Martin strong after disappointing Daytona
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Martin came into the 2004 season having written his latest chapter on adversity. After nearly beating Tony Stewart for the championship in 2002 (which followed a 12th-place season in 2001), Martin suffered miserably in 2003, finishing 17th in points -- his worst finish ever as a full-time Cup driver.
Martin failed to win a race last season and had just five top-fives and 10 top-10s (his fewest since 1988). He also tallied seven DNFs, the most he's collected in one season since 1988.
"We started off the season running well," Martin said. "We had cars that were as good as they were in 2002 and sometimes even better. We broke (at Las Vegas last season) and the very next weekend we broke at Atlanta. Then we went to Darlington and I really thought we were going to win that race, but we had a bad stop on the last stop and didn't. Things deteriorated from there and pretty soon we just couldn't do it. We just couldn't make it happen. I have not seen a race team get back up if they ever get deflated like we wound up getting down last year."
This season was supposed to be much different for the 45-year-old Arkansas native. With Roush Racing coming off its first Cup championship with Matt Kenseth, and new crew chief Pat Tryson on board (replacing Ben Leslie), Martin was primed to return to his winning ways.
But the No. 6 Ford team's high hopes were dashed seven laps into the season-opening Daytona 500 when Martin's engine let go, leaving him the first man out of the race and the last man in the standings (43rd).
Martin, however, didn't let the Daytona disappointment get to him. As is his style, he went on and has strung together two strong showings since: 12th at Rockingham and an impressive fifth this past Sunday at Las Vegas after starting 27th.
"We're used to starting back there and we're used to racing better than we qualify, and that's what we expect to do," Martin said, almost prophetically, before the Las Vegas race. "There's no anxiety about getting around folks that are in front of us. We just have to be on our game."
And Martin has for the most part been on his game at Rockingham and Las Vegas, allowing him to jump from 43rd to 20th in the standings over those two races.
"Obviously, we haven't gotten off to a very good start this year, but we've had fast race cars at Daytona and Rockingham and that's exciting because your luck can change pretty easy," Martin said. "I think we've got the team and the stuff to do what we need to do, we just need to turn our luck around a little bit."
Despite the much ballyhooed engine development marriage between Roush Racing and Robert Yates Racing during the offseason, the Roush team has struggled with several engine failures thus far. At Daytona, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and Martin all lost engines either in practice or during the race itself. At Rockingham a week later, Burton was again struck with engine failure. At Las Vegas, engine trouble again befell Biffle after just 23 laps.
But Martin has gone forward with a positive attitude, one that is heightened by his outstanding relationship with Tryson, one of several new members on the No. 6 team that have reinvigorated Martin. When asked what his biggest source of optimism is this season, Martin didn't hesitate with his response.
"I think it originates with Pat Tryson," he said. "I think that's where the core of it all comes because I think Pat is going to do a fabulous job to fight to get me great stuff. The engines are very exciting right now for us. The aero department is doing a fantastic job and I'm excited at where we're at with that versus where we were before, and the team itself.
"The pit stops are going to be better than they have been in the past and some of that originates back to Pat. If we're weak in some area, I think he's going to do a great job. I like him because he won't let anything get in the way of strengthening our weaknesses. I've got a great race team there and I'm real excited."
Martin is also excited heading into Sunday's Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Martin has had a modicum of success, including two wins (1991 and 1993) and one pole. Not only is Atlanta the fastest non-restrictor plate racetrack on the circuit, the overall layout makes for a thinking man's type of race, where patience, experience and knowing what has worked in the past is just as important as flat-out speed.
"It's the shape, the size, the banking and the transitions from straightaway to corner (that make Atlanta Motor Speedway such a good track)," Martin said. "It makes better speed. If you make sharper corners, it wouldn't be as fast. If you had flat straightaways and then corners that were banked up, you'd have to slow down more approaching the corner."
Another top-five outing at Atlanta likely would move Martin up close to the top 10. He'll take it from there.
"We had horrendous luck at Daytona with a car that I thought we could contend with and we went to Rockingham and ran pretty well," Martin said. "If we go out here the next couple of weeks and have some solid runs, I think that we've got a good shot to make a championship run at it."
And doing so would once again mean Martin had to come from behind to accomplish his goal, but he's fine with that. That's the kind of racer he is.
Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.
