Mark Martin's Excellent Adventure

It's fair to say Mark Martin wasn't always a glass-half-full kinda guy.

Even a decade ago while piling up wins in the midst of four championship runner-up seasons as the lead driver for a more streamlined Jack Roush organization, Martin wasn't exactly effusive or happy-go-lucky. Even in victory circle he tended to analyze what went wrong instead of what went right.

Mr. Sunshine he was not.

And for those of us who chronicled the all-business, old soul it's especially refreshing to see the reinvigorated new deal. At 50, Mark Martin has never looked happier. He's smiling. He's upbeat.

And he's schooling -- or rather old-schooling -- his much younger competition. His third win Sunday at Michigan ties him with 24-year-old Kyle Busch for the most this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The amazing transformation from hardcore perfectionist to a more easy-going believer began last year when Martin sat alongside owner Rick Hendrick as he was introduced as the championship team's newest driver at an age which nearly could make him any of his three teammates' father.

A chance to drive the best equipment in the Cup Series with an owner who believed Martin was still a winner proved irresistible. Martin came out of retirement, immediately into relevance and just as quickly returned to the championship caliber form he consistently displayed during a 19-year full-time career from 1988-2006.

The Hendrick experiment was a cool storyline for the 2009 season and reporters quickly compared Martin to Super Bowl winning quarterback Brett Favre, who also emerged from retirement.

The difference between Martin and Favre is that Martin has a chance for a happy ending.

It hasn't been enough that Martin is competing again. He's winning again.

In fact, Sunday's victory in the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet vaulted him up five positions in the championship standings to eighth place. He's had four top-10 finishes -- including two wins -- in the past six races, a remarkable turnaround from his 34th place ranking the first month of the season.



Not only are his three victories a series best, the three pole positions he's earned ties Brian Vickers for tops in that statistical category, too. And he's positioned well among the top-12 drivers who will qualify for the Chase for the championship -- the playoff group set following the Sept. 12 race at Richmond, Va.

"At a stage when I might have written myself off or the competition might have written me off, to be able to do that (earn a playoff position) would be pretty cool," allowed Martin, who has already accepted Hendrick's offer to campaign the 2010 season, too.

"I'll answer the questions and everything else, but I'm not going to lay in bed at night and think about what it will be like to lift that trophy.

"It just doesn't exist, you know, in my brain. I'll just go out there and race every time."

It's a philosophy that's served him well.

Martin has always been an exceptional racing talent -- perhaps best exemplified by his unprecedented five IROC championships earned against the best drivers from all racing disciplines. And his fitness and diet regimen is legend in the NASCAR garage. He was reaping the benefits of being physically fit back when Jane Fonda was making aerobic videos and it has given him yet another edge on his younger competition.

His tremendous physique and stamina certainly helped Sunday when his car's cooling system stopped in the middle race and he had to drive in a searing hot cockpit.

The talent and dedication and physical skills have always been there for Martin. The difference this go-around is attitude. He's always been super driven to win. Only these days he's allowing himself to savor the journey and not just focus on the destination.

There was a flashback Sunday in the post-race press conference. In Martin's opening remarks he reminded reporters, "I always, always come up short on the gas mileage thing. If you look at the stats, you know, I've lost 25 and won two on it. I just don't have the luck for it."

Then the new Mark Martin kicked in. They guy who has found the greener grass in his own backyard.

"If we don't win another race this year, we still did good," Martin said. "I'm not gonna deal with expectations that cut my legs out from under me again ever in my career. I'm gonna go out and drive the race car as hard as I can drive every time I get in.

"I love this sport. I don't know what in the world I'll do when I can't do this anymore, but that's a long way out there. I'm not worried about it right now.

"I'm enjoying it."