Yep, NASCAR on a Wednesday. Maybe it'll become like Monday Night Football, they could call it Wednesday Night Trucking or Wednesday Night NASCAR, or ...
With this win Mark Martin has the glory of being the only driver (current or retired) that has won a race in each of NASCAR's top 3 series (Truck, Busch, and Cup) at the same track. You know, if you think about that it is quite the feat. There a few that have won at the same track in both Busch and Cup (ie. Harvick at Martinsville) but never in all three. Wow.
Right now I feel that Mark is the best driver to never have won a Championship. Others agree with this observation, like the Diecast-Dude. I think that Mark deserves to win the Cup at least once, I don't think it'll happen, but you never know. I've seen a lot of strange things happen in the last few races that have made Champions out of drivers that weren't expected to be there at the end - Allan Kulwicki for one. Mark would be a Champions Champ that's for sure.
Here is an example of what I mean. In 1999 a bunch of us went down to the August race at MIS, and Saturday afternoon after practice there were a gaggle of fans lurking outside of the garage and motorhome areas hemmed off by a fence. Lots of drivers walked by and didn't even give us the time of day (ie. Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, etc.). When I say they didn't even give us the time of day I mean it, they didn't even look at us or acknowledge our existence. But there were a few others who did. They were; Elliott Sadler, Jeremy Mayfield, Ricky Craven, Kyle Petty, John Andretti, Bobby Hamilton, Donnie Allison (yep, he of the '79 Daytona fight with Cale Yarbourgh), and Mark Martin.
Most of the those drivers, walked by the fence stopping every few feet and signed a few autographs and moved on except two: Kyle Petty and Mark Martin. They stopped and signed an autograph for almost everyone there. Mark took the time out to talk with fans and look at some of the scrapbooks they had made of him. He also quietly watched as some of his "lesser known" peers walk by despite the calls from some fans and subtly shook his head. I bet he spoke with a few of those drivers after about taking the time out for the fans, because it is the fans that fuel NASCAR. Richard Petty knew that 40 yrs ago and it is still true today.
If Mark makes the chase, and I know he will, you know who I'm pulling for - even though he drives a Ford.
Click here for the picture I would have put with this post if Blogger co-operated with me in uploading pictures.
Please Note: Whenever I make a new post and put it up on my blog site, it doesn't show for a couple of hours (usually), but it can immediately be found in my archive. So I suggest that if you are looking for my most current posting you go to the current month's archive and it will be there.
With this win Mark Martin has the glory of being the only driver (current or retired) that has won a race in each of NASCAR's top 3 series (Truck, Busch, and Cup) at the same track. You know, if you think about that it is quite the feat. There a few that have won at the same track in both Busch and Cup (ie. Harvick at Martinsville) but never in all three. Wow.
Right now I feel that Mark is the best driver to never have won a Championship. Others agree with this observation, like the Diecast-Dude. I think that Mark deserves to win the Cup at least once, I don't think it'll happen, but you never know. I've seen a lot of strange things happen in the last few races that have made Champions out of drivers that weren't expected to be there at the end - Allan Kulwicki for one. Mark would be a Champions Champ that's for sure.
Here is an example of what I mean. In 1999 a bunch of us went down to the August race at MIS, and Saturday afternoon after practice there were a gaggle of fans lurking outside of the garage and motorhome areas hemmed off by a fence. Lots of drivers walked by and didn't even give us the time of day (ie. Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, etc.). When I say they didn't even give us the time of day I mean it, they didn't even look at us or acknowledge our existence. But there were a few others who did. They were; Elliott Sadler, Jeremy Mayfield, Ricky Craven, Kyle Petty, John Andretti, Bobby Hamilton, Donnie Allison (yep, he of the '79 Daytona fight with Cale Yarbourgh), and Mark Martin.
Most of the those drivers, walked by the fence stopping every few feet and signed a few autographs and moved on except two: Kyle Petty and Mark Martin. They stopped and signed an autograph for almost everyone there. Mark took the time out to talk with fans and look at some of the scrapbooks they had made of him. He also quietly watched as some of his "lesser known" peers walk by despite the calls from some fans and subtly shook his head. I bet he spoke with a few of those drivers after about taking the time out for the fans, because it is the fans that fuel NASCAR. Richard Petty knew that 40 yrs ago and it is still true today.
If Mark makes the chase, and I know he will, you know who I'm pulling for - even though he drives a Ford.
Click here for the picture I would have put with this post if Blogger co-operated with me in uploading pictures.
Please Note: Whenever I make a new post and put it up on my blog site, it doesn't show for a couple of hours (usually), but it can immediately be found in my archive. So I suggest that if you are looking for my most current posting you go to the current month's archive and it will be there.