Mark Martin to Race in All Three NASCAR Series in 2011

Just when we thought Mark Martin might be winding up his long and storied career as a NASCAR driver, he's decided to jump back in with both feet in 2011 by running races in all three of NASCAR's national touring series.

In his final, lame-duck year with Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup series, Martin has decided to also run selected Nationwide series and Camping World Truck series events for Turner Motorsports.

Martin will drive the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet in Nationwide races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Ca., Michigan International Speedway and Kentucky Speedway, with Trent Owens serving as his crew chief, the team announced Wednesday.

Martin will also drive the No. 32 Chevy Silverado truck in NASCAR Truck series races at Michigan as well as Pocono Raceway.

"I'm excited to be running back in the Nationwide and Truck Series again," said Martin. "Everyone at Dollar General and Turner Motorsports has been great and I'm looking forward to hitting the track with them next year. Working with Turner, I get to extend my relationship with Chevrolet and continue to have Hendrick horsepower under the hood, which is really, really good."

Martin, of course, will also drive the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy full time in the Sprint Cup series in the last of his three years with Hendrick Motorsports.

Although Martin has never really retired from any of the three series, his last truck race was in 2007, and he only ran in a single Nationwide race last year.
"I'd love to win another truck race, and I've got to get back to victory lane in the Dollar General car so I can keep Kyle (Busch) from breaking my Nationwide Series record."
-- Mark Martin
In his 30 years in NASCAR racing, Martin has 40 wins in 794 Sprint Cup Series starts and holds the all-time Nationwide Series records for most wins (48) and most pole positions (30). He also has seven wins in 23 truck starts.

"The races we picked for both series are personal favorites of mine," Martin said in the statement. "I'd love to win another truck race, and I've got to get back to victory lane in the Dollar General car so I can keep Kyle (Busch) from breaking my Nationwide Series record."

Busch has 43 career victories in the Nationwide series, including a record 13 wins last year.

Martin set the record for most Nationwide series wins while almost always running a partial schedule. His only full season in Nationwide was in 1987. His most recent win in the series came in 2008.

"We are thrilled to announce the addition of Mark Martin to our stable of drivers," team owner Steve Turner said in the statement. "Mark shares my same passion for helping groom young talent and has expressed interest in helping us get our young drivers to the NASCAR Sprint Cup level. I can't think of a better mentor than Mark Martin."