the Full Details, over at Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mark Martin Continues to Race Against Time

From Jayski’s site: Both drivers joined the organization when it was MB2 Motorsports. Marlin began in 2006 with a base salary of $1.1 million, and that increased to $1.2 million for 2007. Nemechek started with MB2 in 2004 and received $900,000 for 2004, $1 million for 2005, $1.1 million for 2006 and $1.2 million for 2007. Both drivers got to keep 45% of their race winnings (Nemechek, who was 27th in points in 2006, had $4,099,914 million total in race winnings last year, while Marlin, 34th in points, had $3,248,034 million) and 33% of souvenir sales.

What really shouts out at me is that if middle-of-the-road drivers like Nemecheck and Marlin and making $1 million per year, imagine what Gordon, Johnson, and Stewart are making.    Now it becomes very clear as to why NASCAR is attracting open-wheel drivers.

Post from: EveryJoe

Marlin, Nemecheck Sue Ginn Racing

So where is Busch headed? Yates, Evernham, Childress, Ganassi, Ginn, Waltrip, and DEI are all interested in talking with him, and they’ve all said that they’re interested because he has excellent driving skills. Unfortunately, save for Ganassi, none of the other owners listed have the moxie to keep the reins on Busch, and his behavior would continue to spiral out of control.

Jack Rousch, who had Busch under contract when he was 16, said he’s “not interested in revisiting the relationship”. Gee, ya think Rousch knows something about the Busch brothers that the others don’t?

Post from: EveryJoe

Where Is Kyle Busch Headed?

He’s obviously a man of wealth and connections, as he was able to convince Annika Sorenstam (former number one player in the world) to “host” his tournament this year. He was asked during the interview about his decision to go after Earnhardt Jr. and he made it very clear that, given the same opportunity to showcase his organization as other teams have, Earnhardt might be convinced to join Ginn Racing.

I’m not convinced he’s a player in the Dale Jr. sweepstakes, only because he hasn’t fielded a team long enough to have a winning tradition.

Post from: EveryJoe

Can Ginn Racing Grab Earnhardt Jr. ?