Mark Martin has been racing in NASCAR for 30 years, he spent 18 of those years (1988-2006) with Roush (Fenway) Racing. In 2007 he raced for Bobby Ginn Racing, which became Dale Earnhardt Inc in 2008 and is now today known as Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
Martin made the switch to Hendrick in 2009 where he spent the next three seasons. Martin then landed at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012 – where he ran 24 of 36 races sharing a ride with Michael Waltrip and Brian Vickers.
He has won 40 races and accumulated 448 top tens in his career. But he’s not done adding to the record books just yet.
Martin will be sharing the No.55 Aaron’s Dream Machine in 2013 once again with 25 races on his schedule. After that, plans are not quite as clear.
During Tuesday’s media day, Martin said, “I don’t expect to be in it (55 car in 2014) That’s not my goal. My goal is to see Rodney & 55 car race for a championship.”
He went on to say, “It’s too early to get into discussions about future behind the wheel.” Martin said he wants to make the No.55 a highly coveted seat in the NASCAR garage so it’s team can have a pick of drivers come next season.
Martin did say that he has no plans to retire and that he would still “like” to run a limited schedule at MWR if at all possible.
“I’ve really felt comfortable at MWR …very, very comfortable,” Martin said. “It’s such a great working atmosphere, so I might… I’ll still be around. I just don’t know.”
“No need in worrying about what’s next. What’s next is my 25 races that we’ve got on board this year and having fun and being a part of the organization and hopefully continue to get stronger and build a stronger organization.”
Waltrip chimed in as well, saying, “Me and Mark are partners, we’re the two old guys, If we could figure out somehow for Rodney and those boys to race a full-time car and Mark and I could run a few races in some way or another then we’d certainly entertain that idea.”
Martin said that this season he will do everything he can to win races and perform but his ultimate goal would be to help Rodney become a champion crew chief.
